Beginning Sniper
Introduction
The sniper is one of the most valuable assets to an Airsoft team, especially from a defensive point of view. This "Silent Killer" operates unseen and strikes without warning, and is one of the most feared opponents when breaching or attacking any fortified position.
A sniper is the term given to someone who works away from the rest of the team, and shoots from a hiding place taking out targets at long range. This is obviously a huge advantage to a defending team, as a substantial number of enemy players can be dispatched before they even get close to your position. Having said this, a sniper does not go out into the field with the intentions of indiscriminately blowing away anything that moves, rather, a sniper will attack key players in the enemy team to give their own side an advantage. If you manage to eliminate the best players, the less competent (I won't say "worst") players may start to panic and lose confidence. To be an effective sniper requires a good understanding of camouflage techniques, and quite a lot of patience, too! If you're going to be of any use to your team, you can't be seen. If you are noticed, the enemy players will either avoid you altogether, or send everybody in after you. Trying to take on several angry players with only a single action rifle at your disposal is not recommended! This article should explain the basics of Airsoft sniping, but remember the ideas outlined here are not set in stone. If you find a particular point doesn't work out for your team, change it!
Camouflage and concealment methods
So what's the best way to camouflage yourself? It really depends on where you are playing. In woodland games there's a lot of foliage to hide yourself in, and the dense vegetation makes it relatively easy to disappear. However, the camouflage pattern on the army-style combat clothing is only designed to break up your outline when viewed from a distance. It does not make you invisible, so feel free to modify it by sticking small twigs and leaves onto it to make it match the surroundings more closely. If you have the money, you could buy yourself a ghillie suit. Essentially this is a camo net that you wear, and they are generally much more effective than plain combats, if slightly more expensive. The best ones even rustle in the wind like dead leaves, and you literally cannot be seen from a distance of 20 metres or more.
When choosing your Hide - the location you will shoot from - you should try to pick a place that keeps you well hidden and gives you a good view of your target area. It can be hard to find the right balance, and no hide is perfect, so choose the most suitable one you can find. In the woods, you should have very little trouble in finding a hide, but there's one thing you must remember: don't allow anyone to sneak up on you from behind! You might be perfectly invisible from the front but if your backside's not covered you're vulnerable. No matter how good the idea may seem at the time, never try and climb up a tree and hide there. You may find it relatively easy to climb up, but getting back down again is another story. I have found that the best course of action is to find the biggest, prickliest, most anti-social looking bush you can, and climb right in!
But what about playing in urban games? There isn't normally a lot of natural cover available in these situations, so instead you have to rely on cover provided by buildings. This isn't really a problem - while a seasoned player may easily spot you through a bush, it's unlikely that he could see (or indeed shoot) you through a solid wall. Your main concern is camouflage - Forget it! Even the grey and white so-called "Urban" combats offer little or no protection, so many urban skirmishers opt to wear the black SWAT gear. This is particularly effective in night games, and it has to be some of the best looking kit there is! (Looks great in photos)
Two's company... Working in teams
Contrary to popular belief, a sniper does not always work alone. In fact, this is a pretty serious mistake to make. If a sniper is to work away from the rest of his team for any length of time, it's important that he has some backup.
Usually the sniper will work in tandem with another player who acts as a spotter. His job is to relay information to the sniper, such as enemy positions, numbers and what direction they are heading in. He can do this either by using a system of hand signals or via a radio. The radio is the better choice as it allows the spotter to work further away from the sniper and gather more information for him, but some sites may not allow you to use radio comms. If your sniper team does decide to use a system of hand signals, keep them simple and to the point. Elaborate signals or gestures are easily forgotten and/or misunderstood. Although there are standard military hand signals for these situations, many teams prefer to make up their own so that they're easy to remember. The only drawback with hand signals is the limited range - Unless your partner is looking at you he won't get the message. The spotter must also engage targets that could pose a threat to the sniper if they get too close, and be ready to take over the sniper's job should he be "taken out".
Positions
Positioning a sniper should not be done randomly. It's no good just sticking the guy in a bush in the middle of nowhere. In order for him to cause as much grief for the enemy team as possible, he's got to be where the action is. Some of the best sniper positions are along trails or near areas you know the other team will want to use. When defending a building, the logical choice is to position a sniper or two in the windows. It may be an old tactic but it's well proven. It's quite hard to get an accurate shot in through a window at long range, and by the time an enemy player is close enough to shoot you, he's already made himself an easy target. You can easily dodge incoming BBs by ducking down below or to the side of the window frame. The only real threat to a window sniper is either a shotgun blast or a grenade launcher. These spray BBs in a wide spread, and they have a talent for zinging off the walls and "seeking out" players hidden inside. Rooftops are another favourite for snipers. It is much easier to hit a target from an elevated position (providing the angle's not too steep), and it's also harder for your target to return fire. If you decide to position yourself on a rooftop, there are certain things you must be aware of. Let's take a quick look at these:
First of all, don't fall off! Only go up onto a roof if you know you'll be safe. Avoid it in wet and icy weather. This may seem obvious, but accidents do occasionally happen, and if you don't break any bones you might break your gun! Taking into account the price tag of some of the more expensive sniper rifles, this is often considered worse. Remember that you are supposed to be a sniper. That means you shouldn't have to jump around a lot up there. If you feel like you want to shift position for whatever reason, watch your footing!
