5 Things You Don't Know About Sniper Rifles

American Sniper opens in movie theaters everywhere this Friday. Director Clint Eastwood delivers heart-stopping action in the Iraq battle scenes, but he's just as interested in Chris Kyle's marriage to wife Taya (played by Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, respectively).

What you don't get from the movie is a focused discussion and examination of a Navy SEAL sniper's gear. We've got some details here in "5 Things You Don't Know About: Sniper Rifles," an exclusive video that breaks down the differences between the weapons and cartridges used by various branches of the military. The clip below is the first episode of 5 Things You Don't Know About, a new Military.com series produced in cooperation with Lou Reda Productions.  

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This series is hosted by Martin K. A. Morgan. Our readers may know him from his appearances as an historian in numerous the History Channel and the Military Channel channel documentaries or from his work as a field editor for American Rifleman magazine & American Rifleman TV as well as a columnist for Shooting Illustrated (the NRA's monthly newsstand publication). He has been shooting for more than 30 years, including a period when he was a competitive rifle marksman. He has also been an NFA/machine gun owner/collector since 1990, and is quite comfortable with and knowledgeable about any and all automatic weapons.