Walther KKW: Competition Shooting in Nazi Germany
Germany
•
14m
The KKW (“Klein Kaliber Wehrsportgewehr”, or small caliber military sporting rifle) was developed by BDW in 1937 as an amalgamation of various .22 rifle elements form other manufacturers as well as BSW itself. It was intended to fill the role of the German national standard target rifle. When he Nazi party took over Germany in the early 30s, the SA consolidated and reorganized the civilian shooting sports in to a format aimed at military training. To this end, they wanted a standardized rifle which would duplicate the handling of the Mauser K98k in .22 long rifle caliber. This was initially the DSM, but in 1935 the SA decided that it wanted a rifle that more closely mirrors the military pattern Mauser. The result was the KKW. For more information on these and other German 1930s/40s training rifles, I recommend the recent book on the subject by Bob Simpson.
Up Next in Germany
-
Kommer Models 3 and 4: German Brownin...
Theodore Emil Kommer was born in 1866, son of a German gunsmith. He took the same profession, and at the age of 23 in 1889 opened his own business making guns. He initially focused on sporting rifles and single-shot pistols, but expanded into semiauto pocket pistols after World War One. His first...
-
Shooting the HK21 Modular Machine Gun
The HK21 is a the belt-fed iteration of the H&K roller-delayed blowback mechanism. H&K built a wide range of firearms around that system, including submachine guns (MP5), rifles (HK33, HK91), precision rifles (PSG-1), and machine guns. Originally they made a version in 5.56mm and one in 7.62mm, b...
-
Shooting the H&K MP7
Thanks to H&K and Trijicon, I have a chance to do some shooting with an MP7A1 PWD today. The MP7 is unusual for a gun of its size and configuration in having a fully locked operating system; essentially a G36 scaled down to 4.6x30mm. This allows the gun to be lighter, as the action is not depende...
