Snipers Corner

[Iceman]

Originally Posted by numbers

When all you snipers go "out" in the field, do you go in pairs? Such as a shooter, and a spoter?

I usually go by myself. Its always fun to think about Sniper/Spoter in real life 'because its usefull... in airsoft, its not really that useful.

So i'm a crawling loner

[SKI]

I usualy have a spotter. It does help whith target identification and he's their to cover my ass when problems arise.

As far as the ghillie, I only cover the back so it's easier to crawl. i haven't covered my rifle yet as I draw my hood over it. I will be covering the front end of the rifle as soon as I get a few minutes to myself. As far as the scope goes. I use a scope extension to keep it from catching glare from the sun. I also use the hood to cover the scope. I won't bother covering the legs of the bipod as they are covered by the grass and foliage on the ground.

[JacoNB]

Originally Posted by Iceman

Jacon, you want to make your Ghillie 'Oversized' to what you wear. If you are wearing MEdium BDUs (standard Propper Medium), then make your Ghillie 'Large'.

Cool... okay... I take a large, unfortunately. lol... looks like I'll need more jute and burlap. I'm short, but stout.

[FOX_111]

Shameless plug here.

All you snipers, if you are looking to test your skills, I made a sniper oriented milsim.
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=24020

The english translation is not up yet, as some few details that need to be tweeked.

It's going to be a very hard milsim!

[SCG48]

Pending on the game and scenario, I prefer having a spotter with me, he basically watches my other 180 and should crap hit the fan he will cover my arse while I get out of the area, then follow. In much larger scenarios, 12hrs or more I prefer 3 man sniper team, Shooter, Spotter, and rear security.

as for ghillie suits, I prefer to have only the back with garnish as apposed to the front, and heavy canvas covering the front.

My rifle is camed, I always wrap my home made rifle wrap on my APS. I used to have a bipod on it, decided to place it on my Lee Enfield :grin: as i dont use it in airsoft, as I like to keep a low profile.

As for my scope, it has a scope hood/extension therefore I dont require the "honeycomb"

I do lots of "recce" and Observing and I mean lots of that, on average I get 4-6 kills, not much, but I spend most of my time moving from one location to the next reccying and observing.

I am very selective on the postions I take up, I always ensure I have a few routes to take should I get "bumped" and always ensure the postion I take up offers me full field of view and no one can "just" sneak up from behind.

BE VERY OBSERVANT AND PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL

[JourneyMan]

Is there any recomendations for a "light" sniper rifle. I do a lot of recce and general sneaking in my games, and more than once I have had the opportunity for some great shots that I coun't take because my P90 just can't do it. I love my P90, and I can do some very fast maneuvering in my games which I just couldn't do with any other gun, but I really wish I could carry a rifle that I could take the occational shot with.

[Barf]

Depends on the equipment. If I'm with another sniper, I'll go in pairs. Otherwise, I take 4 gunners with me to cover the four points of the compass. In a pinch the gunners can be redeployed as an assault team if the situation warrants it.

[Ghillie973]

Originally Posted by JourneyMan

Is there any recomendations for a "light" sniper rifle. I do a lot of recce and general sneaking in my games, and more than once I have had the opportunity for some great shots that I coun't take because my P90 just can't do it. I love my P90, and I can do some very fast maneuvering in my games which I just couldn't do with any other gun, but I really wish I could carry a rifle that I could take the occational shot with.

You could just grab a TM G-SPEC and take off the silencer. That way you have a nice and short rifle that you could sling on your back.

[SKI]

Originally Posted by dj_ghillie

You could just grab a TM G-SPEC and take off the silencer. That way you have a nice and short rifle that you could sling on your back.

I agree. One thing to think about though. You don't want to be too short or then you're back to square one. The G-SPEC would be a good "little" BA to carry.

[JourneyMan]

hmm, about how much would I spend to be able send a .29 grandmaster off at 350 fps without going through sears like popcorn?

[AKACHOPPER]

interested

[numbers]

The best thing that I have found for a backing is a cam net. Here it is already can be fixed to the back of your combats, and then you can add to it as you go. If done correct you will have yourself the start of a very effective suit.

I also found that if you use berlap and pull it apart into its single stran form, bunch a few together then use a light coat of camo paint; ( the kind you would find in Canadian Tire ) this will add some depth to your suit. This works real well. I spent 3 days in one that I made up, and the enemy force never even saw me.

[mthead]

Since we don't have a section yet, maybe large posts, will help move the mods to create one.

Sniper Deployment/Gear/Weapon review:
IMO, an airsoft sniper is about 60% accuracy 40% stealth. When i look for a new BA (bolt action), I am mainly looking for accuracy, I’ve tried the psg1/tanaka kar98/tanaka m700 takedown/vsr-10/vsr gspec, as well as a m4-sniper variant with psg-1 tight bore length barrel.

In my experience, the most useful rifle is the one where you can take a second shot if needed, the shot could be to correct for environmental changes, weapon consistence issues, or perhaps eliminate a second player. As much as I would like to say my rifles can hit there target +80% of the time, during all conditions. Wind/bb quality/weapon consistency/situation takes that number out the window. Yes when you setup a blind, and wait, finally someone comes across your path, and a single shot is all that’s required, but you become useless to the rest of your team, for the entire time you wait. A more urban sniper is required for effectiveness.

Here is my view, and how I manage to contribute to my team as a sniper.

Weapons of Choice (so far):
TM VSR GSpec
KSC Glock 19 w/ g17 length clips + adaptors

I would like to upgrade it to about 380 maybe even 400 fps (club limit is 475), going too much higher may make the gun far too loud to prove useful.

