Sniper Rifle

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

― Fink Manufacturing advertisement

Sniper Rifle
Damage	595 - 805
Damage Multipliers	2.5x
Rate of Fire	Low High (with upgrade)
Spread	High
Recoil	Medium
Magazine Size	4 6 (with Bullet Boon) 7 (with Ammo Advantage)
Maximum Ammunition	4 + 20 6 + 20 (with Bullet Boon) 7 + 20 (with Ammo Advantage)
Reload Time	5 Seconds Full Reload
Ammunition	Sniper Rifle Ammo
Used by	Booker DeWitt Soldiers

The Bird's Eye, known in-game as the Sniper Rifle, is a long-ranged weapon used by Booker DeWitt in the BioShock Infinite beta gameplay video. It has a large mounted scope running along atop the barrel. It is the weapon used to shove Charles, Henry Saltonstall's minion, off a ledge in the beta gameplay demo. It first featured briefly in a new trailer released in mid-December 2011, with an updated model. In the final game, the Bird's Eye is first seen in Soldier's Field, when taking on one of Slate's Soldiers outside of the Hall of Heroes.

Gameplay

When the player needs to take out an enemy from a very long distance, the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle is the perfect weapon. Activating the weapon's iron sights allows using a scope to target opponents from quite a distance.

When using the Sniper Rifle, the player might be tempted to aim for headshots, but 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 Rifle loses the ability to kill with one body shot hit, so players should aim for head shots to conserve ammo and make quick work of enemies. Equipping Head Master will increase the amount of critical damage dealt, so switch to this Gear if and when you come across it.

While the Sniper Rifle is great against enemies at long distance, it is much harder to use when attackers are close. Aiming while looking down the scope is slow, and it is very difficult to use the Bird's Eye when firing from the hip. Also, due to its small magazine capacity of four rounds, and a long reload time, the player can only take down a few enemies before they close distance, and the Sniper Rifle loses its effectiveness.

In most situations, it is generally best to not retain a Sniper Rifle for too long, especially when it is only available in some areas or with certain Sniper Rifles, and ammo is not as abundant, especially when avoiding using a Dollar Bill vending machine for 1999 Mode. If the player chooses to always carry one around, they should keep a secondary weapon stocked with ammo to use when enemies get close, especially while the player is caught reloading.

Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle Upgrade 1: Damage Boost 1 Effect: Increases Sniper Rifle damage by 25%. Cost: $349 Upgrade 2: Damage Boost 2 Effect: Increases Sniper Rifle damage by 25%. Cost: $349 Upgrade 3: Fire Rate Boost Effect: Increases Sniper Rifle fire rate by 100%. Cost: $654 Upgrade 4: Recoil Decrease Effect: Decreases Sniper Rifle recoil by 50%. Cost: $288

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.
• More accurate with Tunnel Vision
• Comstock Bird's Eye: 50% (replaces Damage Boost 1)

Disadvantages

• Difficult to use, even at medium range
• Ammo is somewhat rare
• Slow aiming
• Very few situations which are optimal for use
• Small magazine size
• Long reload time

Tips

• You can fire without aiming or running with extreme precision, there is no need to aim down unless the enemy is really far away.
• After every shot, you can immediately perform a melee attack; it overrides the bolt action animation allowing you to attack an enemy who is too close and be able to fire when melee animation ends.
• The ammo and the weapon itself are rarer than most guns. Use Elizabeth's Tears to spawn balconies and other structures, which usually have a Sniper Rifle.
• When riding Sky-Lines, you can equip Sky-Line Accuracy (if you've found it) to increase the accuracy of the weapon when aiming, especially for headshots. Killing enemies with headshots while riding Sky-Lines helps toward unlocking the "Bolt from the Blue" Achievement/Trophy.

Recommended Vigors

• Murder of Crows is a useful aid when using the Bird's Eye. The crows will stun all enemies in the vicinity, allowing Booker to take the time to line up a shot. Also, the crows have a long range, allowing Booker to stun enemies far away, making for easier shots, especially against other snipers. 
• Likewise, Shock Jockey keeps enemies in place, allowing for easier scoped and hip-fire kills. Shock Jockey can also stun over long distances, locking a target in one spot, making an easier kill.
• A Return to Sender shield can keep you safe while lining up shots. 

Preorder Exclusive

Best Buy customers who pre-ordered BioShock Infinite and those who bought the DLC Columbia's Finest will also get Comstock's Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle. This upgrade for the Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle comes with a unique skin and an exclusive damage enhancement.

Gallery

Release

The Sniper Rifle.

Sniper Rifle scope.

Pack of Sniper Rifle ammo.

The Sniper Rifle model.

Comstock's Bird's Eye model.

Comstock's Bird's Eye in-game.

A Vox agent wields the Sniper rifle.

An alternate view of the Vox Sniper.

Pre-release

The Bird's Eye, as seen in the BioShock Infinite Demo.

Demo Bird's Eye Scope.

The barrel containing Bird's Eyes.

DeWitt wields the sniper rifle in the TV commercial.

Concept art for a Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle.

Concept of various Sniper Rifles.

Icon from Industrial Revolution.

Bugs/Glitches

•   If the player opens the Adjust Brightness menu while wielding the Sniper Rifle, the lense of the scope will be visible in the settings menu.

Behind the Scenes

• The Bird's Eye Sniper Rifle is based on the early-model Springfield 1903, a bolt-action rifle that served as the standard United States infantry rifle in World War I and as a sniper rifle in World War II, the Korean War, and even at the start of the Vietnam War. This rifle is period-correct for the timeline of BioShock Infinite, though how a then-new design made it to Columbia is not stated.
  • The rifle does contain several differences, such as the fictional detachable box magazine, and some features more akin to the also period-accurate German Mauser Karabiner 98 rifle. The Sniper Rifle also features sights that are similar to those of the M1917 Enfield rifle.
• The Achievement/Trophy On a Clear Day... requires 30 kills with the Sniper Rifle to unlock.
• In the TV commercial, the Sniper Rifle had a much different scope than in the final version. The scope looked like it had 3 SUSAT Scope-looking parts, not a "+" looking scope seen in the final game.
• Concept art for the Sniper Rifle by BioShock Infinite's developer Mauricio Tejerina shows a Vox variant for this weapon unused in the game. Like other Vox modified weapons, it has red pieces of cloth attached to it. However, there are no apparent modifications.