One should bear in mind that there were several classes of sharpshooters. The vast majority of Civil War sharpshooters were infantry who specialized in skirmishing drill. For Confederates in the Army of Northern Virginia and, I suspect, the Army of Tennessee, this was the Enfield.

Now, for those highly skilled shooters who would be equivalent of our state champions, they may be issued a specialized target rifle or a British Whitworth or Kerr. Generally, these men were allowed to operate independently and did not have to join in any skirmish like the other "sharpshooters."