German military rifles
This article discusses rifled shoulder arms developed in or for the military of the states that later became Germany; it excludes firearms of the Austrian Empire, except where they were used substantially by German troops.
In 1810, as part of its strenuous effort to rebuild its army after the defeat at Jena-Auerstadt, the state officially adopted its first standard rifle, which was a combination of preferred features from previous weapons.
As with most early military rifles used by European forces, they were not designed to supplant the smooth bore musket, but meant to be a complementary weapon used by special units including light infantry, skirmishers, and snipers.
The gun was the invention of the gunsmith Johann Nikolaus von Dreyse, who, beginning in 1824, had conducted multiple experiments, and in 1836 produced the complete needle-gun.
In practice the needle-gun proved to have numerous deficiencies: its effective range varied a great deal, a significant amount of gas escaped at the breech when the rifle was fired, and a paper cartridge was used.
An improved model, giving greater muzzle velocity and increased speed in loading, was introduced, but this was soon replaced by the Mauser rifle.
This percussion weapon combines French and German features with a browned barrel and a rear sight with windage adjustment.
Bavaria remained an autonomous state bound by treaty to Prussia between 1866 and 1870 and was incorporated into the newly established German Empire in 1871.
The cartridge was a metallic 11 × 60R bottlenecked case, holding a charge of 77 grains (5.0 g) of black powder, capped with a 386-grain (25.0 g) round-tipped bullet.
In 1881, Kaiser Wilhelm was impressed by a prototype of a Gewehr 71 that featured an eight-round tubular magazine under the barrel, which was loaded while the action was open.
Production ended in 1890 after which time the arsenals had produced nearly 950,000 rifles; however by 1888 the introduction of the French Lebel using smokeless powder and smaller diameter high velocity bullets, made this weapon obsolete.
By the 1890s, his improved bolt design, the introduction of a stripper or charger clip loading configuration, and a fixed box magazine impressed Belgium, Turkey, and Argentina, enough for contracts to be signed.
The magazine now fit in the rifle without any part of it protruding in front of the trigger making it less apt to be damaged while still easily and quickly loaded from the five round stripper clips.
In 1896 Mauser changed the firing pin distance facilitating faster lock time and accuracy; he also installed a cutout section in the left of the receiver, perfect for a thumb to fill while loading the ammunition from a charger/stripper clip.
The Karabiner 98k "Mauser" (often abbreviated "K98k" or "Kar98k") was adopted in the mid 1930s and would be the most common infantry rifle in service within the German Army during World War II.
By 1940, it became apparent that some form of a semi-automatic rifle, with a higher rate of fire than existing bolt-action models, was necessary to improve the infantry's combat efficiency.
These problems seemed to stem from the overly complex muzzle trap system becoming excessively corroded from the use of corrosive salts in the ammunition primers, and carbon fouling.
Just prior to the opening of hostilities, the Red Army had started re-arming its infantry, replacing its older bolt-action rifles with the new semi-automatic Tokarev SVT38s and SVT40s.
Total production by the end of the war was 402,713 of both models, including at least 53,435 sniper rifles fitted with the Zielfernrohr 43 ('ZF 4') scope with 4x magnification.
The weapon was originally designed for use with the Schiessbecher device for firing rifle grenades (standard on the Kar 98k as well) and the Schalldämpfer suppressor.
Developed in Nazi Germany during World War II, the Sturmgewehr was a series of assault rifles that were the first to see major deployment.
Contracts for rifles firing the Kurz round were sent to both Walther and Haenel (whose design group was headed by Hugo Schmeisser), they were asked to submit prototype weapons under the name Maschinenkarabiner 1942 (MKb 42, literally "machine carbine").
It is formally known as the Samozaryadniy Karabin sistemi Simonova (Russian: Самозарядный карабин системы Симонова), 1945 (Self-loading Carbine, Simonov's system, 1945), or SKS 45.
These weapons were intended for the Bundesgrenzschutz (border guard) and not the nascent Bundeswehr (armed forces), which at the time used M1 Garands and M1/M2 carbines.
The G1 is distinguished from other FAL weapons by a pressed metal handguard with horizontal lines running almost the entire length, and a unique removable prong flash hider.
They were replaced in 1959 by the Heckler & Koch G3, based on the Spanish CETME Modelo 58, partly because the Belgians would not grant a license for production of the G1 in Germany.
Heavy weight and stiff trigger pull have been cited as the weapon's chief disadvantages, along with a rather sharp recoil and less-than-ideal pointing and handling characteristics.
G3 rifles also saw action with the West German police during the failed rescue attempt of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Heckler & Koch started designing the G11 in the 1970s, when the Bundeswehr asked them to develop a new weapon system to replace the 1950s vintage 7.62 × 51 mm G3 rifle.
Heckler & Koch also began designing the G41 in the 1970s, when the Bundeswehr asked them to develop a new weapon system to replace the 1950s vintage 7.62×51mm G3 rifle.
