Barrett Sniper Rifle Airsoft 1:1 Scale

The chief purpose of the Sniper Rifle is to destroy valuable targets at extended ranges with aimed fire, and with equally lilliputian ammunition expended every bit possible. In most cases, "the target" means a human being (enemy soldier, armed criminal, terrorist etc). "Every bit trivial ammunition as possible" frequently ways "one shot". The range for sniper burn down may vary from a few hundred meters or fifty-fifty less in police/counter-terror scenarios, to upwards to one kilometer or more than – in military or special operations scenarios.

Some sniper rifles, (mostly large caliber ones) can also exist used as anti-material weapons, to destroy (or more often, render unusable or inoperable), targets such every bit radar cabins, jeeps, parked aircraft etc.

The history of precipitous-shooting traces its ancestry well back into the 19th or even previously into the 18th century. An frequently noted example of early military sniping is the use of aimed fire during the American War of Independence (1775–1783), that came well-nigh considering of the development of rifled muskets such as the Kentucky Rifle / Longrifle / Pennsylvania rile. In the history of modern warfare, sniper rifles accept often been standard issue army rifles individually selected for accurateness, or privately purchased commercial target or hunting rifles. During WW1 and WW2 both sides used various full general outcome bolt action rifles (such as the Russian/Soviet Mosin M1991/xxx, U.s.a. Springfield M1903A4, British SMLE No.4(t), German language G98k etc.) fitted with some kind of telescopic sight. Some general issue semi-automatic rifles were too used in a sniper function, such as the Soviet SVT-xl and US M1 Garand. The origin of the term 'Sniper' refers to a custom during the British Raj menstruum in Republic of india – the hunting of very small, fast moving birds called 'Snipe'. Information technology took a bully shot to hit the wily creatures.. who would then be referred to as a 'Sniper'.

bolt action rifle topped with powerful scope for long-range shots

The practice of developing armed services sniper rifles from standard issue firearms is still current in many countries. Usually, the manufacturer or special military unit volition select some rifles for their ameliorate-than-average accuracy, and then adopt these rifles for the sniper part (i.due east. convert them from select-burn into semi-autos, add together ajustable stocks, bipods, scope mounts etc). Many armed services sniper rifles, discontinued in service or currently in utilize, such equally the United states of america M21, German G3-ZF and G3-SG/1, were developed in that mode.

Some sniper weapons were designed from scratch for marksmen to employ, considering the clients wanted some special characteristics that were unavailable in any service or commercial weapons. One such example is the Soviet SVD Dragunov rifle. It was designed at the request of the Soviet Army to extend the reach and effectiveness of infantry units; a lightweight, powerful and reliable semi-auto rifle, which has remained in service for nearly xl years.

However, the vast majority of sniper rifles accept been based on existing commercially available hunting or sporting rifle designs. Some of the all-time examples of this are the US military sniper rifles: M24 and M40, along with various custom rifles for law enforcement, based on Remington 700 actions. These are also available for the general public in many hunting and target rifles. The famous SIG-Sauer range of sniper rifles (for example: the SSG 2000)are too based on their hunting rifles. Here are some other examples of sniper rifles, mostly law ones, based on the design of noncombatant target and/or sporting rifles: Blaser R93 Tactical (Federal republic of germany), Sv-98 and MC-116 (Russia).

Mostly, sniper rifles can exist separated into iii major categories: Miltary sniper rifles, Police force/Constabulary Enforcement sniper rifles, and Special Purpose sniper rifles.

Military sniper with it's gear and camo suit

Military sniper rifles. Along with the obvious needs of accuracy and sufficient constructive range, war machine utilize demands some other requirements. Military sniper rifles must not be too heavy, considering a sniper often has to carry it for long hours, forth with ammunition and other equipment. Military sniper rifles must exist extremely reliable in any weather condition and climatic weather and must withstand hundreds of rounds fired without proper cleaning and maintenance or whatsoever significant loss of accurateness. Sniper rifles for armed forces use must likewise be easy to fieldstrip and simple to repair in field weather condition. They must also have backup iron sights, in case of the damage or loss of installed telescopic sights.

Military sniper rifles are also required to apply standardised military ammunition, conforming to international war treaties and generally available to the troops. In most cases, the ammunition used for sniping is a variant of the standard caliber regular army cartridges (such as vii.62mm NATO or vii.62x54mm R), that have been specially developed for sniping. Boilerplate effective range for the standard-caliber sniper rifles against a single man-sized target may exist estimated as 700-800 meters for first-shot kills. To extend effective range beyond 1000 meters, more powerful ammunition, such every bit .300 Winchester magnum (vii.62x67mm) or .338 Lapua magnum (8.6x70mm), and the appropriate weapon to fire it, needs to be used.

