Being carried out into the field are two types of rifles. They both have their own purposes. The first is a heavy vehicle rifle. The second, an anti-personnel weapon. .
Barrett Arms produces such a rifle designed to eliminate armored vehicles. The name of this rifle is the M82A1. It fires a bullet that is 12.7mm in diameter by 99mm long at a velocity of over 2081 feet/second. Shooting out to a range of over three-thousand meters, the weapon is very capable of keeping the shooter safe(Gourley 13). This rifle is a very powerful weapon against opposition forces in armored vehicles. When shooting at a vehicle a sniper will most likely aim for the engine block unless there is someone of importance occupying the vehicle. While the heavy bullet, 750 grains, is traveling at such a high velocity one can just imagine what it can do to an engine compartment. Another unique item about this rifle is the barrel. It is free floating, allowing for it to absorb the recoil of the bullet as it travels a full two inches on a state of the art spring system. A further feature that absorbs the recoil of the bullet is the muzzle brake at the end of the barrel. This muzzle brake dissipates the pressure that builds when the bullet exits the barrel. Although this is a great rifle for long range accuracy, there are some drawbacks. One of them being weight. The Barrett M82A1 has a total weight of over twenty-nine pounds, making this rifle very cumbersome to carry and maneuver(Gilbert 289). Due to this fact, marines tend to use a lighter weapon for eliminating personnel.
The Winchester Model 70 is mainly the rifle of choice to kill an enemy soldier. It is the rifle that fires the premier long range 7.62mm by 62mm bullet. This type of bullet is the most highly known in the sniper community. It is used in many American and foreign rifles. Marines started to use this rifle because they found their own government-issued M1 Garande was not up to par on distance shooting.
