[Nekekami]

Light-weight and Light-weight. It's basically a standard AWM chambered for .338 Lapua Magnum, and it's not just the british special forces that are equipped with it. The british regular units that have been stationed in Bosnia and Kosovo use it too, especially with API rounds.

 

[Nekekami]

westpointranger:

Actually, it makes sense. It's got far better accurate range than grenade launchers, AT4's etc, with AP and API ammo, light armoured vehicles, machine gun nests, engine blocks etc can all be taken out, and it's not a one-shot weapon.

 

[Nekekami]

Yimmy:

You don't issue it to every platoon in that case, you issue it to the fully trained snipers at battalion-level then. I've met and trained with enough people from the Royal Army and Royal Marine Corps to know that they don't do it that much differently.

 

[Nekekami]

Yimmy:

However, in both Bosnia and Kosovo, they were used at checkpoints etc, to take out vehicle engines etc. Many battalion-level snipers use it for counter-sniper duty, that I can agree with, but it's also issued to some infantry/marine marksmen.

 

[Nekekami]

Yimmy:

Funny, the people I've talked to say that the counter-sniper role is tertiary at best(Especially since the marksmen won't have the full sniper training needed to be effective in that capacity)

 

[Nekekami]

Yimmy:

Because of the differences in training. The sniper will have far more training in observation, surveying terrain to identify likely firing spots, identify the camouflaged target at long range, and be able to hit it in a short period of time, even at long ranges.

 

[Nekekami]

Yimmy:

Actually, no. The focuses on training are completely different. A sniper is essentially trained to do just what I described: Sneak in/Remain Hidden, Observe, Identify and Engage(Be it mission-specific target or priority target of opportunity). Almost all snipers double as scouts, even if it's not listed in the job description =) My position is odd, since I'm actually a sniper operating integrated with a platoon, but we're not "ordinary" infantry either, but I had some troubles adjusting(And still have, even after a couple of years).

Meanwhile, the infantry gets all the training required for squad and platoon level operations, operating together with other platoons, often operating together with vehicles etc, and just get the basics of observation training.

I know that the Swedish and British sniper schools put a fair amount of focus on noticing the differences between various weapons being fired, and we even had to take a test on it, determining direction, approximate distance, caliber and if possible what weapons. Orientation of the shooter was also something we should try to notice from the sound(Yes, it is possible, although extremely hard)