Sniper Scope

The Sniper Scope is an optional scope in Call of Duty: World at War for bolt action rifles and some semi automatic rifles such as the M1 Garand.



Unlocking
Unlike in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, the Sniper scopes on all but two rifles (the Springfield and the PTRS-41) must be unlocked through the Marksman challenges in Call of Duty: World at War.

On all bolt action rifles, it takes only 25 kills with the gun, unlocking Marksman I, and a Sniper Scope. The only other gun which the Sniper Scope can be unlocked for is the M1 Garand, which requires a Marksman IV challenge (150 Kills) to unlock the sniper scope.

The Scope increases zoom by approximately 5x compared to aiming down the gun without. It also decreases hip-fire accuracy and increases base damage from whatever it was (35-45 for the M1, 40-50 for bolt actions on PC, 50 for bolt actions on consoles) to 70. Also, damage multipliers are changed. Note that the "Statistics" displayed in-game are misleading and oftentimes flat-out wrong. The following sections analyze the actual statistics of snipers to better help players choose a rifle to fit their needs.

Accuracy
When breath is held, all snipers are perfectly accurate. However, idle accuracy differs from one rifle to the other. The rifles with the most sway are the Springfield, Mosin-Nagant, and Kar98k at 6 degrees each. The Arisaka is unique in that its sway is reduced from 6 degrees when standing to 4.5 degrees when crouching or prone, making it the most accurate "true bolt-action sniper". The PTRS has 4 degrees of sway. The M1 Garand has 4 degrees of sway when standing and 3 degrees when crouched or prone.

Rate of Fire
Though very similar in rate of fire, the bolt-actions do have minor differences in the rate cartridges are cycled. The Mosin-Nagant and Arisaka are the slowest, each taking a full second to cycle the bolt (60 RPM). At .9 seconds, the Kar98k is the next slowest (66 RPM), followed closely by the Springfield at .87 seconds (69 RPM). The PTRS-41 is the fastest rifle in the bolt action category (although it is not technically a bolt-action), requiring only .8 seconds between each shot (75 RPM). The M1 Garand is by far the fastest sniper rifle, able to fire every .135 seconds (444 RPM).

Damage
The Springfield, Kar98k, Mosin-Nagant, Arisaka, and PTRS-41 are all 1-shot kills to the chest, neck, or head. When coupled with Stopping Power the stomach is also a one shot kill. The PTRS-41 is technically the most powerful of these as it has the deepest penetration through objects (but contrary to popular belief, does not do more damage). The M1 Garand is the weakest sniper rifle; it is only a one shot kill to the head, unless using Stopping Power, in which case the neck and chest are also one shot kills. Note that enemies with Juggernaut will negate the effect of Stopping Power, which hurts the effectiveness of the M1 Garand the most. Because of this, the scoped M1 Garand is not an extremely common sight in Core games.

All sniper rifles are 1-shot kills to any part of the body in Hardcore, even if the enemy is equipped with Juggernaut and you are not equipped with Stopping Power. Because of this, the M1 Garand is far superior to the other snipers when playing Hardcore.

Trivia

 * Attaching a sniper scope to any of the bolt-action rifles in World at War (note that the M1 Garand is unaffected by this, making it the quietest sniper rifle) greatly increases the weapons sound when fired, causing it to be heard across the entire map. A possible reason for this is so that camping snipers can be easier to find.
 * The M1 Garand and the Arisaka have the sniper scope mounted to the left of the gun instead of the top, like all other bolt actions. This is due to the fact that the M1 Garand ejects the clip upward when empty.
 * The Sniper Scope is also available in Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty 4, but it does not occupy an attachment slot. It is available on all sniper weapons.
 * In Call of Duty 4, World at War and Modern Warfare 2, all the snipers have different scopes, but they have the same reticle. This is due to a programming error called "scope_overlay_m40a3" which makes all sniper rifles' reticles identical to that of the M40A3 (or, in World at War, the error "scope_overlay_ptrs-41", where the reticle used belongs to the PTRS-41 .) This does not apply to the Barrett and the WA2000, since they have the same scope. Though in World at War singleplayer, the scope reticle for each rifle is different.
 * The sniper scope for the Springfield for the Wii is very different than that of the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions.
 * In Black Ops, the scopes' retiules are different, as seen in the Prestige edition trailer, which showed a view down the Dragunov's scope, which was designed to resemble it's real life equivalent.