Sniper Rifles and 20th Century Warfare

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June 3, 2024

Sniper Rifles and 20th Century Warfare

By Kurt Allemeier

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Sharpshooters, marksmen or snipers, no matter the name, their era or the weapon, shooting – and hitting – military targets from a distance has long been seen as a way of gaining a tactical and even psychological advantage in warfare.

It wasn’t seen as honorable during the French and Indian War for ranger units of British Loyalists to skirmish with foes then blend into the forests rather than to stand toe to toe in direct battle. While European marksman considered it dishonorable to see officers as targets, that changed in the Civil War with the Berdan Sharpshooters. Their prime targets: Confederate officers, artillery crews and other marksmen.

Sharpshooters used rifles rather than the muskets of the common infantryman. A gun with a rifled barrel provides greater accuracy and range. Continental Army sharpshooters were effective to about 300 yards at targets like British officers, but black powder didn’t allow for much stealth as a cloud of smoke quickly gave away a sharpshooter’s position.

Through the 19th century, the development of the Minie ball and smokeless powder along with rifled barrels helped usher the sniper into the wars of the 20th century.

Hiram Berdan was an inventor who was famous in 19th century America for being the nation’s best target shooter for many years. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he lobbied for a regiment of sharpshooters that would become known as Berdan Sharpshooters. “No man would be enlisted who could not put ten bullets in succession within five inches from the center at a distance of six hundred feet from a rest or three hundred feet off hand." Sharpshooters were eventually issued Sharps rifles. This Berdan Sharpshooters-issued Sharps New Model 1859 rifle sold at Rock Island Auction for $115,000 in September, 2021.

In the U.S. Civil War, Hiram Berdan raised two regiments of sharpshooters and commanded one. They were the first units tasked with taking out targets from long range. Despite this emphasis in the Civil War, the U.S. Army often considered snipers as afterthoughts and didn’t establish a full-time sniper program until more than 100 years later, in 1987. The Army considered marksmanship more important than camouflage, field craft and concealment and at times of war left training to individual unit commanders.

The lore and dramatic tales of sniper heroics in film and in books has made their guns used in 20th century conflicts into fascinating and collectable objects. Here are examples of some of those firearms that are coming up in the June 21-23 Sporting & Collector Auction.

Springfield 1903A1 Sniper Rifle

During the Spanish-American War, the Krag-Jorgensen rifle’s limitations were on display: a low-power cartridge, a troublesome locking system and difficult to adapt to clip-loading. The Ordnance Department authorized rounds of experimentation that led to the 1903 Springfield rifle in .30 caliber.

Widely used in World War 1, the Springfield proved smooth and reliable even in terrible battlefield conditions and with an effective range of 650 to 1,000 yards, it proved to be a capable sniper rifle. It also saw significant use in World War 2 and Korea for the same purpose before finally being phased out in 1974.

While the Army didn’t see the advantage of snipers in its military planning, the U.S. Marine Corps did and has trained snipers since World War 1, and reinvigorated its training in the 1960s. The feats of Charles “Chuck” Mawhinney and Carlos Hathcock in Vietnam became legendary among the military community.

This U.S. Springfield 1903A1 is assembled to resemble a U.S. Marine Corps sniper rifle with the 8x UNERTL scope marked “J.UNETL/USMC-SNIPER.”

British M47C No. 4 Mk I Sniper Rifle

“The sniper is an expert shot whose services are of equal value in open and static warfare and in attack and defense. He should be able to pick out targets exposed only for short periods and kill with a single shot from a concealed position,” according to British sniper training materials.

In 1941 the British had an eight-man unit in each battalion that was trained for a target range of 400 yards. Among suggestions for British snipers: do not smoke or use fires or candles at sniper posts, chew gum if restless, and never use a rifle with a highly polished exterior – cover it with sacking, tape, brown paint or mud.

The No. 4 was adopted by the British in 1941 with a heavier barrel than its predecessor and ladder sights that could be calibrated from 200 to 1,300 yards. The bolt release catch was replaced by a simpler notch on the bolt track of the receiver. Rifles for sniper use were selected through factory accuracy tests and had a wooden cheek piece that could be raised, and a telescopic sight.

In 1942 Holland & Holland took on the task of converting what would be 26,442 sniper rifles. Along with the cheek piece and scope, conversion included stripping and re-stocking rifles and fitting them with steel tabs or pads for the scope mounts.

These sniper rifles were outfitted with No. 32 MK I scopes that weighed 2 lbs., 3 oz., with a magnification of 3x and field of view of nine degrees. The guns were first put to use in North Africa where sniper tactics weren’t suited.

This arsenal refurbished No. 4 MK I is dated 1944 on the receiver socket, and the scope is dated 1945.

