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Heckler & Koch G3

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The G3 (Gewehr 3) is a family of select fire battle rifles manufactured by Heckler & Koch. It was adopted as the standard service rifle by the Bundeswehr in 1959, as well as several other countries to varying degrees. The G3 is chambered for the 7.62 × 51 mm NATO cartridge.

Contents

History

The G3 was the standard infantry weapon of the German Bundeswehr until 1997, and is still being used by several armed forces around the world. The G3 is typical of its day: a rifle chambered in 7.62 x 51 mm NATO, capable of semi-automatic or fully-automatic fire and using a detachable magazine, like the FN FAL or the M14. It is equipped with a flash suppressor and can mount a bayonet. It was developed by former Mauser engineers, after having spent some time in Spain working for the arms developers there. These people helped build the CETME rifle and took it back to Germany. Indeed, for a time the first G3s had "CETME" stamped on the side; the design had some modifications primarily to the bolt group and trigger pack. Early G3s, like the CETME, had wooden stock and handguard.

The G3 uses a firing mechanism that was developed from a roller-locking system patented by Edward Stecke of Poland during the 1930s; this was used in the MG-42. Near the end of the war Mauser was working on the StG.45(M), which did not make it past the prototype stage but used a development of the roller-locking system, known as a "Delayed Roller Locking" system. This roller-delayed blowback was further developed in Spain, which was looking for a new rifle. The CETME prototypes were complete by the early 1950s, and standardized on the then new NATO 7.62 mm round. This was adopted as the CETME by Spain in 1954, and with some differences, as the G3 by West Germany in 1959. The West German government bought a licence for manufacture of it and transferred it to HK, though they (HK), and former Mauser engineers had been integral to its development in Spain.

G3 stands for Gewehr 3, the German for "Rifle, 3". The G3 was adopted in 1958 as a replacement for the Bundeswehr's G1, a modified version of the Belgian FN FAL, which had been used since 1956, the year after West Germany had been accepted to NATO. [link] The G3 was therefore the first indigenously-produced infantry rifle of the new West German army.

Service history

The G3 and its variants have been used by a wide variety of countries armed forces, as well as by police forces over its lifetime. As a result it has seen use in a number of conflicts during the late 20th century. Its first known combat use was during the Vietnam War in the hands of the U.S. Navy SEALs during the 1960s and early 1970s and by the Portuguese Army during the Portuguese Colonial War in the same time frame. According to Kevin Dockery however, the Harrington & Richardson T223 (the American designation for the Heckler & Koch HK33E assault rifle) was mistaken for a G3, and the G3 was not used in Vietnam. It is not clear if other sources are making the same mistake, or if they have more solid evidence of use. Either way, versions of the G3 were used later.

G3 also saw action with the West German police during the tragic Munich Massacre in 1972, in a failed attempt to rescue the Israeli athletes held hostage by the Black September group. Police officers untrained with battle/assault rifles, let alone dealing with terrorists, failed when using the G3 as precision sniping weapons, despite sniper scopes. The tragedy prompted development of the PSG-1 sniper rifle (derived heavily from the G3), as well as the specially trained GSG 9 police unit.

The sniper version, the G3 SG/1, saw a notable use in 1983 during Operation Urgent Fury, otherwise known as the Invasion of Grenada. A SEAL team was sent in to secure the Government House, where it was believed Governor Paul Scoon was held. The team was dropped in by helos and resistance was nil; Scoon was indeed there and the house was secured and perimeter set up. Among the positions, a SEAL sniper set up upstairs with his G3SG1. The PRA soldiers soon began their counterattack however, which consisted of a BTR-60 and a number of soldiers attacking throughout the east gate. The SEAL sniper single-handedly sniped 21 PRA soldiers during the attack. This along with fire from other SEALs resulted in the PRA pulling back for a time, and a longer range firefight ensued. The standoff was eventually solved later on in the day with more forces; an AC-130 gunship eventually destroyed the APC and scattered the remaining troops in the attack.

The G3 would again see some use during the Gulf War.

