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Title:	RIFLE, MILITARY -  GERMAN RIFLE G3 7.62MM SN# 036210
Maker/Manufacturer:	HECKLER-KOCH
Date of Manufacture:	1960
Eminent Figure:
Catalog Number:	SPAR 3650
Measurements:	OL:101.6CM 40" BL: 17.7" 9.9 lbs

Object Description:

GERMAN RIFLE G3 7.62MM SN# 036210
Manufactured by Heckler-Koch, Oberndorf, Germany in 1960 - German G3 select-fire shoulder arm. Delayed blowback operated. Has early form flip rear sight; early form front sight hood. Has metal handguard without bipod. Wood butt, checkered plastic buttplate; rubber pistol grip. 4-groove rifling; right hand twist. Muzzle velocity 2624 fps. Effective range of 600 yards. Maximum range 3500 yards. Semi-automatic rate of fire is 60 rpm; full-auto rate is 120 rpm. Cyclic rate of fire 500-600 rpm. No provision for bayonet. Weapon weighs approximately 9.9 lbs. No West German military acceptances. Perhaps a trial arm or export version. Cartridge: 7.62mm, NATO.

Markings:
Magazine housing: G3 HK 036210/8/60.
Stock: 2.
Select switch: S E F.
Magazine: G3 HK/9/60.
210 stamped in various locations on weapon.

Weapon transferred to the Museum on 5 January 1965. At that time weapon was appraised at $98.75.

Notes: During the final years of World War II, Nazi Germany successfully introduced the MP43, StG44 series of cheaply manufactured, simple assault rifles, firing the intermediate-powered 7.9mm short (Kurz) cartridge. In an effort to speed production and cut costs even further, development of various simplified operating systems continued until the end of the war. Several attempts were made to design a weapon employing a simple blowback or retarded-blowback action, in order to eliminate the number of complex parts necessary in the gas-operated, locked-breech MP43.
The most successful of these experimental weapons was a roller-locked, retarded-blowback weapon designed at Mauserwerke in Oberndorf. Designated the Gerat 06H during its development at the Mauser factory, the gun was reportedly slated for official adoption in 1945 as the Sturmgewehr 45 (M), but the war ended before it could be placed into production.
With the collapse of Germany in 1945, a group of Mauser technicians emigrated to Spain. L. Vorgrimler, a former Mauser engineer, reportedly carried the design of the StG 45 to Madrid where he joined the Centro de Estudios Tecnicos de Materiales Especiales (CETME), a Government-supported research institute, and continued the development of the weapon.
About 1950, CETME introduced a rifle with many features of the StG45 design. The Spanish rifle differed considerably from the StG45 (M) in appearance and in the type of ammunition used, but the operation system and the method of manufacture were clearly a continuation of the simplified stamped-metal weapons development begun in Germany with the introduction of the MP43 automatic carbine during World War II.
In order to use the retarded-blowback method of operation, the CETME engineers had to overcome several problems, the most serious being the violent initial extraction of the cartridge case under high chamber pressure. This resulted in extraction problems, unless special features were included in the design to overcome the extraction difficulties in two ways. The chamber was fluted to allow an equalization of gas pressure on the thin neck and shoulder of the cartridge case, and a special reduced-load ammunition was used. The special cartridge was based on the 7.9mm Mauser cartridge with the case reduced to a length 1.73 inches. The bullet was very unusual in design; it was made of aluminium exceptionally long (1.71 inches) in order to stabilize the flight of the light bullet.
In addition to these device, a heavy bolt was also used. What appears to be a gas piston above the barrel actually contains the 'bolt guide', which is a long extension on top of the bolt, extending forward into the tube to add need weight to the bolt. It also serves as a guide for the recoil spring and as an operating rod for the cocking handle.
After its development, the rifle was procured in limited numbers by the Spanish Army for test.
The first Spanish CETME, chambered for the special reduced-load cartridge, remained an interesting but obscure weapon until about 1957; then two important developments took place. The Nederlandsche Wapen den MunitiefCETME engineers successfully modified the rifle to handle fully powered ammunition and furnished the German test commission a model chambered for the 7.62mm NATO ammunition and incorporating all the latest design improvements. This model was then produced as the CETME rifle 58, caliber 7.62mm NATO.
After extensive testing, the West German armed forces adopted the CETME under the designation G3....
With the adoption and large-scale manufacture of the CETME rifle by West Germany, it placed fourth in position among the important new group of postwar military rifles, ranking it with the Russian AK, United States M14, and the FN-FAL adopted by the British Commonwealth and other nations." - George B. Johnson & Hans Bert Lockhoven
"We have noted previously that in the aftermath of World War II there was an exodus of military technicians from Germany to Spain, and a number of small arms engineers and designers were among them. They obtained employment in the Small Arms Technical Centre (CETME) and, having been involved in the development of an assault rifle in the Mauser factory, continued with that project for the benefit of the Spanish. The Mauser Sturmgewehr 45 never got beyond the prototype stage in Germany, but it had adopted a novel breech mechanism which owed something to the MG42 machine gun. This used a breech block with rollers which were swung outwards by cams into recesses in the receiver to lock the breech closed. In the Stg45 design this was slightly changed so that the rollers were not completely locked, but acted as a retarding device to delay the opening of a blowback breech.
In order to obtain the optimum performance from this new rifle the designers made a package of it, including a completely new 7.92-mm cartridge with a fairly short case and a long, lightweight bullet. This performed very well, but the Spanish were understandably reluctant to change their cartridge without a fairly long investigation - they also felt that it would be useful if they could make a slight profit out of this design, and to that end, since they had no sales organization of their own, they licensed the design to Nederland Waapen & Munitiefabrik (NWM) of Holland. NWM promptly pointed out that the unique cartridge was a sales drawback, and the designers would have to re-jig the weapon to fire a more conventional round.
In 1956 NWM interested the German Army in the new rifle, and, as NWM had forecast, they wanted it chambered for the 7.62-mm NATO cartridge. CETME provided 400 rifles and the Germans gave them a very thorough test in competition with the FN-FAL. Generally, they liked the rifle, but felt that it could do with some improvement, and passed the job to another company, Heckler & Koch of Oberndorf, Germany. Basically the problem was that CETME had designed the rifle to be cheaply manufactured without the need for precise tolerances and expensive machining, but this was allied to the original cartridge - loaded with the 7.62-mm NATO round, which was more powerful, this sort of manufacture would not do, and Heckler & Koch had to re-design the rifle to improve the tolerances and include heavier metal and more complex construction.
The result was the Gewehr 3 (or G3), which was adopted by the German Army in 1959 and is still their principal weapon. It has also been adopted by 50 or more other armies and is, of has been, made under license in 12 countries ranging from France to Myanmar. It proved particularly popular in Africa and South American, and became the standard of such major forces as the Pakistan and Turkish armies." - Ian Hogg

