In my opinion the biggest issue with sniper weapons is that the presision hit rule allows "look out sir" (los) rools.
I would like the los rule changed to only be used when determining which model is closest to the attacker. It shouldn't be possible to los a precision shot. That would give the precision shot rule some use at all. (Do sniper rifles have the rule by default? If not they should get it with the changes above)
I think that is a great idea. How could they predict where a precision shot is coming from? The sniper's shot getting intercepted by somebody else is easily represented by the shot
not being a precision shot, y'know?
If the player rolls a miss, then the sniper missed their shot. If the player rolls a hit but doesn't score a precision shot then they either shot the first target they saw, or were aiming for somebody else and then another target moved into the shot and took the hit. Ever watched The Walking Dead? Remember how Merle was nearly taken out by a sniper but somebody walked right into the cross hairs and took the hit? Just like that.
So, yeah in conclusion, I think Precision Shots should ignore Look Out Sir. With that, and the Sniper Rule, snipers can like snipers.
And as I write this...I thought up a rule...skirmishers.
..a unit composed entirely of models with this special rule increases the squad coherency range to 4''. It's...probably not that useful.