#G3

Someone somewhere posted these old price lists from Heckler & Koch. They are dated from 1985, 1991 and 1992 and includes some of the HK firearms on sale back then.

The Cold War is famous as the squaring off of two superpowers: The United States, and the Soviet Union, and their duel-by-proxy in Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. The standard rifles of each side, as well, became proxies: On the Soviet side, the famous AK-47 (more properly AK and AKM), and on the US side the M14, FAL, and later the M16. As early as the late 1950s, however, the AK’s success led to it being copied by NATO member nations, and perhaps the very first of these was the Madsen LAR.

Portugal are about to embark on a major new small arms procurement programme. Jane’s reports that Request for Proposals for new infantry weapons will be issued soon.

The roller-locked* Heckler & Koch G3 rifles and MP5 submachine guns have become iconic weapons of the Cold War era, being used in conflicts everywhere from civil wars in Africa, to hostage rescues and counter terror operations in Europe, to anti-cartel operations in South America. The operating system of these rifles is as unique as they are, and dates back to the death throes of the Nazi regime at the end of World War II. Desperate to save their failing state, the Nazis tasked engineers with developing new weapons, and the engineers were all to happy to oblige, lest they too be handed an old rifle and sent to the front!

The title of this review should actually read: The PTR Industries K3P R PDW – How The U.S. Government Forced Me To Buy A Battle Rifle. Ok, forced is a probably too strong of a word. But you see, I’ve been waiting for a transfer approval from the ATF National Firearms Division for a 9mm MP5SD for over a year and a half (Form 3 and Form 4 approvals). And since I had no roller delayed action guns to satisfy my HK craving, I went in search for the near opposite kin to the SD – a short barreled .308 battle rifle. My journey ended with the PTR Industries K3P pistol.

Alton C. is a guest writer for TFB and has contributed a number of articles in the past.

I have no idea what’s going on in this image – for all I know the Portuguese Air Force is trolling the entire world. Originally posted on the PAF Facebook page in early August, I came across it on TFB reader ‘Southwood’s’ (@southwood_) Twitter feed. The picture obviously depicts a line of PAF enlisted staff possibly getting ready for inspection. While the men (senior airmen) are carrying G3 battle rifles, the woman (Technical Seargeant) is carrying a MAC-10 sub machine gun.

With the increased popularity of the Heckler & Koch SP5K and other HK-patterned roller delayed firearms, I thought it might be a good idea to demystify some of the basic mechanics and maintenance that new owners might face from time to time. So when my new faux four position trigger group for an update to my PTR Industries K3P PDW (G3K) showed up with a 9mm ejector and 9mm hammer spring, I decided to learn about HK trigger groups in a “gunsmithing for dummies” kind of way.

This is a guest post by Zain from Pakistan

NATO member and ally the Republic of Estonia has released a tender with up to €75 million (roughly $86 million USD) for nearly 20,000 new rifles in both the 5.56mm and 7.62mm calibers, according to reports from IHS Janes’ and other outlets. The new contract is intended to supply both brigades of the Estonian Land Forces with new weapons, replacing their aging Ak4 (license-built Swedish G3s) and Galil rifles.

We have here at TFB given occasional news of different guns being seized by local authorities in Brazil. Weapons of all kinds have fallen into the hands of police agencies on a nationwide basis, but the concentration of such events in the Rio de Janeiro area is certainly evident, as shown by the recent record of 200 rifles seized from criminals by PMERJ – Polícia Militar do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Military Police) in the January to June 1, 2017 period, 72 of them in May alone. Last year, the total reached the 328-guns mark. However, what actually triggered this article happened just now: on June 1,  60 rifles, (45 7.62x39mm AK types, 14 7.62x51mm Smith & Wesson M&P 10s and a solitary 7.62x51mm G3, plus magazines for everybody), were found at Rio’s International Airport hidden in a shipment of swimming pool heaters (!) coming from Miami, Florida. Part of the intercepted shipment is shown in the featured image above shortly after being found.

Thanks to a recent leak exclusively to The Firearm Blog, we have now become aware of a new tender for rifles issued by the Pakistani government. According to the tender document, the Pakistani Army is looking for 75,000 “modern 7.62x39mm caliber weapons”, presumably as part of the program to replace their aging fleet of G3 and Type 56 assault rifles. The specifications for the tender are given below:

Quick: What’s the definition of “assault rifle”? I’ll give you a moment to think about it.

Last year TFB reported about the MPT-76 rifle with some unique pictures from the MKE stand at IWA.

TFB’s Pete recently wrote about the European Sniper Competition, hosted by the U.S. Army in Germany.