For a sniper rifle, are bolt action better or semi auto

Question

i see most of the sniper rifles are bolt action like M24, only a little of them are semi auto, like M1 garand or M14. i don't know witch action is better, but i assume bolt actions are because in today's technology its already easy enough to make semi auto sniper rifles since semi auto gives u more time to aim, but the number of bolt action rifles are still more, and i want to know what are the advantages of a bolt action sniper rifle.

Answer 1

To use the term Sniper Rifle and ask which one is better is like asking if a car or a truck is better. It really boils down to application. If you wanted to go wheeling you would want a truck with four wheel drive. If you wanted to drive half way across the country you may want to go with something comfortable and affordable on gas like a car. You use the same principle when selecting the appropreate firearm. If you were to spend three days crawling through the dirt and mud crapping in your pants and taking three hours to get a single drink of water like Marine Sniper Carlos Hathcock in Vietnam all to make one shot one kill you would definately want the reliability and accuracy of a bolt action rifle such as a Winchester Modle 70 or Remmington Modle 700 which were popular sniper rifles of that time. In a case like this where you shoot and get the h**l out of there you dont care about semi auto and frankly you dont want to deal with the possiblity of a jam up with a semi auto rifle. If you were to pin down a whole platoon of NVA soldgers in a rice patty like Carlos Hathcock also did you would probably go for the BMG 50 or the M21 (M14 variant). Modern day sniper rifles are much more hi tech and versatile these days but the principle stays the same application, application, application.