If you take a year 1 sniper design, like 1000y stare (based on all year 1 sniper models) And then compare how I handled to a Hakke Year 2 sniper. You will find very quickly that you can rely on hard scoping because of how much flinch there is when you get hit. I think year 2 snipers should be the only choice in order to keep people moving. The unflinching perk actually helps in this scenario :)

Not going to lie, I've doing this twice last night just to get the Phantom medal. got picked off more than I liked.