H&K G3
From Gunpedia
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The G3 is a German battle rifle designed by Heckler & Koch. It is based upon the design of the CETME mod.A. It is one of the better known German rifles, being used by many other countries.
During the 1950's, West Germany was faced with the delemna of rearming for the new 7.62x51mm NATO caliber small arms. Initially, the Bundeswehr (German Army) tried to buy manufacturing rights for the FN FAL, but Belgium rejected the proposition. So the Bundeswehr bought manufacturing of the CETME mod.A, transferred the design to Heckler & Koch, and the G3 was born.
The G3 rifle is a selective fire, magazine fed rifle, built using delayed blowback action, developed by German engineers at Mauser Werke late in the 2nd World War and refined in Spain, at the CETME company. Initial models of the G3 rifle were quite similar to CETME rifles, and even had "CETME" markings on the receivers (until 1961 or so). It is built around Vorgrimlers' roller delayed blowback system. This system employs a two parts bolt with two rollers. The front bolt part (bolt head) is relatively light and has a bolt face with extractor on it. It also has a hollow cavity at the rear, in which an inclined forward end of the rear part of the bolt (bolt body) is inserted. The system features two rollers, inserted from the sides into the bolt head and rested on the inclined forward end of the bolt body (see this diagram; it will pop up in the new window). When gun is fired, the pressure began to move the cartridge back against the bolt face. The rollers, which are extended into the recesses in the barrel extension, began to move inward into the bolt head, due to inclined shape of the recesses. This movement translates into the faster rearward movement of the heavier bolt body, so, at the initial moments of shot, when pressure in the chamber is still high, bolt face moves relatively slow. When pressure drops to a reasonable level, rollers disengage the barrel extension completely and from this moment on the bolt head and the bolt body move backward at the same speed, extracting and ejecting spent case and chambering a fresh cartridge on the way back. The G3 is built using as many stamped parts as possible. The receiver is stamped from sheet steel. The trigger unit housing along with pistol handle frame, also are stamped from steel and hinged to the receiver using the cross-pin in the front of the trigger unit, just behind the magazine housing. Earliest G3 rifles also featured stamped handguards and CETME-type flip-up rear diopter sights. In the mid-1960s the initial design was upgraded to the G3A3 and G3A4 configurations. These rifles had ventilated plastic handguards and a drum-type rear diopter sights, marked from 100 to 400 meters. The G3A3 was a fixed butt version, with buttstock made from plastic, and the G3A4 was a telescope butt version, with retractable metallic buttstock with rubber buttplate. Late German production G3A3 and G3A4 models were built using new trigger units, integral with restyled pistol grip and triggerguard, made from plastic. The shortest version of the G3 was the G3KA4, similar to G3A4 but with shortened barrel. Every G3 rifle can be equipped with detachable bipods, claw-type detachable scope mounts. Long-barreled versions can be fitted with bayonet or used to launch rifle grenades from the barrel. Folding cocking handle is located on the special tube above the barrel, at the left side, and does not reciprocate when gun is fired. The safety / fire selector is located above the triggerguard on the left side of the trigger group housing and usually is marked "S - E - F" (Safe - Single shots - Full auto). Latest models could have selectors marked with colored icons.
A funny fact is that the american soldiers in NATO exercises like "cold respons" have nicknamed the Norwegian AG3 as "The Norwegian Handcannon"
[edit] See Also
- H&K G3A1
- H&K G3A2
- H&K G3A3
- H&K G3A3A1
- H&K G3A4
- H&K G3A4A1
- H&K G3KA4
- H&K G3KA4A1
- H&K G3A5
- H&K G3A6
- H&K G3A7
- H&K G3A7A1
- H&K HK33
- H&K HK41
- H&K HK51
- H&K HK91
- H&K MP5
- FN FAL
- CETMA mod.A
- SIG SG510
- GRAM 63
- FM 1957
- Enfield EM2
- USR M14
- H&K HK21
- H&K HK23
- H&K PSG-1
