Jack Reacher's Rules

THE WIMBLEDON CUP

WHAT

The Marine Sniper School competition, the Marine Corps 1,000-yard invitational, is the U.S. High-Powered Long-Range Championship known as the Wimbledon Cup.

WHEN

Started in the 1870s, the competition’s name may originate from the fact that the British National Rifle Association met in Wimbledon, London, in the late nineteenth century. It is now held in August every year.

WHERE

Camp Perry, Ohio

WHO

The annual competition is open to shooters outside the Marines, who compete by invitation. It is a prone competition with a reputation for going to shoot-offs to decide the winner, who is regarded as the best shot in the world. Jack Reacher won the competition in 1988.

HOW

The Seven Characteristics of a Good Sniper: excellent marksman, good woodsman, emotionally stable, keenly observant, aware of his surroundings, good with a map, patient.

“It takes an awareness of the environment and total concentration at the moment you fire the shot. You have to be aware of the wind, which has a tremendous impact at 1,000 yards. You have to be aware of the sun, whether it goes behind a cloud or not. Then at the last millisecond you have to develop total concentration.”

Major Jim Land, Marine Corps (retired)

“A modern army scores one enemy fatality per 15,000 rounds expended by its infantry. For specialist snipers the result is better. Way better. Twelve and a half thousand times better—a sniper scores one enemy fatality for every 1.2 rounds.”