Quote: (10-28-2012 07:27 AM)Hades Wrote:
Not sure why you'd assume that Finnish sniper rifles were all equipped with scopes. I guess I figure that these were just Finnish battle rifles marketed as sniper rifles.
Finns who were called "snipers" used only scoped rifles after the Winter War. They were soldiers assigned to sniper duty, although they were part of the regular infantry battalion during an offensive. There were a few marksmen who shot enemy soldiers from distances usually associated to snipers but were not called snipers and who used regular Mosins. For example, the regular conscript (like I was years ago) in the Finnish Defence Forces is taught to fire groupings of around 20-30 cm (8-12 in.) in diameter with an open sight RK-62, a Finnish license version of the AK-47, up to 150 meters (500 ft.) from prone position.