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If you were an anti communist sniper in the 1920's, what type of rifle would you need to puncture a locomotive boiler? The goal is to harass the Soviet troops by damaging their ability to ship supplies by rail. The rifle would need to be powerful enough to shot at a distance so that you could have a reasonable chance to escape. It would need to be accurate enough to hit a boiler on a locomotive as it is going through the countryside.
I understand that eventually the Soviets would place some type of armor on the boiler but until then a sniper or a group of snipers could harass the Soviet railroad system.