"There are several variant models....:
7.62mm G3 is the basic G3 design and had a flip rear sight and a wooden butt.
7.62mm G3A1. In this version the butt was retractable; and the flip sight was retained.
7.62mm G3A7.62mm G3A3. This version used the rotary rear sight, a modified foresight, and a pronged flash-hider. It is the current production model and has a plastic butt and fore-end.
7.62mm G3A3ZF is fitted with a telescopic sight, the 'ZF' standing for 'zielfernrohr' - telescope.
7.62mm G3A4 is the folding stock variant of the G3A3, using a stock which telescopes into guides along side the receiver.
7.62mm G3SG/1 is a police sniping and is a specially selected G3 fitted with a precision set trigger unit and a Schmidt & Beruder telescope sight." - Ian V. Hogg & John Weeks

"One interesting point of the H&R T223 (HK33) is that it very much resembles a slightly smaller, 3.25 inch (8.3cm) shorter version of the 7.62mm NATO G3 rifle. In one much published picture of a number of SEALs in Vietnam, one SEAL is holding a T 223 but the weapon can only be seen from its top side. Since the HK33 and G3 are almost identical when viewed from the top, the weapon was identified as a G3 rifle, which the SEALs did not use during the Vietnam War. In an earlier-generation copy of the same picture, the long, curved, forty-round magazine can be used sticking out from the bottom of the weapon." - Dockery

See, Stevens, pg. 201 ff.

References:
Dockery, Kevin. WEAPONS OF THE NAVY SEALS. Berkely Books. N.Y., N.Y. 2004.
Hogg, Ian V. THE STORY OF THE GUN. St. Martin's Press. N.Y., N.Y. 1996.
Hogg, Ian V. & John Weeks. MILITARY SMALL ARMS OF THE 20TH CENTURY. 6th Ed. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il.
Johnson, George B. & Hans Bert Lockhoven. INTERNATIONAL ARMAMENT. Vol. II. International Small Arms Publishers. Cologne, Germany. 1965.
Stevens, Blake. FULL CIRCLE: A TREATISE ON ROLLING LOCKING. Collector Grade Publications Incorporated. Cobourg, Ontario, Canada. 2006.
Musgrave, Daniel D. & Thomas B. Nelson. THE WORLD'S ASSAULT RIFLES & AUTOMATIC CARBINES. Vol. II. T.B.N. Enterprises. Alexandria, Va. 1967.
Walter, John. RIFLES OF THE WORLD. DBI Books, Inc. Northbrook, Il. 1993.