Mosin Nagant Sniper Rifle

Soviet shooters were the most storied snipers of World War 2. The Red Army’s sniper program ramped up during the interwar period with help – surprisingly -- from the Germans. Germany offered sniper training and assistance in procuring scopes for sniper rifles. The Soviets honed their sniper tactics during the Spanish Civil War, siding with the Republicans against the German-backed Nationalists.

In 1940, the Soviets started using silencers and subsonic 7.62mm ammunition to make it harder to find their location. Faced with sieges at cities like Stalingrad, the Soviets were able to put sniper tactics to use in urban warfare situations.

Despite inflicting high casualty rates on the Germans, Soviet snipers were also lost in significant numbers. Once their locations were detected, snipers often faced mortar and artillery attacks and even infantry assaults. The Soviets assigned rookies to learn from veteran snipers, but at Stalingrad the average lifespan of a nascent sniper was two weeks.

More than 2,000 Soviet female snipers served during World War 2 with many using the Mosin Nagant. This example from Izhevsk Arsenal is dated 1943 with a “1969” dated scope and lens cap.

Veteran German sniper Joseph “Sepp” Allerberger, recorded 257 official kills said of Soviet snipers that he couldn’t believe they would “…make the cardinal error of shooting from a tree without the ability of retreat or taking cover… while they were good shots, they were tactically inexperienced. Like sacks, the Russians fell from the trees.”

Used by a decent sniper, a Mosin-Nagant could be accurate to 800 yards. The Mosin would serve as the Soviet sniper rifle until the Dragunov was introduced in 1963.

This Vietnam captured Ishevsk SVD Dragunov sniper rifle with scope sold at Rock Island Auction in June 2020 for $57,500.

1903-A4 Sniper Rifle

During World War 2, Remington made M1911A1 pistols, Browning Model 1917 machine guns, the Model 1917 Enfield bolt action rifle and Pedersen devices. The company also manufactured Springfield 1903 rifles for sniper use.

Little sniper training was done by the U.S. Army except on a unit by unit basis. This simplified version of the 1903 was first used in North Africa and Sicily, locales unsuitable for sniper tactics. The invasion of Italy, a target rich environment, put sniper tactics and the Model 03-A4 to use.

GIs complained that the 03-A4 provided moderate accuracy to untrained troops and could only be loaded one bullet at a time because of the low scope mount. The scope was considered “optically inadequate” due to its low position above the receiver and fogged in humid conditions like the Pacific and China/Burma/India theatres. If the scope broke, the gun couldn’t be aimed because it wasn’t equipped with iron sights.

Remington made just over 28,000 Model 03-A4 rifles with production ending in 1944. The gun was also used in Korea. This example of the Remington Model 03-A4 has a parkerized “M82” scope and bears a desirable “Z” prefix serial number. The barrel is marked “RA/12-43.”

M1D Garand Sniper Rifle

The battle rifle of the U.S. Army in World War 2, Gen. George Patton called the M1 Garand “the greatest battle implement ever devised.” The Garand replaced the Springfield Model 1903 that has been discussed a couple of times here. More than 5.46 million Garands were made between 1934 and 1957.

The Garand was designed for easy assembly and disassembly to make field maintenance a simple task, however the top-loading gun was difficult to convert to scope-mounted sniper rifles. The first attempt at converting the Garand to a sniper rifle, the M1C had scope mounts drilled into the receiver based on a Griffin & Howe mount.

John Garand, the gun’s designer, devised the simpler M1D. The standard barrel was swapped out with a barrel with an integral mounting block for the scope. The scope was attached with a single thumb screw tightened to the barrel rather than the receiver. The scope was offset because of the loading issue so a leather cheek piece was made to help line up the shooter’s eye with the target.

The M1D wasn’t adopted until 1951 with an order of 14,325 delivered that year. Despite delivery and more than 21,000 manufactured in total, the gun didn’t see action in the Korean War. Small numbers saw use in the American intervention into Lebanon in 1958 and the Dominican Republic in 1965 as well as early in the Vietnam War.

The M1D was sold through the Civilian Marksmanship Program. This example of the M1D Garand has a receiver manufactured in September 1943 and has a “7-51” marked barrel and a mounted M84 scope.

Sniper Rifles for Sale

Sniper tactics came of age during the World Wars of the 20th century with the Soviet Red Army leading the way. The U.S. Army didn’t emphasize the use of snipers but still modified guns for that use. These are fascinating tools of long-range shooting tactics, whether they are from the United States or its World War 2 allies, and they are available in the Rock Island Auction’s June 21-23 Sporting & Collector Auction in Bedford, Texas with Preview Day on June 20.