I once heard that Team Fortress introduced sniper rifles in computer games (maybe only FPSs). Does anyone know if there is truth to the statement? I can't say that I know of any prior sniper rifle... -- Philip Nilsson

"Military sniper rifles tend to have longer barrels of around 300 mm to allow the cartridge propellant to fully burn and get the fastest bullet velocity for a given charge." is clearly incorrect or at least poorly worded. 300mm isn't even a foot long!

I dont know what the right length should be, but 300mm is about 1 foot, so it cant be correct.say1988 16:55, July 12, 2005 (UTC)

Just to demonstrate, a few lengths are: M-16 (standard US assault rifle, not sniper rifle)=508mm (just for comparison), G3=450mm, M-21=560mm, Dragunov=610mm, M24 SWS=610mm, M40 =610mm, L96=686mm, M82A1=737mm, Steyr IWS 2000=1200mm.

Based on these numbers (all off of weapons listed on this page, excluding most "designated marsmanship rifles", because most listed there are just slightly modified assault rifles) I think that it should probably be 600mm and I will change it to that, if anyone doesnt like my research, just change it back.say1988 17:17, July 12, 2005 (UTC)

Also "There is no correlation between barrel length and accuracy"? I have always believed that longer barrels (to a point) are more accurate, also on the sniper page there are a list of reasons why barrel length is important to accuracy. (resonant length, rifling, etc.)say1988 17:25, July 12, 2005 (UTC)

• Keep in mind that shorter barrels are stiffer which also allows for greater accuracy. Not extremely short barrels, but more like a 24 inch barrel vs. a 26 inch barrel.

In my experience, the article is correct: barrel length does not appreciably effect accuracy. There are a number of secondary effects, such as rifle weight, muzzle velocity, sight radius (not applicable to optically sighted rifles), muzzle blast, etc., that effect practical accuracy, but the effect on the precision of the rifle itself is negligible. 600mm sounds about right for a military sniper rifle.

this article is badly in need of a rework. I changed a few things here and there, and then completely rewrote the introduction with more specific details on what a sniper rifle is. Hopefully that will get the other editors off on the right foot to make this article more educational. There's a great deal of interest from the public on sniper rifles, and a great deal of paranoia as well, and I think it's important for this article to be a good one. Qwasty 18:13, 12 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

What are some usual zoom levels for a sniper rifle scope and how far can you shoot accuately for each zoom level? Wizrdwarts 02:10, 30 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The picture of the soldier holding the M21 is from the movie 'Blackhawk Down' and is not an actual special operations soldier. -anonymous 23 JUN 2006

If you're talking about the first picture, he's A) not special forces and its B) not from BHD. That is a real picture of a US Army soldier in Iraq with what is more likely an M14. -- Thatguy96 22:20, 23 June 2006

I have reverted the recent changes made by an anonymous user. I can appreciate that they changed the order of the features (telescope, caliber, action, stock) to correspond with the order of the intro's bulleted list of features, but these features were listed in order of importance and should remain in this order. I have returned the original order and simplified the lead-in paragraph. Other changes made by this user were also reverted in the process, but they were not correct either: It can be broadly defined as a rifle used for selective destruction of targets from a concealed position could apply to any rifle and sheds no light on the particular nature of sniper rifles, which the original sentence did (that they are used at greater distances than normal rifles) and concealment is also outside of the scope of these rifle's designs and relates more to the human role as any rifle can be concealed in the same manner. Deon Steyn 14:15, 18 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]