Heckler & Koch has applied to the German government for permission to sell a new civilian-legal version of the H&K G36, one that is much truer to the original than the sporterized HK SLR. In Europe the gun will be called the HK243 and in the USA it will be marketed as the HK293.

The rifle is made with parts from the G36, but the bolt and the .223-chambered barrel design are unique. The reason for this is that gun companies in Germany cannot sell “weapons of war” to civilians. This gun has been sufficiently changed that it cannot be easily converted to a military-stye fully-automatic G36.

The rifle will feature a quad rail and a STANAG magazine well that accepts standard AR-15 magazine. Four different types of stocks will be offered, a short fixed stock, a long fixed stock (hunting/SLR style?) and two types of adjustable stocks.

There will be four different model (Compact, Kurtz (Short), Sporter and Long) which vary by barrel length from 8.9″ – 18.8″. It is not clear if H&K actually plan on selling the shorter barrel (SBR) versions in the USA, or if they are just apply for approval in case they ever wish to in the future.

The compact (C) model will be classified as a handgun in Germany and so is the only version not legal for hunting.

Many thanks to our German source for the documents and to Axel for the english translation.