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Heckler & Koch PSG1

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 15:56 Written by Administrator Thursday, 02 July 2009 16:29

The Heckler & Koch PSG1 is a sniper rifle developed by Heckler & Koch in Germany. PSG stands for “Prazisionsscharfschutzengewehr” which means “precision sharpshooter rifle” in German.

The PSG1 was designed in response to the West German Police Force’s failure during the 1972 Summer Olympics incident. The Police failed to kill the terrorists fast enough and all the hostages were killed. Heckler & Koch was then approached to design a highly accurate, semiautomatic sniper rifle for military and police use.

The PSG1 is chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge and feeds using a 5 or 20-round detachable box magazine. It has an effective range of 800 meters. Overall the gun weighs 7.2 Kg.

The rifle features high-quality aiming optics. It is mounted with the Hensoldt 6x42 scope. The aiming optical scope has an inbuilt range adjuster which allows the scope to be tuned from 100 to 600 meters.

The barrel of the rifle is very heavy. The stock is made from high-strength polymer and can be adjusted to suit the firer’s profile. In addition, the rifle also comes with a vertically-adjustable cheek piece.

One of disadvantages of the PSG1 is that it is difficult to reload. In addition, the spent case of the bullet is also ejected with a lot of force which causes it to travel distances up to 10 meters or so. Though, this is not an issue in police combat, it can reveal the position of the sniper in the field, thus making him/her an easy target.

The Heckler & Koch PSG1 is very costly to produce and retails at a high price of $15,000 to $20,000. There are fewer than 400 units of the PSG1 in the United States due to import regulations and the high price tag. In Germany, the PSG1 is used by the Spezialeinsatzkommando.

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