They recently joined NATO. Sniper competitions were dominated

This year's edition of the European Best Sniper Team Competition was won by a team from a country that has just joined the North Atlantic Alliance. It seems that the current generation of military snipers is preserving the traditions of the legendary "ancestor".

We're talking about a three-man team from Finland, which in the latest edition of the European Best Sniper Team Competition turned out to be the best among teams from 25 participating countries. After seven grueling days, the team from Jaeger Brigade and Pori emerged victorious.

Interestingly, the Finnish team consisting of a sniper, observer, and so-called flanker from various brigades had not coordinated before, as evidenced by the leader's statement, and relied solely on the coherent and consistent training of the Finnish Defense Forces.

In the competitions, skills such as shooting with a sniper rifle without any position preparation, shooting at moving targets, using alternative weapons in emergency situations, shooting targets from a helicopter, or taking combat positions are tested.

The leader of the Finnish group mentioned that the biggest challenge was shooting at a distance of 0.62 miles during the day and night, firing from a helicopter and pontoon, and the smallest challenge was building contacts among participants from different countries. Everyone was supposed to be very interested in Finnish sniper techniques, and the atmosphere and team spirit among the snipers were excellent.

Finland has a very rich shooting tradition, and gun ownership there can be said to be the norm, because according to the Small Arms Survey, Finland has the highest rate of gun ownership per 100 residents in the European part of NATO (32.36 guns per 100 residents).

This is related to the hunting culture (over 70 percent of permits are for this purpose) and the need to take care of one's own safety. As a result, many Finns preserve the traditions of the famous sniper Simo Häyhä, whose achievements are described by Adam Gaafar.

The second aspect is access to excellent weaponry, which is also not a problem, as in Finland we can find many highly valued manufacturers, such as SAKO or Lapua. The former produces world-renowned sniper rifles and hunting rifles, and the latter company is known for the production of very high-quality ammunition, also valued by the most demanding institutional or civilian users.

Finnish snipers for the competition were equipped with regulation sniper rifles SAKO TRG M10. These are the latest modular models of the TRG family, first shown to the world in 2010. The SAKO TRG M10 allows easy conversion between three calibers: 8.6x70 mm (.338 Lapua Magnum), 7.62x67 mm (.300 Winchester Magnum), and 7.62x51 mm NATO (.308 Winchester). This process requires the replacement of the barrel, which is attached to a nut, bolt, and magazine.

The first of the mentioned calibers, the .338 Lapua Magnum, allows for effective target elimination at a distance exceeding even 0.93 miles, which cannot be protected even by bulletproof vests equipped with the best ballistic plates available on the market. The second caliber, the .300 Winchester Magnum, fulfills a similar role, while the third, the .308 Winchester, due to its ubiquity on the market and in NATO countries' armories, allows for economical training of snipers and maintaining their skills at an appropriate level.

SAKO TRG M10 rifles are of a repeated design, thus requiring reloading after each shot, but they ensure marvelous accuracy. The SAKO TRG M10 can easily reach a focus of 0.5 MOA (minute of angle) or even less. This means that at a distance of about 110 yards, all shots fired from the rifle fit within a circle with a diameter of 0.6 inches or less. At a distance of about 0.6 miles, the focus is already 6 inches, which is at least eight times better than what standard soldiers' rifles offer (the norm is 4 MOA).

The main components responsible for this are a rigid lock chamber made of steel, a self-supporting barrel made from cold-forged steel of the highest quality, and a very precise trigger mechanism, which only requires a force of about 3.3 pounds to activate. The rest of the rifle is made from either aluminum or a composite, depending on the needs.

Additionally, as befits a modern election structure, all manipulative elements of the rifle with the exception of the reloading lever are duplicated, and the stock, folded to the side, has length adjustment and a vertically adjustable cheek pad. In turn, the installation of additional accessories takes place on the dorsal Picatinny rail or at mounting points in the M-LOK standard located on the stock.

The weight of the rifle varies depending on the version between 13.9 and 15 lbs, and its length depends on the barrel used. For example, a rifle in 8.6x70 mm (.338 Lapua Magnum) caliber with a barrel length of 27.2 inches has a length of 47.9 inches. Interestingly, the rifles are also used by the Polish Army, which received them as part of the "Kij" program.