How many American kills were there in the Vietnam war?

Answer 1

USMC Gunnery SGT. Carlos Hathcock had a documented over 60 confirmed kills. But he used a standard bolt action hunting rifle, which used standard center fire hunting cartridges (30 caliber category). All medium hunting calibers were thirty caliber which included 7mm, 8mm, .303, 7.7, 308 (7.62mm), 30-06, 30-30, 30-40, etc. Varmit cartridges used to be the .22 range such as the 218 Bee, 219 Zipper, 221 Fireball, 222 Remington, 223 (M16 Jungle Rifle/5.56mm), etc.

The Viet War didn't have computerized sniper rifles, Laser Range Finders, and other bells and whistles. Nor did it have .50 BMG (Browning Machine Gun) sniper rifles. When Gunny made his .50 kill it was with the standard issue fifty caliber machine gun set on single fire. And one more item, Vietnam and WWII snipers HUNTED men; which required CARRYING their rifle over mountains and through swamps for days and days. No sniper could carry today's super heavy .50 caliber BMG special sniper rifles with their accompanying scopes, bi-pods, tri-pods, and electronic/computer devices by themselves over mountains, hills, swamps, and through jungles. Todays super dooper sniper rifles are "precision shooting instruments" designed for precision shooting at extremely long ranges; Vietnam was about killing and the standard hunting rifle did the trick.