{{Short description, German firearms manufacturer Keppeler – Technische Entwicklungen GmbH is a German

firearm A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

s manufacturer which produces rifles for ISSF 300 m rifle competition, hunting matches as well as

bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

sniper rifle A sniper rifle is a high-precision, long-range rifle. Requirements include accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment and optics for anti-personnel, anti-materiel and surveillance uses of the military sniper. The modern sniper rifle is a por ...

s.Keppeler - Technische Entwicklungen GmbH - KS V Bullpup Sniper
/ref>

History

Toolmaker Dieter Keppeler began working as a firearm designer at the

Carl Walther Carl Wilhelm Freund Walther (22 November 1858 – 9 July 1915) was a German gunsmith from Zella-Mehlis, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha), or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (german: Sachsen-Coburg-Go ...

factory in Ulm in 1958. Here he was involved in the development of the sniper rifle

Walther WA 2000 The Walther WA 2000 is a semi-automatic bullpup sniper rifle produced by the Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen company from 1982 until 1988. It was produced in three different calibers. Production of the rifle was limited and it was shortly stopped ...

. In 1982, Dieter Keppeler established his first independent company "''Dieter Keppeler - Waffentechnische Werkstatt''" in Langenau to produce 300 m competition rifles. As early as in 1985 the German national team used rifles produced by Keppeler in the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. In 1987 Keppeler left Carl Walther for good.Keppeler - Technische Entwicklungen GmbH - Geschichte / History
/ref> Bernhard Fritz was a well-known manufacturer of exclusive firearms for hunting, and had received his training at Ferlach in Austria, the only technical university for gunsmiths in Western Europe. Fritz also had a

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

ing education from Freudenstadt, and while he was a student he won the German national gunsmithing championship. After becoming a certified craftsman in Ulm in 1979, he settled in Fichtenberg in

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

in 1980 where he worked as an independent gunsmith and produced exclusive handmade hunting rifles. In 1991, Bernhard Fritz died in an accident. In January 1992, Dieter Keppeler bought the company from Bernhard Fritz and moved his own company to Fichtenberg, where he went to produce hunting, competition and sniper rifles under the name ''Keppeler & Fritz GmbH''. In 1999, the company changed its name to ''Keppeler Technische Entwicklungen GmbH''. In 2004 Dieter Keppeler retired, and the company is today run by Gert Peter who has worked in the company since 1985.

Models

; Keppeler Freigewehre: Keppeler's match rifles are built for 300 m competitions, and are available with a 65 cm match barrel as the standard option, and described as having a short lock time. They are available in chamberings such as

.223 Rem The .223 Remington (designated as the 223 Remington by the SAAMI and 223 Rem by the CIP) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command ...

6 mm PPC The 6mm PPC (Palmisano & Pindel Cartridge), or 6 PPC as it is more often called, is a centerfire rifle cartridge used almost exclusively for benchrest shooting. It is one of the most accurate cartridges available at distances of up to 300 met ...

6 mm BR 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

6 mm XC 6mm XC (also known as 6XC) is a rifle cartridge, similar to the 6x47mm Swiss Match. History The 6mm XC was initially developed specifically for NRA High Power match shooting by 11-time NRA High Power National Champion David Tubb. It is touted as ...

, 6.5×47 mm Lapua,

7mm-08 The 7mm-08 Remington is a rifle cartridge that is almost a direct copy of a wildcat cartridge developed around 1958 known as the 7mm/308. As these names would suggest, it is the .308 Winchester case necked down to accept 7 mm (.284) bullets with ...

and

.308 Win The .308 Winchester is a smokeless powder rimless bottlenecked rifle cartridge widely used for hunting, target shooting, police, military, and personal protection applications globally. It is similar but not identical to the 7.62×51mm NATO ...

. ; Keppeler Hunting Match: The Hunting Match model is available in a long list of chamberings from .17 Rem to

.300 Win Mag The .300 Winchester Magnum (also known as .300 Win Mag or .300 WM) (7.62×67mmB, 7.62x66BR) is a belted, bottlenecked magnum rifle cartridge that was introduced by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company in 1963. The .300 Winchester Magnum is a m ...

.Keppeler - Technische Entwicklungen GmbH - Jagdmatch / Hunting match
/ref> ; Keppeler KS V Bullpup: The KS V sniper rifle is available in

and .338 LM.

References

External links

Official homepage
Firearms manufacturers

History

Models

See also

References

External links