Keppeler Sporting Rifles

The History of Keppeler

Dieter Keppeler established "Dieter Keppeler - Weapons Technical Workshop" in 1982 in Germany and quickly became well-known for his 300 m precision rifles. The one-man enterprise from Langenau soon achieved its first achievements, as the German sport shooters trusted the precise weapons made by Keppeler's gunsmiths in 1985 when competing in the 300-meter European Championship.

Dieter Keppeler was employed as a weapon designer at the famous Carl Walther weapons plant in Ulm from 1958 until 1987 when he left to focus full-time on his precision rifles, which he had been producing on a part-time basis for five years prior. Among his accomplishments was his development of the well-known semi-automatic Walther WA 2000 sniper rifle. Another important name in Keppeler's story is Bernhard Fritz. Fritz received his training at Freudenstadt and Ferlach, Austria, and won a national gunsmith competition. He trained as a master gunsmith in Ulm in 1979, and in 1980 he opened his own company in Fichtenberg, Swabia, specializing in high-end hunting rifles.

Dieter Keppeler bought the company in 1992, combined it with his own, and renamed it Keppeler & Fritz GmbH following Fritz's sudden passing in 1991. In 1999, it changed its name to Keppeler Technische Developments GmbH. When Jonas Edman used a Keppeler rifle to win an Olympic gold medal in 2000, the brand became well-known.

Dieter retired in 2004, handing over the reins to Gert Peter who still runs the company in 2023 together with his wife. The company offers numerous sporting rifles, hunting rifles, accessories and custom-made products on its website. Their rifles are known for their modular design, allowing for various individual adjustments of stocks, trigger systems, barrels, actions and basically any part that a shooter wants to adapt to their personal shooting needs.

Keppeler Sporting Rifles Review

Keppeler produces different types of sporting rifles with a design that lets users change parts based on their preferences. They categorize their sporting rifles into four types: free rifles, standard rifles, long-range rifles, and benchrest rifles. Some of the common features that all of these share are free-floating barrels and short firing pin travel for extremely quick shot placement. Keppeler sporting rifles come with 11 mm dovetail on the action, which is approximately 150 mm long. This allows for the attachment of standard rear sights or rifle scopes using Keppeler's scope mounts. Some newer models have Picatinny rails available as the standard option. Users can choose from models with wooden or light metal stocks.

Technically, Keppeler rifles use low-profile steel actions and precisely made match barrels. The barrel, which holds the chamber, is attached to the action's receiver, which can be made of steel or aluminum. The bolt of the rifle has seven locking lugs that secure in the action's receiver in three rows.

Apart from sporting rifles, Keppeler also makes hunting rifles and the KS-V bullpup sniper models. In these bullpup models, the magazine is placed sideways above the pistol grip, not behind it. The main frame of the rifle is made from solid aluminum, and it has a free-floating heavy barrel. There are also Picatinny rails on the rifle for attaching optics. Other parts like the stock, pistol grip, monopod, and bipod are also fully configurable. These rifles can handle larger calibers like the 7.61x51 or the .300 Win. Mag. They are made for both law enforcement use and civilian shooting.

Keppeler Sporting rifle, chambered for .308 Win.

Figure 1: Keppeler Sporting rifle, chambered for .308 Win. (Source: https://www.keppeler-te.de/pages/produkte-products/sportgewehre-sports-rifles/freigewehre-free-rifles.php)

Keppeler Sporting Rifles Calibers

The rifle can be chambered for the following calibers:

.222 Rem.
.223 Rem.
6mm PPC
6mm Norma BR
6 XC
6.5x47 Lapua
7mm-08 Rem.
.308 Win.

* Other calibers are available on request.

Keppeler Sporting Rifles Variants

The rifles are available in the following variants:

Keppeler K09
Keppeler K09-B
Keppeler K09-S
Keppeler K05-F
Keppeler K05-S
Keppeler 300m Free
Keppeler 300m Standard
Keppeler S03
Keppeler Benchrest
Keppeler Heavy Varmint
Keppeler Benchrest Single Shot

The receivers of Keppeler sporting rifles come with 11 mm round top dovetail on top which can be used for scope mounting purposes.

The receiver of Keppeler Sporting rifle, chambered for .308 Win.

