L96A1

The L96A1 is a bolt-action Sniper Rifle created by the British company Accuracy International and fielded by British and German forces. The L96A1 is the British designation of the standard Arctic Warfare rifle. The AW rifle has derivatives which can fire the 7.62x51mm NATO, .300 Winchester, and .338 Lapua cartridges. It is featured in many installments of the Battlefield Series and fires the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridges.

Battlefield 2
"The L96A1 is the replacement for the L42 Enfield sniper rifles. It is reputed to be one of the world's best sniper rifles."

- In-game description.

The L96A1 is a weapon featured in the Battlefield 2: Euro Force expansion and is the default sniper rifle for the European Union. Its spread values are identical to, with the exception of the M24, rifles of the same class, with a zoomed spread of 0.05 and spread increase of 3.5 per round. The weapon's rate of fire, damage, and magazine size are identical to the M24 and is always capable of killing in two direct hits, at a maximum, with a minimum of one headshot for an instant kill.

Battlefield Play4Free
The L96A1 is a weapon featured in Battlefield Play4Free and is available for purchase at level 24. It features a large magazine, medium damage, fast reload and the highest rate of fire amongst bolt-action sniper rifles, with a very fast bolt cycle.

Battlefield 3
"British made, high performance sniper rifle. Widely used across Europe."

- Battlelog description

The L96 is a weapon introduced in the Battlefield 3: Back to Karkand expansion and is unlocked upon the completion of the Creeping Death assignment. It was first seen in the Strike at Karkand Gameplay Trailer. The weapon model used is not actually the L96A1 but the AWM-F chambered in .300 Winchester, while the in game weapon is chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO.

Compared to the SV98 the L96's rounds have a higher velocity which causes bullets to drop less over longer ranges giving it a similar drop pattern to the JNG-90. The L96 also has the third fastest velocity out of all bolt action sniper rifles at 540 meters per second. Despite only minor differences, the JNG-90 is considered superior because it has a slightly higher velocity at 560 m/s, slightly slower reload at 2.5 seconds and a slightly higher rate of fire of 46.2 rounds per minute.

Patch history
The L96 was originally the only bolt-action sniper rifle that could mount a Flash Suppressor. When the Flash Suppressor was equipped onto the L96, the accuracy of the weapon, aimed or otherwise, was not affected at all whereas other weapons with a flash suppressor did suffer an accuracy loss. Following the 3/27/12 patch however, the flash suppressor no longer reduces aimed accuracy on any weapon.

An update changed the damage and chest multiplier to 1.25 for the L96. With 80 damage at close range it will kill in one shot to the chest or at any range in hardcore.

Before the June 4th 2012 patch, the point of aim on the L96 was vertically offset (with the possible exception of some rifle scopes) due to a bug. This caused shots to be fired from a point above the center of the sight the player was using, throwing off skewing aim. The iron sights are now aligned with the top of the post but not with the dot on the post.

Battlefield 4
The L96A1 is featured in Battlefield 4: China Rising. It and the expansion's other weapons were accidentally released early for PC players as part of the platform's first client patch. It uses the same battlelog model as the BF3 model, indicating that it is not actually the L96A1 but the AWM-F chambered in .300 Winchester, while the in game weapon is chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO like the L96.

The L96A1 is unlocked by completing the "Need Only One" assignment. When the rank and ribbon requirements are met, three more sniper rifle ribbons must be earned, and the remaining three kills (DMR, C4, shotgun) need to all be completed in the same round. Although unstated, the C4 kill must be earned with the Recon kit, not the Support kit.

Trivia

 * None of the DLC sniper rifles have attached scopes on their respective proficiency dog tag, including the L96A1.