Humans do not do well with bullet holes. Granted there are some instances in which a human being can sustain multiple gunshot wounds and continue to function for a time depending on the extent of the injury, the location of the injury, and access to appropriate medical care. There are many examples of a drug-or adrenaline-fueled combatant requiring multiple rounds to stop him, unless you can place a shot to his brain. In fact, it is a well-known fact that even with a shot to the heart, an appropriately motivated enemy can live for five to eight seconds—more than enough time to shoot you in a close quarter gun battle. So given these facts of human frailty, why not use any caliber? Two main reasons: a) the sniper needs the right tool, such as rifle and caliber combination, to perform his mission, and b) the sniper needs an accurate caliber/bullet combination to match his sniper rifle. Accurate caliber you say? Yes, not all calibers and bullets are created equal.
There are three main types of ballistics. Internal ballistics relate to what is happening in the rifle as the bullet leaves the neck of the cartridge. External ballistics relate to what happens to the bullet as it flies to the intended target. Terminal ballistics relate to what happens to the bullet when it hits the intended target. Sniper cartridges, like sniper rifles, must be accurate out to the range that the sniper has to deliver a shot. Additionally, the cartridge/bullet combination must have the proper terminal ballistics, such that the velocity and energy to perform the intended job. Different targets will obviously require different bullets. A bullet's ability to take out a target depends on the energy or force needed to penetrate and destroy the target. A head shot at 600 yards will require a certain amount of bullet energy to penetrate the skull. If the enemy is behind a glass windshield, a door, or a cinder block wall, obviously the bullet will need more energy to penetrate the cover and still produce a kill.
Over the years the military has done intensive studies on what caliber bullet is best for particular sniper operations. Six calibers are most frequently used in our current environment. All of these cartridges are very accurate, and all have their advantages and disadvantages and will to some degree be chosen depending on the sniper mission. The six calibers are: .223 Remington, .308 Winchester, .300 Winchester Magnum, .338 Lapua, .408 CheyTac, and the .50 BMG. Other, less-popular calibers include the 7mm Magnum and the .419 Barrett. Out of these six calibers, the .308 Winchester and .300 Win Mag are probably the most common. They are plentiful, relatively inexpensive, useful in a wide range of missions, and very accurate out to their maximum effective ranges. The .338 Lapau Magnum is seeing more use, but will most likely only be found in the hands of a Special Operations unit. The .388 ammo is also much more expensive (a box of 20 costs $120 on the civilian market).
Knights Armament M110 is replacing Remington's M24 as of 2010 as the Army's primary Sniper System. It is shown here with the PV S26 Universal Night Sight Short Range (UNS SR).
Calibers commonly utilized for sniper rifles
The .408 CheyTac and the .50 BMG both do extremely well at long range. By long range, we are talking a mile to a mile and half—1,600 to 2,400 yards. They are also used for taking out hard targets—vehicles, radars, communication equipment, engines, or other “hard” objects. Several snipers from multiple allied countries have set new records in the global war on terror with confirmed kills at ranges beyond two thousand yards.
The Exbal ballistic charts in Appendix A show information for the 168-grain Sierra Match King bullet and the 167-grain Lapua Scenar bullet. Both bullets are hollow point boat tail (HPBT) in design, but the Lapua Scenar has a better ballistic coefficient (BC), which is a measure of how well a bullet can overcome air resistance and keep its flight speed. A perfect BC is 1. The larger the BC, the better the flight characteristics. The bullet's ability to keep as much of its muzzle velocity during its flight is an important factor in both the trajectory and the killing effectiveness of the bullet. The characteristics that affect the bullet's BC are its weight, diameter, shape, and drag coefficient.
If you look at both the Match King and Scenar ballistic charts you will note that the Scenar bullet has a slightly better BC: 0.47 compared to 0.458. Not much, but note the velocities, retained energies, and the bullet drop. A bigger BC is better.
The .223 Remington was originally designed for use in the military's AR 15/16 in 1957. It is very accurate and relatively flat,shooting out to about 600 to 800 yards. At about 800 yards, the 77-grain bullet will go subsonic and become unstable. Most believe the effective range for this cartridge is about 600 yards for sniper applications if the target is a soft target. The round does not have the needed energy to penetrate ceramic plates in body armor. There have also been instances in Iraq and Afghanistan where the .223 does not have the energy to effectively eliminate a combatant that is high on drugs or has minimal improvised armor. Most sniper teams will have an AR-style weapon as a backup for retreating if discovered, since the AR, with its semi-or full-auto operation and thirty-round magazines, will offer a weapon that is easier to wield in closer combat, with easier target acquisition at ranges inside 400 yards.
