A friendly reminder that Bucky is such an unrivaled sniper that he sparked a legend among Hydra troops that soldiers would drop dead as Captain America approached.
In the canonical book The Wakanda Files, Colonel Phillis’s report states that Bucky had a 90% accuracy rate on long-range shots. To put this in perspective, in actual combat, not even the deadliest snipers in history maintained a 90% hit rate on long-range shots. Simo Häyhä, who holds the record for the highest number of confirmed kills, made most of his more than 500 hits at a range of about 100–150 m, using open sights, and aimed for the torso because the head was too small a target. Zaitsev, Hathcock, and Kyle racked up their numbers primarily at ranges under 500–600 m; shots at 1,000 m or more were exceptions, not the norm.
Technical estimates point in the same direction: against a standing man, the probability of a hit is around 90% at 300 m, drops to about 50% at 800 m, and stands at around 20% at 1,000 m, even with a sniper rifle. Wind, errors in estimating distance, and flight time degrade the first shot long before effects such as the Coriolis force come into play.
That is why a sustained 90% hit rate on long-range shots—in direct combat, not on a shooting range—is beyond what has been documented. It is not the limit of what a marksman can achieve: it is a superhuman ability.
We must also consider that since Bucky was drafted into the army in January 1942 and sent into combat in June 1943, and since there are no references to him having had any experience as a sniper prior to that time, it means that everything he learned took place over the course of a year and a half. The best snipers are mostly veterans who hone their skills over many years of experience.
Bucky was real, and he was literally a legend and a prodigy in that field 🥹❤️🩹