Mel's Sniper Page - FAQ
Questions
What the heck is a MOA?
How do I make a Ghillie Suit?
What is the best sniper rifle out there?
What is the best entry level (read: Low Cost) sniper rifle?
How do I get a price list for the rifles you sell?
Are you a sniper?
How do I become a sniper?
I'm a teenager, how do I best prepare now to become a sniper?
What do you think about ther Remington 700P and how good is it?
Why don't you add rifle 'X' to your rifle page?
Can a civlian purchase a sniper rifle?
Should I break in the barrel of my new rifle?
What is the proper break in procedure?
Question:
What the heck is a MOA?
Answer:
"MOA - Minute Of Angle. This is a mathematical term that by chance happens to be very
useful for measuring accuracy of rifles/ammo. It represents 1" at 100 yards, 2" at 200 yards, 3" at
300 yards, etc etc. In reality it is actually 1.047197551" at 100 yards, but it is close enough to 1"
(1.145226878" at 100 meters, a little bit more then 1"). So if you have a rifle that will shoot
1 MOA, it should shoot (barring any wind or other funky atmospheric effects) 1" groups at 100 yards,
2" groups at 200 yards, etc etc."
Question:
How do I make a Ghillie Suit?
Answer:
"It is really not that hard. Take an old set of BDU's or a flight suit, and attach
some netting to the back side. I prefer about 1" square netting. You can sew it on by hand, or just
use some shoe goo. Once its attached, cut yourself a bunch of strips of burlap (what ever colors
match your area of operations) about 1" wide and between 12" - 24" long. Take those strips and tie
them to the netting. Presto, you have a basic ghillie. Now use your imagination. I like to put canvas
onto the front of the suit to re-enforce the spots that will wear out quickly from crawling, be sure
to spray paint the shoe goo with a flat color to kill the shine. You can also attach pockets all
over the place. Make some nice veils, or just make some high speed way of attaching natural veg. I also
like to strip out the burlap so that I'm tying on wads of burlap strings, its very labor intensive, but
the results is nice. Like I said, use your imagination. If you are a member to the site I have much
more detailed instructions available here."
Question:
What is the best sniper rifle out there?
Answer:
"Sorry, but there is no real answer to this question. There are a lot of excellent sniper rifles,
but there is no cut and dry best rifle. It is more of a class that certain rifles make it in. At that point, its
a matter of personal preference as to which rifle you like best, for me, its the Parker Hale Model 85, but I would
never classify it as the best sniper rifle, only the best one for me. It depends a lot on what features you
need and what the overall mission is. Perhaps 308 will work fine, but maybe you need .338 Lapua. What about
a detachable magazine, or what style of bipod, barrel length, suppressor, etc etc. Of course, there is the
aesthetically pleasing aspect as well, which is one of the reasons why the Parker Hale M85 rates to high to
me, and that McHale stock is really comfortable to me..."
Question:
What is the best entry level (read: Low Cost) sniper rifle?
Answer:
"There is no clear cut answer to this one as well. There are many very effective and affordable tactical rifles
out there. The most popular is the Remington 700p, but I cannot say it is the best. The Savage 10FCP with HS or
McMillan stock is an excellent rifle that has a detachable magazine and can be found for under $1000. The
varmint rifles cannot be ignored as well, as they can make excellent tactical rifles. The Weatherby vanguard
varmint sub MOA rifle is very nice. If you are looking for a complete package that is unique and comes with
everything assembled and ready to go, take a look at the package we offer
here. I used to solely recommend the 700P with
a leupold 3-9x40mm PR mounted on top... but the prices have gone up significantly and there are a lot of
other players with excellent rifles now, so its not so clear cut."
Question:
How do I get a price list for the rifles you sell?
Answer:
"You can visit the price list page located here: member pricing.
There are marked discounts if you are member of the site. Also, we have a public shopping site that does sell firearms as well,
It is found here: shop. And finally, we do put together some rifle packages
which you can see here: Entry Packages.
Question:
Are you a sniper?
Answer:
"Yes, or at least I was. I ETS'd out of the US Army National Guard in Sep 99'. I graduated from the
US Army Sniper School at Ft. Benning and I've also graduated a SWAT sniper school conducted by the FBI.