You should be aware that bullets, unless otherwise designed, are super-sonic when they leave the muzzle. There are special applications for subsonic ammunition. Ballistic science has shown that when bullets transit from supersonic speed to subsonic, they become unstable in flight and thereby the accuracy greatly decreases. The speed of sound will vary depending on many environmental factors. At sea level in 68°F dry air it is 1,125 fps. For you metric people, the speed of sound in the same circumstances is 343 meters per second. (Other measurements of the speed of sound: 1,236 kilometers per hour, 768 miles per hour.)
So when you are consulting a ballistic table or using a ballistic computer, note the distance at which the bullet drops below 1,125 fps. After this distance, your chances of making an accurate hit on target are drastically less. Again, in order for the bullet to take out the target, it will also need enough energy, which is dependent on the speed it is flying and its mass. As anyone who went to sniper school, or even took high school physics, will recall, kinetic energy is given by the formula ½ mV2 where “m” is the mass (not weight) and “v” is the velocity.
The .308 Winchester was developed at the end of World War II. The U.S. Ordnance Corps began looking for a smaller cartridge to replace the .30-06 Springfield. The cartridge went through numerous changes and was eventually adopted by NATO as the 7.62 NATO at the end of 1953. The United States adopted it for use in the M14 and the M60 machine gun in 1957. Winchester introduced the cartridge to the public and chambered a Model 70 rifle for the cartridge, hence the name .308 Winchester.
The .308 Win is an extremely accurate round and is thought by some to be the most inherently accurate .30-caliber cartridge ever produced. It is probably the most common cartridge for most sniper rifles, especially if the missions don't require shots past one thousand yards or hard target penetration at extended ranges. There is ceramic plate body armor that will stop a .308, but Kevlar is not a problem for the round. The most common bullet is the 168 hollow point boat tail, usually abbreviated as HPBT. The “hollow point” is not actually a true hollow point as you would see in some pistol personal defense ammunition but is a result of the copper jacketing process.
Sound waves as they emanate from a discharging pistol
The .308 Win is a very accurate and versatile round. Most professionals would say that its effective range is about 800 yards, but snipers have made shots on soft targets out to a 1,000 yards. If you consult the ballistic charts in Appendix A you will note that both the Scenar and the Match King bullets are still super-sonic at 1,000 yards, 1,201 fps and 1,142 fps respectively. The Scenar goes subsonic at just under 1,100 yards. Both bullets retain energy that is about one-third of a .44 Magnum at point-blank range!
The .308 Winchester
Exterior measurements of the .223 Remington
The .300 Winchester Magnum, usually called the .300 Win Mag, was introduced by Winchester in 1963. The .300 Win Mag is used in sniper rifles when there is a possibility of potential targets between 1,000 and 1,200 to 1,300 yards. (More of a guideline than a rule… no reason not to shoot a close target with a .300.) The cartridge for sniping is usually a 190 Grain HPBT bullet. The bullet goes subsonic somewhere between 1,350 and 1,400 yards. At this range the bullet still retains about the same energy as the .308 had at 1,000 yards. The .300 Win Mag is also a very accurate cartridge but does have more recoil than the .308 Win. Most .300 Win Mag sniper rifles will therefore be fitted with a muzzle brake.
Some sweet 7.62mm (.308) Springfields on display at the SHOT show in Las Vegas
The Remington M24 sniper rifle can be chambered for either the .308 or .300 Win Mag. All of the top sniper rifle manufacturers have the .300 Win Mag as an option for those shooters requiring a rifle that is accurate out to the 1,300-yard mark.
The .338 Lapua Magnum was originally developed in the 1980s for the Navy SEALs as a long range sniper rifle by Jerry Haskins of Research Armament Industries and Jim Bell and Boots Obermeyer. At this time the cartridge was called the .338/.416 since its case was based on a .416 Rigby cartridge. Lapua developed the .338/.416 further by strengthening the case and getting rid of the original belted head design of the .416 Rigby. Therefore, in reality, the .338 Lapua is basically a necked down .416 Rigby case that has been reinforced to stand chamber pressures of 60,900 psi! (To use Boston speak: That's freakin’ wicked high.)
