Pick one…

annnnd then, complain in the comments about not having it‍♀️

PC: @HKshooting pic.twitter.com/8rbs0tUre9

— Heckler & Koch (@HecklerAndKoch) June 27, 2022

H&K can go pound sand.  I don’t want any of their products.

American Rifleman:

Heckler & Koch (H&K) is gearing up to deliver between 5,000 and 6,000 complete rifle weapon systems to the U.S. Amy, which plans to deploy them as M110A1 Squad Designated Marksman Rifles (SDMR). The rifle will be a variant of the 7.62×51 mm NATO G28/HK417, and will be manufactured by H&K in Oberndorf, Germany, before arriving at the H&K-U.S.A. facility in Columbus, Ga., in early 2020. There, scopes and mounts purchased under a separate agreement will be installed, as well as accessories from 12 other U.S.-based manufacturers. H&K will additionally provide spare parts, support and training.

Because presumably there aren’t any manufacturers in American that know anything about building firearms.

Financial survival, that is.  But for a company, is there any other?

Whatever.  I don’t do H&K myself.  Too pricey, not good enough.  I suspect they’re much like Colt was years ago, where they had relied way too much on military contracts and listened to the gun-buying public way too little.  Colt relied on the contract for M16s / M4s, and by that time had fired all of their wheel gun mechanics.  They completely missed the resurgence in interest in revolvers.

If you want to see any current evidence for the drop in quality control at H&K, watch Tim’s most recent video of his “new” HK USC .45 Carbine.  Pitiful.  Just pitiful.  Broken front sight, magazines that don’t work, FTF.  Just pitiful.

Business Insider:

Looking almost like an oversized pistol, the Heckler & Koch MP7 is a cross between a submachine gun and a carbine that serves around the world in the hands of law enforcement and special operations units.

In the late 1980s, NATO developed requirements for a next-generation personal defense weapon that would be more effective against body armor than current pistol-caliber PDWs.

While submachine guns based on the .45 ACP or 9mm deliver plenty of stopping power against unarmored targets, the growing availability of capable and affordable body armor meant that something new was needed.

So German gunmaker Heckler & Koch developed the MP7 to meet these NATO requirements and it has served across the world since entering full production in 2001.

Some of the most commonly-spotted submachine guns in the hands of law enforcement and other professionals are the MP5 and its successor, the UMP. These guns typify the classic submachine gun, being automatic weapons chambered for pistol cartridges.

The MP7, however, is chambered for the 4.6x30mm cartridge. The steel core 4.6x30mm was developed specifically to be a lightweight pistol-ish round delivering the penetration more like a rifle cartridge. The smaller, lighter round means that more ammunition can be carried and that it has a minimal recoil even in full-automatic shooting.

The 4.6mm cartridge was developed by HK for the MP7 and its companion sidearm, the UCP pistol. The UCP never got past the prototype stage, but the 4.6x30mm has definitely made its mark in the MP7.

The MP7, currently being produced as updated models MP7A1 and MP7A2, weighs less than 5 pounds with a loaded magazine and is only 25-inches long with its adjustable stock fully extended. The barrel is 7.1 inches long and the magazine feeds into the pistol grip, creating a compact, easy to handle package.

The action is a gas-operated short stroke piston like that of HK’s HK416 rifle and is rated at 950 rounds per minute.

From the Business Insider article, several SEAL Team 6 members, some of whom are carrying MP7s.

This is a curious article and a curious revelation.  That’s all I can say about it.  Well, not really.

I recall having had discussions with Kevin O’Brien (WeaponsMan) before he passed away, and he once remarked to me in a rather puzzled way how SpecOps was now using shorter and shorter barrels, even much less than 10″.  It’s a strange development, frankly.

In this case not only have they chosen a PDW for warfighting, they have chosen a smaller caliber than the 5.56 mm.  If you look at the data for this round, it doesn’t send bullets down range at anything close to the 5.56 mm, and seems to me to basically be a knockoff of the 5.7 X 28, which I shoot with the FN 5.7.  In fact, the technology doesn’t advance the round itself beyond the 5.7 in the least, and the weapon itself seems rather pedestrian if you don’t consider the fully automatic capability.

Regarding the high rate of fire, I don’t see it gaining the shooter any advantage since it would only be used for area suppression, and besides that, the shooter would have to carry a lot more ammunition in order to make full use of the rate of fire.

Also, selection of this weapon for continual use, or even just one specific mission, assumes that the only gun fight in which you’ll find yourself will be CQB.  I don’t think anyone can predict the future this way, and I would rather be prepared for other exigencies with selection of a weapon that can fill a number of roles like the 5.56 mm carbine.

Regarding ammunition availability, where I am there is plenty of 5.7 X 28, and I suspect that no one else within 500 miles of such a gun fight would have access to 4.6 X 30.  I simply wouldn’t want to deploy even on a single mission with an ammunition type that was unique to me.

Finally, it just seems to me based on what I’ve seen over the last several years that the U.S. Army is hell bent on singlehandedly keeping H&K in business, but just over an hour down the road from me is an FN plant with mechanics, gunsmiths and designers who could have delivered a nicer firearm to the Navy shooting 5.7 X 28, a more capable round, where the dollars would have stayed in the U.S. and the weapons would have been American-made.

I’m not impressed at this love for H&K.  Anyway, remember that H&K hates you and thinks you suck.

H&K hates you, or so they say.  It appears they hate America too.

