During the Clone Wars, the 773 Firepuncher was a favored weapon of Galactic Republic snipers, including Clone Force 99 clone trooper Crosshair, who utilized a customized rifle and became a master in using the weapon in its many configurations including, but not exclusively, a blaster rifle, a grappling hook launcher, and even fire darts that electrified a target on contact. Crosshair stored his rifle on his backpack by taking the scope and long barrel off. The weapon also had alternate barrel configurations that could be manually swapped out, such as a underbarrel attachment that fired a long grappling cable. Crosshair continued to use the weapon to deadly effect in service to the Galactic Empire, where he commanded an Elite Squad of specialized human recruits on a mission to Onderon. On several occasions, Crosshair’s sniper rifle was equipped to fire a homing beacon and a glowrod. Crosshair used another Firepuncher after the Attack on Kamino where his former squad confiscated his rifle when they left, though his customized rifle was eventually given back to him.
During the early Imperial Era, Clone X troopers also used the rifles, though some versions had a wooden stock. Many of Azmorigan's henchmen who used them against the smuggler Lando Calrissian and the Spectres rebels at his farm on Lothal and in Nixus Hub 218 on the planet Nixus. During the fight on Nixus, the astromech droid Chopper attacked their boss Azmorigan, using a blaster pistol and one of the blaster rifle he picked up from one of his henchmen. Several of Cikatro Vizago's IG-RM bodyguard and enforcer droids also wielded these weapons when the arms dealers unleashed them on the Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger and the pirate Hondo Ohnaka.