You're right on your evaluation of this fellow. If the guy is shooting from 500 yards out, he is a sniper. And it would be interesting to see how far away he was on the head shots. So far everything points to hunter, nothing to sniper.

Regarding a bottle cap can be hit at 50 feet with a rifle held by a standing man (or boy). It MUST be hit at 50 feet if enough shots are fired.

And, it's easy to hit by a person in a prone position or with a sandbagged rifle.

To seen how easy is it to do from a standing position, tape one of those cheap lasers to a rifle barrel and try to hold it on a 1" target at 50 feet.

How often is it on target, and for how long? (And while it is on target, do you get the temptation to jerk off the next round, throwing the light off as you pull the trigger?)

Y'see, and what the rubes don't know, is that most people holding weapons have heartbeats.

Now, you can mitigate SOME of that using a strap for a brace, but most Boy Scouts aren't using straps. Or shooting at bottle caps for that matter.

So, it sounded good. Might fool the rubes.

L. J. - "even one as puny as a .223."

Ain't puny, my friend. Very, very flat shooting, very fast round. And, if you'll notice, deadly. Hard to describe as "puny".

A .223 sideways, which happens as it tumbles after it hits something, isn't pleasant.

Your basic .22 Long Rifle cartridge will have 115 to 130 foot-pounds of energy as it leaves the barrel.

Your basic .223 will have from just under 1000 foot-pounds and can be tricked up to over 1500.

Not puny. The rubes might go for it, though.

Arf