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

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

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 shooting, long-range rifle. Requirements include high accuracy, reliability, mobility, concealment, and optics, for anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel, anti-materiel rifle, anti-materiel and sur ...

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

History

Toolmaker Tool and die makers are highly skilled crafters working in the manufacturing, manufacturing industries. Tool and die makers work primarily in toolroom environments—sometimes literally in one room but more often in an environment with flexible, ...

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. In 1886, Walther founded the firm of Carl Walther GmbH. Carl Walther's father, August Theodor Albert Walther, wa ...

factory in

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

in 1958. Here he was involved in the development of the sniper rifle Walther WA 2000. In 1982, Dieter Keppeler established his first independent company "''Dieter Keppeler - Waffentechnische Werkstatt''" in

Langenau Langenau () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. It is situated 14 km northeast of Ulm. History Today‘s Langenau was created in 1972 by merging the historical villages of Albeck, Göttingen and Höve ...

to produce 300 m competition rifles. As early as in 1985 the German national team used rifles produced by Keppeler in the

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. 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 Ferlach () in the district of Klagenfurt-Land District, Klagenfurt-Land in Carinthia is the southernmost town in Austria. It is known for its centuries-old gunsmith tradition, part of the Austrian intangible cultural heritage since 2010. Geography ...

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 ...

ing education from

Freudenstadt Freudenstadt (, Swabian: ''Fraidestadt'') is a town in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is the capital of the district Freudenstadt. The closest population centres are Offenburg to the west (approx. 36 km away) and Tübingen to ...

, 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 ; , 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 Swabia, one 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 Lock time or action time refers to the time interval (often measured in milliseconds) from when the Trigger (firearms), trigger of a firearm is activated until the firing pin strikes the Primer (firearms), primer, and depends on the design of the ...

. They are available in chamberings such as .223 Rem,

6 mm PPC The 6mm PPC (Palmisano & Pindel Cartridge), or 6x38 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&nbs ...

, 6 mm BR,

6 mm XC 6mm XC / 6.17x48mm (also known as 6XC) is a rifle cartridge, similar to the 6x47mm Swiss Match. History The 6mm XC was initially developed as a Wildcat cartridge specifically for High power rifle, NRA High Power match shooting by 11-time US Na ...

, 6.5×47 mm Lapua, 7mm-08 and .308 Win. ; Keppeler Hunting Match: The Hunting Match model is available in a long list of chamberings from .17 Rem to .300 Win Mag.Keppeler - Technische Entwicklungen GmbH - Jagdmatch / Hunting match
/ref> ; Keppeler KS V Bullpup: The KS V sniper rifle is available in .308 Win, .300 Win Mag and .338 LM.

References

External links

Official homepage
Firearm manufacturers of Germany

History

Models

See also

References

External links