Battlefield 1 Sniper Sweet Spots Explained

Most Battlefield 1 snipers learn about sweet spots the hard way: a perfect chest shot, a hit marker, and an enemy who keeps running. Bolt-action rifles only kill with one body shot inside a specific distance band. Outside that band, they need a headshot or a second hit.

What is a sweet spot?

Each bolt-action rifle has a range, measured in meters, where a torso hit is an instant kill. Closer or farther than that, the same shot does less than 100 damage. The band moves from rifle to rifle, so the right gun depends on how far away you usually fight.

Sweet spot ranges

A few rifles have no sweet spot at all: the Gewehr M.95 and Carcano variants, the Russian 1895 Trench, the M1903 Experimental and the SMLE Carbine.

Which rifle should you use?

• Pushing with your squad: the Martini-Henry Infantry. Its 30–80 m band covers most fights near objectives.
• All-round: the SMLE MKIII Marksman, at 40–75 m. It's the safest pick if you don't know the map yet.
• Counter-sniping: the Gewehr 98, at 80–125 m. Accurate enough to win long duels.
• Very long maps: the M1903, at 100–150 m.
• Still learning: the Gewehr M.95 Marksman. It has no sweet spot, but its damage barely drops with range, so you get consistent results while you learn the maps.

Tips

1. Learn your band and move to stay inside it. Repositioning wins more fights than aim.
2. Infantry variants use iron sights, so they don't give away your position with scope glint. They're better on close maps.
3. A spotting flare helps your team more than another kill. Scouts that spot win games.

For the full Scout loadout, including gadgets and sidearms, see our Scout guide. The Battlefield 1 tier list ranks the best weapons for every class.