H&K Prototype Sniper: the SL7 Match

Built in the 1990s, this rifle is part of an experimental series of precision rifles made by H&K. It is marked “SL7 Match”, and uses the same action as the standard SL7 sporting rifle (the roller-delay blowback system of the G3). It is set in a competition type stock the an adjustable cheekrest and front rail for a sling mount. It is chambered for the 7.62x51mm NATO cartridge, and never went into series production.

15 Comments

  1. Maybe the front sight/sci-fi block was for anti-viberation?? With a future look to a vented muzzle break?? Just guessing

  2. With that type of match stock it really looks like an airgun. 😀

    I can totally understand, why you skipped disassembling of the SL-7 Match. All the rifles of the series are fiddly to (dis-)assemble. Most definitely not as easy as a G3. Or PSG-1.

    • Target guns are usually shaped for the purpose of ergonomic comforts and accuracy. To this end, both cartridge rifles and air rifles will have that peculiar stock style if they are dedicated to target matches as opposed to combat performance. Did I mess up?

    • They aren’t that bad to field strip, but it helps to have done it before. They certainly aren’t militarily acceptable with the long 5mm hex socket screw that needs to be removed to start the disassembly but after that the moving parts come out and apart pretty easily. It’s almost as if the development time was rushed and they just stuck with the prototype assembly concept without improviing it, alternativly they might have needed to go with that to keep the sight base extremely stable its ceertainly the tightest feeling semi auto rifle I’ve ever used; nothing wobbles or rattles on those guns.

  3. Just curious. You’re at H&K looking at an H&K gun but you have to ask if any viewers know more about this gun? Doesn’t H&K know what their own guns are or won’t they tell you for some reason?

    • Keeping an archive properly together does cost money and does not bring immediate profits, so most companies are a bit sloppy in keeping records. Also H&K changed owners several times in the last decaders, which mixes things up and stuff gets lost in a move.

      I for one suspect it is a rifle from a low production prototype series for match shooting as the name says, but semi-auto competition has not really been a thing in Europe for a long time.

  4. Letters KG on the barrel show that it passed the proof house in 1996.

    I like my SL7 very much, but fully support Sommerbiwak’s opinion that the (dis-)assembly method of the SL6 and 7 is unacceptable for military or police users.

    H&K personnel was in large part replaced after the end of the cold war and the actions of the management led to an unbelievable loss of institutional memory. Which in my view is the main cause of many of the mistakes if not blunders made during the last two decades or so. The attempt to get rid of the MP5 is only one example.

  5. HK ! Needs to come out with that weapon . Put in to production . I would purchase one . Or at the very least come out with that stock . Or something similar .

  6. This gun was realy produced by HK in order of the german Company Wischo with the HK PSG-1 barrel, presentet at IWA Nuernberg in 1998. I`m the owner of such a rifle.

    • Jedi, do you know who can produce this rifle stock in Germany? I have the SL7 and I would like put it on this stock. Thanks.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*