The most common bullet weights in .338 Lapua sniper rifles are the 250-grain and 300-grain Sierra Match King HPBTs. Lapua also produces a 250-grain Scenar bullet that has a better BC than the Sierra Match Kings. The .338 is said to be effective out to 1,500–1,800 yards, although most shooters would stick with the 1,500– 1,600 yard effective range figures. If you feel like geeking out, check out the ballistic tables provided on the next page. A quick look at these tables shows that the 250-grain Match King has a lower BC than the 250-grain Lapua. The Match King goes subsonic between 1,450 and 1,500 yards. The 250-grain Scenar with a BC of 0.675 stays supersonic to 1,750 yards! Again, the bigger BC wins! The 300 -grain Match King, with a BC of 0.768, despite its heavier weight and slower muzzle velocity, retains a supersonic velocity to 1,800 plus yards! You can't escape ballistic science.
308 Win Ballistic calculator
The .338 Lapua is what most people would consider an intermediate sniper cartridge—heavier and more powerful than the .308 and .300 Win Mag but not in the .408 CheyTac and 5.0 BMG league. The CheyTac has a muzzle energy of 7,700 pound-feet and the 50 BMG an amazing muzzle energy of 12,000 pound-feet, while the .338 Lapua has 5,222 pound-feet for the 300 grain Match King. So the .338 can be used on some hard targets but will not have the penetrating power of the .408 or the .50.
The recoil is very manageable if the rifle is fitted with a muzzle brake. The .338 Lapua from Accuracy International is a joy to shoot and very accurate, with sub .5 MOA at 100 yards. Shooting 4-inch clay birds at 1,000 yards is no problem with this rifle.
If you are impressed with the potential capabilities of the .338, you better sit down, strap in, and hold on for the .408. The story of CheyTac began a few years ago. John D. Taylor saw that there was a need to either improve the performance of the .50 BMG, which had been developed 80 to 90 years ago. (BMG is short for Browning machine gun. The cartridge was originally designed for use in a machine gun—not as a sniper cartridge.) Taylor brought together a team and created CheyTac Associates. Their mission was to develop and build a very long-range sniper cartridge. The CheyTac team also saw a need for a cartridge that would fill the gap between the .338 Lapua and the .50 BMG, especially for soft target (human) engagements.
Brandon in the mountains of Northern Iraq. Good CheyTac country.
The CheyTac team approached their mission in an unconventional manner—first they designed the ideal bullet, then designed the rifle to shoot the bullet. They realized that their bullet would have to possess outstanding ballistics at distance. CheyTac developed a concept that is known as Balanced Flight, which they patented. The bullets were developed by Warren Jensen, a partner and designer, at Lost River Ballistic Technologies and were designed using PRODAS software and the concepts of Balanced Flight.
Jensen and associates designed a bullet where the linear drag is matched to the rotational drag, which is one of the concepts of Balanced Flight. It is a well-known ballistic fact that a bullet that can retain its stability throughout its flight will go farther and be more accurate. Additionally, CheyTac designers determined the ideal design of the barrel's lands and grooves. They determined that the ratio of total surface of the bullet to the total surface of the lands and grooves should be somewhere between 3 and 4 to 1. Jensen experimented with a variety of calibers but found improvements in bullet performance for the .408 were far beyond predicted.
CheyTac designers also looked into the bullet composition. All of the bullets that we have talked about so far are composed of a lead core with a full copper jacket. The CheyTac bullets are made of a copper nickel alloy and are actually made on a CNC machine (computer controlled) and lathe turned. These bullets are often referred to as solids.
As you can see, the 305-grain bullet has a muzzle velocity of 3,300 fps at the muzzle. The term “inimum max ord” is short for minimal maximal ordinate. When a bullet leaves the muzzle of the rifle, gravity immediately begins to exert its force on the bullet. It is interesting to note that if you were to have your rifle perfectly level on a bench at your local range then simultaneously fire a round and drop a cartridge from the bench, the bullet leaving your gun and the cartridge dropped from the bench would hit the ground at the same time. Skeptical? The next time you are at the range, pay attention to the angle of your rifle. It may look level, but the scope is actually dialing in elevation and thereby changing the path of the bullet from a straight line to an arc or trajectory. As you dial in elevation your rifle is gradually angling up to compensate for the increased range to your targets. At long ranges it's almost like you're “lobbing” your bullets into the target. The maximum height of the bullet's trajectory above the bore is known as the maximum ordinate. Is knowing your bullet's maximum ordinate important? Either “yes” or “no” is correct, depending on the context. If you are always shooting in wide open country, with nothing between you and your target except empty sky, then knowing your max ordinate is not important. However, if you are shooting at a target that is below a series of overhead structures, such as a bridge or tree cover, knowing your max ordinate is important. You may think you have a clear shot, but if what's overhead happens to be at the right distance and is the right height when your bullet's trajectory reaches its max ordinate, the bullet will impact the structure—not your target. You may not have seen the offending object in your scope depending on the magnification, but it was there. Your carefully planned shot was missing a tiny detail—the max ordinate of the bullet—causing you to kill the bridge or someone on the bridge, while your real target flips you off, runs for cover, or tries to return fire. Not a good thing.
