#//neostyles.CD wrote:
Hmm, interesting stuff. Many sniper rifles are usually chambered for bigger rounds though if im remembering things correctly. For example, you have the Barret M1A2 with it's massive 50 BMG round. From what I've seen, the upper limit on normal rifles is around 7.62x51. Older rifles had some bigger rounds like the .30 06 but nothing that came close to the 50 cal. I've also seem some round types for sniper rifles like SLAP and API that I don't hear about being used with normal rifles. Rifles like the m4 usually use ball I think.
*face-palm*
Movies are not a good source at all to learn anything about firearms or ballistics.
Big rifles like the ".50cal" have been used since world war 2 mainly as anti-tank weapons, but regardless "snipers" do not use a .50cal unless it's a extreme distance situation. WWI Kar98, Lee Enfield, and the 1903 Springfield were used as sniper rifles (8mm, .303, and 30-06). Mosin Nagant (7.62x54r) WWII No real difference from WWI to WWII in the "sniper rifles" that they used, and the same goes with the Korean War, Vietnam; Winchester Model 70, M40, M21, and Remington 700. None used a .50, because it was not needed. You don't seem to understand that "snipers" from the past and even in today's military do not use the .50cal that often. They are big, heavy, and very loud which makes it very difficult to move around in terrain like Afghanistan.
Before the introduction of the standard 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge in the 1950s, standard military cartridges were the .30-06 Springfield or 7.62x63mm (United States), .303 British (7.7x56mmR) (United Kingdom) and 7.92x57mm (8mm Mauser) (Germany). The .30-06 Springfield continued in service with U.S. Marine Corps snipers during the Vietnam War in the 1970s, well after general adoption of the 7.62x51mm. At the present time, in both the Western world and within NATO, 7.62x51mm is currently the primary cartridge of choice for military and police sniper rifles.
Worldwide, the trend is similar. The preferred sniper cartridge in Russia is another .30 calibre military cartridge, the 7.62 x 54 mm R, which has similar performance to the 7.62x51mm. This cartridge was introduced in 1891, and both Russian sniper rifles of the modern era, the Mosin-Nagant and the Dragunov sniper rifle, are chambered for it.
Certain commercial cartridges designed with only performance in mind, without the logistical constraints of most armies, have also gained popularity in the 1990s. These include the 7 mm Remington Magnum (7.2x64mm), .300 Winchester Magnum (7.8/7.62x67mm), and the .338 Lapua Magnum (8.6x70mm). These cartridges offer better ballistic performance and greater effective range than the 7.62x51mm. Though they are not as powerful as .50 calibre cartridges they are not as heavy as rifles chambered for .50 calibre ammunition, and are significantly more powerful than rifles chambered for 7.62x51mm.
Snipers may also employ anti-materiel rifles in sniping roles against targets such as vehicles, equipment and structures, or for the long-range destruction of explosive devices; these rifles may also be used against personnel.
Anti-materiel rifles tend to be semi-automatic and of a larger calibre than anti-personnel rifles, using cartridges such as the .50 BMG, 12.7x108mm Russian or even 14.5x114mm Russian and 20mm. These large cartridges are required to be able to fire projectiles containing payloads such as explosives, armour piercing cores, incendiaries or combinations of these, such as the Raufoss Mk211 projectile. Due to the considerable size and weight of anti-materiel rifles, 2- or 3-man sniper teams become necessary.
And again...*face-palm*
_________________
-Leader of the DAP
-Head of Transportation
-Guinea Pig for the Entire NZG
