General question on sniper rifles

[Slater]

Since I know next to nothing about current sniper rifles, this is directed to the experts:

Do current bolt-action sniper rifles in service with the military, FBI, Law Enforcement, etc. (as a rule) tend to have heavy-profile barrels or standard barrels?

This stems from a conversation at work. A co-worker asserted that, to be capable of the required accuracy, a heavy barrel is pretty much mandatory. He might be right - I don't know.

[pointblank4445]

Slater,

I've been serving in the LE observer/sniper role for a few years now, and precision rifle shooting has been a passion of mine as long as I can remember. By policy, we have to attend at least 1 sniper school a year and if possible one advanced course/workshop every 18 months on top of regular training and general SWAT training. In this time I've seen alot of agency "sniper rifles".

A vast majority have been stock Remington guns with varmint contour barrels (LTR, PSS, etc.). On occasion, I've seen a few Savages and commercial Remingtons with thinner barrels. Those do OK too.

I have seen some REALLY heavy barrels on some guys' custom-built guns. I'm pretty sure one guy from up near DeKalb was rocking a straight barrel with what appeared to be no taper. Personally, I always thought this was overkill given the roll of the sniper around these parts. For the most part, our SOP rarely has us operating beyond 200m. I happen to be a BIG fan of palma profile barrels as they offer good accuracy but with less overall mass. I've found that a medium palma holds up just fine for what we do.

While we put huge emphasis on fractions of an inch and pinpoint accuracy, I have found that a huge, bulky rifle is a liability, and a smarter barrel length an profile is a good place to start. You can see I put my money (a LOT of money) where my mouth is when I designed what I think is the quintessential LE sniper rifle.

[sidewaysil80]

The is no "required" accuracy per say. Different end users will have different accuracy requirements that are predetermined prior to the testing/bid phase of procurement. With that being said all of the professional bolt guns I have seen have been what appears to be a heavy barrel. The M40's I've seen while in the Marine Corps all appeared to have a heavy barrel and the same goes for bolt guns I've seen in law enforcement. Key word is "seen", as in not handled. I'm not, nor was I ever a sniper so I could be wrong.

[Kain]

Probably going to piss off a bunch of people. But, here it goes....

I am going to say that beyond some basic attributes of a rifle, being accurate, I think the general consensus is capable of 1 MOA with match ammo which is pretty much any quality rifle with a good shooter in this day and age(Yes, likely a major oversimplification but it is what it is), being reliable because it better work, and having sight adjustments that are repeatable, the rifle itself matters little. Rather it is more on how it is employed and used. Yes, more accurate rifles are nice, but holding to the 1 MOA standard a lot of rifles can be pressed into the "sniper" role when put in the hands of shooters with the ability and training, and configured properly.

[Pappabear]

You don't have to, NO. But most sniper rifles have larger barrels. But a Rem 700 5R barrel in 20 inch is pretty handy. My hunting gun is a great sniper rifle and is not bull...but on average the classic gun has the thicker variety.

[casador]

Slater,

I've been serving in the LE observer/sniper role for a few years now, and precision rifle shooting has been a passion of mine as long as I can remember. By policy, we have to attend at least 1 sniper school a year and if possible one advanced course/workshop every 18 months on top of regular training and general SWAT training. In this time I've seen alot of agency "sniper rifles".

A vast majority have been stock Remington guns with varmint contour barrels (LTR, PSS, etc.). On occasion, I've seen a few Savages and commercial Remingtons with thinner barrels. Those do OK too.

I have seen some REALLY heavy barrels on some guys' custom-built guns. I'm pretty sure one guy from up near DeKalb was rocking a straight barrel with what appeared to be no taper. Personally, I always thought this was overkill given the roll of the sniper around these parts. For the most part, our SOP rarely has us operating beyond 200m. I happen to be a BIG fan of palma profile barrels as they offer good accuracy but with less overall mass. I've found that a medium palma holds up just fine for what we do.

While we put huge emphasis on fractions of an inch and pinpoint accuracy, I have found that a huge, bulky rifle is a liability, and a smarter barrel length an profile is a good place to start. You can see I put my money (a LOT of money) where my mouth is when I designed what I think is the quintessential LE sniper rifle.

Pointblank4445,
Your quintessential is the Gladius from GAP, and your right right she is a bute. I have the Crusader pictured below, a tad heavier than the Gladius but not as heavy as some of the others they build. The Gladius was Chris Keyle's favorite rifle. I agree with you assessment of the right rifle especially for police work, I'm retired now but I seldom saw a situation where more 100-200 meters would ever be necessary especially in a large city like Miami. I like your rifle enjoy it.....IMG_2901.jpg

[elephantrider]

Since I know next to nothing about current sniper rifles, this is directed to the experts:

Not an "expert," but here goes anyway.

Do current bolt-action sniper rifles in service with the military, FBI, Law Enforcement, etc. (as a rule) tend to have heavy-profile barrels or standard barrels?

Most of the precision rifles that you will see in those organizations will have a heavy profile barrel. As another post stated, many will have a Remington Varmint/Sendero Profile, which is between a lightweight sporter contour and a heavy target profile.

This stems from a conversation at work. A co-worker asserted that, to be capable of the required accuracy, a heavy barrel is pretty much mandatory. He might be right - I don't know.

Short answer here is NO, your co-worker is wrong (tell him some strangers from the internet say so). You can achieve great accuracy with a thin profile barrel, and do not need a heavy barrel for that. Probably the biggest difference you will see between a thin/light profile and a thick/heavy profile barrel (<ALL OTHER THINGS BEING EQUAL OF COURSE) is how they behave under rapid fire strings. The lighter the barrel, the faster the point of impact tends to move under rapid fire, as well as the overall precision degrading faster due to the lighter barrel heating up faster.

[daniel87]

Not an "expert," but here goes anyway.



Most of the precision rifles that you will see in those organizations will have a heavy profile barrel. As another post stated, many will have a Remington Varmint/Sendero Profile, which is between a lightweight sporter contour and a heavy target profile.



Short answer here is NO, your co-worker is wrong (tell him some strangers from the internet say so). You can achieve great accuracy with a thin profile barrel, and do not need a heavy barrel for that. Probably the biggest difference you will see between a thin/light profile and a thick/heavy profile barrel is how they behave under rapid fire strings. The lighter the barrel, the faster the point of impact tends to move under rapid fire, as well as the overall precision degrading faster due to the lighter barrel heating up faster.

What he said

Also A sniper rifle is a myth, it is at its best a precision rifle. But considering a scoped factory walmart variety savage 11 or remington 700 will do

my Qualification, i own a scoped and suppressed savage 11 with a hog hunter barrel
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[Auto-X Fil]

Heavy barrels make a gun more likely to shoot well with off-the-shelf ammo like law enforcement uses. They are also typically found on high-volume precision rifles, such as LE typically buys.

I have a Borden 300 WSM hunting rifle with a VERY thin barrel, that will out-shoot 90-99% of police marksman rifles out there. Jim Borden can drill 5 shots in 0.3" with it every time, using my handloads. I can't manage that yet, but I'm working on it. Extremely few police rifles can do that. And they don't need to - shots tend to be pretty close. There are a ton of skills needed by the police marksman, but extreme benchrest-type accuracy isn't one of them.