Heckler & Koch G-36

Notes: In 1996, with the G-11 becoming expensive and the ammunition even more scarce and expensive, the Bundeswehr asked Heckler & Koch to produce an assault rifle family that would fire standard NATO 5.56mm NATO ammunition. The result was the HK-50, which was type standardized as the G-36. Deliveries began in the third quarter of 1996 to the Bundeswehr’s NATO rapid reaction forces and special operations units, and it eventually became the standard assault rifle for German armed forces. In 1998, the Spanish military started replacing their troublesome CETME-L and LC rifles with G-36s.

The G-36 has a folding buttstock for use in tight spaces; light and easy to fold and unfold, the stock is also the G-36s biggest fault, since it tends to crack or just fall off. Much of the G-36 is constructed of high-impact plastic reinforced with carbon-fiber polymer, and the carrying handle incorporates a 3x sight, with iron sights available if the optical sights become damaged. In addition, a red-dot collimating sight is provided above the 3x sight on German G-36s for quick shots. The charging handle is under the carrying handle, and the firing levers are ambidextrous (although case ejection is always to the right). The G-36 uses an AK-74 pattern bayonet, and can use Pact or NATO rifle grenades. Magazines designed for the G-36 have lugs to allow up to five magazines to be clipped together for speedy reloading. The G-36 may also use M-16 magazines. The G-36 marks the first time that Heckler & Koch abandoned their well-tried roller-locking system in a production rifle, opting for a simpler gas system instead; with rounds being fired through a 18.9-inch barrel tipped by a flash suppressor similar in appearance to that used on Colt’s M-16A2. The export variant of the G-36 is the G-36E; this weapon uses a 1.5x sight instead of the 3x sight of the German model, and dispenses with the red-dot collimating sight.

The G-36K is a carbine variant of the G-36 assault rifle, meant for special operations forces. It has a shorter 12.52-inch barrel and handguard than the standard G-36, and a larger prong-type flash suppressor. It is not normally equipped with the 3x sight (though it can use it), using the 1.5x sight instead, but does have the collimator sight. German special ops units almost always use the G-36K (and the G-36) loaded with 100-round Beta C-Mags. An export version of the G-36K, called the G-35KE, is also produced; it differs from the G-36K primarily in the deletion of the collimator sight.

The G-36C (the C formerly stood for Commando, but now stands for Compact, due to a trademark by Colt) is a very-abbreviated length version of the G-36 assault rifle. It has a stubby 11.02-inch barrel, and the carrying handle has a STANAG-compatible MIL-STD-1913 rail to mount any sort of scope or sighting aid. The handguard, though short, is equipped with 6-point MIL-STD-1913 rails; the bottom rail is normally seen with a foregrip mounted, though it can mount pretty much anything else. Like the G-36K, the G-36C typically uses the 1.5x sight/collimator sight combination; the 3x sight is rather superfluous in a weapon designed primarily for CQB. The G-36C is characterized as a "limited-issue weapon," typically issued only to special operations units.

An interesting note about the G-36: the G-36’s predecessor, the HK-50, was originally conceived to be a modular family of weapons, able to be easily changed between different configurations. These different configurations were designed to range from a 9mm Parabellum-firing submachinegun to a 7.62mm NATO-firing light machinegun. Though the G-36 has yet to be produced in all of these versions, it still retains the capability to do so – assuming the demand is there and Heckler & Koch produces the parts required as a result.

Twilight 2000 Notes: When it became obvious that the G-11 was too expensive and complicated to produce, and that ammunition availability would become a major stumbling block, the G-41 was brought into full production instead and the plans for the G-36 accelerated greatly. However, general issue of the G-36 still did not start until the winter of 1995, and adoption of the G-36 largely came to an abrupt halt during the November nuclear exchanges. Though examples of the G-36K were built at the same time as the standard G-36, many more were made by German special operations armorers using plans furnished by Heckler & Koch. The G-36C does not exist in the Twilight 2000 timeline.

Merc 2000 Notes: As German peacekeepers became a more common sight in the world, their G-36 rifles also became a more common sight. The problem with the stock had been largely solved by the end of 2003.

