Third Party Press

Russian Capture Snipers, do they exist?

CanadianAR

CanadianAR

Canadian Grizzly Eh
Staff member
This topic has come up for g/k43, it’s known the Russians have a pile left, but want too much money, so they remain in Russia. A Canadian dealer tried to get them but the numbers just didn’t work.

Anyways, obviously the Russians captures lots of sniper rifles, what happened to them? I know we see ZF41 rifles show up on regular RC, which makes sense, they really aren’t worth the time. But I’ve never seen a desnipered HT in the RCs.....or side rail variant that was completed. So I’m just wondering f they are still sitting on a pile? They would make awesome shooters!! So has anyone ever heard anything about them?
 
I’ve seen ex turret Rc rifles.


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I read somewhere that they didn't exist, as the snipers discarded their rifles if they saw that they were going to be captured, as it meant immediate execution if they were found to be a sniper.
I would love to see an rc sniper rifle! Does anyone have any images of such?
 
Plenty of sniper rifles were captured on the western front, and I would expect the same of the east.
 
I'm sure they exist but I'd lay money on it that they were just turned into plain ol' rifles during the rework process.
 
moconfed said:
I read somewhere that they didn't exist, as the snipers discarded their rifles if they saw that they were going to be captured, as it meant immediate execution if they were found to be a sniper.
I would love to see an rc sniper rifle! Does anyone have any images of such?
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True, but not all of them had the luxury to be able to dispose of them in time before capture.
Depots/caches can also be captured or abandoned later in the war, or simple as finding a dead soldier with his rifle in hand from a Russian sniper or artillery barrage.
 
A true sniper rifle might be valued by the Sovs/Russians and retained for possible use. I remember seeing a Russian shooting a Mosin sniper in the war with the Chechins. Just my 2 cents.
 
Oh, PU snipers were 100% guaranteed rebuilt and retained as snipers. I thought we were just talking about German sniper rifles.
 
Wilhelm said:
Oh, PU snipers were 100% guaranteed rebuilt and retained as snipers. I thought we were just talking about German sniper rifles.
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The Soviets de-snipered a lot of the guns. Almost all of the pre-war models went away, and a fair number of the PUs as well. Always made me scratch my head some.
 
I would like to see some desnipered RC. Seems like a waste and loss of a valuable commodity for the soviets but I wouldn’t be surprised. I just have never seen one other then a ZF41 so I was curious.
 
nirvana said:
The Soviets de-snipered a lot of the guns. Almost all of the pre-war models went away, and a fair number of the PUs as well. Always made me scratch my head some.
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During post war rebuild, sniper rifle's were tested and if found unsuitable for sniper use were then turned into normal infantry rifles. Scopes were also rebuilt. If I remember correctly they tested more then just barrel condition. Since the vast majority of PE top mounts and PEM side mounts were made pre-war and early war they got used a lot and where there for too worn out for sniper use (and they were considered obsolete and longer desired by the Russians, as was the SVT 40 sniper). So only PU side mounts were retained as sniper rifles post war.

I would also love to see more RC k98k snipers. Would be great for shooter sniper rifles. I don't even see ZF41's often.
 
The Russian definitely used Captured German Sniper Rifles as did the Germans with Russian Sniper Rifles . I know one Buyer for an Importer who told me he has seen crates of Original German Sniper Rifles on past buying excursions . Not sure if it was true or not but he had no reason to lie to me , he showed me pics of RC HT and SS SSR that he bought but these were De Sniped . Now from what he said these De Sniped Rifles were mixed in with regular RC K98`s .

Here is a few pics of a Russian with a captured SSR with an Ebra 4X Scope . This SSR in photo maybe SS because we know the SS did use Ebra 4x Scopes on their SSR . But no way to be certain if the SSR is SS or regular SSR .
 

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My 1944 Izhevsk PU appears to have been reworked in 1968, I assume to be used as foreign aid if need be. In the end, that foreign aid turned out to be me!





 
Yes Dave. It is common to find pictures of German sharpshooters using Russian sniper rifles. But it is not easy to find Russian sharpshooters using German rifles.

Look at this one. Don't remember where I found it. But super cool.

Scharff_Troff.jpg
 
mdarnell19 said:
Yes Dave. It is common to find pictures of German sharpshooters using Russian sniper rifles. But it is not easy to find Russian sharpshooters using German rifles.



/Very cool Matt. Thanks for posting. Snipers on both sides were supposed to destroy their rifles. If you are dead fast that is hard to do. Audie Murphy captured his rifle and gave it to his sister, a HT. He had taken out 7 German snipers with an M1 carbine, or so the story goes. RC ZF41s are not hard to find but they will have mixed numbers. I have an AR42 that shoots really well. They are for good shooters and not very collectable, so far./



Look at this one. Don't remember where I found it. But super cool.


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Woops, got it in the middle of the quote.
 
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