Reaching Out

I stumbled on this list of “Best Sniper Rifles SOTI, and thought I’d share it with everybody.  Here it is:

Accuracy International AXSR
*Accuracy International AT308
Barrett Mk22 MRAD
Mk 13 Mod 0/5/7
Barrett M82/M107
*M40
M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS)
B&T USA 300SPR Pro
FN SCAR Mk 20 SSR
*SVD Dragunov
HK 417/G28/M110A1
M110 SASS
Sako TRG M10
*Sako TRG 22/42
M2010 ESR
Desert Tech SRS A2

I’m so out of touch with this stuff that in all conscience, I wouldn’t dare to comment on their choices.  However, there are a few on the list that I have shot (asterisked), and I have to say that I would happily take any of them to war, if I were of the appropriate age and fitness.  Of those, here are my favorites.

• SVD Dragunov — loath as I am to give any plaudits to the Commies, for pure ease of shooting and comfort, not to mention very acceptable accuracy, this is my absolute favorite.  I owned one for a brief period, and traded it for something else, which ended up being lost in that Tragic Canoe Episode On The Brazos.
• M40 (Remington 40X) — not only have I shot this puppy, but I’ve seen what it can do in the hands of a good shot — that would be Doc Russia, who owns a hand-made variant — and at any distance out to 800 yards (in my hands, anyway) this gun is deadly.  (In Doc’s capable hands… forget about it.)
• Sako TRG 22 — best trigger of all of them.  I was at a Schutzenfest  many years ago (2003? how time doth fly), and saw someone shooting this rifle.  I asked if I could pop off a few, and he graciously consented.  If they weren’t so spendy ($5 grand back then, well over $6 grand now), I’d have seriously considered buying one.  Apparently the TRG 22A1 is a considerable improvement on the original, but I can’t imagine how they improved the thing other than with some internal wizardry.  Apart from cost, though, it has another failing, for me:  it’s heavy, Bubba.
• Accuracy International AT308 — anything those wizards at Accuracy Int. do is worth a look, and the .308 version is outstanding.  I can’t remember which model I shot — I think it was the “Arctic Warfare” model — but in the hands of even just a competent rifleman (that would be me, on a good day), all the AI rifles are one-holers.

Anyway, I found the article a lot of fun to read, even though the rifles’ nomenclatures made my brain hurt, trying to keep up (“Mk 13 Mod 0/5/7 — 417/G28/M110A1 — M110 SASS”… how the hell does anyone keep track of this shit?)

Precision shooting… what fun.