.308, .30-06, .223 Sniper Rifles

Reach out and Touch Someone

Sniper rifles are designed as single shot weapons for long range. Even in the urban field, this kind of attack is awesome.  Who is able to locate a enemy lying at 500 meters from him ? The most difficult thing, when making a long range attack, is to find a good place to shoot from. That is one which provides a good point of view, and where one can prepare his weapon and wait for his victim without being disturbed. Various equipment (smartlink, scope, laser-assisted aim, computer-assisted aim, bipod, suppressor...) allow maximum accuracy and discretion for modern snipers.

The 300 is an outstanding sniping round for military applications! But as you might imagine, it offers a lot of power and penetration, which limits its role in Law Enforcement. I am aware that the Secret Service uses the .300, but they're situation is rare, they don't have to be too concerned with hostages. They just need to insure that the possible assassin is stopped, and the .300 is a good caliber to do that. The .300 is also a great round for going through media in order to hit the target. The .300 is very capable of extending out past 1000 meters reliably, reaching 1200meters on a nice calm day without much effort. One big criticism of the .300 is the amount of recoil that the round produces. To be honest, it really does punish the shooter, making long sessions at the range a very grueling situation. If you are not careful, you can easily develop a flinch in your shooting cycle, this could be very bad. But with proper training, and a gradual migration into the .300, you can overcome this problem.

Recommendation: The .300 gets my highest recommendation for military use.  If you could find a suitable round that limits over-penetration, the .300 could be a very flexible caliber, offering good armor penetration with the change of ammo.

Note: The Federal Match .300 was chosen for my military round, it�s a great round and serves admirably, the 190gr Sierra Match King has a really nice Ballistic Coefficient.

Federal Gold Medal Match .300 Winchester Magnum 190gr Sierra Match King at 2900fps

Bullet Drop (Inches)

Energy (Muzzle - 3550Ft.-Lbs)

Wind Drift (Inches) 10mph Crosswind

The .308 is by far the most popular sniping round, and for good reason. The .308 is not punishing to shoot, has excellent terminal ballistics, behaves predictably in the wind, and is consistent. While there are quite a few rounds that outperform the .308 in ballistics, there are few, if any, that perform as consistently as the .308. And consistency is accuracy. The .30 cal bullet has long been a great performer, and is very popular which leads to more research with the .30 then with other calibers. While the .308 may over penetrate in some cases (especially with M118) the .308 is still used in the majority of the Law Enforcement agencies out there. It is accepted that if you do your job and put the bullet where it counts, you can count on the .308 to do its job and incapacitate the target. The US Army preaches an 800 meter maximum effective range for the .308, the USMC preaches a 1000 meter max effective range. While I have made hits at 1000 meters and beyond with the .308, I would have to agree with the Army and say that 800 meters is the limit for RELIABLE hits. After that the .308 is dropping like a rock and is inconsistent. As an all around sniping round that works great for both Law Enforcement and military sniping, the .308 is hard to beat!

Recommendation: The .308 is acceptable for both military and Law Enforcement use, and is very capable of 800 meter hits on a human size target. If there is a need to reach beyond 800 meters, I recommend something with more oomph then the .308. If you are a Law Enforcement sharpshooter, keep in mind the penetrating power of the .308, especially with full metal jacket rounds (Like the M118).

 Military Applications

Note: I have listed the M118 (The current military sniping round) and also the Federal 175gr Match Ammo, they are both suitable for military sniping. The US Armed forces is currently in a transition to M118LR, which fires a 175gr Sierra Match King bullet, exactly like the Federal Match ammo, but it fires it 20 fps slower at 2580fps. The Federal Match 168gr is also included as the standard.

• M118 = M118 Special Ball - 173gr FMJ-BT (2550fps)
• M118LR = M118LR Special Ball - 175gr HPBT (2580fps)
• F-175gr = Federal Gold Medal Match .308 175gr HPBT (2600fps)
• F-168gr = Federal Gold Medal Match .308 168gr HPBT (2600fps)

Bullet Drop (Inches)

Energy (Muzzle - M118 - 2605Ft-Lbs., M118LR - 2586, Fed. Match 175gr - 2625, Fed. Match 168gr - 2520)

Wind Drift (Inches) 10 mph Crosswind

The -06 served as the United States primary sniper round from WWI up until sniper rifles were standardized during the later part of the Vietnam conflict. The -06 offers good ballistics and served as an outstanding sniper round. While its purpose might be limited in the Law Enforcement arena, due to possible over penetration, but with the selection of the right ammo, the -06 would serve as a stellar round in a Law Enforcement situation. There is a shortage of sniper grade weapons in the .30-06, which I have never understood why. The -06 falls in-between the .308 and the .300. and there has always been match grade ammo produced by Federal. I personally think this is the ideal military sniping caliber, it offers better ballistics than the .308, but doesn't punish the shooter like the .300.

