German Soldiers Don’t Trust Their Battle Rifle
- Thread starter mebiuspower
- Start date
I have no insight in to the effectiveness of the rifle but I will say it is certainly and ugly rifle.
Plus G36 was a cheap fix for Germany at the time (reunification and bringing the East up to standards of the west cost a lot of money)
if I recall correctly, the gun was design to be financially friendly (something along the lines of $400USD per rifle at the time)
mebiuspower
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Morontario
German Bundeswehr confirms G36 issues
http://www.guns.com/2015/03/31/german-bundeswehr-confirms-g36-issues/
http://www.guns.com/2015/03/31/german-bundeswehr-confirms-g36-issues/
Seems to me every nation complaint about their 556 rifles. The US did in Vietnam, the brits did it when the SA80 came out, the French with their FAMAS, now the German... could it be because of the smaller parts compared to a 762 NATO rifle and the use of plastic instead of wood and metal?
Gunnerlove
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Vancouver Island
Most rifles have issues when introduced to service. That said almost all manufacturers accept these issues and the rifles are improved and those issues go away very quickly.
No, it was poor engineering.
mebiuspower
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
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- Morontario
Making smaller parts and using plastic instead of wood and metal is "engineering". Just not what they are blaming the issue on in the article.
Edit: I had to re-read the article. I skipped too much the first time.
Edit: I had to re-read the article. I skipped too much the first time.
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Eaglelord17
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Sault Ste. Marie
The issue with them is
"The rifle’s accuracy opens up after sustained fully-automatic fire, which heats up the barrel, causing the point of impact to shift." And "the rifle’s performance dropped after several hundred rounds were fired during prolonged firefights, making it less useful especially at longer ranges".
So basically issues that have plagued every firearm ever manufactured. Show me a firearm that you fire several hundred rounds through and don't have a POI change. The only ones I can think of are big water cooled WWI MGs and even then they aren't very practical for a issue rifle. The fact they are using 5.56 also makes it less useful at longer ranges (part of the reason Canadians were using some AR-10s, and the Americans updated some M14s).
Overall there really doesn't seem to be much of a issue with the firearm besides the attempt to use one firearm for every situation, which everyone does with everything (eg. why have multiple wrenches that work properly for there size when you can get a adjustable wrench that works for everything, though not as well).
"The rifle’s accuracy opens up after sustained fully-automatic fire, which heats up the barrel, causing the point of impact to shift." And "the rifle’s performance dropped after several hundred rounds were fired during prolonged firefights, making it less useful especially at longer ranges".
So basically issues that have plagued every firearm ever manufactured. Show me a firearm that you fire several hundred rounds through and don't have a POI change. The only ones I can think of are big water cooled WWI MGs and even then they aren't very practical for a issue rifle. The fact they are using 5.56 also makes it less useful at longer ranges (part of the reason Canadians were using some AR-10s, and the Americans updated some M14s).
Overall there really doesn't seem to be much of a issue with the firearm besides the attempt to use one firearm for every situation, which everyone does with everything (eg. why have multiple wrenches that work properly for there size when you can get a adjustable wrench that works for everything, though not as well).
Kampfhamster
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Switzerland
the G36 was first introduced in 1995, by now the problems should be worked out.
From what I've heard the problems are caused by the plastic receiver.
And not only goes the accuracy out of the window, but also the point of impact shifts, which makes it even worse. This already is the case after 120 rds shot within 8 minutes.
I've got some data on this somewhere, unfortunately it's all in german.
The thing is: the G36 was supposed to be a cheap rifle for the big conscript army after the G11 got ####canned. They needed a cheap rifle fast.
Yes, the problem is the plastic, but it's not because they used plastic instead of wood, or 5.56 instead of 7.62, is what I was saying.
There I fixed it for you
Fun aside, thanks for the article, was an interesting read.
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TV-PressPass
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Mountains, Alberta
Seems like they've happily unloaded them on the Peshmerga fighters though
dangertree
Business Rep
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- NL/ON/FL/PL
You're going to war right now.
You have two rifles in the rack.
Do you grab the G36 or the C8?
I rest my case.
That said, I am buying a HK243 when they come.
You have two rifles in the rack.
Do you grab the G36 or the C8?
I rest my case.
That said, I am buying a HK243 when they come.
Brutus
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Funny that a few European countries with their own home grown 556 rifles have issues.
The UK with their SA80 (SAS/SBS have Canadian Colt carbines, same with Dutch marines and Norwegian Special Forces) and now the German's grief with their G36.
And you don't hear much bragging of the French for their 556 caliber bugle?
The AR platform seems to have finally developed into something more dependable then most other unproven designs IMO.
The UK with their SA80 (SAS/SBS have Canadian Colt carbines, same with Dutch marines and Norwegian Special Forces) and now the German's grief with their G36.
And you don't hear much bragging of the French for their 556 caliber bugle?
The AR platform seems to have finally developed into something more dependable then most other unproven designs IMO.
