Recently Forgotten Weapons got the chance to get their hands on the unicorn of the firearms world. The exotic Walther WA-2000. This is a rifle a lot of people would love to own. Like Inara Serra in Firefly it is Exotic, Beautiful and Deadly. However after watching the videos shot by Forgotten Weapons I realized that in spite of it’s exotic beauty this 1980s era Police Sniper Rifle isn’t all that special.
What really drove this point home was when they pitted the WA-2000 against the SVD Dragunov. The two rifles in spite of their huge differences in design, intended mission and quality control ran a much closer comparison than I would have expected. I figured the $9000 (1980s MSRP) Walther would have walked away from a much cheaper to produce (actual cost not available) Dragunov.
Other than its bullpup design the WA-2000 offers nothing to anyone looking for a semi-automatic precision rifle that they couldn’t get for less cost, more accuracy and more flexibility from a system designed by Eugene Stoner. Yes, that does include a rifle that shoots .300 Winchester Magnum if you think you could use it. So even though the WA-2000 is definitely a seductive piece of machinery, there are in my opinion better options.
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