Why do snipers prefer bolt action rifles?

[Vindekarr]

Have any of you ever played shoot the helictopter?

 

You get a remote control helicopter and have it fly around carrying a styrofoam target: it's a moving target and it's bloody hard to hit solidly, but whack a .45 through it and it feels pretty good, bits everywhere. You could also try shooting at an R/C plane for kicks, but those are very hard to hit with anything less than a high velocity full auto of some sort.

 

It's assinine, pointless, wrecks a good toy, and serves only to waste ammo, but when shooting live game is illegal, and skeet range only allow a particular type of "olympic" style gun, we folks with real guns must find alternatiove entertainment.

 

Darke: What's a hill? I've heard of those, all we've got is flatness and the occasional mountain from where Antarctica crashed into us, hills are at a literal premium, because there are so few of them there's almost always soemone on them, protecting their prize, so you'd have to steal one to make a proper range here, and I'd feel terrible about that(I've only ever had one parking ticket, ever, and as a Range Rover owner that says a lot about how I see the law)

Edited March 19, 2011 by Vindekarr

[Vagrant0]

It's assinine, pointless, wrecks a good toy, and serves only to waste ammo, but when shooting live game is illegal, and skeet range only allow a particular type of "olympic" style gun, we folks with real guns must find alternatiove entertainment.

Something about using an automatic weapon and shooting wildly in the air at a RC plane just seems like a bad idea... even if you are in the middle of nowhere. Missing your target doesn't mean that you don't end up hitting something that is not your target and may or not have previously been living.

[DarkeWolf]

Eh... not to insult anybody here, but I gotta agree that uncontrolled fire at an airborn target may not be good for the area around you.

Not for recreational shooting. A combat zone, it's gonna happen, but recreationally.... bad idea.

 

So another point of curiosity, now that we've brought the super shooters into the discussion.

I mentioned the muzzle blast on those things being able to loosen fillings. I'm curious... can the muzzle blast on them shatter nearby glass? Particularly in small enclosed areas where shockwaves "echo"?

I was thinking along the situation where a sniper is shooting from inside a room. And most smart snipers don't have the barrel sticking out the window, unless the shot demands it. Or, thinking along the lines of shooting from the interior of a humvee or van.

[CommanderCrazy]

No, it doesnt Darkewolf. I remember a Mythbusters experiment done on this a while back, and the only time they got the glass to shatter was when the bullet missed slightly.

[Vagrant0]

So another point of curiosity, now that we've brought the super shooters into the discussion.

I mentioned the muzzle blast on those things being able to loosen fillings. I'm curious... can the muzzle blast on them shatter nearby glass? Particularly in small enclosed areas where shockwaves "echo"?

I was thinking along the situation where a sniper is shooting from inside a room. And most smart snipers don't have the barrel sticking out the window, unless the shot demands it. Or, thinking along the lines of shooting from the interior of a humvee or van.

I don't think it matters. If you're going to use one of those in a room somewhere, anywhere, your first concern after making a shot is probably to get the hell out of there as fast as possible... provided you still have your hearing.

[LHammonds]

*Suddenly more afraid of the staff here*

:ninja:

 

 

I just have to ask, what do you hunt at 2500 meters and doesn't wind drift become an increasing issue?

Wind is always an issue as well as heat causing the mirage effect at certain angles which increase at greater distances...thus a sniper is better positioned off the ground in a slightly higher location to minimize the heat wave factor. Hunting is not the only reason to have a gun. Defense is another...and having (as well as being trained on) a weapon for various distances and purposes, you are much better prepared for whatever may come. As for distance at my location, I chose to build my home at the top of high-point on the countryside. On my roof, I can easily see the 3 cities on all sides of me (about 2 to 5 miles out). :ninja:

 

 

It's assinine, pointless, wrecks a good toy, and serves only to waste ammo, but when shooting live game is illegal, and skeet range only allow a particular type of "olympic" style gun, we folks with real guns must find alternatiove entertainment.

That certainly is not a smart "alternative." May I recommend putting some pipes in the ground in front of your berm and tie off some balloons with various lengths of string to accomplish the same effect of a moving target?

 

Or better yet, build a pendulum target that swings and have the counter weight held up by a rod with a wire on it attached to another target that can get knocked over when shot...thus pulling the rod out from the pendulum and causing the 2nd target to start swinging back and forth. We use this setup at the International Defense Pistol Association meets.

 

Here are some more ideas for target creation:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5EI4wWFnIg

[RZ1029]

It's assinine, pointless, wrecks a good toy, and serves only to waste ammo, but when shooting live game is illegal, and skeet range only allow a particular type of "olympic" style gun, we folks with real guns must find alternatiove entertainment.

 

Hmm... yeah... gotta say... not safe.

 

@OP

It's already been somewhat answered, but the big preference for bolt actions are the simplicity of the mechanics behind it. I can't find a good picture, but in a lot of bolt-action rifles, the bolts come out clean and cleaning is a breeze. Less moving parts, less to break, less to fix. I prefer something a little more rugged, that I can just drop in the case and go, no need to baby it all the way there and back. A lot of the same reason the AK-47 is still a popular weapon, though it's far older than many other 'modern' weapons.

 

That being said, my personal 'reason' for having fire power capable of tapping you on the shoulder at 2500 meters is for competition, mostly. I regularly compete in competitions hosted by a semi-local club.

 

EDIT: I also like that bolt actions force more control on my own part, each shot takes a little longer instead of getting trigger-happy. Makes the shots count when they aren't super-cheap.

 

And for breaking glass:

I don't think you can, not from a shock wave alone, except MAYBE within micrometers of actually hitting it, just from the rapid air displacement. I don't make a habit of shooting glass, so I couldn't say. I prefer skeet or paper targets, it's much cheaper to replace.

Edited April 12, 2011 by RZ1029

[LordWushin]

I am a Navy Corpsman working with the Marines and I trained with the scout snipers, they all used bolt action. Never asked why, but from what you all have put out I now understand. I appreciate this thread DarkWolf, now I want to go to the scout sniper corpsman school!

[Bertoxul]

Simple, it is accuracy........the bolt of a sniper rifle is hand machined to match as perfectly as possible the chamber itself and will lock into the exact same position every time; the belted cartridge will seat exactly as it should and give the proper sholder positioning and head space check that round required. , my personal favorite is a Remington 700 bdl heavy barrel. Chambered in 7mm Remington magnum, 125 grain teflon coated copper jacket....nice and flat trajectory and high muzzle velocity. In the right hands, deadly to 2500 meters..

 

/thread

[DarkWarrior45]

I really cannot offer an explanation as to why snipers, and other people, prefer bolt action rifles. I'm a defense oriented shooter who's experience is mainly with pistols. But if I got a rifle, I wouldn't get anything but bolt action because:

 

1) Although I have seen rounds jam in a bolt action rifle before (they usually get stuck in the breach when they do), they are easy to clear. And they don't jam as often as a semi-auto rifle.

 

2) They are easy to field strip and clean. The bolt comes out, which allows a cleaning rod to go straight through the bore. I also hate guns that are difficult to take apart and clean.

 

3) Accuracy. I can't explain why, but for some reason the bolt actions have always seemed to be more dead on than others.

 

And no, the muzzleblast will not break glass; not enough force. The muzzleblast is a result of the gas expansion behind the round exiting the muzzle. Now you can shatter glass at point blank range with a blank round. Some actor accidentally killed himself (supposedly, unconfirmed, secondhand story) because he was horsing around with a pistol loaded with blank rounds.