[Cont'd from topic DSR-1]
On a previous topic of the DSR-1, the main topic of discussion turned into that of the infamous Walther WA2000. This topic came about because in a casual statement of inquiry regarding the DSR-1, I claimed to had owned a WA2000. I was a bit naive to the perceptive grandiosity of this claim when I started the post. However, a few very helpful friendly forum members have enlightened me, explaining the rationale behind the knee jerk skepticism when newbies make unsubstantiated declarations about a rifle like this one. I am no stranger to liars and hacks by any means, but in discussion of firearms in a forum, I just don't see what someone could possibly have to gain by making factitious claims. I am a terrible liar, and have always held myself to the highest standard of integrity. That being said, allow me to share my experience with the Walther WA2000.
It was the year 1999 when I first learned of the WA2000. The originality of a semi-auto sniper rifle chambered in .300 Win Mag, and its wild bullpup design fascinated me. However, the internet was still in its early days, so I was not fully aware of its rarity since there was nowhere near the information available today. It wasn't until 2002 when I incidentally stumbled upon a website, carlwalther.com and saw the rifle listed for sale. Feeling like a kid in a toy store, I picked up the phone and called up the owner, Earl Chandler.
I grilled Earl for all of the info available on this rifle. Forgive me for any vagueness regarding numbers, because I am going strictly by memory here. He told me that there were about 176 rifles produced in 3 different calibers, in 1988. Walther produced the majority in .300 WM, the flagship caliber. The other 2 calibers were .308 and 7.5 Swiss. I am not sure how many of these rifles actually made it into the US, and I have heard a wide range, from 12 to 30 or so. What I have heard is that Germany outlawed the rifle and destroyed a bunch of them. Earl did his best to rescue as many as he could, by bidding on them in auctions and importing them. Note that I had heard many different numbers of production and importation thrown around from different sources. I considered Earl's numbers the most reliable. After I got the numbers from Earl, I contacted Mel from snipercentral.com and asked him to update his info, which he did. Mel eventually got in contact with Earl himself a few years later and added another paragraph or so about the rifle.
Ok, here comes the part where I get involved. Earl had a few rifles in .300 WM at the time, and 1 in .308, offered a few grand cheaper. What ended up being a pennywise/dollar foolish move (I'll explain in a bit), I opted for the .308. Btw, at the time, Earl had never come across a rifle in 7.5 Swiss, so I assume it was the rarest of the bunch.
When I received the rifle, I was in awe. I must have stared at it and played with it for hours. It was like no other rifle I had ever handled; it was just plain weird. It was like a big brick: compact and heavy. The frame was painted aluminum, very boxy in shape, enveloped by <span style="text-decoration: line-through">laminated</span> clear coated walnut stock, and a big thumbhole grip with adjustable base for a custom fit to accommodate hand size. The action was smooth; it fired from a closed bolt, and the release lever was on the left side of the frame, above the thumb hole. The trigger was nice, pretty crisp, but I couldn't give you the weight of pull. The rifle disassembled by pushing a small thumb switch near the buttstock, then spinning the buttstock to the side; the bolt and carrier then fall out the back. It really was a bitch to take this thing apart, and nearly impossible to put it back together. Out of fear of breaking the thing, I embarrassingly had to visit my smith one time to have him put it back together for me. He said that the action and the assembly reminded him of the Browning BAR, which was a bit over my head, since I never had any experience with one.
The scope was a Schmidt & Bender fixed 10 power, with a 42mm? objective (I think it was 42). The part of the rifle I really did not like was the bipod. Very flimsy detachable hollow aluminum rods with plastic feet, that attach to a sliding, swiveling rail to adjust the pitch of the rifle on a surface. It only came with one magazine, 6 rd capacity if memory serves me.
I took it to the range 1 time only, running Federal Gold Match 168s thru it. I only shot maybe 20 rds thru it, and it grouped fairly well from what I can remember. At that time, I wasn't as anal as I am now, so even a 1.25" group would have sufficed. Anyway, the range was kind of empty that day, and the only guy that came over was the range officer. He didn't know what the rifle was, but he said it looked familiar.
Overall, the rifle has pretty much no practical value today, other than a really cool collector's piece. It is a thoughtful innovation IMO, but I guess either nobody else shared the same sentiment or couldn't emulate it cost effectively. I believe that was the killer for Walther, in that the rifle was introduced at about 6 to 8k back in 1988, when a dollar was actually worth something. I saw a post from ChrisGarrett stating that the rifle is for sale these days for 75-80k, which is also posted up on snipercentral.com. Note that this is the OFFERING price, likely for an unfired rifle in .300 WM. This is why I kicked myself for going for the .308. This is one of those odd scenarios where the rarer caliber is actually desired less by collectors than the flagship, so it holds less value. However, as I stated, it is the offering price, and does not really mean much as far as value. The actual real bid for a fired rifle is much much less than that.
Well, the rifle went back in the pelican case and never came out again except for some occasional playing around, but no more trigger time. I eventually made a decision to sell the rifle in the summer of 2006, to free up some cash during med school. After an unsuccessful auction on gunbroker, Earl decided to buy the rifle back from me. I don't regret selling the rifle, but I do miss it sometimes.
It was a privilege and indeed a unique experience to have searched for over 3 years for, and owned something that rare. This is something that only a handful of people in this country can say they have experienced, and I am proud to say that I am one of them.
