What is the point of the SRSA1?

[Raven™]

It is a sniper you get way into the game, yet it is arguably the worst of them all. If it was a secondary it would make sense, but why does it even exist if it has a direct counterpart that is just better? Plus, the MSR is so much better in terms of sniping. I prefer DMRs.

[Pig Mac]

It's short, it looks good (personal preferrence) fastest of the bolt action snipers.. Yes it have horrible wall penetration compared to the other boltaction snipers.. but I mainly use it since.. well since no one else does.
I don't care what is the 'best' weapons.. I use the ones I like instead.

(when you get really used to one sniper rifle, you have to re-learn the others.. and after 3.5K kills, i feel comfortable with it to 700 meters.. I'm really uncomfortable if they are behind a wall thou)

[RitualistEssence]

Alot of them are only better cosmeticly, the MSR is better than the LSR2 yet the the latter is available only in the store. Same goes for TAC50, the HTI desert Tec is way better & cost nothing but the Tac50 is only available on the store. Alot of the premium version of weapons actually have worse stats as you can't mod them to add a long barrel to it or suppresor.

[Pig Mac]

I got the Black Widow in a prestige crate.. not only is it a lot worse then the SRSA1 in most ways, due to not being modular.. I were doing my 'permanently' remove suppressors repro test on the non moddables.. and that were one where there is no way to put back the suppressor (DT HTI BCD, and P227 Urban were the only 2 other I could permanenly destroy (the p227 U fixed itself a day later))

But why the SRSA1 even exist, is almost like, why do we have more the 3 weapons in the game?

The worst thing I did in this game, were reading and looking up what weapons that were the 'best'.. So I ended up with the MSR and the ACR, like a mindless clone, that just followed the 'orders'

For ME the SRSA1 is the best due to being pretty unused by most. and I'm really used to it.

I haven't touched the ACR for 10 levels and 36½ Tiers.
The R5 RGP were my weapon of choice (untill they broke the camo for it, 2 updates ago).
Then M4A1 a while.. only to try the wonderful Steyr the rest of the time, as I always loved that weapon, and I'm a sucker for bullpups.

Now I'm back to the R5 RGP again, no long barrel, just the 30 round clip, the 'worst' lasersight (and grenade launcher of course).

I play this game like it were 'Barbie: Extreme Makover and Massmurderer'
If my SRSA1 don't reach target since it's behind a too thick wall.. I'll just move around to get into a better position.

I don't like the snipers almost dragging in the ground, and I almost never use silencer on the snipers. If it's close enough to be heard, secondary weapon can in most cases fill that gap.

At Tier maxed out lvl 30 the R5 RGP have higher (with long barrel) damage then the SRSA1 when looking at the stats, but those stats don't seem right.
It downs e heli with 2 shots on 700 meters.. when closer it feels a lot safer with the SRSA1, as it fires just a bit quicker then the MSR, or the SR-1 I used for quite some time.

So it's more that I seem to be insane enought to let my ingame char have a will of his own, and his choices aren't always the best, but it's the way I get the most out of the game with.

[Raven™]

Actually, I have found a valid reason to use it. The fire rate is the best, but for a sniper that doesn't much matter. The reload speed, however, does matter, and it is the fastest in that respect as well. However, the most important thing that has made me choose this sniper, is the noise reduction. It is the ONLY bolt action rifle that, even when suppresed, doesn't alert nearby enemies. This means that if you are stealthing into the middle of a hot zone, you can take out any far away enemies without worrying about nearby ones hearing something. All other bolt actions will make nearby enemies feel funky, but the SRSA1 does not.

[DG]

if a player prefer carrying a loud automatic weapon with a suppressed bolt-action, during stealth mission SRSA1 can be very helpful. a suppressed MSR can alert enemies at 20m radius range, which makes you get suspicious status like all the time. SRSA1 simply don't alert them unless enemies are really closed to you.

that being said, the game itself wasn't designed to make players think about these conditions, you can just gun down everything with more powerful weapon or shoot down an enemy sniper 200m away from you with your pistol. don't pay too much attention to the purpose, just choose any playstyle that suits you better.

[PFunk]

The SRSA1 is my favorite ranged weapon in the game. It’s ridiculously quiet, and it’s got a very, very flat bullet trajectory and as long as I can see my target, it’s dead. I like the cyclic rate of the bolt, too. Nice and quick rechambering. I don’t use the Hollywood rifles like the MSR. I also prefer the L115A3 with a compensator for REALLY long distances and the SR-25 Commando Sniper is just one of the most silent in the game, even if it tends to throw shots. My primary weapon is the R5 RGP with the attached M203 and a reflex sight. It hits anything it aims at. Keep your ACR or your Mk17.

[kamikazi21358]

I don’t want to disappoint anybody, but after extensive testing I have found that stealth WITH suppressors isn’t done by the individual weapon, but by type. Because of this, every single sniper rifle in the game when suppressed can be heard at the same exact range. So unfortunately, a HTI has the same ‘loudness’ as a SVD or a SRSA1, presuming they all have suppressors.
I do not remember the exact numbers, but last I checked every single weapon of this type when suppressed can be heard at these ranges and less (I do not remember the exact numbers, but they are exteremly close to these):
Pistols - either 13m or 17m, unsure of exact number.
SMGs - 23 meters
Assault Rifles - 36 meters
LMGs - in the 40s, I think there is only one suppressed LMG though.
Shotguns - also in the 40s.
Sniper Rifles - 50 meters, maybe slightly more (in the 50s).

Please let me know if you find otherwise, but after testing both against Sicarios and Unidad, and cover has no effect on these ranges, every single weapon type has the same exact “loudness” as other weapons of their exact same class when suppressed.