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H&K PSG1 · Volume 8

Owning One in the United States: Imports, the Market and the Law

How PSG1s and MSG90s reached American owners after the 1989 import decision, why imports stopped in 1998, what genuine rifles sell for, and the federal and Michigan law that applies to keeping one

Figure 1 — The H&K HK91, right side, in a photograph published by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: the American-market semi-automatic G3 whose import was stopped in 1989.
Figure 1 — The H&K HK91, right side, in a photograph published by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: the American-market semi-automatic G3 whose import was stopped in 1989.

8.1 The short answer

Genuine PSG1s and MSG90s in American civilian hands were imported between 1989 and 1997, under an ATF standard that barred the HK91 but admitted rifles modified to remove its military features. The US Treasury’s own 1998 study lists the PSG1 and MSG90 among them, and the same study’s conclusion closed the door to all of them in April 1998. No PSG1 has been importable for American civilians since. The supply is fixed, the rifles change hands through dealers and auction houses, and their estimates have risen. Owning one is ordinary rifle ownership under federal and Michigan law; the legal traps in this family belong to the parts kits and clones of Volume 9, not to a genuine PSG1.

8.2 Before 1989: the HK91 and its relatives

H&K sold the G3 action to American civilians as the HK91, and its pre-1990 Oberndorf leaflet describes it as “like the G3 a recoil operated weapon incorporating a delayed roller locked bolt system and designed for semi-automatic fire”.1 Its American companion models and its imports are part of the story the hub tells for other rifles of the period: the AK-47 dive, Volume 16 sets out the sporting-purposes test and the 1989 decision, and the Steyr AUG dive, Volume 3 traces one importer’s permits through it. Neither is repeated here beyond what the H&K rifles need.

8.3 1989: the HK91 stops, the PSG1 does not

In the spring of 1989 ATF suspended, and then refused, the import of semi-automatic versions of military rifles under the “sporting purposes” test of 18 U.S.C. § 925(d)(3). The Treasury’s 1998 study states the test that ATF applied: a “military configuration” of eight features (the ability to accept a detachable magazine, folding or telescoping stocks, separate pistol grips, the ability to accept a bayonet, flash suppressors, bipods, grenade launchers and night sights), any one of which, other than the detachable magazine, “would make a semiautomatic rifle not importable”.2 The 1998 study says that the rifles it reviewed were “like the rifles banned in 1989 … based on AK47, FN-FAL, HK91 and 93, Uzi, and SIG SG550” designs, so the HK91 and HK93 were among the rifles stopped. The 1989 decision was an administrative action by ATF under the statute, not an executive order.2

What happened next is the part usually told wrongly. The 1998 study explains it:

“Subsequent to the 1989 decision, certain semiautomatic assault rifles that failed the 1989 sporting purposes test were modified to remove all of the military configuration features other than the ability to accept a detachable magazine. … Based on the standard developed in 1989, these modified rifles were found to meet the sporting purposes test. Accordingly, the study rifles were approved for import into the United States.”2

And its Exhibit 2, “Study Rifle Models”, lists the H&K-pattern rifles so approved:

HK Variants: BT96, Centurian 2000, SR9, PSG1, MSG90, G3SA, SAR82

The study counts “7 on the HK91 and 93 designs” among at least 59 models.2

Figure 2 — An SR9 TC, one of the HK91-based sporting rifles of the 1990s, with a PSG1-pattern stock and grip. The 1998 study lists the SR9 by name among the H&K rifles imported after 1989; it does not list th…
Figure 2 — An SR9 TC, one of the HK91-based sporting rifles of the 1990s, with a PSG1-pattern stock and grip. The 1998 study lists the SR9 by name among the H&K rifles imported after 1989; it does not list the TC variant.
The PSG1 and the MSG90 were therefore **imported after 1989**, as rifles that met the 1989 standard. The common statement that the 1989 action ended PSG1 imports is wrong on ATF's own record.

The study does not explain why the PSG1, which has a separate grip, met the 1989 standard. Its grip, with its palm shelf, is unlike a service-rifle pistol grip, but no ATF document read says that was the reason, and this dive does not guess.

