The design features and operating characteristics of a discharge heated longitudinal Sr+ recombination laser are described. Initially the laser was operated in a low heat loss configuration using input powers of 350 W. Laser pulses with FWHM of 200 ns and peak powers of 0.75 kW were obtained from the 6 2S1/2 to 5 2P3/2 (430.5 nm) transition in Sr+. Later work involved using a high heat loss configuration where input powers of 1 kW were delivered to the discharge tube. In the low heat loss mode average powers of up to 120 mW were achieved for pulse repetition frequencies around 800 Hz. The high heat loss mode yielded average powers of 300 mW at 3 kHz pulse repetition frequency and non-optimum output coupling.