H&K G36: Germany Adopts the 5.56mm Cartridge
Select-Fire Rifles
•
19m
When the G11 program was cancelled and German reunified, the West German military was still using the 7.62mm G3 rifle, while the East German forces had AK-74 variants. Neither of these were suitable for a new unified German NATO-member Bundeswehr - a rifle in 5.56mm NATO was needed. Heckler & Koch had been working on just such a weapon, designated internally as the HK50.
The rifle is fundamentally an AR-18 derivative, with a multi-lug rotating bolt and a short stroke gas system of the G43 and SVT type. It is made with extensive use of polymer parts, and it extremely easy to strip. It is fitted for an integral optical sight, on the Bundeswehr model a combination laser, fiber-optic red dot, and magnified scope. The weapon was adopted as the G36 by the German military, and was also adopted by Spain to replace the CETME-L. A multitude of smaller police and security agencies have also adopted it, including the US Capitol Police.
Thanks to H&K USA for generously granting me access to bring there to you!
Up Next in Select-Fire Rifles
-
H&K G41: The HK33 Meets the M16
The H&K G41 was developed for the NATO trials of the early 1980s, which were set up to look at both rifles and cartridges for NATO standardization (although they did not end up choosing a rifle). The gun is a basically an HK33 roller-delayed system set up to use standard M16 magazines and with a ...
-
Custom Transferrable 7mm BAR
Want to play He-Man shooting a BAR from the shoulder? This one has been built for just that purpose. It’s chambered in 7x57mm for reduced recoil, has a 21” barrel to improve handling, a custom lengthened pistol grip, safe-semi-full trigger group, good early M1918 pattern sights, and Bren Gun trip...
-
CZ-2000 "Lada" - AK Czechnology in 5....
Development of the CZ-2000 began in the 1970s as a replacement for the vz.58 rifle. The project was named "Lada", and was essentially an improved AK-74 rifle chambered for the 5.45x39mm cartridge. The new rifle was mechanically an AK, but had a number improved features including a thumb-operated ...
