The Best Miltary Sniper rifle (for it's time)

[blackops]

Many sniper rilfes over the years. Many different applications they have all been designed for. If you had to choose the best sniper rifle for the period in which it was designed, for all applications wether that be an urban enviroment or a desert, mountains etc, what would be your choice? I know the M82A1 and M107 aren't exactly personel rifles, but the are technically both identical (given caliber and purpose) rifles. However, the impact the 50 cal has had on vehicles in particular made me consider the option.

 

[snake284]

Carlos Hathcock used a 30-06 Model 70 Winchester on at least one deployment to Nam. The Model 70 while being one of my and almost everyone's favorite rifles is not the most accurate. It was definitely acceptable because Hathcock made excellent use of it, much the same as Karamojo Bell made with the 7x57 Mauser on elephants. But for super accuracy, the Remington will beat the Model 70s sox off. IT is rigid, it has a super fast lock time, and it was designed by a Remington engineer that loved to shoot bench rest, Mike Walker, my name sake. The model 40 was the version of the Model 700 that was used by the US Military for sniping back in the late 60s and 70s and even today it is still used in some form. When it was first built, it was a bench rest favorite. It was the model 722 short action in 222 Remington caliber that made history as the bench rest champ of the 50s and 60s up into the 80s. Many bench guns were built off it. I believe for its time and even up to just recently it was the most accurate of all sniper rifles ever. Also, it was used in .308 caliber I believe, although some may have been built in 30-06 in the beginning.

 

[blackops]

I have a pre-64 just like Carlos, but mine is in 270. Excellent rifle and seriously one of the most accurate rifles with no extra work done, but I just didn't think it should of made the list.

 

[snake284]

When I posted here, I was thinking the Vietnam era. I didn't think much about WWII. However, if we're thinking about then, I didn't see any votes for the Mosin Nagant. Maybe it wasn't accurate enough, but it killed a slew of Germans There were a lot of Soviet Snipers with Mosins taht wreaked havoc among the Germans. There were many Soviet women snipers some that had fantastic kill records. I don't think it was a real pleasure for a German soldier to be assigned to the Russian front, aside from being very cold.

 

[HorseSoldier]

Is M14 a typo for M24?

 

[USSR]

But for super accuracy, the Remington will beat the Model 70s sox off. IT is rigid...

Uh, hate to bust your M700 love bubble, but the M70 is much more rigid than the M700.

Don

 

[WardenWolf]

A Russian sniper with a Mosin Nagant got the longest confirmed one-shot kill at that time in World War II. I don't remember how far it was, but it was the farthest shot of the war. So regardless of all the hype behind the K98, the fact remains that the record lies with the Mosin Nagant.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Im in the Mosin Nagant camp as well. I do believe Russian snipers had more confirmed and uncomfirmed kills than snipers of every other European army combined. It was not the best rifle but the Russians were the best snipers. Of course they engaged in the kind of warfare that made best use of their snipers.

 

[HOOfan_1]

Lee-Enfield on the list, but not 03A4???

 

[Afy]

Why is the Zfk 42 not on the list or the DSR2 or TRG 42? PSG2 maybe?

 

[blackops]

Don, how is the m70 more rigid? Just wondering.

 

[benzy2]

I was under the impression the model 70 was much less rigid than the 700, but I have been wrong before.

 

[USSR]

Here you go.

http://yarchive.net/gun/rifle/winchester_m70.html

Don

 

[country boy marksman]

one of the many reasons I like the M70 over the 700 is the safety. Yes, most of the malfunction cr@p is probably just hype, but the fact that it has happened is enough for me. I like the way the M70's safety works more anyways. Another reason is the claw extractor on the pre 64 and the new ones made under FN. I will probably never have an actual need for this, but it's good to know that it's there if I do need it! But that's just my $.02!

Although this is, after all turning into an M70 vs. 700 thread; so I'll get this back on track! In my opinion, if the German snipers were equal to the Russians, the K98 would be superior; and it's about the gun, not the person pulling the trigger, so I chose the Mauser!

Notice how I like the Mauser and the M70 yes, I'm a, shall we say, "fan" of the Mauser design and features!

 

[Ala Dan]

Without A Doubt~!

The M40A1

 

[451 Detonics]

1903 Springfield

Private Jackson: [lining shots] Bleesed be the Lord my strength, which teaches my hands to the war, and my fingers to fight.
[fires rifle twice]
Private Jackson: My goodness and my fortress... my high tower and my Deliverer.
[fires rifle]
Private Jackson: My shield, and he in whom I trust
Private Jackson: [fires rifle, then to his rifle]
Private Jackson: Here you go baby.

 

[timbertoes]

I actually prefer a SVT-40 with flash hider.


In CoD:World at War that is.

 

[GCBurner]

For its time, the Sharps rifle used in the US Civil War by Berdan's Sharpshooters was well respected.

Of course, the Confederates had them, too: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Sedgwick

 

[benzy2]

Don, that's interesting. Nice read. I had read the opposite, but without any evidence, so it's nice to see some testing.

 

[supercalvin56]

Where is the model 70? Most confirmed kills and it didn't make the list?
Seriously?

 

[Pinski1015]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simo_Häyhä
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasily_Zaytsev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko

Enough said

 

[rcmodel]

I had to vote for the Mosen-Nagant.
While far from the best or most accurate sniper rifle ever, it still holds all the records for the largest number of confirmed kills of any sniper rifle in history.

Between Finnish snipers killing Russians, and Russian snipers killing Germans, the Mossy still holds, and very likely always will hold the record by a really wide margin.

It had way more to do with a target rich environment then it being the best sniper rifle ever made though.

rc

 

[unwise11]

M40A1, 700 action, .308.. can't get much simpler, but I'd spring for an M24 before that.

 

[Vaarok]

While the M28 used by Simo probably skews things in favor of that rifle, and the doctrinal "sniperism" teachings of the Soviet Red Army in WW2 give Mosins in general a very strong numerical advantage (market saturation, as it were- enough people used them that good shooters and good rifles had enough chance to pull some crazy stuff), I think contemporarily, the Swedish M/41 sniper rifle was probably the best of the era- fine tolerances, excellent fit and finish, a high BC projectile, superb optics...

But it was a rifle built in peacetime or neutral-nation-during-wartime equivalent, and probably (Swede volunteers in the Winter War notwithstanding) never fired in anger.

Otherwise the Mosin wins.

 

[Konstantin835]

I think the Mauser is a superior rifle to the Mosin although the Russians and Finns put the Mosin to better use as a sniper, but this poll is about the rifle.