How a Heckler & Koch G3 Rifle Works

WikipediaThe Heckler & Koch G3 (Gewehr 3) is a 7.62×51mm NATO, select-fire battle rifle developed in the 1950s by the German armament manufacturer Heckler & Koch (H&K) in collaboration with the Spanish state-owned design and development agency CETME (Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales).[2] The modular designed G3 has over the years been exported to over 70 countries and manufactured under licence in at least 15 countries, bringing the total number built to around 7,800,000.
The G3 was the service rifle of the armed forces of Germany until it was replaced by the G36 in the 1990s.
Type Battle rifle
Place of origin West Germany
Service history
In service 1959-present
Used by See Users
Wars See Conflicts
Production history
Designer CETME
Mauser
Heckler & Koch
Designed 1950s
Manufacturer Heckler & Koch (original)
Rheinmetall
MIC
SEDENA
Kongsberg Gruppen Pakistan Ordinance Factories
and others
Produced 1958-present
No. built 8,000,000[1]
Variants See Variants
Specifications
Mass 4.38 kg (9.66 lb) (G3A3)
4.7 kg (10 lb) (G3A4)
Length 1,025 mm (40.4 in)
Barrel length 450 mm (17.7 in)
Width 45 mm (1.8 in)
Height 220 mm (8.7 in) with inserted magazine
Cartridge 7.62×51mm NATO
Action Roller-delayed blowback
Rate of fire 500-600 rounds/min
Muzzle velocity 800 m/s (2,625 ft/s)
Effective firing range 200-400 metres (219-437 yd) sight adjustments
600 metres (656 yd) with Fero Z24 telescopic sight
Maximum firing range 3,700 metres (4,046 yd)
Feed system 5-, 10-, 20-, 30-, or 40-round detachable box, and 50-round and 100-round drum magazine
Sights Rear: rotary diopter; front: hooded post

[@peterlubbers5947]

One of the most iconic guns i ever had the privilege to get my hands on, amazing video as always!👌🙏

[@paullevins5448]

Need to show the delayed blowback system on the G3 and how that works. Practically no one can really explain it.

[@americangangster1911]

Pretty sure it's just like regular blow back, but with some rollers that create enough resistance to keep the bolt from moving until the bullet has left the barrel.

[@zamlat8118]

The problem is, if you look carefully at 4:31, bolt carrier moves backward before bolt head does, which would have been a case with a gas-operated, roller locked weapon, but not with roller-delayed blowback. Bolt head needs to move first, pushing rollers and rest of bolt assembly. Also, I'm guessing that bolt assembly pushes bolt carrier back (not the other way around) and bolt carrier pushes bolt forward. This is great animation, just needs few final touches :) @@americangangster1911 Edit: erroneously mentioned Stg-44 as roller locked weapon.

[@zamlat8118]

AIUI: when bolt head starts to move backward, it pushes rollers in, and rollers push the rest of bolt assembly at 4 times the speed of bolt head (because of geometry). Since bolt assembly can not move faster then it is already moving (law of conservation of momentum or something like that) that means that actually bolt head is moving 4 times slower than in would without rollers, providing enough time for pressure in the barrel to drop to safe level before extracting empty case. If anyone has better explanation I'm all ears!

[@greenharvestproductions6743]

You would have to go to the HK website where they show the retardation bolt in action when I first bought my HK back in 86 it came with a video that shows how the rifle operates. The retardation bolt was made so it can function like the G3 even the semi-automatic version. I tried to find the video on the internet. Don't know if HK has it available on your internet website. Remember these are no longer in production. I wish that HK would bring them back because there are a nice rifle. Believe that I pay $600 for it back in the day now. They're worth a ton of money

[@Martin.Krischik]

​@@zamlat8118 the bolt carrier moves first for the same reason newton's cradle works: the impulse goes through the bolt while the bolt stays mostly put.

[@hondacb750four]

Die zwei Rollen an dem Verschluss haben zwei Funktionen , einmal den Verschluss zu bremsen ( beim Rückschlag) und einmal den Verschluss beim zurückrollen nach vorne an dem Patronenkammer fest zudrücken, das funktioniert aber beim Dauerfeuer oft nicht , weil wenn zwei Metal Teile auf einander treffen ( egal wie stark die Feder dahinter ist) springt der Verschluss vielleicht um eine halbe mm zurück, genau in dem selben Moment kommt der Bolzen aus dem Verschluss, kann aber die Patrone nicht treffen . Deswegen ist ein Drehverschluss wie m16 oder ak47 besser.

[@edwardpate6128]

Great visual on the roller delayed blowback system!

[@zachariaszut]

Careful animation, well explained, well put. Cheers.

[@carlosazevedo1790]

Great animation. The only flaw, if I can call it that, is that the brass is ejected forward, about 2 o'clock direction, at least in all G3 and HK21 I fired.

[@AlanGriffith]

Thank you sir i just picked one up

[@americangangster1911]

Nice, what variant?

[@AlanGriffith]

@@americangangster1911 ptr 91 with a pic rail. Half painted because my buddy did it while he was wasted, then another buddy half removed it. Looks like a genuine battle worn paint at this point lol.

[@americansniper4463]

@@AlanGriffithWas looking at getting one because it’s so iconic, how’s yours holding up?

[@terryboone3333]

Very good video on the operation of this firearm. The dis-assembly part and all the little parts was very helpful. I noticed one little c-ring that held the pin on the ejection arm. My cemte didn't have one. Maybe it came that way. I'm not sure.

[@pakistaniprepper5684]

THANKS MAN

[@ravifitrah7814]

Why g3 charging handle are so far on front?,its still have lots of space for handle on side of chamber

[@Pilvenuga]

mechanical leverage, so you wouldn't have to be someone who lifts 500kg just to charge the weapon

[@M.Farooq555]

Great 👍👍👍👍👍

[@mylastaccountgotdeletedtha6936]

(Mississippi queen intensifies) “German food sucks, not gon-“

[@greatbaracuda6164]

why do conventional rifles have to use gas port when bolt can pushed back by a round itself as illustrated in this video .

[@americangangster1911]

Since rifle rounds are very powerful there always has to be a way to slow down the bolt or to waste some of that energy. With roller delay blowback, the rollers kind of act as a brake, and provide resistance to slow down the bolt so it doesn't open prematurely and so it doesn't slam back too hard. With guns that use a gas system the goal is actually to bleed off a lot of that gas and only use as much as you need to cycle the weapon reliably. The point of every system whether it's roller delayed blowback, recoil operated, or gas operated is to have a system that can cycle the weapon reliably without the bolt slamming back too hard which is always an issue with rifle rounds because they are powerful. The reason you see blowback pistols or smgs is because you can make the slide or the bolt heavy enough to absorb a lot of that blowback with a low pressure pistol round, but with a rifle round the bolt would have to be so heavy it would be like a 10 or 20 lb weight so of course they had to invent these systems to deal with that extra blowback force of a rifle round in a autoloading rifle.

[@GossamJowhar]

Turkish army Gun :)

[@bonse2000]

Only that weapon or do you have something else?In my country we using also G3A3

[@GossamJowhar]

@@bonse2000 Ofc we have, New Turkish weapons MPT 76 and MPT 55, The Turkish army used G3 for a long time, now it is only the rifle of normal people who go to military service.The professional army uses the rifles I mentioned above.

[@Pilvenuga]

@@GossamJowhar the G3 design is so reliable, we had guys firing sub 2 MOA groups with a G3 produced in 1958 in trainings last year