Walther WA 2000 Country Germany Type Sniper Rifle Manufacturer Walther Introduction 1975 Specifications Weight 6.95 kg (unloaded, without Telescopic sight) Length 905 mm (35.6 in) Barrel length 650 mm (25.6 in) Cartridge 7.62 x 51 mm NATO .300 Winchester Magnum 7.5 x 55 mm Swiss Action semi-automatic, gas-operated Effective range 1000 m Feed system 6-round detachable box magazine Sights Schmidt & Bender 2.5-10 x 56mm Telescopic sight

The Walther WA 2000 bullpup sniper rifle was designed by the Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen company from the ground up as a specialised police sniper rifle as opposed to being an adaptation from an existing rifle.

The bullpup design was chosen, because it would allow a standard length (for a sniper rifle) barrel to be used whilst the overall length would be shorter than a conventional rifle.

The WA 2000 used the PV4 night vision sniper scope.

The .300 Winchester Magnum round was chosen as the primary caliber because of its long range accuracy and its consistency at all ranges. The entire rifle is designed around the barrel. The WA 2000 fires from a closed bolt and uses a bolt with 7 locking lugs. The rifle features a 6 round magazine capacity.

Only 176 total rifles were ever produced in three different variants, one chambered for the standard .300 Winchester Magnum round, another chambered for the popular 7.62 x 51 mm NATO round, and the final version for the 7.5 mm Swiss round.

The two variants can be differentiated by the type of flash suppressor used: the first, the older model, uses a \"can\" type flash suppressor; whereas the second and newer model uses the more conventional \"flash-hider/compensator\" design.

The rifle was produced from the late 70s through November 1988 when production was ceased due to high production costs.