A modern sniper rifle often incorporates a bedding rail in the stock. Instead of clamping an action and base metal around a synthetic stock, a bedding rail is an aluminum or steel rail inside the stock that takes the compression of assembly and the impact of recoil. As tough as polymers and fiberglass are, they still aren't as strong for some applications as metal.

A sniper rifle is a system with rifle, scope, tools and log book, all in a case just this side of armored. You could drop this H-S Precision case out of a truck and not hurt the rifle inside.

The newest stocks also incorporate adjustable buttplates and cheekrests. Until recently, such adjustments were seen only on target rifles and mostly on Olympic rifles. When you're issuing thousands of rifles to thousands of soldiers, Marines or airmen, "the standard size" is usually good enough. But for a sniper, who may be waiting in position for hours or days for a shot, a stock that fits properly can mean the difference between getting the shot and not getting the shot.

A frequent discussion topic about sniper rifles is "magazine or no magazine?"--as in detachable magazine. The military still feels that a detachable magazine is not the way to go. It is too fragile, if you lose them you're out of luck, and they make the rifle too big. The FBI obviously disagrees as the agency bought its new rifles from H-S Precision with detachable magazines. Retired Gunny Jim Owens, who saw the FN-SPR to completion in FN's development program, also disagrees with the Corps on this issue as the SPR most definitely has a detachable magazine.

A sniper rifle isn't just a rifle, not in either police or military use. You get issued a "system" when you become a sniper: a rifle, cleaning gear, sighting scope, spotting scope, log book, tools and cases to store everything in. Having just signed away your life (or at least a big chunk of pay if you lose anything) for a sniper-rifle system, you're standing there in the weapons room with a trunk-size pile of bags, boxes and books. And you haven't even been issued ammo yet.

The detachable magazine offers two advantages: You can unload without cycling all the ammo through the chamber, and you can switch ammo types quickly.

Ammunition was always the weak point of many sniper rifles. It does you no good to build a super-accurate rifle only to feed it ammunition made to fulfill the "beaten zone" requirements of a machine gun. (If you are using burst fire from a machine gun to deny an area to your enemy, you want dispersion. Random hits in a 10- or 20-foot area are just fine.)

In past wars, snipers had to try various production lots of ammunition to find what was accurate in their rifle. First, the old Ball, M1 of .30-06, then the M80 Ball 7.62 NATO and still later M118. Once he found an accurate lot, the prudent sniper would lay in a supply of that lot and that lot alone. The full-metal-jacket M118 long-range match ammunition was good for the day, but it does not stand up to modern ammunition.

Standard hunting-rifle bases and rings aren't tough enough. You need sturdier rings and a base tipped for long-range shooting.

A big change is the use of the Sierra MatchKing bullet. Originally banned from military use except in competition due to the hollowpoint, the powers that be finally got the lawyers to see the engineering light: The hollowpoint had nothing to do with expansion, only accuracy. And that is the big weakness of the Sierra. (Ask the guys at Sierra. They will not be the least bit evasive--the MatchKing is not designed to expand.)

For military use, a match bullet that acts like an FMJ is just fine. For law enforcement use, it is not so good. Not a problem; the supply of match-accuracy expanding bullets is larger than it has ever been. For the police marksman, there is a nearly overwhelming choice of expanding bullets--Barnes, Cor-bon, Federal Tactical, TAP and more.