Sniper Weapon Systems

So what is the Sniper's weapon? Well, duh, the sniper rifle. But what exactly is a sniper rifle?
Snipers throughout time have used a very large variety of weapons to suit their specific wants and needs. During World War I and II the sniper rifle was really nothing more than the standard bolt-action or semi-automatic rifle with a teloscopic sight mounted on top. Getting into the Korean War there still wasn't a demand for the role of sniping leaving a gap in the sniper's arsenal. Most of them again just used the same, standard issue rifles with telescopic sights on them. Some preferred the slower, more accurate bolt-action guns, obvioiusly due to the accuracy involved with the far fewer moving parts than the semi-automatic guns. Moving on into the Vietnam War snipers finally started to really get recognized. They were finally given their own training school and were able to carry out specific sniping missions. This was one of the most effective ways of combatting the guerilla warfare used by the Viet Cong. The arsenal for these snipers was very large indeed now. It all really just depended on the type of mission being run. For missions where great range was needed and there wasn't a need to be ditching quickly or any instant threats, the Browning M2 50 Caliber machine gun was used with a mounted telescopic sight. With its slow rate of fire, single shots could be fired with ease making it a very formittable weapon. Another popular weapon was the Remmington Model 70 and Model 700. A favorite of the Viet Congs' was the Russian designed Mosin Nagant. It fired a much smalled round than either the Model 70 or 700 and consequently was easily outranged.
    Now for the fun. Today's current snipers use a great variety of weaponry. The sniper rifles used today are the standard M40A4 for the Marines and the M24A3 for the Army. These weapons are bother based almost exclusively on the Model 700. However there are also new "Anti-Material" guns being used now as well. These big bore guns shoot the 12.7mm round compared to the standard 7.62mm. This is the big 50 caliber gun. The 50 caliber sniper rifle in service right now is the M82A1, which is used by the Marines and the Army uses the identical twin brother of it designated the M107.

Here you can really see the difference in size of the standard rounds. The one on the left is the standard 223 round fired in all of the standard M4 assault rifles. The middle is the .338 Lapua which is another standard round found in a lot of sniper rifles. The one on the right is the Big 50. This is the anti material round used in the M82A1 and in the M107.
(Photo coutesy of "Bayou Renaissance Man" 's Blog post)

This is the Marines prized 50 caliber sniper rifle, the M82A1

This was the often used Remmington Model 700 of the Vietnam War.