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What is the difference between sharpshooter and sniper?

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as mentioned in other comments, at least for a fully technical, within the military set of definitions: a 'sharpshooter' is a qualification badge for a particular weapon(system); it's not even the highest grade. a 'sniper' is a job within the military.

e.g. any given person in the military could take the range test and qualify as any of marksman, sharpshooter, or expert for any particular firearm - pistols - m9, m1918, rifles/machine guns - the m16, the m204, m249, etc, etc. but only snipers will go to sniper school to learn about things like making ghillie suits, very long distance ballistics, and so on.

the origin of the name goes back to the american civil war where the more accurate riflemen were rated higher and issued the more expensive and less available rifles from a manufacturer called 'sharps'. so they were the ones to be sharps shooters.