Here are some pics from 2006 in my backyard:
On a previous topic of the DSR-1, the main topic of discussion turned into that of the infamous Walther WA2000. This topic came about because in a casual statement of inquiry regarding the DSR-1, I claimed to had owned a WA2000. I was a bit naive to the perceptive grandiosity of this claim when I started the post. However, a few very helpful friendly forum members have enlightened me, explaining the rationale behind the knee jerk skepticism when newbies make unsubstantiated declarations about a rifle like this one. I am no stranger to liars and hacks by any means, but in discussion of firearms in a forum, I just don't see what someone could possibly have to gain by making factitious claims. I am a terrible liar, and have always held myself to the highest standard of integrity. That being said, allow me to share my experience with the Walther WA2000.
It was the year 1999 when I first learned of the WA2000. The originality of a semi-auto sniper rifle chambered in .300 Win Mag, and its wild bullpup design fascinated me. However, the internet was still in its early days, so I was not fully aware of its rarity since there was nowhere near the information available today. It wasn't until 2002 when I incidentally stumbled upon a website, carlwalther.com and saw the rifle listed for sale. Feeling like a kid in a toy store, I picked up the phone and called up the owner, Earl Chandler.
I grilled Earl for all of the info available on this rifle. Forgive me for any vagueness regarding numbers, because I am going strictly by memory here. He told me that there were about 176 rifles produced in 3 different calibers, in 1988. Walther produced the majority in .300 WM, the flagship caliber. The other 2 calibers were .308 and 7.5 Swiss. I am not sure how many of these rifles actually made it into the US, and I have heard a wide range, from 12 to 30 or so. What I have heard is that Germany outlawed the rifle and destroyed a bunch of them. Earl did his best to rescue as many as he could, by bidding on them in auctions and importing them. Note that I had heard many different numbers of production and importation thrown around from different sources. I considered Earl's numbers the most reliable. After I got the numbers from Earl, I contacted Mel from snipercentral.com and asked him to update his info, which he did. Mel eventually got in contact with Earl himself a few years later and added another paragraph or so about the rifle.
Ok, here comes the part where I get involved. Earl had a few rifles in .300 WM at the time, and 1 in .308, offered a few grand cheaper. What ended up being a pennywise/dollar foolish move (I'll explain in a bit), I opted for the .308. Btw, at the time, Earl had never come across a rifle in 7.5 Swiss, so I assume it was the rarest of the bunch.
When I received the rifle, I was in awe. I must have stared at it and played with it for hours. It was like no other rifle I had ever handled; it was just plain weird. It was like a big brick: compact and heavy. The frame was painted aluminum, very boxy in shape, enveloped by <span style="text-decoration: line-through">laminated</span> clear coated walnut stock, and a big thumbhole grip with adjustable base for a custom fit to accommodate hand size. The action was smooth; it fired from a closed bolt, and the release lever was on the left side of the frame, above the thumb hole. The trigger was nice, pretty crisp, but I couldn't give you the weight of pull. The rifle disassembled by pushing a small thumb switch near the buttstock, then spinning the buttstock to the side; the bolt and carrier then fall out the back. It really was a bitch to take this thing apart, and nearly impossible to put it back together. Out of fear of breaking the thing, I embarrassingly had to visit my smith one time to have him put it back together for me. He said that the action and the assembly reminded him of the Browning BAR, which was a bit over my head, since I never had any experience with one.
The scope was a Schmidt & Bender fixed 10 power, with a 42mm? objective (I think it was 42). The part of the rifle I really did not like was the bipod. Very flimsy detachable hollow aluminum rods with plastic feet, that attach to a sliding, swiveling rail to adjust the pitch of the rifle on a surface. It only came with one magazine, 6 rd capacity if memory serves me.
I took it to the range 1 time only, running Federal Gold Match 168s thru it. I only shot maybe 20 rds thru it, and it grouped fairly well from what I can remember. At that time, I wasn't as anal as I am now, so even a 1.25" group would have sufficed. Anyway, the range was kind of empty that day, and the only guy that came over was the range officer. He didn't know what the rifle was, but he said it looked familiar.
Overall, the rifle has pretty much no practical value today, other than a really cool collector's piece. It is a thoughtful innovation IMO, but I guess either nobody else shared the same sentiment or couldn't emulate it cost effectively. I believe that was the killer for Walther, in that the rifle was introduced at about 6 to 8k back in 1988, when a dollar was actually worth something. I saw a post from ChrisGarrett stating that the rifle is for sale these days for 75-80k, which is also posted up on snipercentral.com. Note that this is the OFFERING price, likely for an unfired rifle in .300 WM. This is why I kicked myself for going for the .308. This is one of those odd scenarios where the rarer caliber is actually desired less by collectors than the flagship, so it holds less value. However, as I stated, it is the offering price, and does not really mean much as far as value. The actual real bid for a fired rifle is much much less than that.
Well, the rifle went back in the pelican case and never came out again except for some occasional playing around, but no more trigger time. I eventually made a decision to sell the rifle in the summer of 2006, to free up some cash during med school. After an unsuccessful auction on gunbroker, Earl decided to buy the rifle back from me. I don't regret selling the rifle, but I do miss it sometimes.
It was a privilege and indeed a unique experience to have searched for over 3 years for, and owned something that rare. This is something that only a handful of people in this country can say they have experienced, and I am proud to say that I am one of them. Here are some pics from 2006 in my backyard:
