Snipers use a bolt action for a lot of reasons, firstly being they are a perfected rifle, Man has spen many years perfecting it all, free float barrels (though semi-autos can have them now) T-bolts and all that jazz, Second, as mention early in the thread, The sniper is trained to only crouch when he can't sit prone, only to stand when he wants to be killed, So things like a lever action, or break-barrel (god forbid they made a rifle that does that) are a real bugger to shoot when your at prone, crouch isn't so much of a problem. yet a semi-auto can use the exact same argument, The final (or best) reason is that a bolt action is simpler to use, and are less likely to screw up, how many times i'v had my semi-auto stop and me not realise until i pull that triggor a few times, I would not every want to realy on it in a sniper situation, Its ex marine for god sakes (and wasn't cheap either) They have less moving parts, so less parts to screw up. As a semi uses the recoil from the first round and the spring in the cocking mach to push the next one in, its a very precise opperation to see happen, people tend to forget the ammount of science that went into them, Yet militarys around the world do use the semi-auto, M82 (although as previouslt mentioned it was turned into a sniper rifle thanks to COD) Yet marines do use it for sniper support ar long range, but most snipe shun the rifle, As it is a bastard to have to sit and shoot and cover our mates with, yet i'v only fired on once, so i can't really give you my oppinion on, that being said, some of the best rifles in the world are bolt action, L96 AWP, .303 lee enfield. and in the end a sniper gets very used to working the bolt like that. well atleast thats my 10 cents worth