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OLD ‘FRIENDS RE-UNITED’ - SPRINGFIELD &UNERTLI’ll declare at the onset that I’m not especially a fanof old firearms. Yes, they’re very interesting froman historical perspective/curiosity/collecting point ofview and, if that’s your thing, then a visit to the RoyalArmouries in Leeds is a must.It’s fine if you can afford to buy stuff to just polishand hang on your wall but just how good were theserifles, considering the quality of steels and methodsof production? Or perhaps I should say -how accurate were they - compared to whatwe have come to expect of modern rifles?The PlanHaving made my dismissive statement onhistorical arms, I should say I do have a morethan passing interest in the Vietnam war andits weapons so, sometime ago, after readingabout the extraordinary shots and exploitsof the famous snipers from that era, suchas Carlos Hathcock and Chuck Marwhinny,I got to wondering, given their age andproduction methods, just how accurate weretheir rifles. Or were these well-documentedextraordinary shots just a case of thesemen being truly exceptional marksmen.Rob HunterChoose your weaponsThat’s a tough one - there were several different‘sniper’ rifles used throughout the Vietnam conflict -that is rifles which were pressed into service to fulfilthe role of a sniper rifle. The old adage ‘today’s warsare fought with yesterday’s technology’ is as truetoday as it was then.At the start of the conflict in Vietnam in 1959, thereScope and rifletogehter inperfectharmonyOnly one way to find out...aquire one! Orshould I say re-create one - to the samespecification as the original sniper rifle andtest it. A great idea maybe but naïve to saythe least. The problem being I didn’t realisethat the necessary bits and pieces to createthis test are becoming increasing hard toget hold of. Sorry, let’s amend that - I shouldhave said very (hens teeth type) hard to get.76 Target Shooter