8.4 and 1998: the end of imports

On 14 November 1997 the President and the Treasury Secretary ordered a review of these modified rifles and directed “that all pending and future applications for importation of these rifles not be acted upon until completion of the review” and “that outstanding permits for importation of the rifles be suspended for the duration of the review period”. The study’s footnote gives the scale: “applications to import 1 million new rifles and outstanding permits for nearly 600,000 other rifles”.2

The review’s finding, published in April 1998, added one feature to the 1989 list: “the ability to accept a detachable large capacity magazine originally designed and produced for a military assault weapon”. Rifles with that ability, the study’s “LCMM rifles”, were found “not generally recognized as particularly suitable for or readily adaptable to sporting purposes and are therefore not importable”.2 The Treasury’s press release of 6 April 1998 announced “a prohibition on the importation of modified, semiautomatic assault rifles with the ability to accept large capacity military magazines”, naming models “based on AK-47, FN-FAL, HK 91 and 93, Uzi and SIG SG550”.3

The PSG1 and MSG90 accept the G3’s 20-round magazine (H&K: magazines “for 5 or 20 rounds”), so they fall within the finding.4 From 1998, no PSG1 or MSG90 could be imported for American civilians. The study did not cover sales to law enforcement, and whether H&K’s American company sold the PSG1 A1 and MSG90A1 to police agencies after 1998 is not established by the documents read; its 2007 pages place both rifles under “LE” products, and its 2008 catalogue describes its Ashburn, Virginia operation as supplying “the U.S. military, federal, state, and local law enforcement” and a separate Columbus, Georgia operation as serving “the U.S. commercial (civilian) market”.56

The import rules have kept moving since. In June 2025 ATF Ruling 2025-1 rescinded a 2005 position that had refused the import of barrels from non-importable military firearms, and on 8 May 2026 ATF proposed a rule on “Importing Dual-Use Frames, Receivers, or Barrels”; its comment period closed on 6 August 2026 and it was not final when this dive was written.7 Neither would make a complete PSG1 importable. The proposal is explicit that parts imported under it remain subject to the parts-count rule when assembled (Volume 9).

8.5 The 1994 federal assault-weapons law

The federal ban on “semiautomatic assault weapons” of 1994, which expired on 13 September 2004, defined them partly by name and partly by features. The HK91 family is not among the named firearms in the former 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30)(A). The feature test for rifles required a detachable magazine and at least two of: a folding or telescoping stock; “a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action”; a bayonet mount; “a flash suppressor or threaded barrel designed to accommodate a flash suppressor”; and a grenade launcher.8

On that text a PSG1 had at most one feature, its grip, and was not a “semiautomatic assault weapon”; an MSG90A1, with its grip and its threaded barrel and flash hider, had two. That is this dive’s reading of the statute, not a classification by ATF. The same Act’s ban on new large-capacity magazines did reach the 20-round magazine during the decade it was in force. Both provisions lapsed in 2004.

8.6 How many are in the United States

No primary figure exists in any source found. The Firearm Blog wrote in 2016 that “only about 400 of these rifles exist in the United States”, without a source.9 The figure is repeated here so that a reader who meets it knows it is unsourced.

8.7 What genuine rifles sell for

All figures are auction estimates, not prices realised, unless stated. Rock Island Auction Company shows prices realised only to registered users, and James D. Julia’s realised price for its 2017 lot is not published on the archived page.

Table 1 — What genuine rifles sell for

DateHouse, lotRifleFigure
Spring 2017James D. Julia, sale 1678, lot 396New in box; Hensoldt 6×42; bipod; “Loga System” rest; sling; cleaning kit; two 20-round and two 5-round magazines; fitted case; manuals; factory test targetEstimate $15,000–17,50010
2020Sniper Central (remark, not a sale)PSG1, used market”about $15,000”11
3–5 December 2021Rock Island, Premier 84, lot 661PSG1 attributed by the consignor to Murray Urbach, about 2001, “using all factory parts”; Hensoldt 6×42; Pelican case; H&K “Loga” restEstimate $16,000–20,00012
9–11 December 2022Rock Island, Premier 87, lot 3737PSG1, receiver date code read as 1995; custom camouflage paint; 600 rounds by the consignor’s account; case; tripodEstimate $18,000–25,00013
25 August 2024Rock Island, Bedford, lot 3589PSG1, receiver date code read as 1995; 99 per cent finish; case; tripod; three extra magazines; test targetEstimate $20,000–35,00014

The pattern is upward, from estimates in the mid-teens of thousands in 2017 to a range topping $35,000 in 2024. It is a pattern of estimates for different rifles in different conditions, and it should be read as the auction house’s view of the market, not a price index. A 2025 magazine article gave a much higher range from “a quick look at auction sites”, with a typographical error in its upper figure and no sales cited; it is not used.15

