What makes a sniper rifle?
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nc-oldfart
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"sniper rifle " , means used to kill people, bad choice of words as the same rifle in the hands of a hunter is simple a rifle. Accuracy is not allways better . Just blueprinted to a better level that from the factory. Perhaps with better ammo and optics.
Pond James Pond
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Probably!!
I suppose they earn that moniker from their build and resulting performance.
Among others - Mannlicher style rifles (Gewehr 88, for one example) of the late 19th century utilized a similar system ....... you put the clip of cartridges in and when it was empty, it fell out the bottom of the gun in the Mannlicher system ..... in the Garand, it was ejected out the top when the gun was empty ....
To me, "Sniper Rifle" has often had a negative connotation ..... "snipers" have often been treated ...... with "extreme prejudice" by the line troops if they were caught ..... not that I don't believe they should not be used- I see more intelligence, merit and even honor in individual precision practical marksmanship and fieldcraft than in the "elan" of the frontal assaults favored by the "sniper" detractors .....
Eliminating a specific target can be one of several sniper missions. Others include serving as a forward observer, providing harassing fire, serving as as a recon/intelligence asset, providing overwatch, providing precision suppressing fire in support of a maneuver element, providing security, setting up DZ/PZ locations, etc.
Just because a sniper isn't handed a target packet with "Kill bad guy X when he is at this location at this time" doesn't mean any of the other missions are any less important. In fact most of the sniper capabilities are duplicated by other meanuver elements including COLT teams, FSOs, scouts, SDMs, and straight up leg Infantry and Cav Scouts. What snipers bring to the table is an amagamation of all those particular skill sets and combine it with precision markmsmanship to give commanders tactical options. Generally they are worth their weight in gold.
Jimro
Just because a sniper isn't handed a target packet with "Kill bad guy X when he is at this location at this time" doesn't mean any of the other missions are any less important. In fact most of the sniper capabilities are duplicated by other meanuver elements including COLT teams, FSOs, scouts, SDMs, and straight up leg Infantry and Cav Scouts. What snipers bring to the table is an amagamation of all those particular skill sets and combine it with precision markmsmanship to give commanders tactical options. Generally they are worth their weight in gold.
Jimro
Don't kid yourself, there are Criminal Snipers just like there are Police and Military Snipers.
There are three types of snipers:
Ego-harmonious
Ego-nonharmonious
and Psychotic
The first, ego-harmonious are essentially an adjusted, stable individual aware of the moral implications of his act.
The Ego-nonharmonious have some sort of emotional conflict amplifying in his fears and anxieties into disproportionate magnitude because of his inability to reconcile his problems.
Then there are Psychotic's who have severe personality maladjustments.
Military, Police, urban guerrillas and even contract killers fall into the first category.
Cornered criminals and such would fall into the second, and psychotic's are in a class by themselves.
One must study and know the difference in the three if he/she is involved in counter sniping as each requires a different approach.
In short don't let anyone tell you there aren't any criminal snipers, that false assumption will get you in trouble if you ever get involved in the counter sniper roll, suck as police officers.
it is confusing ,
a sniper by my thoughts is a highly trained individual able to judge and shoot far shots with amazing accuracy
a sniper rifle is one designated or designed to be used by said individual
say we take a 91/30 mosin nagant thats a "rifle" , then we take the ones outfitted with scopes for a designated "marksmen" , i consider those a s at least a marksmen rifle as it was designed to be shot by those with the best accuracy. now these were given to one named a sniper by their military , so they are infact a sniper
a more immature thought approach has anything with a scope on it as a "sniper rifle"
but a modern "sniper rifle" is one designed on a "marksmen" rifle platform to a designated sharp shooter, who is a sniper by military designation .
usually in the military today a "sniper" is allowed to build his own rifle to suit his specs
a barret 50 cal / a Remington 700 /ect
are modern "Marksmen" rifle platforms that can be adjusted to suit a sniper
but i would accept a rifle that was used as a marksmen rifle in the past to "snipe" with as a sniper rifle
say a springfield, a mauser , a mosin, ect. that were employed to designated marksmen
so sniper usually refers to a highly skilled marksmen issued the name by the military in my book , but to each their own
a sniper by my thoughts is a highly trained individual able to judge and shoot far shots with amazing accuracy
a sniper rifle is one designated or designed to be used by said individual
say we take a 91/30 mosin nagant thats a "rifle" , then we take the ones outfitted with scopes for a designated "marksmen" , i consider those a s at least a marksmen rifle as it was designed to be shot by those with the best accuracy. now these were given to one named a sniper by their military , so they are infact a sniper
a more immature thought approach has anything with a scope on it as a "sniper rifle"
but a modern "sniper rifle" is one designed on a "marksmen" rifle platform to a designated sharp shooter, who is a sniper by military designation .
