G3A3: Last Battle Rifle On Earth

[Brother in Arms]

As much as I love a good rack grade M14....or a sloppily camouflaged Rhodesian FAL....It's impossible to ignore the rugged workman like nature of the G3A3 rifle.

While it's considered almost plebeian today found in the hands of 3rd world fighters. In late 1950's when it appeared it was pretty much the pinnacle of battle rifle technology (AR-10 aside perhaps).

Originally produced by both Rheinmetal and H&K (later only H&K) it was based on the CETME rifle. Produced in the powerful 7.62X51mm cartridge. Designed to be highly mass produced from precision sheet metal stampings. And using the unique roller delayed blow back system it was distinctly different from any of it's competitors who used rotating and tilting bolts respectively. It's competitors were made from heavy milled forgings and were typically longer as it sported a modern 18" barrel. Early models sported wood furniture later they were seen with polymer only. It was capable of mounting a quick detachable scope and could also mount a bayonet and fire rifle grenades. Magazines were originally steel later aluminum construction to save weight.

The rifle proved to be almost as unstoppable as the AKM. It's ergonomics are a little weird with the charging handle being very far forward. A hard to operate selector lever. And sights that are large (both aperture and front site) It proved to be highly accurate as well.

I think the G3 will soldier on until the days of fixed center fire cartridges are over.

Brother in Arms

[kalos72]

G3 is stamped?

I always like the 7.62 round versus the 5.56...maybe this is a solid option for a postwar weapon replacement?

I liked the AR-18 concept but hated it in 5.56...

LOVE the rifle though...still want one myself.

[waiting4something]

Out of the "big three" 7.62x51 NATO battle rifles. I would pick the G3 last. It's solid enough, but has some short comings the other two don't. You mentioned two of them with the charging handle placement and the selector switch. The other negative is the dead man's click. It also seems to have the worst or most felt recoil of the three. A lot of the G3's out there had those slim forends too. I never shot with a slim one, but they look like they would get hot fast.

I think it is cool Cold War rifle though. I just never understood why HK-91's where so highly praised back in the 1980's and 90's.

[Brother in Arms]

Kalos:

the G3 has a unique sheet metal receiver that is electronically welded together. It doesn't have rivets like an AK.

I also am a fan of 7.62x51mm. I don't hate 5.56 however. It serves a purpose, I just thing 7.62x51mm can serve more purposes.

AR-18 is a interesting firearm, too bad it never caught on because the US government had already spent so much money on the AR-15/M16 system.....Stoner also designed a prototype 7.62 version of the AR-18 called the AR-16 but it was never put into production.

Waiting for something:

The lack of a bolt hold open can definitely be an issue. Or it can be one less part to go wrong. The AK seems to keep soldiering on without one. But they are nice feature to have. Especially if you are used to weapons that have the feature using one without it can be annoying.

As far as felt recoil. I have fired the M14, FAL, and G3 together the FAL defiantly has the least. The M14 has more muzzle climb than all the others. And the G3 seems to have a lot of muzzle blast and definitely has some kick.

The Skinny forend is my favorite as far as appearance goes. In some of the very early guns it was made of metal! Then wood and then polymer. The thicker "tropical" forend is now a bit more common. I haven't noticed the thin hand guard super hot but I'm sure it would on full auto. Another reason they went with the thick forend was so that the bi pod could be used.

[.45cultist]

I think of weapons and ammo as socket sets, different ratchets(5.56 is 3/8, 7.62 is 1/2, .50 is a breaker bar)with a lot of sockets.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by waiting4something

Out of the "big three" 7.62x51 NATO battle rifles. I would pick the G3 last. It's solid enough, but has some short comings the other two don't. You mentioned two of them with the charging handle placement and the selector switch. The other negative is the dead man's click. It also seems to have the worst or most felt recoil of the three. A lot of the G3's out there had those slim forends too. I never shot with a slim one, but they look like they would get hot fast.

I think it is cool Cold War rifle though. I just never understood why HK-91's where so highly praised back in the 1980's and 90's.

I've owned all three of the big three as well, with the M14 being the Squad Auto version with the pistol grip and drop fore grip (And man is that thing controllable at full auto - miss having a Class Three dealer license). Love the M14, but I preferred the G3 over it and the FAL. FAL is nice, don't get me wrong - I'll take it over a stock M14. But the mags: they flat out suck. Look at it hard, you got a bent lip, and then you got the whole metric/imperial thing.

Now that said, again, if I didn't live in a communist country, err... my bad, Maryland (Which recently banned so many firearms its amazing: one of the categories is labeled: Anything made by Springfield Armoury) I would love to pick up a DSA OSW, and base it off of a registered receiver. Be a lot of fun to shoot.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by kalos72

G3 is stamped?

I always like the 7.62 round versus the 5.56...maybe this is a solid option for a postwar weapon replacement?

I liked the AR-18 concept but hated it in 5.56...

LOVE the rifle though...still want one myself.

You need an AR-16 -- same thing in 7.62mm NATO. They're scarce as hen's teeth though, and you could probably buy a fully-equipped Cadillac Escalade for the price of an AR-16, if you found for sale.

[Schone23666]

Weren't they finding G3's in armories and weapons caches in Iraq? I'm guessing at least some of them were captured from the Iranians during the Iran/Iraq War?

Then again, I heard they found all sorts of "antique" firearms in weapon caches around there....Lee-Enfield rifles, MP-40 submachine guns, MG-42 machine guns, the occasional flintlock pistol(!) etc.

[Brother in Arms]

No dice on the AR-16, since only 3 were known to exist and Reed Knight only has pictures of 2 out of 3 of them!!!! (his collection has some of the Rarest Ar's ever made and many were personally owned by Eugene Stoner)

Sadam had alot of G3's I am guessing most were Iranian, but Turkey also made them under licence so he may have had some from there as well. Also Portugal,Pakistan,Norway, Sweden,Luxembourg,Denmark,UK produces these rifles.

Edited to add: Also France, Mexico and Myanmar(burma) Saudi Arabia, Thailand may still be producing these rifles.

So they are literally found all over the world. Also they seemed to have replaced the once ubiquitous FAL platform in most places around the globe.

Brother in Arms

[Sith]

The primary reason why the G3 is more prevalent than the FN FAL is that HK licensed production in more countries than FN did. While the FAL was used by more countries, they chose to sell them the rifles vice allowing them to set up a factory. Hence, more G3 factories are still churning out rifles. Logistic, logistics, logistics.

It's too bad too, in my opinion, as I like the FAL better. I've fired Bundeswehr issue G3s (as if they were really any different from other G3s) and I've got to say that, while its a good rifle, the ergonomics and stout recoil are real negatives. Plus, if you weren't careful that thing would give you a black eye, I saw a couple of guys come off the range with nice shiners.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by Schone23666

Then again, I heard they found all sorts of "antique" firearms in weapon caches around there....Lee-Enfield rifles, MP-40 submachine guns, MG-42 machine guns, the occasional flintlock pistol(!) etc.

And the MP44. We have several members of this forum who saw them in Iraq, and one member (Panther Al IIRC) who actually went out on patrols armed with a captured MP44.

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Targan

And the MP44. We have several members of this forum who saw them in Iraq, and one member (Panther Al IIRC) who actually went out on patrols armed with a captured MP44.

Yep. Three patrols, until higher pitched a fit when someone saw my crew walking patrol with a pair of MP44's, a 40, and an Iranian MG3 - and no helmet covers. I was told just because I was born in Germany didn't mean I was in the German Army.

Gotta love the Cav: only place in the line army where you can get away with stunts like that - and even then, only because we only had enough long arms for half our men.