Recommendations: I recommend the .30-06 highly for military applications, but I am a little reluctant to recommend it for Law Enforcement use, unless you take the time to research and find a good, rapidly expanding round.

Note: I have chosen the Federal Gold Medal Match .30-06 for military use. It is more then adequate, but I really wish that they would load the 175gr at 2700fps, this would really be a good round, and it would be any easy change, its all done with the .308.

Federal Gold Medal Match - .30-06 168gr Sierra Match King at 2700fps

Bullet Drop (Inches)

Energy (Muzzle - 2720 Ft.-Lbs.)

Wind Drift (Inches) 10mph Crosswind

5.56x45mm NATO (.223 Rem)

 The .223 is used for law enforcement applications, largely because some agencies fear the over penetration of the .308 round in hostage type situations. The .223 generally splinters on impact, allowing almost no excess penetration that could possibly hit innocents, such as hostages. But with this fragmentation and lack of penetration comes a necessity for more precise shot placement, leaving almost no room for error. The .223 has a small temporary wound channel (Stretch cavity), requiring almost a direct hit on the spinal stem in order to get "lights out" on a target. The lighter .223 bullet is very susceptible to the effects of wind, which really limits its long range potential. While it is possible to achieve acceptable accuracy at 600 meters on a calm day, it is to risky on the windy days to really consider this round for military sniping purposes. Due to the lack of penetration and lack of energy, the .223 should only be used in very rare circumstances and only on head shots. There is more then one instance when a target has been shot with a perfectly placed center mass shot, and it failed to incapacitate him.

Note: In order to stabilize the 69-gr. Bullets and heavier, the twist on the rifle barrel needs to be at least 1:8"

Recommendation: only use the .223 within 100 meters and only take head shots if at all possible. If the .223 is all that your unit has in the way of a sniper rifle, be sure to keep in mind the limitations of the round.

Ballistics: Some possible rounds and their ballistics have been listed below.

Federal Gold Medal match - 5.56x45mm NATO (.223) 69gr 3000fps

Bullet Drop (Inches)

Energy - (Muzzle: 1380 ft-lbs.)

Wind Drift (Inches) - 10mph Crosswind

U.S. Army M21 & XM21 Sniper Weapon System

Caliber:                   7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Win.)

Capacity:                  20 or 5 round detachable box magazine

Mechanism:                 Rotating bolt, gas operated, air cooled,

                            semi-automatic magazine fed rifle

Weight:                    11.25 lbs (5.11kg)

Length:                    44.1" (112cm)

Barrel:                    Match Grade 22 inches 1:10 RH twist

Trigger Pull:              Specially tuned 4 1/2 pound match

                            two-stage military trigger

Sight:                     Redfield/Leatherwood 3-9x Automatic Ranging Telescope (ART)

Max Effective Range:       900 yards (822m)

U.S. Army & U.S. Navy M25 & XM25 Sniper Weapon System

Caliber:                   7.62x51mm NATO (.308 Win.)

Capacity:                  20 or 5 round detachable box magazine

Mechanism:                 Rotating bolt, gas operated, air cooled,

                            semi-automatic magazine fed rifle

Weight:                    10.8 lbs (4.9kg)

Length:                    44.3" (112.5cm)

Barrel:                    Match Grade, Heavy Contour, 22", 1:11 RH twist

Stock:                     McMillan Fiberglass, glass bedded.

Trigger Pull:              Specially tuned 4 1/2 pound match

                            two-stage military trigger

Sight:                     Typically B&L 10x Tactical (Leupolds are also used)

Max Effective Range:       900 m (983yards)

LIGHT SNIPER RIFLES

GAME STATISTICS

DESCRIPTIONS

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