Video: H&K PSG-1: The Ultimate German Sniper Rifle by Forgotten Weapons

When the H&K Präzisionsschützengewehr (German for “precision shooting rifle”) PSG-1 came out almost 30 years ago, I thought it was the most amazing rifle I had ever seen. Chambered in 7.62×51 it was the West German’s response to a decided lack of effective sniper rifles in their police forces after the Munich attack at the 1972 Olympics. The PSG-1 was a true precision rifle. All PSG-1 rifles must be able to put 50 rounds of match ammo into a 3.14″ (80,,) circle at 300mm which makes it a true one MOA rifle. As cool as it was, there were problems. It was incredibly expensive ($10K when it came out), complex, one and only one scope option, and a reputation for being very finicky. I’ll probably never get to own one and for that matter I would rather buy other things with that much money but it is a fascinating piece of firearms history.

Ian at Forgotten Weapons, who is both very knowledgeable and a great presenter, teamed up with a James D Julia auctions to make this video. He provides a rich history of the rifle, an overview of features and then goes into a very detailed disassembly with commentary about each part. For example, he compares the PSG-1’s bolt to a plain G3-style bolt and highlights the differences.

The video is 20:36 long and totally worth it if you are a fan of the PSG-1:

Here are links to websites with additional info on the PSG1:

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