[MicroBalrog]

What do you people think of this rifle? I honestly don't have an opinion (except being a bit suspicious). What's yours?

[Badger Arms]

I've watched videos of the gun being fired by 'experienced' testers. When fired full-auto, it looks like a kitten to control. When these guys fired the three-round-burst, the gun literally jumped off their shoulders at the end of the burst. It looks like it'd be very difficult to control that way.

From a purely engineering point of view, this was a monster. They tried to accomplish three new things with the same arm.
1) to get a rifle to feed rounds to rotate 90 degrees on two axis at a firing rate of 2000rpm.
2) to develop a caseless round that meets military specifications
3) to develop a mechanism that recoils within the stock firing three rounds concievably before the rifleman's aim is disrupted any.

They failed miserably to produce a satisfactory weapon to do all of these things. When you are talking about the infantry, one maxim is that you MUST KEEP IT SIMPLE. The possibility for failure of a certain device goes up exponentially with its complexity.

HK Pro writeup on the gun... WATCH THE VIDEOS!!! (http://www.hkpro.com/g11.htm)
http://www.hkpro.com/image/g11k2.jpg
http://www.hkpro.com/image/g11bolt.jpg

[4v50 Gary]

Seen & handled but couldn't shoot. The guys at HK in VA shot up all the ammo long before we peons got to look at it.

[Telperion]

I'm really into caseless ammunition systems. The next big thing in military small arms, and probably one of the last revolutionary design advances.

As an engineer, I really like that H&K let their engineers have free reign and go nuts in working on this ambitious project. As things go, the result was far from perfect (that bolt picture is a monstronsity!). There's a lot to learn in the G11's failure, and whoever picks up the idea in the future won't have to start from scratch. Who knows, if I find the time to learn some mechanical engineering, that person might be me!

[Marko Kloos]

Shot one. Liked it a lot. Shame we never got to trade our G3s for them.

[BDM]

I heard it got too hot from the caseless ammo and would sometimes fail do to heat.

[Kharn]

1) to get a rifle to feed rounds to rotate 90 degrees on two axis at a firing rate of 2000rpm.
I think it rotates only in one axis, from vertical to horizontal (the 'cartridges' are stored in the magazine with the bullet pointing down).
Heat was the biggest problem, due to not having a brass casing (effectively a disposable heat sink) getting thrown out of the action with every shot.

Kharn

[Iain]

When these guys fired the three-round-burst, the gun literally jumped off their shoulders at the end of the burst.

That is because it doesn't recoil until the end of the three round burst. Three recoils in one. Means that three bullets can be put in a small area, kind of makes up for the slightly lower caliber rounds.

It wasn't a total failure. Trials with the then W.German army showed that it was more intuitive to strip, load and fire for new recruits. In trials it had a 50% higher hit rate with recruits than the G3. Major reason it was not adopted was due to the financial costs of reunification.

It was tested extensively and still fired after being immersed in salt water, frozen, heated and dropped. A box of G11 ammo was even dropped from a plane as part of testing.

The problem with ammo cooking off due to heat was resolved.

later models allowed over 130rounds to be kept in magazines on the weapon and it still weighed under 10lbs.

Fascinating weapon even to a non-gunner like me.

[MicroBalrog]

In trials it had a 50% higher hit rate with recruits than the G3

Yet the G3 is hardly comparable, due to it's much higher recoil and due to the fact it cannot be compared with a 2nd generation assault rifle.

[MLC]

Yet it must be compared since the G3 was the standard armament in Germany at the time. They were fielding the G11 as a replacement for the G3. What would you expect them to compare it to?

[MicroBalrog]

MLC - the success of the H&K G11 vs. the G-3 is irrelevant to whether it makes a good assault rifle. It is better (or rather, more accurate), then a huge battle rifle. How would it perform vs. a real assault rifle is another question.

[Badger Arms]

Today, the true test would be how well it performs against two standards, the M-4/M-16 and the HK G-36. These are benchmarks for the German Army. I'd be willing to bet that the hit rate of the G11 would not be significantly higher than the G36 or the M-4. Nor would rate of fire, controllability, or ease of maintenance.

BTW, I was wrong about the 90 degree rotation, it's indeed only in one axis. I had the FN P90 in my head for some reason. Same magazine location but not orientation.

Trials with the then W.German army showed that it was more intuitive to strip, load and fire for new recruits. I'd have to see this to believe it. I can't believe that the internals on this gun are 'easy' to strip or that anything is more intuitive. The only reason this can be said is that the G-3 is one of the more difficult weapons to operate and maintain. Once you get used to it, it's fine. