WA-2000 Sniper Rifle, SSG-82 Sniper, and M-1918 Sniper

Walther WA-2000 Sniper Rifle

This is a German-built rifle originally designed a purpose-built sniper’s weapon, particularly those snipers requiring a compact, concealable weapon. It is an unusual design for a sniper rifle, using a bullpup configuration. The WA-2000 Sniper Rifle uses a fluted free-floating barrel 25.59 inches long. The barrel is not enclosed, but instead attached to the rest of the weapon using brackets. This design allows the recoil forces to be delivered straight to the shooter’s shoulder, lowering barrel climb. The stock is a combination of hardwood and composites, with an adjustable buttplate (with a rubber pad) and an adjustable cheekpiece.

The barrel is threaded; it is normally equipped with a long flash suppressor, but can have a muzzle brake which is designed for the specific caliber used, or even a suppressor. The sight mount on early models is a claw-type, but the mounts can also be used to attach a variety of different fixtures, including a MIL-STD-1913 rail. The sheer amounts of adjustments that can be made in the rifle is staggering, making every weapon virtually individual for each sniper. These adjustments include the aforementioned cheekpiece and buttplate (adjustable for length of pull, height, and to a small extent, angle), and a trigger which is minutely adjustable for length of pull, pull weight, angle, and length of takeup. The bipod is adjustable for height and cant, and attached above the barrel on a rail.

WA-2000 Sniper Rifle

WA-2000 Sniper Rifle

There are effectively two versions of the WA-2000 siper Rifle. The 1st generation rifles were available only in 7.62mm NATO and 7.5mm Swiss calibers. 2nd Generation rifles features a more robust gas system, a different flash suppressor, and added some more calibers. The Achilles’ Heel of the WA-2000 Sniper Rifle is it’s real-life cost (especially in it’s native .300 Winchester Magnum caliber), and production stopped after 4 years and about 75-200 rifles (sources and publications differ wildly in the number of WA-2000s produced). Another sore point is the weight of the WA-2000 Sniper Rifle.

This SSG-82 Sniper Rifle was designed and put into service shortly before the fall of the Iron Curtain. There is much controversy as to which purpose the SSG-82 sniper was to be put to it has a short barrel for a sniper rifle at 23 inches, and it is chambered for 5.45mm Kalashnikov, hardly an optimum sniper round. On the other hand, it is light and handy, and can be quite accurate over short ranges. The SSG-82 sniper appears to be an enlargement of the Thalman .22 rimfire target rifle, and looks similar to sniper and target rifles made by firms such as Mauser, Steyr, and Anschutz.

M-1918 Sniper Rifle

SSG-82 Sniper Rifle

The mechanism is quite simple, and contained within a circular receiver. The barrel is of heavy profile and cold hammer forged, increasing the accuracy of the rifle. The stock is of dense, blonde-colored beech with a straight butt with a slightly-raised comb. At the butt is a rubber recoil pad, and several spacers can be placed or removed there to adjust length of pull. The stock has a pistol grip which is almost a true pistol grip, but still joined to stock; it is known for its orthopedic shape. The fore-end is fat-bellied and provides a good grip. The trigger is user-adjustable. The standard scope is a ZF-4S 4x made by the Jena division of Carl Zeiss; though the mounts allow for some other Eastern Bloc scopes, some work will be required to mount other hardware. Currently, Century International Arms of the US is beginning to sell surviving SSG-82s on the international market.

Mauser’s T-Gew (Tank-Gewehr) was an early attempt at an antitank rifle, and one of the few that had any sort of success at all, even if it was for only a very short time. The T-Gew M-1918 Sniper fired a massive 13mm round at a very high velocity, making the tanks of World War 1 and shortly after somewhat vulnerable to it. The T-Gew M-1918 Sniper set the pattern for later such attempts, though almost all of the later designs came too late to keep up with advances in armor design.