When stationed in Germany (90-93) I found it curious how the German Soldiers thought our M-16's were so interesting. The Germans at the time were using the G3 and the G11 was in testing. Where I got to see some of the G11's cool features; such as it's cook off problem. Well for many years I heard HK reps and even some German soldiers discuss how grand it was to have a blow back action and how gas operated rifles were inferior.

Flash forward HK comes out with the G36. It has a carrying handle, has a Stoner designed gas system and in alot ways in modeled after an M4.
Magazines such as the Rifleman (NRA), and Tactical Shooter do articles on the rifle; and they make it out to be the 2nd coming. With testing stats of 2 to 4 MOA I find this funny so I write the editors of the magazine to ask why they bent over backwards for a rifle that tested more like Mini-14. The response was very close to "We sell magazines not guns" or I didn't write the article. I have to say HK makes fine firearms. Maybe the Rolls Royce of weapons. But one a Vette will run circles around Rolls Royce, and two I think there is a little too much hype with this firearm. What do you think?

I think that they look SEXY!!!!!


I am not that much of a gun snob...for me any method that sends some lead downrange is a good thing....whatever turns you on!!!

I have an AR, AK,FN, SKS and many others and I love them all equally!!!

[img]http://www.hkpro.com/image/bolt.jpg[/img]
[b]G36 Bolt and Carrier.   This picture above might as well have been pulled from a rifle that has had 5000 rounds shot.  This is what the bolt carrier will look like.  The gun just does not get dirty.  A huge attraction for even die hard M16 fans, whose greatest design flaw is that the gas used to operate the rifle is vented directly back into the receiver and to the working parts.  Not so with the G36.  The forearm is where the gas is vented.[/b]

[url]www.hkpro.com[/url]

The G36 is a superior military weapon to the M16, thanks in part to its use of the AR-18 Stoner gas operating system. Keep in mind though, that this is designed as a short range (300 meters and less) assault rifle. The big selling point of this rifle to the German Army was it's ability to withstand torturouse field conditions and still operate, much like an AK-47. Thus, the tolerances on these guns have to be low to ensure maximum reliability, which results in low accuracy as a by-product.

NODDAH is right though in criticizing their hype about this alledgedly "revolutionary" rifle. Eventhough it uses polymers, there is one particular rifle that did a long time ago: Steyr Aug. It is also a lot more accurate than the G36, which I know from people who own the gun.

I'm sure if HK wanted to, they could tighten the tolerances of the G36 to get 1-MOA accuracy like you can get with a match grade AR-15. The SL-8 target rifle (the US civilian version of the G36) is supposed to do this, but it only achieves 1-1.5 MOA. Some more fine tuning is probably needed. A stainless steel bull barrel would probably help out a lot, combined with an improved trigger group.