See my cumbersome weapon rating somewhere above. While an SMG gets no penalty, a Barrett gets -5 Initiative Score if not properly set up - do CQB with it, and you go last (at reasonable opponents at least). And in confined quarters, door to door combat, melee, etc. that also goes to a -5 DP.

Really an imageing scope on a rifle could function from red-dot to 50x mag at will with thermo/lowlight fixed too. That's versatility plus it can give you a +3 to see with it if need be.

As for the cumbersome weapon rating thats almost comman sense in a way. My PC in a ship to ship game has a sniper to only be used pre-boarding or defencelessly his main combat weapons are an AR with UB shotgun and a light pistol that will fire under water.

Heh, I've sorta felt that SR firearm use is more like old school FPS run and gun, hipfire action. With something like a smartlink, there isn't really a reason you need to use proper form anymore, you just sorta hold it out and pull the trigger (or heck, mental pull it) when the crosshair with all the fancy calculations lands on the part you wanna hit. even take aim doesn't assume you're using better form, you're just taking a little extra time to make sure the smartgun crosshair lines up and doesn't wobble.

The only reason for when sniper rifles are even feasible in SR is when you have a target so far away that you NEED to hit him at 500 meters or more.

Even if a character have Visual Magnification and Smartgun link I would give them a hefty penalty with any firearm unless they brace themselves and aim if they want to hit something above 100-200 meters.

Hip shooting might be cool but unless you aim or brace yourself your aim will wobble and at long range that can be several feet beside the target.

Below 100 meters and using a smartlink they can shoot however they like, but weapons designed from the ground up with a shoulder stock (Most shotguns, rifles and assault rifles) I will give double recoil penalties for not using proper bracing and or aiming.

Yes, we use a penalty for not using the stock (or the bipod/etc.) on larger weapons.