No auction or dealer data was found for the MSG90, the MSG90A1, the SR9 family or the HK91 in this research. For comparison only, a US-made PTR GI rifle on the HK91 pattern lists at $1,529 to $1,610 (Volume 9), and the German SAR M41 PSG copy, not sold in the US, at €7,500 in 2023.16

8.8 Buying one

Figure 3 — A PSG1, left side: the rifle a buyer is paying for. Volume 5 sets out how to tell it from the HK91-based rifles that imitate it.
Figure 3 — A PSG1, left side: the rifle a buyer is paying for. Volume 5 sets out how to tell it from the HK91-based rifles that imitate it.

A PSG1 is bought like any other rifle: through a licensed dealer, with the federal background check, or in Michigan by the state’s own routes (below). What is particular to the PSG1 is the risk of buying something else. Volume 5’s checklist applies: the receiver marking, the absence of iron-sight provisions, the welded mount bases, the closing aid, the serrated carrier and PSG1-marked bolt head, and the receiver reinforcement. A rifle built from factory parts, like the Urbach rifle above, may pass every check and still not be a factory PSG1; the auction house in that case said so plainly, which is the standard a buyer should expect.

The outfit matters to value. The rifles above were catalogued with their cases, tripods or rests, magazines and, in two cases, the factory test target and manuals.

8.9 Federal law for an owner

A genuine PSG1 or MSG90 is a semi-automatic rifle with a barrel well over 16 inches and an overall length over 26 inches. Under federal law it is an ordinary Title I firearm: no National Firearms Act registration, no tax, and transfer through the usual dealer channel. Three federal matters can arise around one:

  • Suppressors and short barrels. Fitting a suppressor to an MSG90A1’s threaded barrel, or shortening any rifle in the family below 16 inches, brings in the National Firearms Act. Public Law 119-21 reduced the making and transfer tax on suppressors and short-barrelled rifles to $0 from 1 January 2026; registration and approval are unchanged, and the $200 tax on machine guns survives. The hub’s Suppressor Law dive, Volume 3 covers it.
  • Machine-gun parts. A PSG1 is a semi-automatic rifle on a semi-automatic receiver, with a two-position safety (0 and 1). Its select-fire relatives’ parts, the G3’s S-E-F trigger groups and full-automatic bolt carriers, circulate freely in parts kits. Putting such parts with a semi-automatic rifle is where an owner can get into trouble; Volume 9 sets out the law.
  • Importing parts. Replacing imported parts on a rifle assembled in the United States can bring in the parts-count rule of 18 U.S.C. § 922(r). A genuine imported PSG1 was imported whole and is outside the rule as imported; the rule bites on assembly (Volume 9).

8.10 Michigan

The hub’s existing Michigan coverage applies and is linked rather than repeated:

  • Buying. Since 13 February 2024, MCL 28.422 as amended by 2023 PA 19 requires a licence to purchase a firearm that is not a pistol, with exemptions including purchase through a licensed dealer with a background check. The Steyr AUG dive, Volume 6, §6.10 quotes the provision and its exemptions.
  • No assault-weapons statute. Michigan has no law restricting a rifle by its features; the AUG dive’s search of the Michigan Penal Code’s firearms chapter and the Firearms Act found none.
  • Length. Michigan defines a “pistol” as a firearm 26 inches or less in length (MCL 750.222(f)); at 1,208 mm, about 47.6 inches, a PSG1 is nowhere near it.
  • Transport and storage of rifles: the AR-15 5.56 dive, Volume 7, §7.7.
  • Machine guns. MCL 750.224 makes manufacturing, selling or possessing a machine gun a felony; the MP 40 dive, Volume 6 is the hub’s treatment, including the licensing exception. It matters to this family only through the parts in Volume 9.

8.11 Parts, service and support

H&K no longer lists the PSG1 or MSG90 on its German website, and its current catalogue lists the G28 as its only designated marksman rifle.17 Genuine PSG1 parts in dealers’ listings checked on 18 October 2026 were all sold out: a complete PSG1 buttstock at $1,195, a PSG1/HK91 trigger mechanism at $590, a PSG1 grip assembly at $1,985, and a PSG1/MSG90 bolt head at $598 (Midwest Gun Works); HKParts.net lists PSG1 parts with no price and no stock.18 Parts shared with the G3 and HK91 are plentiful (Volume 9). No H&K service arrangement for PSG1 owners in the United States was found published. Volume 4 sets out what an owner may maintain and what is armourer’s work.

