The sporting blaster rifle was the rifle version of the sporting blaster pistol. It was very similar to the hunting blaster. They were primarily intended for game-hunting on frontier worlds with high wildlife populations. They were light, easy to carry, and very accurate. Sporting blaster rifles had a shorter range and packed less power than a standard blaster rifle, though they had the advantage of being more affordable and required less bureaucratic hassle to obtain. As a result of this, the weapon became common with assassins and bounty hunters who were able to circumvent the legal restrictions against heavier rifles. Sporting blaster rifles often had a targeting scope mounted on them.
Luke Skywalker kept a sporting blaster rifle in his landspeeder on Tatooine. He had also used it to "bullseye womp rats in his T-16."