Why do snipers prefer bolt action rifles?

[Vindekarr]

Barret M-82 Light Fifty.

 

Though how a 14 kilogram, two metre long gun is light I'll never know. American antimaterial rifle, popular even before COD turned it into "the sniper rifle" due to the incredible power of the .50 Browning and it's semi-automatic/ten round magazine firing rate.

 

For me though it's a great big monument to why I tend to avoid American guns: just look at it, it's such an insane overkill for anything other than shooting down helicopters, even compared to other BMG firing weapons, it's too heavy, it's got no elegance or style, and it's not even particularly reliable. I dont like these. The whole point of a sniper rifle/antimaterial rifle is to elimate in one shot. Why then is this essentialy a semiautomatic M-2 with a scope attached? meh.

 

Me though I'd rather have a Dragunov to that monster, horrid thing, stupid ugly brute. Ogre-gun.

[wheresthecorporal]

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

[Aurielius]

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/Aurielius/fb0a4aaa-c8c6-44ae-b3ec-eb52745d8135.jpg

[grannywils]

http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac177/Aurielius/fb0a4aaa-c8c6-44ae-b3ec-eb52745d8135.jpg

 

 

Oh, now I understand.... :wacko:

[TheFourthHorse]

-The bolt action has the most solid locking mechanism of any action with a magazine.

 

-Automatic/Semiautomatic rifles use a gas flow system that ultimately slows down the bullet decreasing both range and accuracy.

 

-Bolt actions can not physically jam.

 

-Their ejector allows for easy and discreet procurement of the shell after firing. Other actions tend to throw brass further making it easier to see and harder to obtain by the shooter without disclosing their position by needless movement.

 

-The bolt action is the simplest form of action besides break action. This allows for easy cleaning and less parts.

 

-It's the most discreet rifle to fire since it requires the least amount of movement to operate without throwing brass around like an automatic would.

 

In response to the OP, lever actions are great but most common models have one drastic fallback. Because most lever action rifles use a tubular magazine their particular rounds must be rounded at the tip which drastically reduces range and accuracy compared to a traditional spitzer round.

 

The only exception is custom ammo with special tips or a few select lever rifles such as the 1899 Savage which had a rotary magazine that was later replaced with a box magazine. This however would also require custom made ammunition since it was not chambered in traditional rifle rounds such as the 308 or 30-06.

[Vindekarr]

And anyway, isnt a sniper supposed only need one shot?

 

I look at semiautos and I see Browning M2A1s with scopes attached, no finesse, no accuracy, not even proper sniping, just "fill the air with enough shot's and you'll probably hit him with one of them" What can a Barret do that a Hecate II cant? nothing, same calbiree, samme accuracy, same power, so why's it got to weigh as much as my nephew and shoot at 450 rpm(not encluding reloads)? it's a freakin' sniper rifle, it's not a machinegun, so why is it trying to be one?!

[kayinv]

Let me ask you this. If you are low to the ground, getting as low as possible to secure the shot, which gun would be easier to fire?

 

A gun with a bolt that you pull from the side...

 

Or a gun with a lever that is pulled from the bottom and needs clearance to be pulled...

 

This is just my dumb observation, but in terms of ease with trying to perform a sniper shot...a lever action doesn't make sense. Now please continue with the technical advantages that far outweigh anything I just said.

Edited May 2, 2011 by kayinv

[DarkeWolf]

I could make a joke about double-tapping that, but I don't think I will, since I'm pretty sure she could turn me into a bloody mess of pulp with that rifle.

 

In all seriousness, though, that Sportbusche is a pretty gun, been kept in good shape? My grandfather had a bolt-action rifle he got from WWII, but I was never allowed to touch it as a kid. He'd tell a mile-long story about it and how it got it, I never figured out how much of it is true and how much he was pulling my leg, but it was pretty important to him, even if he never killed anything more than a rabbit or squirrel with it. I wonder whatever happened to that, I might just ask him.

Sorry to take so long getting back to this, been really busy lately :(

The old .22 isn't in too bad of shape. The stock shows some nicks and stuff, but she still shoots every bit as well as the day they sold her. Yeah, I heard a lot of stories about the times over there as well. What did your grandfather do in the war? One uncle that went was a grunt in Japan, the other that took the rifle we're talking about was a tank driver. I forget what division tho :(

I had a couple of other uncles that went as well, but I didnt see them much as a kid, so I dont remember what they did in the war. :(

[gormonk]

question.. is there a RIFLE with a cylender(as found in revolvers) like clip... where the whole cylender is replace able??

[DarkeWolf]

question.. is there a RIFLE with a cylender(as found in revolvers) like clip... where the whole cylender is replace able??

There were some made back in the days when the cylinder revolver came about. Both cased rounds and blackpowder.

Anything recently made tho....I'm not too sure about.

http://www.google.com/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=revolving+cylinder+rifles&sourceid=opera&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest

 

Very popular for some kinds of repeating pellet gun rifles tho.