The McMillan TAC-300 is your friend when you have a long way to travel.
The CheyTac 305 grain bullet is designed to have a max ordinate of only a few feet over the 1,000-yard distance, so a sniper could theoretically hold center mass on a human target from one to 1,000 yards and effectively engage his target. Not too shabby.
British Snipers have easy access to Accuracy International's excellent rifles. Shown here is the L115A3.338 arctic warfare model. AIl rifles are made in Portsmouth, England.
The M-200 version of the CheyTac Intervention Rifle is a bolt-action rifle with a 7-shot capacity detachable magazine. The rifle and the 419-grain bullet are proven out to 2,000 plus yards on soft target, antipersonnel missions. CheyTac claims sub 1 MOA accuracy out to 3,000 yards in testing. Groups of 7 to 9 inches at 1,000 yards, 10 inches at 1,500 yards, and 15 inches at 2,000 yards have been consistently obtained. Personal experience has seen the rifle shoot a 5-inch group at 1,000 yards and have first round hits on a 12-by-20-inch plate at 2,200 yards.
This extreme long-distance capability gives the sniper great standoff distance compared to other cartridges. In testing in Idaho, an observer at the target could not see the shooter in the open on the desert floor at 2,000 yards. Adding a suppressor, the sniper—without any camouflage—could not be seen with binoculars at this distance.
The rifle repeats its accuracy and holds its zero very well. The system can be disassembled and reassembled with no change in the zero. This includes removal of the barrel, removing the optics and the suppressor, then putting everything back together and shooting again. We have seen this capability with the CheyTac and the Accuracy International systems.
The CheyTac bullet has excellent penetration properties. It can penetrate Level IIIA armor at 2,000 yards and a cinder block wall at 500 plus yards. It will penetrate 1-inch cold-rolled steel at 200 yards and 0.5-inch cold-rolled steel at 850 yards. The 408 system as an antipersonnel weapon is limited only by flight time to its intended target. In testing at the Yuma Testing Grounds, potentially lethal engagements of simulated soft targets (gelatin) were consistently made even at subsonic velocities because of the excellent stability of the projectile through the transition into subsonic velocity.
As an antimaterial weapon it's also very effective. The .50 BMG has an initial higher muzzle energy of about 11,200 to 12,000 pound-feet compared to the .408’s muzzle energy of 7,700 pound-feet. However, at about 700 yards, the remaining energy of the .408 is higher than the .50. CheyTac claims that the 419-grain 408 projectile will defeat any material that the .50 BMG can except for those targets that require an explosive projectile, such as the Raufoss round. Materials such as jet engines, engine blocks, or surface missiles can be easily engaged and defeated with solid projectiles such as the CheyTac copper/nickel alloy bullet.
Accuracy International's Super Magnum .338 Lapua
The .50 BMG was originally developed in World War I as an antimaterial round. Shortly after the Korean War, individuals began experimenting with developing a shoulder-fired rifle that could safely handle the awesome power of this round, which was initially meant for weapons mounted on a vehicle or used on a heavy tripod. The early results weren't very good, but over time the .50 BMG caliber ammunition and rifle design evolved to sniper-level accuracy. Civilian competition shooters with hand-loaded ammo have shot .25 to .5 MOA groups at 1,000 yards—that is a 2.5- to 5.0-inch group at 1,000 yards! Like the CheyTac bullet, the bullets in these world record shots are solid bullets that are turned on a lathe. The downside of these solid projectiles is faster barrel wear and, of course, cost.
