What Sniper Rifle do the British Special Forces Use?
Pretty much all British Military Snipers, whether they are army, Royal marines or Special forces, use variants of the L96.
It replaced the Lee Enfield L42 in the early 1980s and was chambered in 7.62x51mm. It was a bolt action had a 10 round box magazine and fitted with a 6x42 telescopic sight.
However, this rifle was then improved upon to cater for the Swedish military who needed it to work in cold environments. So the Arctic Warfare version was created. This replaced resin parts with polymer materials to increase durability, altered the bolt to prevent icing up and enlarged the trigger guard to allow use with thicker winter gloves.
But the true innovation came with the L115A1 Arctic Warfare Magnum upgrade which scaled up the rifle to take .338 Lapua Magnum giving it more accuracy and power for longer range sniping. You may also know it as the inspiration for the fabled AWP in the counter strike games.
This was again updated with the A3 version that allows for a detachable suppressor, mounts for night sights and improved magnification for all weather day sights. This was used in 2009 by Craig Harrison to achieve, at the time, the longest sniper kill in history at 2,475m.
Today Special forces British Special Forces mainly still use this A3 variant and are often heard on the battlefield shouting….
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