Construction details

Disassembled G3A3
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Disassembled G3A3

Close-up of G3's rear sight
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Close-up of G3's rear sight

The G3 is of modular construction, based around a stamped steel receiver, a pressed in barrel, and a detachable 'trigger group' which encompasses the handgrip, trigger, and fire selector mechanism. One advantage enjoyed by G3 over its primary competitor FN FAL was widespread use of stamped parts, which made the rifle quicker and cheaper to produce. The selector switch is typically referred to by the acronym "SEF", which refers to the most common fire settings. The top setting stands for Sicher, which is German for "safe". The middle setting Einzelfeuer (Ine-tsell-foyer) means "single shot" and makes the rifle semi-automatic. The bottom setting Feuerstoß (pronounced foyer-shtoss) means "burst shot/full-auto". The modular trigger group allows for several different fire combinations; some G3 export versions include only safe and semi-automatic modes, and some use dot symbols or iconic/pictogram representations of bullets instead, i.e. one dot (".") for single shot and three dots ("...") for burst mode.

In the roller-delayed blowback system, the bolt is not locked into the receiver in the normal static manner. The bolt-head has small rollers on each side of the bolt head that fit into recesses in the receiver. The bolt-head protrudes slightly from the rest of the bolt, being pushed backward when a cartridge is chambered, locking the rollers into their recesses. When a round is fired the intense pressure of 50,000 lbf/in² (300 MPa) must first overcome the rollers before the bolt pushes backward against the recoil spring. After the bolt has been stopped by a much harder spring buffer at the end of its travel, the recoil spring then pushes it back forward while stripping another round from the magazine.

The G3's folding charging handle is mounted on the left side of the weapon, in line with the forward handgrip. This is in contrast to the majority of competing designs, which mount the charging handle directly on the receiver. Some criticize this design decision as making it awkward to manipulate, particularly while prone. However, many found the arrangement quite intuitive in actual use: the left hand would be on the foreguard just below it to support the gun during firing. When a reload is required, the hand can naturally fold the handle out and pull it back, then lock the handle in the rear position and continue moving to the magazine release. After inserting a new magazine into the rifle, the hand slaps the charging handle out of the locking slot while returning to the foreguard to support the rifle as before. Unlocking the handle lets the recoil spring move the bolt and handle forward and chambers a fresh round. The charging handle will automatically catch and fold in along the barrel when it reaches its fully forward position.

The action requires that the rifleman allow the bolt carrier to fly forward with full power, or the rollers will not lock and the bolt will not fully close. Some versions including the Norwegian AG-3 and the Swedish Ak 4 feature a rarely used "forward assist" function; the bolt carrier has a machined thumb groove just inside the ejector port which enables the rifleman to ease the charging handle forward silently, then manually force the bolt to fully close (locking the rollers) by pushing it forward with his thumb through the port.

Another contrast to some of the G3's contemporaries, most notably the Armalite AR-15, is the lack of a bolt hold-open device. This would catch the bolt in the rear position after the final round from a magazine has been fired, to signal the rifleman that he has expended his ammunition and automatically charge the rifle for reloading. Not using such a device allowed the G3 design to contain fewer moving parts and may make it more reliable. To signal when a magazine is near empty, the final rounds can instead be loaded with tracer rounds.

The magazines are made of steel or aluminum, the latter being more popular on account of relatively light weight and durability. The metal edges at the top of the steel magazine could easily be damaged if dropped. If the magazine was later reused this could jam the feed mechanism, therefore the magazines had to be handled with some care. In the 90's the US manufacturer Thermold made glass-filled polymer magazines for the G3. In military service the G3's magazine was typically of twenty-round capacity, though smaller and larger magazines are available on the civilian market. The magazine release is a flap immediately behind the magazine, which is pushed towards the magazine to free it.

Initial stripping of the weapon is achieved by pushing two small pins from the buttstock, removing the buttstock, folding the rear of the trigger pack down (it could be removed completely by pushing out another pin holding it in place), and pulling back the charging handle to push the bolt out of the rifle.

Variants of the G3

Small arms captured in Fallujah, Iraq by the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004. The second gun from the left is a G3A4.
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Small arms captured in Fallujah, Iraq by the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004. The second gun from the left is a G3A4.

The G3 has served as the basis for a wide variety of other H&K firearms, including firearms in different calibers and various sniper rifles.  The first G3s (from CETME in Spain) had a steel forearm with large perforations, and a "paddle wheel" sight. The "paddle wheel" consisted of one v notch set for 100 meters and aperture sights set for 200, 300, and 400 meters. The use of the 100 meter notch was discouraged with the 200 meter aperture being favored for both 100 and 200 meters. The 100 meter sight was relegated to volley fire and extreme close ranges.




