just a question about most "sniper" rifles

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LeftFootOfDoom

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Hello all:

Just wondering why very few bolt sniper rifles have flash suppressors. I used to think it was because snipers wouldnt operate at night. But then I met a guy that was a sniper in the FFL and he mentioned how he scored better with the starlight scope at night then he did with the regular scope because the starlight had a better reticle. And then years later I saw a display by an RCR sniper. And he showed off the symrad (spelling?) periscope NVD that attached to the front of the scope with a dovetail mount. So, since I know that military snipers operate at night, why dont they have flash suppressors on their rifles.

I would think that with the $$ and time and resources put out to fully train a military sniper and their relatively few numbers, the brass would do something about that big fireball giving away their position. Do they severely degrade the accuracy of the rifle, or was it deemed not cost effective?

Do any of you guys have flash suppressors on your precision rigs.

This is not referring to MBR's that were tweaked and customized into sniper rigs by army's or manufacturers (eg M14, HK91).
 
Newer Powders have some flash suppressant in them

I used some military surplus powder from Higginson's (then Ammo Mart). It worked OK, but there was a huge orange pumkin out the muzzle at every shot, even at high noon. Surprised me every time.

None of the commercial powders do this, Altho a toasty load of N560 with remnants of cleaning fliud in the bore can make a flash on the first shot.

NormB
 
RobAK said:
Most CF sniper weapons come with cans (considerably better than a regular flash suppressor).
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I've only gotten a close up look at a C3 rilfe once, and that was a while ago, but I dont recall seeing any threading on the barrel for a silencer. Or did the C3 have a can that didnt need threading? Am I wrong and there was threading on the C3?

Ive read that our new sniper rifle comes with a can. But i've never read anywhere that we used to (or any army did) issue cans for the sniper rifles as normal ancilliary equipment.
 
NormB said:
I used some military surplus powder from Higginson's (then Ammo Mart). It worked OK, but there was a huge orange pumkin out the muzzle at every shot, even at high noon. Surprised me every time.

None of the commercial powders do this, Altho a toasty load of N560 with remnants of cleaning fliud in the bore can make a flash on the first shot.

NormB
Click to expand...

It's all about burn rate. Milsurp powder is typically cheaper stuff.

Sniper rifles usually chamber match grade ammunition which is another beast entirely.
 
RobAK said:
LFOD, you're right in that the C3 does not have a can; but the remainder: the .50, the Timberwolf, and the AR-10 (not issued) do have them.
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Thats the point of my question. They do now, but until recently they had no method for suppressing the muzzle flash at night. Was there any reason why the chose not to put a fh on the older sniper rifles.

Im sure that Remington and Parker Hale would have done tests and picked the best fh for their rifles if the govt contracts indicated one.
 
Actually I'd guess that the cans we have now are there more to disperse muzzle blast signature than flash on the big guns.The amount of dust that goes up when you shoot the .50 is fairly large.

I'm sure they did tests and would have put an FH on if it was really needed.
 
Probably harder to snipe at night and even then you probably high tail it outa there after the shot. I think also that slotted tube type hiders kick up more dust which hangs around longer than a flash or maybe they get in the way. I want some peanuts.
 
Nope, no FH on the C3 (see below) They did stress the "kicking up dust" thing on the sniper course.
Seems to me I heard about cans being used on the C3A1, but I don't have any info on how they were/are mounted, and it doesn't show up in the manual. Possibly an adaptor?
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BTW: Looking for an original C3 sling.:)
 
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I don't really know enough about this, but I have always been under the impression that "flash hiders" were for the shooters, so they wouldn't lose their night vision. ? bearhunter
 
Leftent there were no Flash hiders or Suppressors mounted on the C3 or C3A1 as at the time it was considered UnSporting to shot Enemy Combatants with a Suppressor LOLas for a muzzle brake /flash suppressor these are now pretty much standard equipment on sniper rifles ,this also depends on the requirements of use and as well as mission role
 
Actually the most miltaries are now seeing the benifits of employing Suppressors and have them available for use. US Forces both the Army and Marines are having new rifles built and it has been mentioned that suppresors are standard equipment on them thay have suppresors on there M16 SPR rifles
 
In 1992 at Connaught, I saw a C3 that had the muzzel end of the barrel turned down & threaded for a suppressor (bare threads - no protector). It was being used by some shooters from the CDN AB Regt. I saw them practicing with 2 C3's. They were the old wood stocked versions. One threaded, one not.
 
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