Yes, I was National Guard, part of an excellent infantry
unit, with lots of experience. While the unit only trained part time (National Guard), we were full time snipers.
I was a sniper
team member for a year before I became team leader for the last 3 years of my time. And to answer the next question, no I
never saw combat, that is why my name is not on the
combat sniper list."
Question:
How do I become a sniper?
Answer:
"It depends if you want to be a sniper (military) or a sharpshooter (Law Enforcement). In the military, its
pretty tough. On the Army side, you first become infantry, and then you get slotted as a sniper if there is a position open and you
have impressed enough people to get the nod. In the USMC, it is different, as there is a separate MOS for Scout Snipers. Generally
there are tryouts conducted to fill empty slots in STA platoons. I'll rely on my USMC brethren to correct me if this is not the
norm.... On the LE side, you usually first become a SWAT (or EST, or SRT, etc etc) member and then when you gain the experience
you can become eligible to tryout for a sniper slot if one opens up. (Again, if you impress enough people and get the nod)"
Question:
I'm a teenager, how do I best prepare now to become a sniper?
Answer:
"In reality, you must first be a good soldier before you can become a sniper, let alone a good sniper. The
best things you can do now are learn respect, especially for authority, as well as learn discipline and
how to work hard (without complaint). These things will make you a good soldier and get you a long way.
Finally, learn as much as you can in the math and sciences, they really do help. In regards to marksmanship,
which obviously is critical for sniping, I would start shooting small bore (.22) competition, especially
if you can find a coach or instructor. This will teach you the fundamentals of marksmanship. Do not worry
about long range marksmanship, it will not help you get into the sniping program and the
military will teach you how THEY want you to do long range shooting once you are accepted."
Question:
What do you think about ther Remington 700P and how good is it?
Answer:
"This is a very common question, especially on the forums.
The Remington 700P is a very good lower end rifle made by Remington. You generally can find them for about
$850 new. Technically Remington only sells them to law enforcement which isn't really enforced and really
makes no logical sense. The Remington 700 varmint rifles use the same barreled action, so why are the varmint
rifles available to anyone and the 700P not? The rifles tend to shoot around .75 MOA on average, with some out of the box
700Ps shooting sub .5 MOA. This is probably the "standard" police sniper rifle out there. The quality on
them is okay. The original ones way back in the late 80's were made in the custom shop, but that lasted only
a few years, now they come off the normal assembly line. For more info, visit the
700P page."
Question:
Why don't you add rifle 'X' to your rifle page?
Answer:
"Don't worry; there are a lot more rifles continually being added to the site. Just give us time as there are tons of
additions being worked on and in the queue to be added to the site."
Question:
Can a civlian purchase a sniper rifle?
Answer:
"Most sniper rifles are simply very accurate 'Bolt Action' rifles with heavy barrels and
some other nice features. If it is legal to own a bolt-action deer hunting rifle, then you can
generally own a sniper rifle. There are some semi-auto sniper rifles that 'may' have some additional
restrictions/limitations"
Question:
Should I break in the barrel of my new rifle?
Answer:
"There has been no concrete proof that breaking in the barrel of your rifle actually
has any prolonged effect. But having said that, it is a fact that it cannot hurt the barrel of your
rifle. So, since there is a chance that it 'might' help, and there is no chance its going to hurt
the rifle, its generally my recommendation to go ahead and break in your barrel. Some high end
rifle makers say it is completely unnecessary, while other high end rifle makers say it is
highly recommended."
Question:
What is the proper break in procedure?
Answer:
"There really is no 'right' way to break in your barrel, but here is the procedure
that I use. Get some copper solvent (I like Hoppes #9 Benchrest) and your cleaning gear, and head
out to the range for an extended shooting session. Fire one round, then clean the barrel and let
it cool. Do this after every shot for the first 10 rounds. After that, clean and cool after every
2 shots for the next 10 rounds. Then clean and cool after every 3 rounds for the next 9 rounds. At
this point the barrel has been treated and is generally ready to go. The barrel should clean quite
well with no signs of copper. Be sure to clean the barrel/rifle one
last time with a standard cleaning solvent to remove the remains of the copper solvent."
Email if there is a question that should be on this FAQ!
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