• Great War British & Empire Sniping Equipment

    Great War British & Empire Sniping Equipment by Roger Payne

    The following article is re-published with the kind permission and consent of Advisory Panel member, Roger Payne. He originally wrote this article for the HBSA in the UK, which turned out to be a two parter. It was included in the 2015 & 2016 HBSA Journals.

    On behalf of MILSURPS.COM members, we'd like to publicly thank him for his support of this forum.


    Great War British & Empire Sniping Equipment - Part 1
    PDF file size = 660 kb Mb



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    Great War British & Empire Sniping Equipment - Part 2
    PDF file size = 660 kb Mb



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    Collector's Comments and Feedback:

    1. There is also a series of three articles written by Nigel Greenaway, about WW1 British Sniper Rifles in a UK magazine, which were published over a four-month period covering February 2008 to April 2008.

    "WW1 British Sniper Rifles and Accessories by Nigel Greenaway" (click here)



    ....... (Feedback by "Badger")


    2. For anyone wanting to get a sense of what it was like to train and operate as a sniper during the Great War 1914-1918, a must read is Sniping in France 1914-18 (by Major H. Hesketh-Prichard DSO, MC.) (click here). This is a highly interesting read and discusses the use of tactics, equipment, training methods and the creating of the first official sniper training school for British forces. To realize that their engagement ranges for early SMILE and Pattern sniper rifles with Winchester A5, Aldis and Periscopic Prism scopes was between 200 and 400 meters (average distance between trenches) is fascinating, when we think about modern military sniper engagements today starting at 600 meters and going out to 2,000 meters with heavy caliber rifles. It is out of print, so I'd suggest you use a "Google" search on the title to see if you can find a copy from one of the rare used book sources on the Internet. I found my copy on Amazon.com. ....... (Feedback by "Badger")

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    Note: The opinions expressed herein or statements made in this article are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Military Surplus Collectors Forums, or the ownership and moderation group of this site. MILSURPS.COM accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed herein. Also, please note that neither the author nor MILSURPS.COM recommends that any member of these forums, or a reader of this article, try this type of experimentation without the proper knowledge, equipment and training.
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