Vektor H5
- Category
- Rifle
- Barrel
- 340 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.00 kg
- Introduced
- 1992
About
What it is, and why it matters
The Vektor H5 is a pump-action rifle chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO (.223 Remington), developed by Vektor (the small-arms division of South Africa's Denel) in the early 1990s as a civilian adaptation of the R4/R5 Galil-derived service rifles. Because semi-automatic rifle permits were difficult to obtain under South African law at the time while manually operated rifles were far less strictly regulated, Vektor deleted the gas system of the R4 and added a sliding forend pump mechanism to cycle the action by hand. It retained as many standard Galil parts as possible for economical manufacture, fed from the 35-round military magazine, and shipped with scope rails rather than iron sights. It was offered with a long sporting barrel as well as shorter barrels matching the R4 and R5, in both wood-furniture sporting and black tactical configurations.
The H5 exists purely because of a legal loophole: in 1990s South Africa a pump-action rifle was treated far more leniently than a semi-automatic, so Vektor turned its gas-operated R4 service rifle into a hand-cycled pump gun to put a Galil-pattern rifle into the hands of civilians and security guards who could not easily license the full-auto-derived original.
Entered production in 1992. The H5 was popular with private security firms until the civilian market for it largely disappeared around 2000, when changes to South African gun law made semi-automatic permits easier to obtain. No iron sights were fitted; rifles were typically sold with an inexpensive 4x32 scope on the integral rail.
Specification
Everything measured
IdentityWhat it is, who built it and when.
- Manufacturer
- Denel Land Systems (formerly Lyttelton Engineering Works)
- Category
- Rifle
- Country
- South Africa
- Status
- Discontinued
- Produced
- 1992 to 2000
- Variant of
- Civilian
DimensionsAs issued, without a magazine or an optic.
- Barrel
- 340 mm
- Weight, empty
- 4.00 kg
ActionHow it cycles, what trips it, and what feeds it.
- Action
- Pump action
- Firing mechanism
- Hammer fired
- Trigger
- Single action
- Capacity
- 35
- Magazine
- Detachable box
MaterialsEach swatch is the material itself, not a colour chosen to stand for it.
- Frame
- Steel
- Barrel
- Steel
- Stock
- Wood
- Finish
- Blued
BallisticsFrom the service cartridge, not a handload.
- Effective range
- 300 m
Trajectory
What the round does downrange
Solved from the muzzle figures and the bullet. The dashed rule is the effective range on the record, and the crosses are the steps the solver returned.
Features
What it has
What the record lists as fitted, drawn from the catalogue.
Pump action forend
Scope rails
Folding stock option
Thumbhole stock option- Galil parts commonality
Standing
How it compares
Each figure against the firearms of the same type and cartridge that record it, or of the same type where that cartridge has too few. Positions are read to the nearest tenth.
| Measurement | This firearm | Median | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empty weightAmong 84 5.56x45mm NATO rifles | 4.00 kg | 3.08 kg | Heavier than about 90% |
| Barrel lengthAmong 98 5.56x45mm NATO rifles | 340 mm | 406 mm | Shorter than about 90% |
| Magazine capacityAmong 98 5.56x45mm NATO rifles | 35 | 30 | Holds more rounds than about 90% |
Its place in the rankings
Answers
Questions about the Vektor H5
How much does the Vektor H5 weigh?
The Vektor H5 weighs 4.00 kg (8.82 lb) empty.
What caliber is the Vektor H5?
The Vektor H5 is chambered in 5.56x45mm NATO.
How many rounds does the Vektor H5 hold?
The Vektor H5 holds 35 rounds, fed from a detachable box magazine.
How long is the Vektor H5?
The Vektor H5 has a 340 mm (13.4 in) barrel.
Who makes the Vektor H5?
The Vektor H5 is made by Denel Land Systems (formerly Lyttelton Engineering Works) (South Africa). It was designed by Vektor (Lyttelton Engineering Works).
When was the Vektor H5 introduced?
The Vektor H5 was introduced in 1992 and discontinued in 2000.
How does the Vektor H5 operate?
The Vektor H5 uses a pump action, and its firing mechanism is hammer fired.
Compatibility
Which parts fit this firearm
Studio
Every part that mounts on this, resolved
Not a list the maker typed out: the answer comes from the mounts this firearm exposes and the interface each part needs, so it stays right when either one changes.
- Every part that mounts on any firearm in the catalogue
- Interface standards, platforms and fit overrides
- The same answers through the API and the MCP server
Requires a signed-in GunSpec account on the Studio plan. The answer is computed per part, so it is not part of the public record.
Provenance
What the record holds
Every figure above was taken from one of these pages. The confidence reflects how much of the record came from a page a claim can be checked against.
In service
- South African private security firms
- 1992
Provenance
Confidence in this record
70%
Stockists
Where to buy
Offers link straight to the shop. GunSpec never takes the order.
No shop has listed this firearm yet
Stock and prices come from the shops themselves. If you sell this firearm, you can list it and it appears here.
List a firearmMCP
Ask an assistant about it
The same record, reached the way a person asks for it rather than the way a program does.
Ask GunSpec
Works with
Point an MCP client at GunSpec and it answers from the catalogue rather than from memory. A free key covers the read tools.
API
The call that returns this record
The same fields, in the same units, from the same endpoint the page reads.
curl --request GET \ --url 'https://api.gunspec.io/v1/firearms/vektor-h5' \ --header 'X-API-Key: your_key'{ "id": "vektor-h5", "name": "Vektor H5", "manufacturer": { "id": "denel-land-systems", "name": "Denel Land Systems (formerly Lyttelton Engineering Works)", "countryCode": "ZA", "foundedYear": 1992, "website": "https://www.denellandsystems.co.za", "logoUrl": null, "description": null, "status": "active", "defunctYear": null, "stateOwned": null, "makesFirearms": true, "parentId": null, "predecessorId": null, "createdAt": "2026-02-11 23:44:40", "updatedAt": "2026-02-18 03:40:48", "version": "452eaadaccf0ec2ec9abbef8c1ca7623b60cf62f7e5c6c1060d489b45dc6d200" }, "category": { "id": "rifle", "name": "Rifle", "description": "Long-barreled firearms designed for accurate shooting" }, "country_of_origin": "ZA", "year_introduced": 1992, "barrel_length_mm": 340, "weight_empty_g": 4000, "action_type": "pump_action"}