Today’s photo of the day is a Heckler & Koch HK33 field stripped. Introduced in the late 1960s, the HK33 was Heckler & Koch’s response to the emergence of the new 5.56x45mm round and FN’s introduction of the FN CAL. The HK33 was essentially a scaled-down G3. While the HK33 wasn’t adopted by West Germany it proved a popular export rifle and remained into production into the 1980s. The Heckler & Koch HK43 and later HK93 were imported to the US but this example is a full-auto military T&E rifle.

The HK33 was replaced by the less successful and now extremely rare HK G41, here’s a photo comparing the bolts of the G41 with the earlier HK33’s. The bolt carrier profile has been changed and the long single coil recoil spring of the HK33 has been replaced by a multi-strand spring. The HK G41’s bolt also has a series of serrations for the G41’s new forward assist.

Bolt assemblies from the Heckler & Koch HK G41 & the HK33 compared (Matthew Moss)

I recently got to handle and strip both a G41 and the HK33 and put a short video about the HK33 together.