Differences between Sniper Rifles and Competitive guns

[MoA]

There seems to be a widespread belief that Sniper rifles are the be all and end all of rifles as far as accuracy goes. Indeed most sniper rifles like the TRG 42 (which was designed to be the most accurate rifle out of the box), AI-AW, m-24, PSG and the incredible DSR-1 etc are very accurate, they are not the end all in accuracy.
The Sniper's mission is generally two fold, to gather information and take out high value targets. They do need to be accurate on a first shot basis. This means being able to hit their target with the first shot, every time. The standard sniper target happens to be the human torso at ranges of upto 1500 yards. The human torso is roughly 20 inches by 20 inches. Which at 1000 yards translates into 2 Minutes of Angle, or should group at under 2 inches at 100 yards. Hitting a target at this range and size, while not easy is not a major hurdle with most modern rifles.
So why the mystique of the sniper rifle. Take the operating conditions, and abuse the rifle will be put through. Mud, grime, snow, rain, fog, and the rifle must still deliver the same consistency.

Now lets look at a comeptitive Bench rest gun. Typically with a stolle Panda Action, a hand lapped barrel by the likes of Bourghton, Krieger, et al. Typically in 6 PPC for point balank BR, or 6 NBR for 1000 yards. In order to finish in the top 10 in a 100 yard comeptition you need an aggregate of five groups of five under 0.2 inches. Preferably in the 0.15x or better range. The current 1000 yard five shot small group record is under 5 inches even in the LV class.

I did own an SHR 75 which is used by the Swiss forces as a sniper rifle, and have had the opportunity to shoot a number of others. For a Long range tactical match, the TRG 42, and AI-AW are difficult to beat out of the box, but for point blank accuracy, upto 300 meters my LW barreled, trued and timed Savage's will run rings around them.
Let alone a Salva BR rig in 6 PPC.

With a TRG or AI AW the expectation for accuracy is sub MoA, and typically between .5 and .75 in the hands of a good shooter. The DSR 1 promises .3 MOA out of a rifle that costs several tens of thousands of Euro's.

Even the competitive ISSF guns in 6mm BR from the likes of Keppler wil deliver .3 MoA with factory ammunition from Lapua and Norma. Better with hand loads.
But none of the competitive guns will put up with the abuse a Sniper rifle will absorb. It is the same with Sniper grade scopes. NightForce in their brochure have the story of how one NXS scope took a bullet in the tube, and was patched with duct tape, and continued to function without an issue. Their BR grade scopes will not take that abuse. And wouldnt even imagine dropping a March scope. Let alone scope, I wouldnt want to drop a BR grade rifle.

Take the SVD and bury it in sand. Dig it up and it will still shoot, but I wouldnt enter a bench rest competition with one. A typical service rifle will have a barrel repacement between 2500 to 5 K rounds or when groups open up from 1 MoA to 2 MOA or more. A typical BR shooter changes barrels at about 1400 rounds or when groups open up from an average of 0.1x to 0.2x MoA. I personally change barrels when my groups start averaging about 0.75 MoA (about 2500-3K), and I dont even shoot competitively.

Even from a manufacturing viewpoint, the Sniper rigs are built to much looser tolerances than competition guns. Which are all generally built to very exact specifications, and even in the hybrid class blueprinted and modified.
If sniper rifles were cars, they would be the likes of a Corvette, a Viper, a Ferrari or even a Veyron in the case of a DSR-1. But in a quarter mile race, they would be handed their a** on a plate by any top fuel dragster. Which would be the BR or competition grade rifles.

[tirths]

Great info MoA! Thanks for sharing.

[m24]

Thanks for that post, MoA. That did clear some issues.

Regards

[Vikram]

MoA,

A nice little education on the subject.Thank you.

Best-
Vikram

[MoA]

Thanks for that post, MoA. That did clear some issues.

Regards

Let me know what else... and I am happy to provide all the information I have.