[SBprone]

Military sniping has almost always employed .30 cal rifles and very recently has gone to .50 cal in some applications. These rounds give longer reach (much longer for the .50) than the modern .22 Nato and Russian service rifle rounds.

The .223 is a very deadly cartridge within about 200yds or so, as is the Russian .22 used in the AK-74 which the Afgans call the "poison bullet." Given that the .30s are louder and slightly more work to shoot, and that the objective of the shooter(s) is to inspire terror and not to make a humane kill, I would say that they made an excellent choice with the .223.

I hope our guys make them eat some .30s.

[Renfield]

LOTS of police departments use the Remington 700 in .223 for SWAT sniping...it works just fine on human-size targets at ranges of up to 200 yards or so.