Tim May <tcmay@got net> continues the sniping discussion:

I haven't seen Jim's reaction to my point about bolt-action rifles still being far and away the favored weapon for sniping. Neither an AR-15 variant nor an HK variant are advised for long-range shots (though either will of course be capable of such shots...it's just that one wants the absolute best precsion, and cycling rate is largely immaterial).

In a rich target environment where you're firing from concealment, I think it is better to have a semiauto 7.62mmN rifle such as an accurized HK91 or a national match M1A, assuming the enemy has snipers or long-range antisniper weaponry. Why? 1) It is likely to be a target rich environment. USMC sniper doctrine is mainly single target single kill attacks from outside 600 yards. Former Soviet and US Army snipers mainly engaged multiple targets inside that range for tactical support. Defending against a raid is primarily tactical support sniping, killing the vice president of a country other than the US is primarily USMC style scout/sniping. Thus, in defending against a raid, Soviet-style weapons are probably better. 7.62x54R Dra----v rifles are probably a good model -- iirc (I've never fired one), they're semi auto bullpups. [eeek, www.guns.ru is selling them with bayonets! tactical close range sniping, aye!]. Or the SEAL sniper weapon -- an accurized M14, which is basically an M1A. With a good scope and better trigger, an M14/M1A can be 1 MOA, and it's a real battle rifle, with the ability to engage multiple targets quickly due to the semi-auto action. Also, when you're operating without a spotter/security man, it's nice to have the ability to quickly kill anyone in close. With an M1A, you just move from your concealment, kill, and return, wasting a minimum of time. I guess in a home you could just keep an AR-15 next to you for such close-in dealings, though. 2) In my (somewhat limited) experience, many field-improvised concealment locations are great during firing, but when you move to cycle the action on a bolt action rifle, you make the concealment shake or otherwise reveal yourself. Against a force with sniper/antisniper weaponry, that will likely bring down a hail of fire, which is suboptimal at best. USMC snipers generally solve this by firing once and leaving, since it's confusing and hard to localize on a single gunshot, but in a target rich environment, you might not be able to move. And they may have you surrounded, so it's hard to move without being seen. 3) A semi-auto is generally more useful for non-sniping tasks. I can barely carry an M1A, spare ammo, supplies, etc. for a couple days without being annoyed at the weight -- I sure wouldn't want to add a SMG or assault carbine to that. I would not have a problem with using a battle rifle/sniper rifle against a force armed with assault carbines and SMGs, though. True, this may be less of an issue inside a house, since you could just leave all your supplies cached throughout. I still thing you need to remain concealed and hopefully in cover, and if they bring heavy weapons to bear, you are going to have to move around the house, at least. A PSG-1 ends up being cheaper than 10 match-grade Remington 700s -- besides, the scope is much more expensive than the gun anyway (perhaps I just like overly expensive scopes) All that being said, for field use and home defense, if I'm alone, I'd take a barrett .50 browning for long-range USMC-style scout-sniping, or antimateriel sniping, and either a PSG-1 if money is no object (it's not *that* expensive, if you actually use it), or the German Army sniping system (or my^H^Ha national match M1A or M14) if money is only somewhat an object, or a Dragunov if money is a limiting factor, for anti-sniping or support sniping. And I strongly feel anti-raid sniping is of the latter category. (True, your gun is the best 7.62 USMC-style rifle other than the PSG-1..) Even better than that would be the addition of a spotter/security person with an M16 :) And some nice *cover* for where you fire from, in the form of earth, concrete, sandbags, or Spectra. And if the sky is the limit, something to engage light armor, like a 20mm rifle or tactical air support :) *ObCrypto!*: The choice of cryptographic tools is somewhat like the choice of sniper weaponry. A OTP is remarkably like a bolt-action rifle of infinite accuracy. Say, a USAF prototype 20mm laser guided sniper rifle. Use it twice in the same place, and get slagged in automatic cannon fire. However, it is ideal for "one shot one kill" perfect secrecy. A steganographically-protected data stream is much like a silenced subsonic carbine. A remailer network is much like a remote electrically-fired weapon (someone at a pistol match tried this with a free pistol, won, and the technique was banned the next year :) PGP is the PSS -- pretty [good] sniping system, pretty good precision. Useful for a lot of things, and since it's one of the better tools, it gets used for a lot of things where another solution might be better. :) Of course, I'd be kind of biased to call a working Eternity implementation and/or working and distributed digital cash system the PSG-1. -- Ryan Lackey rdl@mit.edu http://mit.edu/rdl/