Walther WA 2000

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Image:Wa 2000.JPG The Walther WA 2000 bullpup sniper rifle was designed from the ground up as a sniper rifle; it is not an adaptation from an existing rifle. The .300 Winchester 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. Only 176 total rifles were ever produced in two different variants, one chambered for the standard .300 Winchester round and the other chambered for the popular 7.62 x 51 mm NATO 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 6 round magazine capacity is also quite useful and a good alternative to carrying a .50 caliber (12.7 mm) rifle if several rounds are needed.

The rifle was produced from the late 70's though November 1988. The final retail cost for a base rifle in 1988 was in the range of $9,000 not $12,500. 15 units of the WA 2000 were in the U.S.

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Specifications

Cartridge: .300 Winchester Magnum, .308 Winchester (7.62x51 NATO), and 7.5x51mm Swiss
Length O/A: 905 mm
Barrel Length: 65 cm
Max. Effective Range: 1000 m with .300 Win. Mag.
Mass, Empty: 6.95 kg
Magazine Capacity: 6 rounds
Fire modes: Semi-automatic

The Walther WA-2000 was developed by Carl Walther Waffenfabrik as a specialised police sniper rifle. The rifle exceeded all the needs of the German police, but due to the steep price of production, manufacture was ceased. When created, the production cost of one WA-2000 was $9,000 in the 1980's. But due to its rarity now, the Walther WA-2000 can be well worth over $40,000 in the open market. Walther does still sell some WA2000 rifles for the hefty sum of ca. $75,000.

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Fictional Use

Due to its unusual looks, the weapon has been used in several works of fiction:

In the video game BLACK released for PS2 and XBOX, the Walther WA2000 is used, although the magazine only contains 5 rounds instead of the actual 6.

The weapon made only one appearance in a James Bond movie, in The Living Daylights, when James Bond was using it in a so-called defection by Koskov to England.

It is usually mistaken for the rifle used by Jason Bourne in The Bourne Supremacy to spy on Pamela Landy and the CIA team; however, the rifle shown in the movie and in the promotional posters clearly has a Bolt action, and thus cannot be a WA2000.

The WA2000 made some appearances in Hitman: Codename 47 in the later Rotterdam missions and also made an appearance Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, where it was known as just a W2000, and where it only had a one-round magazine. It also appears in Hitman: Contracts, where it is silenced and concealable in a suitcase.

This is also the choice weapon for sniper Deiter Weber in the videogame Rainbow Six: Lockdown and is available in several of the older Rainbow Six titles.

The weapon was also used in the film Equilibrium.

In Spriggan, Japanese COSMOS soldier Sho Kanaya used the WA2000 as a rifle when he ambushed Yu Ominae in a corridor in ARCAM's Japanese office during a COSMOS-sanctioned raid.