CheyTac M-200
Standard military .50 BMG ammo is not that accurate. This is not surprising given the fact that the bulk of military .50-caliber ammo is manufactured to be used in a machine gun, which is designed to shoot a pattern, not a sub 1 MOA group. Newer, more accurate military ammunition is available and indeed, there have been several extreme long-distance confirmed kills made with .50-caliber rifles in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters. One of the newer, more accurate rounds is known as the saboted light armor penetrator (SLAP) round. A sabot (or “shoe”) is a sleeve, usually plastic in rifles, that surrounds a bullet that is smaller than the actual diameter of the barrel, enabling the round to exit the barrel at much higher than normal velocities. After the round leaves the barrel the sabot falls away, and the smaller, lighter round rockets toward its target. The reported muzzle velocity is close to 4,000 fps and has the capability of penetrating .75-inch steel at 1,500 yards. Shooting with that type of muzzle velocity produces a nice flat trajectory, with a low max ord, and that type of penetrating power at distance makes it extremely dangerous.
Another type of .50-caliber round which has been called the crown jewel of .50 caliber is the Raufoss Multipurpose round. The Raufoss was developed in Norway and its design incorporates an exploding, armor-piercing tungsten carbide penetrator. During the bullet's acceleration to the intended target the incendiary compound compresses, which makes a small air pocket. Upon impact the air pocket is compressed, leading to the ignition of the explosive mixture. This then sets off a tiny explosive charge. As the tungsten penetrator jolts and fragments out of the core of the bullet, white-hot sparks of zirconium particles follow and are capable of igniting fuel or explosive vapors in the area of bullet contact. According to its developer, the end result is “the Nordic Ammunition Company, (NAMMO), equivalent firing power of a .20mm projectile” and due to its penetration and delayed detonation it “moves projectile fragmentation and damage effect inside the target for maximum anti-personnel and fire start effect.” The Raufoss bullet also happens to be very accurate.
The CheyTac .408 standard bullet
For closer ranges, they developed the faster-and flatter-shooting 305 grain.
In Dean Michaelis's book The Complete .50 Caliber Sniper Course, he notes that even if you are a great shot with a lower-caliber sniper rifle, technique becomes paramount as you step up to the big dogs. The .50-caliber rifles must be shot neutral. That means that you need to have your natural point of aim, be straight behind the gun, and not try to muscle the gun to your intended target. Trying to force the gun will result in a miss. Finesse and technique will bring you home with a hit.
The U.S. military has the following .50-caliber cartridges in its inventory:
• M33 Ball—not very accurate.
• M-17 Tracer.
• M-8 Armor Piercing Incendiary. It is reportedly reasonably accurate.
• M 20 Armor Piercing Incendiary—a tracer shot for the M-8.
• M-903 Saboted Light Armor Piercing. Composed of a 350-grain tungsten steel penetrator. This requires a different twist rate than other standard rounds.
• M-933 SLAP Tracer—a tracer for the M-903.
• Mark 211, Mod O. This round was developed for and adapted by the U.S. Navy Special Warfare snipers. It is also referred to as a greentip.
The selection of different cartridges will depend upon the mission requirements, and each round will have a different ballistic profile, which the shooter will need to know. In the longer distances (1,000 plus yards) that the .50 caliber can be employed, for analysis and accurate interpretation of the meteorological and environmental factors become very important in making accurate hits. The use of a ballistic and the input of environmentals and accurate ballistic data can ensure a first-round hit.
The CheyTac Intervention Rifle
CheyTac information paper
Look at the penetration from the chart below and understand that this is just the standard AP round, not the SLAP or Raufoss. Now you can understand why the .50 may not be the best choice to use when concerned about overpenetration. We don't want any friendlies in the house three blocks away from the target to get hit as well. But for the 2,000 plus yard shot in the rocky mountains of Afghanistan, this dog will hunt.
Anyone passionate about shooting wants to do it well, and doing it well means accuracy, and maybe throw speed in there too. So many things can influence the shot placement; however, not all may be in the fore-front of your mind. Here are some things other than environmentals and ballistics to think about:
• Hopefully, you have been keeping a record of the number of rounds you have put through your rifle. Over time, barrels will lose their accuracy. This is secondary to the degradation of the rifling and the throat of the barrel. The throat is the area just forward of the bullet when the bullet is in the chamber. This is the part of the rifle barrel that takes the brunt of the high pressure and heat of the round being fired. Some rifle cartridges will wear faster than others. In general, the hotter loads will have a shorter barrel life than the slower rounds.
• Your scope can become loose. The repeated stress of the rifle firing can loosen the scope mount, which will be just enough to have the scope move slightly on subsequent shots. Unless caught, that will ruin your day.
