It wasn't so much a case of the Germans burying the G11 and then going for the G36 later, the G36 was a direct result of the Germans
not taking the G11 & G41 into service and being stuck with a 7.62mmN rifle when everyone else was going to 5.56mm.
The development of the rifle was delayed not so much because the rifle presented problems but the ammunition did. HK didn't develop the ammo, Dynamit Nobel did and the caseless design went through many iterations before they came up with a round that would not cook off, they settled on a watered down rocket propellant from what I recall.
This page from HKPro has more info
http://www.hkpro.com/index.php?optio...types&Itemid=5
While HKPro has a lot of information, they fail to mention that Mauser was also developing their own entry for the G11 rifle and caseless rounds. I think they pulled out early on because they couldn't sort out ammunition problems. Rheinmetall were also developing a non-traditional ammunition in the 9/4mm Kaltmann which saw the plastic case get ejected out of the barrel while the primer and base were consumed during the normal combustion process
Some sources claim 1000 rifles were produced but more conservative estimates place the number at just 100
It should be remembered that HK were financially screwed by the cancellation of the G11/G41 deal, leading the way for Royal Ordnance of the UK to buy the company. HK's survival depended on the G11, I can't imagine that they would put themselves into such a situation if the plans were to never adopt the G11 in the first place. Apparently in an effort to make some money HK tried selling the G41 but it was considered too expensive by most potential buyers. Getting the contract to update the L85A1 to the A2 model basically saved their arse from being broken up and sold off.
As for the AN94, the Russians did get some but budget problems caused a major cutback in purchasing. Instead of all the AK74s being replaced, the AN94 was taken into service only by certain elite units