8.12 What could not be established

  • How many PSG1s and MSG90s were imported for American civilians between 1989 and 1997.
  • Why ATF treated the PSG1 as meeting the 1989 standard.
  • Whether H&K’s American company sold PSG1s or MSG90s to US law enforcement after 1998.
  • Prices realised for any PSG1, and any market data for the MSG90, SR9 or HK91.

References

Footnotes

  1. Heckler & Koch GmbH, The Selfloading Rifle HK 91 Cal. .308 (Oberndorf/Neckar, pre-1990). Internet Archive collection “MManuals”, https://archive.org/download/MManuals/Hk91.pdf, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  2. US Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Department of the Treasury Study on the Sporting Suitability of Modified Semiautomatic Assault Rifles (April 1998), Executive Summary pp. 1–3 and footnote 1, Determination pp. 36–37, Exhibit 2 “Study Rifle Models”. Wayback captures of http://www.atf.treas.gov/pub/assault_rifles/ (index captured 17 January 1999); public domain (US government work), consulted 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. US Department of the Treasury, press release RR-2347, 6 April 1998, Wayback capture of 19 April 1999, https://web.archive.org/web/19990419210745/http://www.atf.treas.gov:80/pub/assault_rifles/treasrelease.htm, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  4. Heckler & Koch GmbH, Kurzbeschreibung des Präzisionsschützengewehres PSG 1 (Oberndorf, n.d.), printed pp. 3, 16. https://archive.org/download/MManuals/HkPsg1.pdf, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  5. Heckler & Koch Inc., law-enforcement product pages for the PSG1 A1 and MSG90 A1 (addresses beginning “le_”), hk-usa.com, Wayback captures of February and March 2007, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  6. Heckler & Koch (Ashburn, Virginia), Military & Law Enforcement catalogue, ”© HKDCS 01.12.08”, back matter, http://photos.imageevent.com/smglee/cltactical/HK%20Military%20LE%20Catalog.pdf, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  7. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, “Importing Dual-Use Frames, Receivers, or Barrels”, proposed rule, 91 FR 25192 (8 May 2026), which describes ATF Ruling 2025-1 (23 June 2025), https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/08/2026-09163/importing-dual-use-frames-receivers-or-barrels, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  8. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(30) (2000 edition; repealed by sunset on 13 September 2004), as recorded in the Steyr AUG dive’s research copy. Public domain. ↩

  9. Alex C., “H&K PSG1 Sniper Rifle Overview”, The Firearm Blog, 18 February 2016, https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2016/02/18/hk-psg1-sniper-rifle-overview/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  10. James D. Julia, Inc., sale 1678, lot 396, 2017, Wayback capture of http://jamesdjulia.com/item/1678-396/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  11. Melvin Ewing, “HK PSG-1”, Sniper Central, 26 August 2020, https://snipercentral.com/hk-psg-1/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  12. Rock Island Auction Company, Premier Auction 3–5 December 2021, Volume I, lot 661, https://cdn.rockislandauction.com/flipbooks/84/BOOK1/files/basic-html/page388.html, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  13. Rock Island Auction Company, Premier Auction 9–11 December 2022, Volume III, lot 3737, https://cdn.rockislandauction.com/flipbooks/87/BOOK3/files/basic-html/page338.html, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  14. Rock Island Auction Company, Bedford, Texas, 25 August 2024, lot 3589, https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/4092/3589/heckler-koch-psg1-semiautomatic-sniper-rifle-with-scope, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  15. Fred Mastison, “The Heckler & Koch PSG1: The Ultimate Precision Sniper Rifle”, Athlon Outdoors, 1 April 2025, https://athlonoutdoors.com/article/the-heckler-koch-psg1/, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  16. Franz Keck, “Präzision mit Geschichte”, Deutsches Waffen-Journal, January 2023, pp. 20–25, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  17. Heckler & Koch GmbH, “Military and Law Enforcement” product overview, https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/Products/Military%20and%20Law%20Enforcement/Overview, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

  18. Midwest Gun Works product pages: PSG1 Complete Buttstock (224721), PSG1/HK91 Trigger Mechanism (221020), PSG1/MSG90 Complete Bolthead (225656) and PSG1 grip assembly, all sold out, consulted 2026-10-18; HKParts.net search for “psg1”, consulted 2026-10-18. ↩

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