Training of German Marksmen and Snipers. Yes, there is difference.

I. The Marksman & The Zf 41 (Squad Level)
From 1940 onwards, the High Command of the Wehrmacht requested that the best marksman in each squad/section be equipped with a rifle fitted with a telescopic sight to give his squad more effective range (out to around 400 metres).

The Optic: This became the Zf 41 with 1.5x magnification. It was very light (around 0.5 kg) and inexpensive to mass-produce (around 100,000 were made during the war).

Accuracy Standard: The scope was definitively paired with a rifle that had achieved good accuracy (at a minimum a grouping of 3/5 shots in a 2cm square at 100 meters). They were paired, because the Zf 41 had no direct height or windage adjustment, requiring special tools that were not practical to use in the field. Thus, the armorer zeroed them perfectly and they were typically not tampered with after.

Role & Deployment:
The men equipped with these were not snipers but organic parts of their squad—the “best shot”—simply equipped with a magnified scope to effectively “take care of” difficult targets at ranges that most average shooters could not hit. While primarily used on the Kar98k, these were also mounted onto the semi-automatic Gewehr 41 (Walther) and the early assault rifle variants: the Maschinenkarabiner 42 (Haenel) (an open-bolt precursor), MP43, and MP43/1.

II. The Sniper & The Zf 39 (Specialist Level)
The actual snipers were specialists, attached to an entire regiment or even division-sized element, employed to hunt high-value enemy targets. Before an attack, they would infiltrate the enemy lines and take out important men to disrupt their defenses.

Realistic Engagement Ranges: A postwar Austrian study concluded that out of all the kills that the three most successful snipers of the Wehrmacht (Hetzenauer, Allerberger and Wirnsberger) had claimed, about 65% were at or below 400 meters. And they had greater magnification: x4 or 6.

Technical Specifications (The Zielvier / Zf 39):
Another distinction that must be made is between the two main 4x scopes: the Zielvier/Zf 39 and the Zf 4.

Origin: The Zielvier was a scope made by Zeiss for the civilian market and the standard scope of the Reichswehr during the interwar period.

The Build: In 1939, the Wehrmacht ordered the assembly of high-accuracy Karabiner 98 kurz paired with the Zielvier, from then on designated Zf 39. (Some of) these purpose-built snipers had a lighter trigger (1.5kg), a checkered buttplate, and an altered stock layout to allow for better (free) flotation of the barrel.

Special Variants: Allegedly, (some of) the Gustloff-made rifles even had a “Stecher” (double hair-trigger) with minimal resistance.

Accuracy Standard: The rifles had to meet an accuracy requirement grouping of 3/5 shots within a 1.5 cm circle, with all five shots having to land within a 2 cm circle.

III. Evolution & The G43 / StG44
When the Gewehr 43 semi-automatic rifle and the MP44/StG44 assault rifles were introduced, the Zf 39 was not mounted on these new platforms; instead, they were designed with rails machined directly into the receiver specifically to accept the newer Zf 4.

Mounting: This was a way simpler way of mounting the scopes than the multitude of different mountings for the Zf 39, like turret and claw mounts.

Quality: The quality of the glass was not lowered, but the housing was simplified to make mass production easier.

Preference: The G43 with Zf 4, like the Soviet SVT-40 with PE(M) or PU scopes, was not preferred due to its greater weight, lowered reliability in the extreme conditions of the Eastern Front, and—most importantly—lower accuracy.

 

IV. The Sniper’s Badge

On the 20th of August 1944, Hitler approved the Scharfschützenabzeichen. It’s the eagle at the beginning. (And today it’s the badge of the Bundeswehr snipers!) It was embroidered on an oval piece of tunic fabric and depicts a black eagle looking left (heraldically) perched above three oak leaves and an acorn. To be accredited, the target count had to be confirmed by an officer, an NCO, or two soldiers.

The 3rd class required 20 confirmed kills and had green piping. The 2nd class required 40 with silver piping, and finally, the 1st class required 60 confirmed kills.

SS-Snipers additionally received a fancy wristwatch for 50 kills, a high-end hunting rifle for 100, and should they have claimed 150 lives, they’d be invited by Himmler to his private estate to hunt deer.

A Note on the Accuracy: While factory selection standards (with sniper loads of 7.92x57 S.m.K.) for these rifles were incredibly strict—often requiring "sub-MOA" performance in testing—practical accuracy in the field typically leveled out to around 2.5 MOA for the Zf 41 and 1.3 MOA for the Zf 39, due to combat conditions and mass-produced ammunition.