• The crown of your rifle barrel can be damaged. The crown is the area just at the very end of the rifle at the muzzle. It is the last metal part of the barrel the bullet touches before it leaves the rifle. As the bullet leaves the barrel, all of the hot gases that have been pushing it down the barrel escape. If these gases do not escape evenly around the bullet's base, the resulting uneven pressures can influence the flight of the bullet and contribute to the bullet's stability, which affects the accuracy of the bullet. If the crown gets chipped or worn your rifle's accuracy can suffer. Usually you see flyers in your groups.
• Parallax problems. To see parallax, set your rifle up on sandbags so that it is solidly placed. Run your scope up to max power and line up the crosshair perfectly on a bull's eye at one hundred yards. Without touching the rifle, look at the crosshair and move your eye/head slightly side to side, as well as up and down. If the crosshair moves from the bull's eye, you have a parallax problem. This can be corrected by the scope manufacturer, but it must be corrected for a specific distance. Most sniper-quality scopes will have a parallax adjustment knob.
.50-Caliber AP Round Media Penetration at 100 yards (in inches).
Photo Credit: Data from John Plasters, The Ultimate Sniper.
Medium |
Inches |
Concrete (solid) |
9 |
Timber logs |
96 |
Steel (non-armored) |
1.8 |
Aluminum |
3.5 |
Tamped snow |
77 |
Dry soil |
28 |
Wet soil |
42 |
Dry sand |
24 |
Wet sand |
36 |
Dry clay |
42 |
Wet clay |
64 |
Advantages of a Sniper-Grade Bolt-Action Rifle:
• Degree of Accuracy—.5 MOA accuracy.
• Very Reliable—rare malfunction, secondary to design and number of parts in the firing mechanism. The only real parts of the rifle that are going to fail in the short term are the trigger, the firing pin in the bolt, or possibly the bolt could lock up if using low-grade or bunk ammunition.
• Ease of field maintenance.
• Fouling of the barrel. Copper fouling is a close second to loose scope mount screws. Copper fouling is hard to see and hard to pinpoint. It occurs slowly and what you will typically see is your groups open up over time. If you determine that copper fouling is a problem, it is fixable with the available copper removal chemical solutions. Be careful with the aggressive solutions. If left in contact with your barrel for too long (15 minutes or more), they can damage the steel as well as remove the copper. Additionally, be careful not to let these chemicals get into the trigger assembly of your rifle.
Example of a sabot plastic sleeve
Cut away of an Accuracy International Rifle Receiver and bolt
Disadvantages of a Bolt-Action Sniper-Grade Rifle:
• Rate of fire. Depending on the manufacturer, the rifle may have an internal magazine, which in the lighter class rifles limits the shooter to five rounds.
• Some manufacturers, such as CheyTac, Accuracy International, and McMillan, have addressed this issue by designing their rifles to use detachable box magazines that can hold more rounds and be exchanged for a fresh magazine as needed. The CheyTac magazine will hold seven rounds; typical 308 magazines will hold up to ten. Despite this increased ammunition capacity, a bolt rifle will never have the same rate of fire as a semiautomatic. Why? Manually working the bolt takes some time, that's why.
Advantages of a Sniper-Grade Semiautomatic Rifle:
• Rate of fire. The semiautomatic action will cycle the bolt much faster than we humans can ever hope to.
Disadvantages of a Sniper-Grade Semiautomatic Rifle:
• Degree of accuracy. The best semiautomatics will shoot 1 MOA in the lighter calibers. In the heavy caliber rifles such as the Accuracy International .50 caliber, the accuracy is closer to 1.5 MOA. Granted this is very good, but depending on the mission and the target it may not be good enough.
• Dependability. There are many more moving parts in the semiautomatic rifles. Any of these parts can fail. Additionally, the semiautomatics have a higher chance of a feeding/ejection malfunction than a bolt gun.
• Ease of maintenance. More moving parts, more to clean, and in gas impingement semiautomatics, the carbon build-up is another thing you need to keep a close eye on.
Check out the AR style rifle and compare it to the simplicity of a bolt action.
AR style upper and lower parts schematics. That's a lot of parts.
Brandon's 300 Winmag with NF optics. With a 2,900 feet per second muzzle velocity this is a real tack driver out to 1,000 yards.
• Your vision. Stay on top of it boys and girls: Wear your eye protection religiously, and don't be too proud to stop in and say hello to your local optometrist now and again.