The Heckler & Koch 33 is another related firearm, and is essentially a G3 scaled down to 5.56 mm NATO. In addition to the G3SG/1, the MSG90, PSG-1, MSG3, and HK33SG/1 are other sniper rifles derived from the G3 to varying degree's. 



G3

Original model based on CETME Model B.



G3A1

G3 with single position collapsible stock.



G3A2

G3 with new 'rotating drum' rear sight. The range settings remained the same, but the rear sight was more secure.



G3A3




G3A3

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G3A3






The most well known version. Drum sights, a fixed plastic buttstock, and a plastic handguard. The handguard came in a slim, ventilated version and a wide version. The latter allows for attachment of a bipod. This rifle could also be issued with a scope with the nomenclature G3A3ZF. The ZF stands for 'Zielfernrohr' or "Telescope." The G3A5 was Heckler & Koch's nomenclature for G3A3s manufactured for Denmark, the G3A6 was for those manufactured in Iran, and the G3A7 was the designation for G3A3 and G3A4s made under license in Turkey.



G3A4

The G3A4 uses drum sights and a single position collapsible stock. This rifle could also be issued with a scope with the nomenclature G3A3(A4)ZF. The ZF stands for 'Zielfernrohr' or "Telescope." The G3A7 was the designation for G3A4s made under license in Turkey.



G3-TGS

This is simply a G3 with a 40mm HK79 grenade launcher attached. Internally, H&K refers to this setup as the "Tactical Group System".



G3SG/1

This is the accurised variant of the G3 designed for sniping. The "SG" stands for "Scharfschützengewehr" or sharp shooting rifle. The rifles were picked from the production line for their mechanical accuracy and then modified. A 6x Hensoldt scope was added using the H&K  mount attached to the receiver. In addition a special set trigger group was added, which enabled the trigger to be set in semi-automatic mode. This allowed a crisp pull of 1 lb. In addition, automatic fire was retained.



G3KA4




G3KA4

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G3KA4






Smallest of the line. It uses drum sights, a retractable stock, and a 12.4 inch (314.96 mm) barrel. Contrary to popular belief the HK51 is not made by H&K, being a creation of the American Class II manufacturers. The HK51 has no real standards but is usually a cut down and modified G3A3 or its semi-automatic clone, the HK91. Usually fitted with a retractable stock, it is a tiny 23.17/30.72 (stock closed and retracted) inches with a 8.31 inch barrel.



41

The H&K 41 is a semi-automatic version of the G3, that was marketed to law-enforcement and civilians (the prefix number 4 in H&K's two-digit number system technically stands for "para-miliary rifle").  It differs only from the G3 in its trigger group, and because of the modularity of trigger packs can easily be converted to a full-automatic weapon by swapping out a minimum of parts.  Limited sales at home and US import restrictions and firearms regulations led this weapon to be dropped from H&K's product line quickly and it was supplanted by the 91.



91

The H&K 91 is a semi-automatic version of the G3 similar to the H&K 41, also marketed to civilians. However, in order to comply with US firearm regulations a number of modifications to the 91 were made that do not appear on the 41. The internal parts required for fully automatic fire were removed. A shelf was welded onto the receiver where the push-pin of the trigger pack would normally go, to prevent installation of a fully automatic trigger pack. This precluded the use of the paddle style magazine release. A button on the right side of the magazine well is used instead. This was considered awkward by many owners. It is otherwise identical to the G3A3/A4. Importation into the United States began in 1974 and ceased in 1989, with some 48,000 rifles being imported.



Advantages and disadvantages

The G3 is a reliable weapon system, accurate, and easy to maintain. Some frequent complaints are that it is not very ergonomic and detail strip is odd or complex (although it can be performed completely without tools in typical HK fashion). 


It is a heavy rifle, weighing over four kg (9 lbs) without a magazine. On the balance, this is a complaint that can be levied against many large-caliber weapons. It also has another failing shared with other rifles of its caliber: Although the G3 is capable of fully automatic fire, in practice this is not extremely useful, as the recoil generated by the 7.62 NATO cartridge makes fully automatic operation impractical at ranges beyond 30 meters.


Recreational users find that the roller-locking system's extraction cycle is particularly hard on the cartridge case making recycling of cases problematic. Even military operators have noticed this problem as plastic-cased blank training ammunition was developed to reduce training costs.



Additional details



Operators



Former



Current

NATO:

Non-NATO:


See also



External links



Video Links



Manual





















 




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