usually in the military today a "sniper" is allowed to build his own rifle to suit his specs
a barret 50 cal / a Remington 700 /ect
are modern "Marksmen" rifle platforms that can be adjusted to suit a sniper
but i would accept a rifle that was used as a marksmen rifle in the past to "snipe" with as a sniper rifle
say a springfield, a mauser , a mosin, ect. that were employed to designated marksmen
so sniper usually refers to a highly skilled marksmen issued the name by the military in my book , but to each their own
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Crowsniping was a recognised version of pest control/varmint hunting, back when I was a lad. Fun sport, eliminate crows with a good varmint rifle (.22-250 was my favorite). Pass up shots under 300yards.
Crows are difficult targets. Small area, neither vertical no horizontal, and hops around a lot. On the plus side, hit one with a high velocity bullet and poof, nothing but a few feathers!
In that regard, I was a sniper. Also really enjoyed eliminating woodchucks.
Crows are difficult targets. Small area, neither vertical no horizontal, and hops around a lot. On the plus side, hit one with a high velocity bullet and poof, nothing but a few feathers!
In that regard, I was a sniper. Also really enjoyed eliminating woodchucks.
If you give a highly trained Mil/LE guy an 870 stuffed with slugs and tell him to deploy and take out a particular truck coming up a road. He might not like it much, but he would likely get it done with his sniper shotgun.
Tactical is a term that has been used, but that does not define the mission of a sniper at all, nor define a weapon system. Tactics can be everything from entry to mile offset. Precision Rifle, Designated Marksman Rifle, Long Range Rifle are starting to get closer to defining the type of weapon, as opposed to the task or chore of the person who may use it.
The majority of deer hunters, with their rifle of choice, could likely make 90% of the shots that LE snipers are called upon to make, and we know that the skill level of either can be a wide window. Your better hunters are going to be able to outshoot most of the better DMR and snipers in the military. It is not until you get to the elite that the skillset of the top military snipers starts to outpace the very good hunter, and then the equipment becomes a large part of the equation.
With top drawer equipment, most of the top level 3Gun, Sniper, Precision, Tactical rifle matches are won by Civilains. Sure, there are some retired and active duty guys at the very top as well who are bonafide snipers. However, those top level civilians do not (at least the large majority) call themselves snipers or refer to their weapon systems as sniper rifles.
A sniper has SO many other skills that need to be trained and perfected well beyond the weapon system that those who have similar weapon systems never need to worry about. Paper, steel and deer don't shoot back, have rockets nor air support.
Tactical is a term that has been used, but that does not define the mission of a sniper at all, nor define a weapon system. Tactics can be everything from entry to mile offset. Precision Rifle, Designated Marksman Rifle, Long Range Rifle are starting to get closer to defining the type of weapon, as opposed to the task or chore of the person who may use it.
The majority of deer hunters, with their rifle of choice, could likely make 90% of the shots that LE snipers are called upon to make, and we know that the skill level of either can be a wide window. Your better hunters are going to be able to outshoot most of the better DMR and snipers in the military. It is not until you get to the elite that the skillset of the top military snipers starts to outpace the very good hunter, and then the equipment becomes a large part of the equation.
With top drawer equipment, most of the top level 3Gun, Sniper, Precision, Tactical rifle matches are won by Civilains. Sure, there are some retired and active duty guys at the very top as well who are bonafide snipers. However, those top level civilians do not (at least the large majority) call themselves snipers or refer to their weapon systems as sniper rifles.
A sniper has SO many other skills that need to be trained and perfected well beyond the weapon system that those who have similar weapon systems never need to worry about. Paper, steel and deer don't shoot back, have rockets nor air support.
dakota.potts
New member
I would say it's a rifle designed to fire low-volume, high-precision shots from concealment. Doesn't mean it will always work that way.
For instance, I would not consider a Dragunov to be a sniper rifle because, to my understanding, they were used to fire support volleys of fire at distances up to and over 1000m. They were meant to be more accurate and shoot at longer ranges, yes. However, I don't feel they are sniper rifles because they are meant to be fired in support to advancing fire and fire large volume of shots within a target area. Same with the Mosin Nagant and the G3 Marksman built rifles, as far as I know. All meant to provide relatively accurate volley fire to an affected distance at long range in support of other fire.