Figure 2: The receiver of Keppeler Sporting rifle, chambered for .308 Win. (Source: https://www.keppeler-te.de/pages/produkte-products/sportgewehre-sports-rifles/freigewehre-free-rifles.php)

Keppeler Sporting Rifles

Scope Mounts Interchangeable with Keppeler Sporting Rifles

Rifles that have one-piece mounts interchangeable with Keppeler Sporting Rifles

For one-piece mounts to fit on a rifle, the mounting surfaces of these rifles must match in all dimensions. The following rifles are interchangeable:

All rifles with an 11 mm round top dovetail rail

Rifles that have two-piece mounts interchangeable with Keppeler Sporting Rifles

For two-piece mounts to fit on a rifle, mounting surfaces must match in all dimensions except the B distance. B distance can vary because two-piece mounts can be installed and adjusted closer or further apart. The following rifles are interchangeable:

All rifles with an 11 mm round top dovetail rail

Best Scope Mounts for Keppeler Sporting Rifles

Fixed Scope Mounts for Keppeler Sporting Rifles

We recommend this one-piece BKL mount manufactured in the USA. It is made of premium aluminum which ensures a durable and dependable mounting solution for your optics. Additionally, the scope mount comes with a two-year warranty.

Picatinny Rails for Keppeler Sporting Rifles

This Recknagel rail is one of the most cost-effective options from the German manufacturer if you intend to mount a Picatinny rail on top of the existing dovetail rail. It is made from high-quality aluminum and comes with a thirty-year warranty.

Help Us Build Our Riflescope Mounts Database

If you happen to own this or any other rifle, we would appreciate it if you could help us expand our database by sending us some photos of the rifle receiver (the bare mounting surface of the rifle without the scope mounts installed). For your help, our company offers a fair return in terms of practical rewards.

Please send us an email for more information. You can contact us here: info@optics-trade.eu

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Burris 25.4 mm Rimfire/Airgun Rings, 11 mm Dovetail

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Gamo Medium Scope Mount TS-250 1"

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Airguns or pellet guns (the name comes from projectiles they shoot – pellets) are popular among all generations of people with a variety of different interests.

They are used for

plinking,
hunting,
sport competitions etc.

All these activities demand variety of different airguns. A lot of these applications do not require a rifle scope for using an air gun, but some of them do – especially hunting or long range shooting.

Hawke 9-11mm Match Mounts, 30mm, high

General Features of Airgun Scope Mounts

It is common to almost all airguns that they have 11 mm dovetail on the receiver. This dovetail is full length and it is used for mounting a rifle scope or diopter. Such dovetails are basically the same as on the rimfire rifles (.22 calibre). It is important to know that they share the same mounting platform and this is why we can found airgun scope mounts also on rimfire rifles and normally, similar scopes are used on both types of rifles.

When thinking of mounting a rifle scope on the airgun, we have to consider that spring powered airguns have strong recoil in both directions. This is why the robustness and rigidness of the mounts is extremely important (especially with spring powered airguns). This problem is not the case with rimfire rifles, where recoil is very mild.

Mostly, these mounts are made from aluminium and can also have a screw that serves as recoil stopper. The screw can be placed vertically, but with the two part design scope mounts, screw can be placed horizontally. Although, majority of airgun scope mounts comes without recoil notches. There are two options available for mounting the scope on the airgun monoblock scope mount: 25.4 mm (1’’) or 30 mm rings. Other dimensions can also be found, however - they are extremely rare.

Normally, airgun mounts are affordable and in most cases fixed. Detachable airgun scope mounts are usually very rare. However, the most affordable airgun mounts are also the ones from the lowest quality (although, sufficient) and high quality mounts can be expensive, too.

Adjustable inclination on the rifle scope mounts is advisable, usable and a lot of times needed (because of the imperfections of different parts – rifle, mount, rings and dovetail). Some of the mounts also have recoil buffer available. There are also available shock absorbing recoil buffers that can be bought separately and installed behind the scope mount and help to absorb recoil.

BKL 0.6" Long Dovetail Rings, 30 mm

BKL 0.6" Long Dovetail Rings, 30 mm

Monoblock Scope Mounts for Airguns

Monoblock scope mounts for airguns are definitely more reliable than two piece scope mounts. This is normally because they can handle recoil much better. They are robust, rigid, hard and they offer great clamping surface for the dovetail. However, with monoblock scope mounts, setting the proper eye relief might be an issue in some cases. Also, monoblock mounts are almost always more expensive than similar two piece mounts. Clamping surface on the rail which is connected to the rings in one piece is usually higher than it can be with comparable two piece mounts. This might also be an disadvantage, worth mentioning.

One Part and Two Part Design of Airgun Scope Mounts

When we are talking about two piece solutions of airgun mounts, we should not forget to mention some of the differences between one part and two part design of these mounts. One part design is easier to produce, therefore these mounts are cheaper as a rule. Versatility with one part design of scope mounts is normally poor. More options of mounting a scope are normally available with two part design scope mounts. It is good to know that airgun scope mounts for rifle scopes with rail systems are not usual (actually, they are rare). If they are available, they are normally available with two part design of scope mounts. Example for such mount could be Recknagel’s tip off mount for 11 mm dovetail on the bottom and with Zeiss rail option (ZM/VM) on the top. They also offer a LM rail version of these mounts.

Keppeler Sporting Rifles

The History of Keppeler