The greatest sniper, the greatest athlete, the greatest movie star........are usually the person that has gotten the greatest amount of publicity. Here in this country, that's Hathcock and Kyle, as a result of books and a movie. I consider Hathcock to the greatest modern day American sniper, but the all time American sniper title probably belongs to Jack Hinson. Hinson killed over a 100 Yankees, shooting them with a muzzle loader rifle, while they were floating down the Tennessee River on boats. By all accounts, that is nothing short of incredible.
I think there are several Russian and German snipers, along with the Finn Simo Hayha, who were probably the best overall. Some on here have said that the Russians kill totals were overstated, yet they say that Hathcocks were understated.....that sounds like sour grapes to me
They say that the Eastern front was a target rich environment, and it was, but it was a place where a sniper had all that many more enemy trying to shoot him, so that argument doesn't fly.
They say that the jungle and the sand was more difficult to deal with. I don't think minus 40 temps were a piece cake. I imagine they were all bad.
The rifles used by modern day snipers, and the other equipment makes hitting your target much easier that what snipers of an earlier era had to use. Also, todays snipers are able to put a lot of distance between them and the target, instead of rather up close and personal like snipers like Hayha dealt with.
They're all great, and all did the job that was asked of them to do.