Heckler & Koch G-41

Notes: This weapon was introduced in 1983 to replace the HK-33 on the export market, and was issued to German troops in 1987 in small numbers as an interim weapon to replace their G-3s until the G-11 (which never came to fruition) could be brought into full production. It is basically an updated and upgraded HK-33 assault rifle, made with more modern materials, and having the ability to use standard US/NATO magazines. As such, it was an interim design, never meant for general issue to the entire German Army, nor any of the other countries that were considering it. By the early 1990s, it was obvious that the G-11 was not going to ever be adopted, and the G-41 also became a casualty. In addition, the worldwide glut of assault rifles (ranging to the ubiquitous M-16 and AK to the new designs coming out the former Soviet Union, China, and Eastern Europe) meant that there were already lots of assault rifles available at a much lower price than the G-41. The German Army went with the then-new G-36, and by 1996, Heckler & Koch was no longer including either the G-41 (or the G-11) in its military weapons catalogs. There are rumors that Mexico and India bought small numbers of G-41s, but I have not been able to confirm this; however, the San Marcos Marines and some special operations units (such as the Italian COMSUBIN, Israeli Col Moschin, and the Spanish NOCS) have small stocks of G-41s and G-41Ks. No country seems to be using them in large numbers. (In the US, in particular, the G-41 is an extreme rarity – there reportedly only 3 of them in the US.)

In appearance, the G-41 is quite reminiscent of the HK-33 series (recognizably so), and yet also has enough differences that the two cannot be mistaken except at a glance. Internal differences between the G-41 and HK-33 series include bolt hold-open device after the last shot is fired, as well as a bolt catch (similar to that of the M-16A1). The ejection also has a hinged dust cover (the same idea as that on the M-16, but of course much different in appearance and design) and a forward assist which also acts as a brass deflector for left-handed shooters. Though the G-41 can use older HK-33 magazines, the primary magazines are meant to be STANAG-compatible magazines. The sights are essentially the same as those on the HK-33, but have tritium inserts for night use. The G-41 has a side-folding carrying handle at the center of balance (for the standard-length version). The G-41 may be fitted with a MIL-STD-1913 rail, a carrying handle, ladder-type sights or a radial drum sight for use if the G-41 is fitted with an underbarrel grenade launcher, or any number of other mounts for optics. The lower receiver is of light alloy, but most of the rest of the metalwork is steel; the stock is either synthetic or a standard Heckler & Koch sliding stock. The barrel is 17.72 inches long and is tipped with a flash suppressor. The pistol grip is of high-impact plastic and is hollow. In 1986, the G-41 series was further modified; a strengthening sub-frame was added to the synthetic stock and pistol grip, and newer, stronger synthetics were used. The fire controls became ambidextrous, and the markings were slightly changed.

Variants of the G-41 include the G-41A2, with the sliding stock mentioned above. The G-41K was also available; this is a short-barreled version (with a 14.96-inch barrel), normally with the sliding stock, but also available with a fixed synthetic stock. The G-41K cannot take a bayonet, but can fire rifle grenades and mount underbarrel grenade launchers. The G-41 INKAS and G-41K INKAS are identical to their standard brethren, but have a standard IR laser aiming module mounted internally inside the charging handle tube.

Twilight 2000 Notes: The Heckler & Koch G-41 was rushed into production in late 1994 when the G-11 became to expensive to produce and the G-36 was not yet ready. It was realized that the G-41 would serve as a stopgap measure to modernize the German military’s assault rifles to meet modern standards (including STANAG magazines and optical sight mounts). With the outbreak of the Twilight War, the G-41 saw service and proved to be an effective and reliable weapon. With the advent of the G-36 design, the days of the G-41 seemed to be short-lived; only the use of nuclear weapons forestalled its replacement by the newer design. The G-41K, though not uncommon, is also not common. It was popular in the hands of rear-area troops as well as special ops types.

Merc 2000 Notes: The only large-scale customers of the G-41 seem to be the military forces of El Salvador and Belize. This was not enough to keep the productions lines for the G-41 open, though spare parts are still being manufactured. As with the G-41, the only large-scale customers of the G-41K seem to be El Salvador and Belize. Their smaller-statured troops seemed to prefer this shorter version.

Notes: Introduced in 1965, the HK-33 is essentially a G-3 7.62mm rifle scaled down to 5.56mm NATO dimensions. As the HK-33 was never intended for large-scale use by German forces, it is normally heard referred to as the HK-33E ("E" for export). The only official large-scale military sales were made to the Thai and Mexican armed forces, but the HK-33 is one of those weapons that can be found just about anywhere. The civilian model is manufactured primarily in Great Britain instead of in Germany. Though I have been unable to nail down the exact date, military versions of the HK-33 series have apparently been out of production since about 1990.

