Gessler
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By far the most numerous precision rifle in service is the Dragunov SVD chambered for the 7.62x54mm rimmed round. Adopted decades ago, this semi-automatic magazine-fed rifle continues to serve today. It's the standard-issue weapon for IA's snipers. It's a dated platform with little upgradability in its current form, and issues only with the 4x24 PSO-1 optic (where 4x is the magnification power and 24 is the diameter of the objective lens in mm).
Also used in limited numbers by Army snipers are the:
Steyr SSG 69
Austrian-made bolt action rifle in 7.62x51mm NATO, typically fitted with either a Kahles ZF69 6x42 fixed-power scope or a more modern Hensoldt optic of up to 10x magnification, don't know exactly which one IA-used examples have. Being a bolt-action platform, it affords on average better reliability & accuracy than the auto-loading SVD. The SSG 69 is a solid alternative to American rifles like M24 or M40 and it would have been great if IA adopted it as the standard sniper weapon but it wasn't to be.
Mauser SP66
Old German rifle, also used in limited numbers in exceedingly limited use-cases, can't seem to recall the last time I saw one in use...also a bolt-action 7.62 NATO rifle, comes out of the box with a Zeiss variable-power 1.5-6x42 optic.
Though anti-material rifles are not typically intended to shoot man-sized targets, they can be used in that role by snipers just fine, as demonstrated to great effect by American troops in both Gulf Wars where the .50 caliber rounds can reach out and touch targets that would otherwise be so far outside the reach of 7.62N or even .300winmag (Winchester Magnum)...and demonstrated by our troops across LoC as well, though the sight lines in this instance may not have been as long.
Denel NTW
South African-designed, available in both 20x82mm and 14.5x114mm calibres, this is an extremely powerful bolt-action rifle capable of penetrating most forms of solid cover over long ranges. Hindered chiefly by its excessive weight. Comes with a factory-standard Lynx 8x56 scope.
Barrett M107
Available in very small quantities with select units, like JAK LI for example. American-made semi-auto AMR in the .50BMG (12.7x99mm), comes with the same Leupold Mark 4 scope (4.5-14x50) as used on the American mil-spec configuration. Rarely seen, personally I can only recall seeing 1 pic.
In addition, the Army's Special Forces units like the Para-SF have access to any & all of the precision rifles available with the regulars to use as they see fit, but they also use this Israeli rifle as a DMR/sniper support weapon -
IWI Galatz aka Galil Sniper
Chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, this is another semi-auto magazine-fed rifle like SVD, issues with a Nimrod 6x40 or 10x40 scope.
More recently, IA has inducted two new platforms:
Victrix Armaments Scorpio MilLe
A number of these were purchased as a knee-jerk reaction following mounting attacks by Pak snipers. This is the first rifle in Indian service to use the .338 Lapua Magnum (shortened & pronounced lapmag) round, allowing it the ability to prosecute targets at a significantly farther range than either 7.62 NATO or the 7.62x54 Russian round of SVD**
There is a lot of information going around the internet that the Scorpio variant purchased by IA is the TCT or TGT, but after observing the stock & the M-LOK interface system present along the length of the fore-end/handguard on the rifles seen in hands of IA troops, I'm led to deduce that what we bought is actually the Scorpio MilLe variant, and not TGT/TCT, I'll follow this up in a future post.
The optic, owing to very few images available of the rifle in Indian service (and none of good quality), I'm unable to state with 100% surety (unlike the other rifles mentioned above, this is a very modern system designed for user-adaptability so the practice of shipping with a pre-existing optic out of the box isn't followed, this rifle ships clean), but judging by what little imagery is available, I'm led to say that what we could have on our examples is a variable-power Schmidt & Bender scope.
Barrett M95
Another new addition bought alongside the Scorpio, a bolt-action .50BMG AMR, personally I'd have preferred the semi-auto M107 over it (as did the US military when they rejected M95 in favour of M82/M107). But either way, this is a significantly lighter weapon compared to existing AMRs like the NTW (almost 50% reduction in weight), at the cost of a reduction in calibre (not that .50bmg is a wimpy round).
Haven't seen pics of any of these in service yet, but I assume we must be using the same Leupold optic as used by its semi-auto cousin the M107.
This is sadly true. PA has ingrained the sniper culture much more than IA - some might not agree but from where I'm looking at things, that's how it is. It's a problem that actively needs fixing. Placing small batch orders as knee-jerk reactions after a spate of incidents doesn't solve the deeper problems.
The fact that we issue the SVD as the standard sniper weapon itself is a testament to poorly developed sniper culture. The kind of mindset a shooter has when he has the option of quick follow-up shots as compared to being on a bolt action platform where for the most part he HAS to make every shot count is extremely different, reason why I'm giving this particular example is because this is the most basic way of explaining the difference between a sniper and a marksman.
We have 'snipers' toting what the Russians or Americans would consider a designated marksman rifle (SVD), combined with a modicum of fieldcraft, camouflaging & stalking training and we, for decades, refused to move ahead from there.
Suddenly putting a $10,000 Gucci rifle in their hands won't turn them into Carlos Hathcock or Chris Kyle. What we are hoping to usher in with the emergency buys (and the ongoing attempt to procure a larger number of .338 bolt-action rifles) will only be properly imbibed into the IA's DNA only about 10 years from now.
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Mods, move this post to a more appropriate thread if deemed necessary.
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