Heckler & Koch G36: Sturmgewehr for the New Millenium

The H&K G36 design originally came to the drawing board after the demise of the G11 project. The revolutionary G11, using caseless ammunition, was doomed by the end of the cold war and politics interior to Germany. The G11 pioneered the use of a polymer frame in a rifle configuration and was the basis of many of the advancements that came to fruition in the G36. While the caseless ammunition proved too problematic to carry on to another rifle system, many of the G11 design cues can be seen in the G36. The integrated carrying handle with optics, translucent magazines, and ambidextrous controls that were originally found on the G11 have also found their way into the G36.

The first finished rifles for testing came out of the H&K factory in the early 90's and the German Bundeswehr (Federal Defense Force) adopted them in 1996. It has since been adopted by the Spanish, the Finns and various special forces of the US. Endurace tests in excess of 100,000 rounds have been completed with less than 1% failure rate. An early issue was high barrel temps during extended firing damaging the polymer receiver, and several small design changes to the reciever itself solved this.

The modular construction of the G36 allows it to be set up into any configuration the user needs from a compact, folding stock assault carbine to a bipod stabilized, drum magazine fed Light Machine Gun. With just the replacement of the barrel and the poly stock and forend to a shorter or longer part, the user can tailor the rilfe to the needs of the situation. The receiver with its attached carrying handle and optical sight is the base of the weapon. The user can select any of the following options:

Folding or solid stock
Barrel length of 9" for the carbine, 12.5" for the assault rifle and 18.9" for the LMG
3x or 1.5x optical sight with iron sights for backup
30 round box magazine or 100 round Beta-C drum magazine (magazines are of a proprietary design)
Carbine, Rifle or LMG front handguards

The operating system of the G36 is similar to the AR-180B in its short-stroke, gas piston design. This allows maximum reliability with minimal maintenance. It uses a Stoner type rotating bolt but eliminates the direct gas impingement in favor of the gas piston system. All controls are fully ambidextrous and the cocking handle can be toggled to either side.

Of note is the 3x optical sight that is standard on the rifle and LMG models. It is an illuminated reticle, fully adjustable tube type sight with range markers for 200, 400, 600 and 800 meters. It also has a range estimation marker built in that uses the height of a person as a reference for distance. The assault carbine model has a 1.5x red dot sight as standard.

The G36 was also the basis of the aborted XM-8 military rifle design. After the failure of the XM29/OICW program to produce a suitable cantidate for the replacement of the M16, the kinetic energy weapon prototype was redesigned as a stand alone rifle system capable of the same modular adaptability as the G36. It was tested heavily by the Army and Marine Corps but failed due to the lack of improved kill viability over the M16 and the lack of magazine interchangeability. There was also reports of a catastrophic reciever failure during testing.

A semi-auto sporting rifle based on the G36 was imported into the US as the SL-8. Original importation started in 1999 but was cancelled in 2002 due to poor sales and problems with the now-defunct assault weapons ban. Its unconventional appearance and high price tag (over $1600 base price and as high as $2000 for delux models) hamstringed its sales. Another factor was the magazine was limited to 10 rounds and did not interchange with the G36. In a market saturated with $1200 AR clones, the SL-8 had little chance of success. Copies can be located on various internet auction sites but prices have skyrocketed since the end of importation.

With the failure of the XM-8 program, and the delay in the final development and testing of the FN SCAR rifle, it is possible we could see the G36 replacing the M16/M4 family in the hands of special forces troops as an interim solution.

Overall the G36 is a well designed, dependable firearm needing minimal maintenance. While it had its share of teething problems during development, it had come out as a leader in the 21st century world of small arms.