Reason for weapon:
Sound of the gun. My 100% kill range is <100ft. this doesn’t give me too much room for error when it comes to sound. A Gspec allows for a second shot (usually the second most useful target) and a small gap to escape, and in some cases stay hidden while enemy looks for you. I can get a 50% kill range of about 150-200ft, this begins to become just a waste of bbs, only useful in scare tactics. I have scored the odd kill at the 200ft + range, but it I more luck than anything.

Another advantage of the gspec, is the short barrel length. Using a biathlon’s sling or hawk camel back, the gun can be easily slung, held out of the way to increase movement while crawling. (more in my gear section) The short barrel length allows for using the gun in tighter areas, moving easier, and less of a perpendicular profile.

The glock was not chosen for any reason, it is small and very reliable. I added a threaded barrel and stubby silencer, but more for looks than function. I can accurately engage a target at 30ft with 100% kill, or 50ft with 60% kill. It is a backup weapon used for cqb or during movement.

By 100% kill range, I mean… If I can see more than 6 square inches of there body, in good conditions, a single shot is all that’s required.

Gear Loadout:
Ghillie: I no longer use a ghillie suit for several reasons. First they are very bulky and required great attention to feel a hit from an enemy shot. Secondly, they tend to hinder your abilities more often then improve them, this mainly because of the fields I play on.

A ghillie suit can be deployed once a suitable location has been found, but requires a small amount of time to deploy then, again another small amount of time to re pack when the situation calls for you to move. This time can better be spent observing or engaging the enemy. I find a ghillie’s effectiveness increases directly proportional with the distance from the enemy. And since my rifle has such sort 100% kill range, a ghillie no longer suits my needs. Don’t get me wrong, they are incredibly useful in cretin areas and conditions, I have been stepped on before while wearing my old one. What one needs to do is think of how long a usual game is, the terrain, and conditions and decide dynamically if they feel a ghillie is useful to carry around with you.

Camo: in my opinion what ever floats your boat. I have four sets to pick from, woodland/tri color/marpat/ and snow. In any condition (Calgary Alberta) I can choose one of these to suit my needs. Mainly the tri-color works best for the fields for anything other than summer, and the marpat/woodland for summer. A boonie hat with webbing around the ring works usually, but sometimes due to conditions/environment a shemagh works.

Kit: when deployed as a sniper, I use a belt kit, with one drop pistol holster, and one drop mag holster. The drop mag holster was designed to hold 308 shells, after removing the webbing inside the pouches, it fits 4 sniper mags. The belt kit has few pouches for extra pistol mags, and one small butt pack for holding tools and nv (if needed).

I wear a hawg camelback with the main body synched tight to create a low profile pack. The molle straps on the back can hold foliage to increase camo effectiveness, as well as a small drawstring on my left side to hold my rifle vertical along the pack. With one pull, the rifle rolls off my left shoulder and can be shot within seconds. With the rifle attached to my back a drag bag is not needed, which cuts down on the sound I make, as well as makes low crawling and movement easier.

I carry few other items, a compass, topo map of the area, rino gps/frs radio, and a waterproof notebook + pencil/pen. + food.

Deployment Strategy

Obviously during a recce or hit n run style attack, I would deploy traditional sniper style. But 9/10 times my unit travels as an attacking force. My role when deployed as a sniper is to provide observations of movements/long range engagement/fear tactics/and support fire.

My most successful deployments have been in urban environments, lightly wooded areas and high grass. Being attached to a fighting force, I am required to move often, and spend less time on concealment and more on position. When taking on a fortified position, I will pull back behind my unit, and move around to a flank adopting a more traditional sniper deployment, depending on my concealment to get me in my 100% kill range, only engaging targets with tactical importance, for my team to take the fortification. If I were to just fire on any target of opportunity, on the off chance my position is discovered, any joe using his aeg as mortars could take me out of the equitation.

During deployments of less than satisfactory conditions, such as open fields with little or no cover, or defending well lit, open areas. I depend on my range and size to keep the enemy back, and my small rifle and pistol to defend a more close quarters environment. My deployment works best in the front when opposed with a defensive cqb/poor environment.

I have seen several snipers attempt to use there range by moving away from the structures and try to pick off enemy from a distance. Since it is defensive, the enemy will move fast and erratic to breach your defense, removing your usefulness. Usually in this situation, snipers tend to watch the action go by them.

So when positioned up front, having your main force defending the guts of the structure, they support you and rely on your position and speed to engage only close targets. I have in the past had our support gunner carry a m4 on there back for these situations, but found it wasn’t needed most of the time, and only slowed the unit down.

Limiting yourself to a traditional sniper role in airsoft limits the units you work with. Stealth and concealment do play a role in an effective deployment, but tend to hinder the usefulness of your unit/team. It is entirely possible to deploy alone, but tends to produce mixed results. I find, alone you tend to hold fire on targets that could pose a direct threat to you, and with a team of any type, you can engage targets while a firefight distracts your enemy. I have deployed in several games that lasted in the 24hr time ranges, but since any (unexpected) one kill is so menial, even when a sim’s goal is to eliminate a single person, they are usually so well protected during the operation window, a single sniper has a better chance helping a unit pick a time/location for an engagement then engage the vip directly.

My style depicts the type of requirement my team has for me. Traditional snipers are still useful, but I find need to work alone, breaking down the communications structure a team can provide.

I would like to hear from other snipers, about there rifles / deployment strategies, whether they are alone or attach to a unit, if they find they are useful to a team with a BA in there hands.

[wey ferro]

nice post.
brad?

[mthead]

yep