Can any of these be used by a sniper? Sure. I'm sure a Winchester 30-30 could be used by a sniper in the right context to great effectiveness, but I would never call it one.
On the other hand, I would consider a sniper rifle to be suited to the task of sniping and being involved in warfare. Features might include heavy barrels with large muzzle brakes or suppressors, 20 MOA scope mounts with high powered scopes, stocks adjustable for LOP/cheek weld, etc.
Both of these share features with other bolt action rifles.
In my opinion, to ask "what is a sniper rifle?" is not much different than to ask "what is a varmint rifle?" What do the features of a varmint rifle tend to be? Fast, small bore bullet, free floated bull barrel, scope mount in favor of iron sights, etc. It doesn't mean that a stock M16 can't be used by a Varminter or a sniper, but it doesn't tend to fit what we would classify as either. To be even more confusing, there are "varminting" and "sniping" M16 set ups.
For instance, I would not consider a Dragunov to be a sniper rifle because, to my understanding, they were used to fire support volleys of fire at distances up to and over 1000m. They were meant to be more accurate and shoot at longer ranges, yes. However, I don't feel they are sniper rifles because they are meant to be fired in support to advancing fire and fire large volume of shots within a target area. Same with the Mosin Nagant and the G3 Marksman built rifles, as far as I know. All meant to provide relatively accurate volley fire to an affected distance at long range in support of other fire.
Can any of these be used by a sniper? Sure. I'm sure a Winchester 30-30 could be used by a sniper in the right context to great effectiveness, but I would never call it one.
On the other hand, I would consider a sniper rifle to be suited to the task of sniping and being involved in warfare. Features might include heavy barrels with large muzzle brakes or suppressors, 20 MOA scope mounts with high powered scopes, stocks adjustable for LOP/cheek weld, etc.
Both of these share features with other bolt action rifles.
In my opinion, to ask "what is a sniper rifle?" is not much different than to ask "what is a varmint rifle?" What do the features of a varmint rifle tend to be? Fast, small bore bullet, free floated bull barrel, scope mount in favor of iron sights, etc. It doesn't mean that a stock M16 can't be used by a Varminter or a sniper, but it doesn't tend to fit what we would classify as either. To be even more confusing, there are "varminting" and "sniping" M16 set ups.
Does that include hunters, competitors and plinkers?
Surely, you jest.
I doubt more than 5% of the USA military snipers have the skills and knowledge to build a proper sniper rifle. I also think they're all issued a standard one for support reasons of their major commands.
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This is about another Marine sniper that used Rem sniper rifle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Mawhinney
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Mawhinney
Not even close.
Of all the snipers I've known in the Army, only one was a proficient gunsmith in terms of building a rifle (blueprinting the action, cutting barrel threads, chambering, bedding, etc), and he retired over five years ago. Another I know can assemble a basic AR-15 from parts assemblies, but won't work on his own bolt action rifes. I had him over in my basement and showed him a mauser I was working on and he was impressed that I knew how to set headspace using reamers and guages.
Even the USMC put out an order that their Scout Snipers were no longer authorized to hone Remington triggers as they were ruining them.
Proficiency in one area means nothing in another area.
Jimro
what is what was and what shall be
1. if you gotta ask you truly wont understand
2. if you are a sniper your weapon is a sniper weapon
so that would lead to a bunch of random questions what is a sniper knife sniper soap sniper tooth paste??? etc..
If you want an accurate rifle to shoot 1000 yards you could spend as little as $300 maybe even less...?? and as much a a thousand and thousands more, you have to shoot the weapon a lot and rounds cost money even if you reload keep this in mind until you are proficient at the ranges distance weather rain sleet snow sun desert how when where and why so time is also a factor so a sniper rifle is not a thing easily described...
1. if you gotta ask you truly wont understand
2. if you are a sniper your weapon is a sniper weapon
so that would lead to a bunch of random questions what is a sniper knife sniper soap sniper tooth paste??? etc..
If you want an accurate rifle to shoot 1000 yards you could spend as little as $300 maybe even less...?? and as much a a thousand and thousands more, you have to shoot the weapon a lot and rounds cost money even if you reload keep this in mind until you are proficient at the ranges distance weather rain sleet snow sun desert how when where and why so time is also a factor so a sniper rifle is not a thing easily described...
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