American Sniper - Boekje Pienter

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your scope and rifle barrel. I would take tape and put it over my barrel,
then spray-paint the tape up to camouflage it further. I’d keep some
vegetation in front of my scope as well as my barrel—you don’t need to
see everything, just your target.
For me, stalking was the hardest part of the course. I nearly failed
because of a lack of patience.
It was only after we mastered stalking that we moved on to
shooting.
GUNS
People ask a lot about weapons, what I used as a sniper, what I
learned on, what I prefer. In the field, I matched the weapon to the job
and the situation. At sniper school, I learned the basics of a range of
weapons, so I was prepared not only to use them all, but also to choose
the right one for the job.
I used four basic weapons at sniper school. Two were magazinefed
semiautomatics: the Mk-12, a 5.56 sniper rifle; and the Mk-11, a
7.62 sniper rifle. (When I talk about a gun, I often just mention the
caliber, so the Mk-12 is the 5.56. Oh, and there’s no “point” in front of
the numbers; it’s understood.)
Then there was my .300 Win Mag. That was magazine-fed, but it
was bolt-action. Like the other two, it was suppressed. Which means
that it has a device on the end of the barrel that suppresses muzzle
flash and reduces the sound of bullet as it leaves the gun, much like a
muffler on a car. (It’s not actually a silencer, though some think of it
that way. Without getting too technical, the suppressor works by letting
gas out of the barrel as the bullet discharges. Generally speaking,