Alexander Arms started making 6.5mm Grendel rifles and uppers in 2004 so it would be fine to have them used in 2007. However it isn't really necessary if you are only shooting over a few hundred meters, with the Grendel designed to go out to 1000 yards or so.
I don't know if Grendel was ever tested by the military, but 6.8 SPC was operationally used by Special Forces as early as 2004. However this doesn't really fit with a "sniper" mindset as this round was developed to have better close range effectiveness and is in fact less effective at long range than 5.56x45mm. However, if you are only going out to, say, 300m the 6.8 SPC is still more effective.
If you want the rifle to seem more "snipery" then I would go for a longer barrel than 16", either 18" or a full 20". In particular if you were to go for Grendel then it would be a waste out of a 16" barrel (I believe that the inventor has stated that the compromise between range and mobility would be around a 20" barrel, with the majority of Grendel users having a long 24" barrel to get the most out of the round).
A Mk 12 SPR would make sense to me, as it was (at that time) used by the military, has a compromise 18" barrel, and is pretty modular for accessories. If the weapon is illegally procured and is a real military one, this also has the advantage of still having a full auto lower receiver.
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