Second, don't stand around up there aimlessly (in both senses of the word)! When sniping from a rooftop or any elevated position it's important that you lay down or sit/crouch, depending on how much room you have up there. If you stand up, you will be instantly visible against the skyline and everyone will know where you are. This brings us to our third point:
Most sniper rifles are quite heavy. Some weigh in at more than 5 kilograms! Unless you are very solidly built you will not be able to use it effectively without the aid of a bipod or at the very least a window ledge. Due to the effort needed to hold and aim such a massive weapon while standing up, your gun sight will appear to wobble around quite a bit and you may find it difficult (if not impossible) to fire an accurate shot. There are two positions you can adopt while sniping, both of which offer good stability and a reasonable amount of comfort. The first is the "prone" position. This involves you lying down on your stomach with the rifle out in front of you. To keep your rifles barrel up and out of the mud, you should fit a bipod - a small two-legged stand - to the underside of your gun, or support the weapon in your left hand, with your left elbow on the ground. The advantages of being in this position are that it makes you small and inconspicuous, thus harder to hit. Unless your opponent is above you, which is unlikely, it will be very difficult for anyone to come close enough to get a clear shot at you. An obvious disadvantage is that if you're in danger of being seen/shot and you have to haul ass, it will take you longer to gather your kit, get up and run away. The second position is sitting or crouching. If you sit or crouch, you make yourself a smaller target, and you can move faster if you suddenly spot an opportunity target or find yourself in trouble. One small problem with this is that you do not get the same degree of stability that you have when in the prone position. Mind you, using the rifle while it's propped up on your knee is still better than trying to use it freehand.
Weapons and equipment
Now we come to the good stuff... Because sniping is usually done at long range, you're going to need to pack something a little more powerful than your average stock AEG. Although any well-tuned AEG can be used as a sniper rifle, the ideal choice is a good bolt-action rifle. You may be put off by the fact that these weapons have a low rate of fire and an embarrassing magazine capacity, but remember that a true sniper doesn't need full-auto and a thousand-round clip to succeed in his mission.
So why choose a spring rifle? The most obvious reason is power. A single action airsoft gun can be legally upgraded much higher than an automatic, in some cases up to 500 fps! (out of sympathy for the enemy players, not many wargamers go much higher than 400). This extra power coupled with the longer barrel gives your weapon a much greater accurate range, and cuts down on the risk of your target moving out of the way before your bullet gets to him. As well as your primary weapon, it's a good idea to bring a pistol or small sub-machinegun (better!) with you just in case the action heats up. If you think you might need extra ammunition, don't carry it loose in your pockets or in any other container. When you move, the loose rounds will rattle around and generate noise, and reloading your magazines wastes time. Store your spare full magazines in secure belt pouches along with any other useful items you think you're going to need. A small set of binoculars is always handy for quickly scouting the area. Especially if you're in a position where your movement is impaired, it's a lot easier than bringing your rifle up to look through the scope.
Taking out your target - quietly!
As I have already mentioned, stealth is very important when sniping. If the enemy team is alerted to your presence they'll be out looking for you, and the closer you are to your target the more dangerous it gets. That's why you should only take the shot if you are one hundred percent certain of hitting your target - should you miss, the unfortunate player you were aiming at might see the direction from which your shot came. Laser sights may look cool, but if your opponent sees a bright red dot on him, in the split second before your BB collides with his chest he's going to shout and point for all his buddies to see. The safest, if most dishonourable, way to waste your target is to wait until he turns around and shoot him in the back. That way, he can't see who shot him, or where it came from. Sneaky I know, but it's your ass out there not mine. If you want you can wait for the "prime shot" - that moment when he stands facing you, and you stare right into his hate-filled eyes through your rifle scope...then bounce a 6-milly right off his forehead!
Quite a lot of players choose to put scopes on their rifles. This can be a great help when trying to place long distance shots, but a scope can be a bit of a double-edged sword. While the scope reticule makes it much easier to aim than if you were using the open sights, the high magnification can create a false impression of distance. As you watch an enemy player moving around through your scope, it can be easy to forget just how close to you he actually is. Hang about too long and he might get close enough to fight back. Also, using a scope narrows your field of vision significantly. You could be concentrating on your target, ready to strike, and easily miss the other enemy players moving to out-flank you. Be aware of your surroundings - look up from time to time and check around for anything unusual. It could be the wind rusting the bushes, or not... A red-dot sight is a happy medium in this situation. Although their magnification is not usually as high as that of a rifle scope, the bright red dot allows easy and fast aiming in all light levels. They are also smaller, so add less to the weight of your rifle. You're probably going to be busting your ass carrying the thing around anyway.
As you have read in the introduction, a sniper does not "kill" indiscriminately. The rest of your team can easily take care of weaker players, what you have to do is look for players that may cause problems for your team (such as those manning fire-support weapons) and deal with them swiftly. In practice this can be challenging. Avoid firing at your target if he has a lot of mates with him. There's no way you can take on three or four players armed with AEGs unless you are either superhuman or blessed with incredibly stupid opponents. Instead, try to pick off isolated players who are separated from the rest of their team. They'll be "dead" before they know what's hit them, and as they're by themselves, they can't raise the alarm! If your rifle can be adapted to fit a silencer, this can be a very useful item indeed. Although they are not as effective in noise reduction as the real thing, Airsoft silencers will help to hide some of the noise generated by your weapon upon firing.
