The History of the Sniper
Early Snipers in the military:
The earliest version of a sniper is a sharpshooter. During the American War for Independence sharpshooters were an elite group of soldiers that used the Kentucky Long Rifle, to take British officers. Sharpshooters used the land to cover their movements and they mainly shot from concealed positions. The sharpshooters weapon slowly evolved into a higher caliber rifled musket during the American Civil War, were the same philosophy that was used during the American Revolution by taking out the highest ranking officer on the battlefield. This concept of using an elite soldier to take out high valued targets changed the way battles were fought.
The types of Sniper rifles past and present:
- The Kentucky Long Rifle (Revolutionary War)
- The Whit Worth Rifle (American Civil War)
- Scoped Lee Infield Rifle (British WWI &WWII)
- Scoped Kar98 (German WWII)
- M82 Barrett 50 Cal. (U.S. Present Day)
These are just a few of rifles that sharpshooters and snipers have used in combat. These rifles have been used throughout history and they proved themselves in battle. The term rifle means that there are spiral groves in the barrel that make the round spin as it exits the barrel. The Kentucky and Whit Worth Rifles were both single shot, muzzle loading rifles. The Lee infield and the Kar98 had an internal 5 round magazine and was a bolt action rifle. Lastly the M82 Barrett 50 Cal. has an external box magazine.
What is the snipers role in battle?
A snipers role in battle is to provide a long range and an out of sight shot on a target that needs to eliminated. The sniper is also an overseer of the battle telling the infantryman where the enemy is located while also providing accurate fire support. In modern day combat a sniper usually has a spotter with him as well. The spotter tells the sniper the wind speed and direction, position of the target, and tells whether the sniper needs to adjust from from the previous shot. The snipers job is pretty simple,all the sniper needs to do is to send the round down range and hope that the round hits the target. In modern conflict today sniper tend to not take high valued targets on a regular basis. Modern battles are not fought on a battlefield were you line up and take shots at each other. But from time to time a sniper does have to take out a high valued target. Snipers are practically invisible to the naked eye if you don't know where to look. During the American Revolutionary and American Civil War, an infantryman could spot a sniper by the smoke that leaves the barrel after the shot. Smokeless Powder wasn't invented until the start of WWI, in order to make the snipers position unable to spot in combat.
The Snipers role in air soft:
The air soft snipers role is basically the same as a regular combat sniper. The sniper is the guy that does the most damage to the opposing force. I haven't seen an air soft spotter with an air soft sniper. Just like a combat sniper an air soft sniper has the same roles but with a slight difference. A combat sniper doesn't shoot a 500 FPS rifle and a combat sniper doesn't usually have a minimum engagement distance in battle. An air soft sniper does shoot a 500 FPS rifle and does have a minimum engagement distance. Just to be clear an Air Soft Sniper is totally different than a combat sniper.
I hope you guys find this informative and are inspired by this article. This is the second installment of "How to be an Air Soft Sniper?". The next article will be on camouflage and concealment. Leave a comment and follow me ShantyMan. ShantyMan signing off for now. ShantyMan Out!!!