Seriously? You can't cancel sniper rifle reloading and you are stuck there during reload and get mauled by boar, bear and tiger? 

Sniper hunting is notoriously finicky. I'd like to get my silver without it feeling like a job, and also would like to be able to get gear upgrades that make acquiring resources smooth and fast.

I made a sniper rifle and got it to +10 only to find out that the controls/movement absolutely sucked. Did it for a day and haven't tried it since. I'll stick to regular hunting until then.

My man, i feel you so much.. A while ago, also did the same process, just to figure out, how much pain in my lower back sniper hunting brings... Its too slow, its boring and honestly, didnt bring much profit to me, comparing to matchlock...

Before I got Pen Hunter's clothes (not an issue anymore) I used to Tuvala armor, gloves, boots, and helm so I could just sit there tanking the hits, then because the skill check happened at the time of gathering hit the Hunter's clothes to get the mastery up.  Then swap back to the armors.  At Tet Hunter's it only mattered for the tigers, and at pen unless you are doing the honey bear stay in your hunter's clothes.