German gunmaker Heckler & Koch said U.S. aerospace and defence company Orbital ATK Inc had filed a suit in the United States seeking damages in excess of $27 million.

In the complaint, filed at the U.S. District court in the district of Minnesota, Orbital said it was seeking damages for breach of contract over the XM25 semi-automatic weapon system which Orbital and Heckler & Koch started developing more than 20 years ago.

“Heckler & Koch GmbH rejects all claims, based on the information we have so far,” the company said in a statement on Thursday.

“Heckler & Koch GmbH did not receive the complaint formally from the U.S. District Court, District of Minnesota so far,” the gunmaker also said in its brief statement.

A spokesman for Heckler & Koch declined to comment on the details of the claims.

Orbital said in the filing, seen by Reuters, that Heckler & Koch had failed to deliver twenty additional prototypes of the XM25 weapon systems, as contracted, and that its failure to do so meant the U.S. Army had raised the possibility of terminating its contract with Orbital.

“Even if the Prime Contract is not terminated, Orbital ATK has incurred and will incur additional costs as a direct result of the substantial delay caused by Heckler & Koch’s non-performance and the need to re-procure the twenty weapons from an alternate manufacturer,” it stated in the filing.

Orbital is also asking in the filing that Heckler & Koch transfer certain intellectual property to enable another contractor to carry out the work.

The filing said Heckler & Koch had queried whether the weapons, which target enemies protected by walls or hidden in hard-to-reach places, would violate international laws of war.

The filing also said that after receiving legal opinions, Heckler & Koch had said it would only supply the weapons if the U.S. government provided a special certification, which the government refused to do. Informal mediation failed, and Heckler & Koch refused to engage in formal mediation, the filing stated.

Um … what?  As best as I can determine, H&K decided that the very weapon they were designing for the stated purpose of being an airburst counter defilade weapon isn’t appropriate in anyone’s hands, and decided not to fulfill contractual obligations.

Army Times:

The Army just bought a new sniper rifle.

The service on Friday announced that it awarded a contract to Heckler & Koch to supply a precision rifle to replace the M110 made by Knight’s Armament.

The Army wanted to acquire a shorter, lighter, more accurate, more ergonomic and more reliable gun for marksmen, according to Program Executive Office Soldier’s product portfolio. The new Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System should be easier to carry and use in close quarters than the M110 without sacrificing performance or accuracy, PEO said.

The FedBizOpps.gov award notice said H&K will produce a maximum of 3,643 rifles over 24 months, as well as spare parts and depot support, at a max contract value of $44.5 million. There’s a minimum purchase of 30 rifles for quality assurance testing.

The Army did not immediately respond to requests for comment, nor did Heckler & Koch. It is unclear from the FedBizOpps posting which model rifle won the contract, and whether it’s a commercially available gun, modification of one, or a new weapon.

The gunmaker’s website lists two precision rifles, one of which fits the Army’s desire for a rifle smaller than the M110: the G28. The gas-operated rifle fires the same 7.62mm ammunition (NATO standard) as the M110. Heckler & Koch lists a minimum length of 96.5 cm (about 38 inches) and weight of 5.8 kg (12.7 lbs). That makes it nearly 6 cm (2.5 inches) shorter and 1.3 kg (3 lbs) lighter than the M110 (unloaded and without a suppressor).

A Knight’s Armament spokesman said the company had no comment at this time.

It’s shorter but it doesn’t sacrifice accuracy.  Hmmm … or so says the Army.  What model?  Who knows, except the Army.  Available to whom?  Probably no one, except the Army.  Test results to be made public?  Eh, probably not, nothing said about that.  No comments from the Army, no comments from H&K, no comments from Knight’s Armament.  Except this from the always ubiquitous H&K marketing department.

At HK, we stuck a piston on an AR15, just like a bunch of other companies have done, dating back to about 1969. However ours is better, because we refuse to sell it to civilians. Because you suck, and we hate you.

Our XM8 is the greatest rifle ever developed. It may melt, and it doesn’t fit any accessories known to man, but that is your fault. If you were a real operator, you would love it. Once again, look at Rainbow Six, that G36 sure is cool isn’t it? Yeah, you know you want one.And by the way, check out our new HK45. We decided that humans don’t need to release the magazine with their thumbs. If you were a really manly teutonic operator, you would be able to reach the controls. Plus we’ve fired 100,000,000 rounds through one with zero malfunctions, and that was while it was buried in a lake of molten lava, on the moon. If you don’t believe us, it is because you aren’t a real operator.

By the way, our cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns like the G3 and MP5 are the bestest things ever, and totally worth asinine scalpers prices, but note that cheap, mass-produced, stamped sheet metal guns from other countries are commie garbage. Not that it matters, because you’re civilians, so we won’t sell them to you anyway. Because you suck, and we hate you, but we know you’ll be back. We can beat you down like a trailer park wife, but you’ll come back, you always do.

Buy our stuff.

Sincerely

HK Marketing Department.  Because you suck.  And we hate you.

So there.

Military.com:

Many readers are under the impression that U.S. special operations forces have returned to using .45 caliber pistols since the adoption of the M9 9mm in 1985.

This has some truth to it, but in most cases SOF units use 9mm, experts maintain.

The Army’s Delta Force adopted .40 caliber, but the elite unit is having the same problems as the FBI – the heavier caliber is causing excessive wear problems in guns that were originally designed to be 9mm. Delta is now using 9mm Glock 17s, 19s and 34s.