Military sniper rifles may be further separated into 2 tactical categories: sniper rifles themselves, designed to reach aimed hits at long distances, and Designated Marksman Rifles (DMR), designed to provide authentic burn down back up for line troops. While all "true" sniper rifles are considered bolt action ones in society to reach maximum accuracy, the DMRs are usually semi-automatics, such every bit the Russian SVD, German G3ZF or HK MSG-90, to gain a college charge per unit of burn down (and therefore fast target conquering). But the differences between them lay more in the tactical awarding, than in the burglarize design itself.

Police / Law Enforcement (LE) sniper rifles.These are required to exist a somewhat different fix of tools. It might be said that in most war machine/state of war scenarios a wounded enemy is equivalent to, or preferred to a killed enemy. In LE and counter-terror (CT) scenarios a wounded criminal or terrorist is not neutralised and may pb to the death of many innocent victims. Sometimes, the LE or CT sniper must non simply impale the terrorist, only hit a particular office of the body – head, or hand holding the gun, etc. So in general, LE and CT sniper rifles require greater accuracy, but are used at shorter distances. The majority of LE or CT scenarios require precision shooting at distances less than 300, or even 100 meters. These scenarios as well require an absolute minimum of shots – sometimes only one. This likewise places demands of extreme accuracy and consistency of results in whatsoever weather conditions on the operator and their weapons. LE and CT snipers don't necessarily have any limitations on selection of ammunition caliber though, equally long as they fit the budget.

LE/CT sniper rifles often sport completely ajustable stocks to suit snipers of different stature, or for convenience and mobility in urban scenarios, where there are many potential obstacles and tight spaces. Sometimes these stocks are adjustable with a half-dozen ajustable screws. This is unsuitable for military sniper rifles, but acceptable for LE sniper rifles, which are usually carried to the point of action in special cases.

Many American made LE sniper rifles are based on the hunting "varmint" rifles. Varmint rifles are pocket-size or medium caliber hunting rifles, designed to kill small pests, such as squirrels, rabbits etc. Some LE sniper rifles, such as Remington 700 Police, are simply Remington 700VS varmint hunting rifle barrelled deportment, bedded into sniper-styled stocks.

In Europe, some rifles in use past law enforcement are specifically designed sniper rifles (such as the Mauser 66, SIG-Sauer SSG2000 and Blaser R93 Tactical), and some are based on hunting rifles (such every bit the Steyr Sentry Tactical). LE/CT snipers may utilise many kinds of armament, from .22LR for training and short-range sniping, to .308 Win, 6.5x55mm, .300 Win magnum etc.

Special Purpose sniper rifles. These may in turn be split into 2 sub-categories: Big-caliber rifles for ulra-long range sniping and ani-material utilise, and Due south ilenced rifles for covert operations.

Large quotient sniper rifles are designed to use heavy machinegun armament, such as United states and NATO .50BMG (12.7x99mm) or Russian 12.7x108mm. The effective range of rifles such every bit these is upward to 1500 meters and over, depending on the size of the target and the quality of the armament. At the current time (September 2018) the longest recorded confirmed sniper kill is 3,540 meters. General purpose machinegun ammo ofttimes produces less than ideal accuracy (particularly a lack of consistency), only recently some specialised "sniper" rounds have been developed in .50BMG caliber.

Silenced sniper rifles must exist used with special sub-sonic ammunition and removable or integral silencers (suppressors) to produce a lower sound report. No audio suppressor will stop a circular breaking the audio barrier and producing a loudly audible 'scissure' once fired. Therefore sub-sonic armament fires a bullet with less free energy, remaining beneath the speed of audio and also decreasing the effective range down to 300-400 meters at most. With the correct ammunition and sound suppressor, the sound of the gunshot might be missed completely at distances of 100-200 meters at night, or even at thirty-l meters – mixed in with daily urban noise.

Sniper rifle Accuracy
The near common way of describing the accurateness of a sniper rifle is to measure the average bore of the circle that may be drawn around the group of bullet holes in a target. Usually, the rifle is fired from a secured position with groups of v (or 3) rounds, and then every grouping is measured. Average group diameter is the most common criteria of burglarize accurateness.

Today, the thin line between "practiced" and "poor" accurateness is unremarkably laid in 1MOA groups. i MOA (Infinitesimal Of Angle) is a measure of the angle that is formed by a triangle with the cage of the burglarize as the pinnacle of the triangle and the grouping of bullet holes as the base. 1 MOA is roughly equivalent to one inch group bore at 100 yards (91 meters), or to 2 inches at 200 yards etc. So, if you read that burglarize XXXX shoots 1MOA groups, it means that at 300 yards this rifle could place 5 or then bullets in circumvolve of no more 3 inches in diameter. Many modern sniper rifles, when loaded with the correct ammunition, could shoot 0.5MOA, or even 0.3MOA, which means 1 inch groups at 300 yards, or 2 inch (fifty millimeters!) groups at 600 yards (550 meters).

With the further development of sniper rifle and ammunition pattern the futurity of sniping is always changing. Developments such as the Railgun, using an electromagnetic propulsion system threaten to become game-changers in the field of accurate long altitude fire.