The HK-33 uses delayed blowback operation with roller locking, like the G-3 series. It has a two piece bolt, however. Like late-production G-3s, the HK-33 is built using as many stamped steel components as possible, including a stamped steel receiver. The primary variants of the HK-33 have a fixed polymer stock (the HK-33A2, considered the "standard" version of the HK-33) and a 15.35-inch barrel, a fixed polymer stock with an integral folding bipod (the HK-33A2SG), a sliding metal stock (the HK-33A3), the HK-33K with a 12.67-inch barrel and sliding stock (though a fixed polymer stock is optional), and the HK-33SG1, optimized for use as a designated marksman’s rifle. (The latter weapon will be found in German Sniper Rifles.) In addition, there is a kit available to allow any version to be modified for use with .22 Long Rifle ammunition for training purposes. All of these weapons may also be found with the option to fire 3-round bursts, fully automatic fire, or semiautomatic fire (with the exception of the training version). A civilian version of the HK-33A2 capable only of semiautomatic fire is also available (the HK-93), and may be the best selling of the HK-33 line.

The HK-53 is an HK-33 with a greatly abbreviated 8.3-inch barrel. Though the Germans classify the HK-53 as a submachinegun due to its short barrel length, most of the Western world (particularly North and South American countries, as well as the Russians and Chinese) use the newer terms "short assault rifle" or "assault carbine." Depending on how you look at it, the HK-53 is a vastly scaled-down G-3, a scaled-up MP-5 submachinegun, or a compromise between the two. Original production HK-53s used a three-position fire selector (safe, semiautomatic, automatic), but this was quickly replaced with a four position selector (safe, semiautomatic, 3-round burst, automatic). The normal flash suppressor is replaced with a larger four-prong device designed specifically for the HK-53; though it is a type of flash suppressor it’s highly-effective design makes it function more like a muzzle brake as well as dampening muzzle flash and blast far better than the average flash suppressor (though it is rather larger than the typical assault rifle’s flash suppressor). Provision is made for a wide variety of optical equipment and magazines (most HK-33 or US/NATO magazines may be used). It cannot, however, use rifle grenades or mount a bayonet, and underbarrel grenade launchers which will fit on a standard HK-53. The US Navy SEALs were noted users of the HK-53 (as well as the HK-33 and HK-33K), until the M-4 and its variants became available. Knight Manufacturing has recently introduced an MWS (Modular Weapon System) kit for the HK-53, consisting of a replacement handguard with three MIL-STD-1913 rails (one on each side of the handguard, and one underneath), a side-mounted optics mount (as the HK-53’s charging handle is on the top of the weapon, slightly offset to the left), and a variety of KAC’s standard add-ons.

In 1972, as the vehicle that would eventually become the M-2 Bradley IFV was being developed, the US Army was also looking for a firing port weapon to use with the new vehicle. Among the entries for this competition was Heckler & Koch, and they entered a variant of the HK-53 called the HK-53 MICV. The HK-53 MICV for the most part used a standard HK-53 receiver, pistol grip, and mechanism; there were, however, numerous modifications made to the HK-53 for the role. The front sight of the HK-53 was removed, as were the handguards. The handguards were replaced by a simple ventilated barrel jacket and sleeve equipped with an attachment for the ball-and-socket joint of the US Army’s developmental vehicle (then called the XM-723 MICV). An attachment point was added to the right side of the receiver, allowing a canvas bag-type brass catcher to be placed over the ejection port. (This brass catcher had the incidental effect of capturing any gasses from the firing of the weapon that didn’t get ventilated outside of the vehicle.) The stock was removed, as was any capacity to mount either a fixed or folding stock, and a simple endcap closed the back of the receiver. Operation of the HK-53 was modified so that the HK-53 fired from an open bolt instead of the traditional H&K method of firing from a closed bolt (open-bolt operation allows for better cooling of the barrel and mechanism and made the HK-53 more compatible with the XM-723’s method of venting firing gasses outside of the vehicle). Finally, the original fire selector mechanism was used, though the cyclic rate of the HK-53 was almost doubled. In the end, however, the US Army decided to adopt the Colt M-231 instead; though Heckler & Koch continued to improve and shop around the HK-53 MICV (particularly to the Bundeswehr, who was at the time looking for a firing port weapon for the Marder), the HK-53 MICV eventually became one of those interesting designs that never went into use, and is now a very rare item.

Perhaps the rarest production version of the HK-33 series, the HK-32, appeared in 1965, though a short time later than the HK-33 (despite the designation). With the HK-32, Heckler & Koch hoped to break the Russian/Warsaw Pack/Chinese stranglehold on weapons firing the 7.62mm Kalashnikov cartridge by offering a rifle with a more modern design. Heckler & Koch designed magazines for the HK-32; rumors state that early-production models could also use standard AK/RPK-type magazines. Prototype HK-32s used a flash suppressor which was simply a thickened muzzle with slots cut into it; production examples use a flash suppressor similar to that of the HK-33 series. For the most part, the HK-32 is otherwise identical to the HK-33 except for the changes necessary for the use of the 7.62mm Kalashnikov cartridge. There is also an exceedingly-rare variant of the HK-32, the HK-32K, which is a short-barreled variant corresponding to the HK-33K. Though Heckler & Koch did in fact build and sell a small number of HK-32s, to whom and when these sales occurred is largely unknown as well as undisclosed and unconfirmed. Rumors range from the US Navy SEALs and other special operations units to well-heeled civilian firearms enthusiasts. Production was always very low-rate, and stopped entirely in 1982. To complicate the issue a bit more, some custom firearms builders in the US (most notably Bill Fleming) have modified small numbers of HK-91s (civilianized G-3s) into rifles closely resembling HK-32s.

