This post is to enlighten you on some of the mechanics that affect sniping. I will be covering only the bolt-action sniper rifles in the game. The rifles available to use are the SV98, M40A5, M98B, JNG-90, and the L96. Due to the nature of bolt-action sniper rifles in the game, all of these operate almost identical sharing the same damage model of 100 damage at 10 meters and trailing down to 59 damage at 100 meters. The M98B is the only unique rifle due to its .338 round that does 100 damage at 15 meters and trails down to 59 damage at 120 meters.

As mentioned before, all the bolt-action sniper rifles share the same damage model excluding the M98B, so you might be wondering what is the differnce between them. The difference is in the bullet velocity. The bullet velocity affects how fast the bullet will reach its target and how soon the drop off occurs for the round.

The SV98 has a bullet velocity of 520m/s
The M40A5 has a bullet velocity of 490m/s
The M98B has a bullet velocity of 650m/s
The JNG-90 has a bullet velocity of 560m/s
The L96 has a bullet velocity of 540m/s

In the end in order to be effective with any of these rifles, you must decide which rifle to use and learn to use it well. With constant use and practice, soon you will be able to use your rifle and be effective at almost any range. The more you use one of these rifles the better you become at learning the bullet speed and the better you will be at hitting moving targets. No matter the rifle you use, it all comes down to the practice of using the rifle. Personally I've taken a liking to the JNG-90 and I've learn its bullet speed to the point I can get headshots at 300m+ on fast moving targets that use the quad bike(*) and dirt bike(**). So no matter what the enemy recon is using, even if its the M98B, if you know your rilfe well enough, you too should be able be a deadly scout.

*Available only in the Armored Kill DLC
** Available only in the End Game DLC

Hmm, sounds like i will need to practice a ton load

All depends on your rifle. Stay true to it and it will reward. 721m headshot on a viper pilot. There have been more since then, but that was my first.

Hmm, i'll stay faithful to the L96. Just because i used it a lot in SOCOM. Let's see how it does in BF3

The L96 was my favorite in the game up until Close Quarters DLC came out. Had 600+ kills with it. It was hard using the JNG-90 at first but now I'm a beast with it. L96 good one to use.

Yeah. Or i could follow in your footsteps and use the JNG-90 until i'm a beast

Well as it stands, the JNG is my go to rifle, but if there are some chopper pilots that annoy me, the SV98 does the best job in shooting the pilot IMO. May not be the same for you but I would reccomend the SV98 because it has the best animation for bolting a new round. Honestly I might just switch to it permanently. I can interchange with them because SV98 was my starting bolt-action and JNG is my favorite. I can use them both.

Hmm, i'll take your words into consideration.

look at my sig

I havent gotten far in my rank on bf3, so I only have the SV-98 for bolt action. But thanks for the post Gerry, very helpful

lol i just randomly post that

New Achievement
Complete Ignoramus

HAHAHA im now rank 32 in bf3 and a very good sniper. also I have 600 knife kills which more than doubles my kills with any other gun

K... why do I care? Oh wait I don't.