[41mag]

what's the difference between a "sniper" & a "varmit" rifle?
bolt action? check
hi power scope? check
bipod? check
a cartridge considered accurate? check
plastic stock? check('tho some do "get by" w/laminate)

I know that prarie dog shooting w/a .50BMG or .338Laupa prob isn't too common.I've no doubt that it's done though.

So what have I missed?It seems to me that a "sniper" rifle-much like an "assault" rifle is just a McLabel pasted on a gun by someone who is,perhaps,being too specific.Like the name will be used to death.Understand my point?

Or am I all wet again.

 

[RIKA]

Not wet at all. The varmint rifle and the sniper rifle aren't really all that different. The varmint rifle generally is of a lighter caliber.

The sniper rifle is fitted with the most accurate barrel possible. Its action is "blueprinted" for straightness, the bolt is lapped into the action. Finest trigger money can buy. Stock is the most stable available and adjustable for the shooter. Sight mounts are mounted absolutely straight and the scope is the finest on the market.

Uhhh, thats the ideal. Very few people/govt entities can or will spend the bucks to actually buy/build such a rifle. Most get by with something less but "adequate".

Most of all, its the care taken in crafting the rifle. Its something that most of us can't afford. I feel good that its the guy/gal behind the trigger that makes it hit - not the rifle itself.

RIKA

 

[DJetAce]

I have looked at Remington VSSF rifles and LEO Remington sniper rifles (like mine), and I can honestly say except for a few do-dads and the 'paint job', there really isn't much difference.

Both will put the same bullet in the same hole at the same distance in the same time. It's the training of the sniper that counts. Mucho patience and skill.

 

[41mag]

Exactly!Years ago I read about the latest & greatest (at the time)Rem 700 "sniper system".I was suitably impressed as I had nothing to judge it against.It couldn't have been too much later when I read about some old Winchester rifles w/the name 40-X.
I was even more suitably impressed.


It's all just a potato(e) then.

 

[Magnum88C]

Again, depends on the definition of sniper rifle. If you're a liberal, then anything with a scope is a sniper rifle. So even guns not accurate enough to varmint or snipe are McLabeled as such.

If you're one of the militia guys, a varmint rifle and a sniper rifle are the same. Most varmint models come in .308, and that's what most base their civilian "sniper" guns out of.

REAL sniper weapons, as RIKA said (like the M40) are pretty much hand-built, meticulously aligned, measured, aligned again, etc and very expensive. They'll be a lot more expensive, and quite a bit more accurate than factory varmint rifles.

The police "sniper" rifles are basically tricked-out factory varmint rifles in most cases, that come from the factory with the goodies mounted.