I like running DMRs. But I'm a stats nerd, min/maxer, etc etc. and I've always wondered what I was missing by not sniping with an actual bolt gun "sniper rifle" in Tarkov. So I did an experiment.
This all began when the only advantage that I could find over semi-auto DMR rifles is that a couple of the bolt guns (literally only 2 btw) had significantly better Accuracy stat. I must say that these test results surprised me, as I've always been under the impression that the Accuracy stat was very underestimated, and a much bigger factor in making shots than most players think. (And maybe it is a bigger deal when looking at rifles with a larger value, who knows?)
I expected a noticeably larger grouping from the TX-15, especially this far out. However, as you can see, my hypothesis was wrong!
This was at 200m using the 35x on the ATACR scope. Point of aim was the same Y-axis, only X-axis was shifted (which demonstrates that the higher muzzle velocity on the M995 does indeed produce less bullet drop than the 7N1 – yay Tarkov!). I always run suppressed, so only suppressed loadouts were used for this stat experiment. 5 shots with each rifle.
It is very hard to hold the rifle still, even when holding breath, and there is still considerable reticle sway; so I was actually extremely surprised that the groupings were still this tight at 200m. With that in mind, it's entirely possible that the marginally tighter group seen with the SV-98 was simply me being slightly more accurate with my mouse clicks as the reticle bobbed around. In other words:
THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO DIFFERENCE AT ALL BETWEEN THE TWO ACCURACY STATS, EVEN THOUGH THE SV-98 80% MORE "ACCURATE"
I definitely wouldn't call the difference in results seen here "statistically significant," especially given the amount of scope sway that must be battled in making these shots.
Soooooo… this leads me to conclude: From a performance standpoint, the only reason to run a bolt gun over a DMR in Tarkov is the cost. The SV-98 used here was right at half the cost of the TX-15 (both fully modded to my min/max preferences). Naturally, the stats are WAY better on the TX-15, as well as the obvious fact that it's semi-auto.
Anyway, I hope some other nerd out there found this post interesting.