The GR series of assault rifles is somewhat of a mystery – are they their own series of short assault rifles, are they a further subtype of the HK-53 (in the case of the GR-2) and HK-33K (in the case of the GR-3), or simply specially-modified HK-53s and HK-33s? For the purposes of these pages, I will treat them the way a slight majority of firearms experts seem to regard them – as subtypes of the HK-53 and HK-33. Development of the GR series began in the early- to mid-1980s (and there is even confusion about this); they were supposedly intended primarily for export and were not designed in response to any German Army or Federal Police requirement. Apparently they were not sold in any noticeable numbers to any military or police forces anywhere in the world, though they first began appearing in rather small numbers in special operations of a few countries (particularly in German special ops un its) in the late 1980s. Even today, GR-series rifles are rarely seen anywhere, and even when they are spotted, there may be one or two being used by even large (for special ops) units.

The GR-2 and GR-3 are believed to be mechanically virtually identical to the rest of the HK-33 series. There are, however, numerous differences; the entire GR series are said to be able to use both standard H&K magazines designed for use with the HK-33 series as well as US/NATO STANAG 5.56mm NATO magazines. The sliding-stock versions normally use stocks more reminiscent of the early MP-5 rather than the HK-33 or HK-53. The handguard seen on the GR series is usually the same as used on the MP-5 submachinegun, though the GR series is also quite capable of using standard HK-33 and HK-53 handguards, and a very few appear to have modified handguards based on the HK-33 handguard, but with four-point MIL-STD-1913 rails attached. The rifling on early versions was optimized for older 5.56mm M-193 ammunition, though supposedly most are now equipped with 1:9 rifling twist rates to allow good performance with SS-109 or M-193 ammunition. At first, the receiver was topped with H&K proprietary optics mounts; these have now been largely replaced with MIL-STD-1913 rails. At first, the standard optic for use with the GR series was a rather large, specially-designed adjustable 1.5x scope (with some being permanently attached to the receiver of the rifle) that was heavily influenced by that mount ed on the then-new Steyr AUG assault rifle, though the aiming reticule was more prominent as well as illuminated. Finishes seen have been black, an all-over forest-green/brown camouflage pattern, and a peculiar tan/green desert camouflage pattern (often referred to as "baby-shit camo"). The different colors all add their own modifiers to the designations, but essentially the GR series can be broken into a few basic types of weapons. The GR-2 is similar to the HK-53, with its 8.3-inch barrel, though the muzzle brake used is longer and beefier – and often, the GR-2 is seen with the muzzle brake replaced with a long, heavy, open-prong-type flash suppressor. The GR-3K is similar to the HK-33K, with its 12.67-inch barrel, and the same muzzle brake or the flash suppressor as the GR-2. The GR-3E is sort of a mid-sized carbine, with a 15.35-inch barrel, and otherwise equipped in the same manner as other GR-series rifles. Game prices below reflect the use of the standard 1.5x optical sight (and its successors).

Twilight 2000 Notes: This weapon often formed the core of military-type rifles issued to Western European militia units; in addition, it was difficult to find a community in the US or Central America where at least one person did not have either an HK-33 or HK-93. Older HK-93s were seemingly easy to convert to fully automatic fire. The HK-53 MICV was, in the Twilight 2000 timeline, the standard-issue firing port weapon for the Marder; as with the US M-231, many HK-53s were yanked out of wrecked Marders and put into ground service, often modified to accept a sliding wire stock. In addition, the HK-53 was issued to many other units, from cooks to special operations troops.

Merc 2000 Notes: The HK-33 could turn up in the strangest places, such as the bodyguard element for the Zairian president, and the guards for diamond mines in South Africa. It is even rumored that a tribe of Rhade in the highlands of Vietnam are primarily armed with the HK-33, though how the HK-33s got there is unknown.

*For those versions which come in burst/automatic selective fire versions, subtract $182 if a version is chosen which has only burst or only automatic fire capability. (Note that the GR series does not fall into this category as far as is known, though there is no reason that this should be true other than that the GR series seems to have been with only one type of fire selector mechanism.)