Disregard my last. No way in hell I’ll argue with anyone who says civilians are better than military snipers.
Rock on. I’m out.
There is room to disagree maybe in scope and style of shooting.
But, I said civilians with serious precision rifle hobbies vs. basic mil snipers. I also said snipers are better than the vast majority of hunters.
Have you listened to many podcasts with Phil Valeyo, Caylen Wojcik, and/or Frank Galli? They talk about how much crosses from civilian to military now because the level of training and experimentation is higher in civilian shooting. I took my bags and customized them for a sniper training detatchment and demoed the bags for them. Only two snipers had used bags like that, and they had competed in civilian matches. One of my bags is given to all trainees of a civilian shooting school, and most shooters are mil. Most don't have the bags, but they leave with them.
Phil and Caylen will also talk about losing to the local plumber at precision rifle matches straight from the military as instructors. They are certainly not hacks and have no reason to say that. They are two of the most well known to transition from military to civilian shooting.
If you would like me to find a podcast or video with them discussing my point, I will do it. Maybe we don't disagree.
I have talked with, trained with, and competed with top civilian shooters and with current and former military sniper instructors. As a beginner, they taught me a bunch. Now, I have built on it.
Time, money, passion and dedication make better shooters. Dedicated passionate civilians have all of that, well above most military snipers.