Sniper Rifle

"When scoped, the BIRD'S EYE fires perfectly accurate, deadly rounds."

- Fink Manufacturing advertisement



The Bird's Eye, known in-game as the Sniper Rifle, is a weapon used by Booker DeWitt in the BioShock Infinite beta gameplay video. It has a large mounted scope running along the barrel. It's the weapon used to shove Charles off a ledge in the beta gameplay demo. It featured briefly in a new trailer released in mid-December 2011, with an updated model.

If you need to take out an enemy from a very long distance, the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle is the perfect weapon. Activiating Iron Sights allows you to use a scope that lets you target opponents from quite a distance.

When using the Sniper Rifle, you might be tempted to aim for headshots, but you should try to aim at center mass whenever possible--a single body shot is enough to take out any soldier on normal difficulty, even late in the game. This is no longer true on Hard difficulty though, unless fully upgraded the sniper loses the ability to kill in one hit on a body shot, so players should aim for head shots to conserve ammo and make quick work of enemies.

While the Sniper Rifle is great against enemies from far away, it's much harder to use when attackers get close. Aiming while looking down the scope is slow, and it's very difficult to use the Bird's Eye when firing from the hip.

In most situations, it's generally best to not hold on to a Sniper Rifle for too long--whenever you might need one, you'll probably be able to find one. If you really want to carry one around, keep a secondary weapon constantly stocked to use when enemies get close.

Weapon damage data from this post by MelodicMizery

Advantages

 * Optimal weapon at long range
 * Extremely accurate
 * High damage, even with bodyshots
 * Critical hits kill most enemies in one shot even on Hard mode
 * Findable in common "sniper's nests", i.e. roof tops, behind cover, etc.

Disadvantages

 * Difficult to use even at medium range
 * Ammo is somewhat rare
 * Slow aiming
 * Very few situations that are optimal for use

Tips
You can fire without aiming and running with extreme precision, there is no need to aim down unless the enemy is really far away.

After every shoot you can immediately perform a melee atack, it overrides the bolt action animation allowing you to atack an enemy who is to close.

Preorder Exclusive
Best Buy customers who preordered BioShock Infinite will also get the Comstock's Bird's Eye Sniper. This upgrade for the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle comes with a unique skin and an exclusive damage enhancement. It is also based on the real-life K-98 WWII German rifle.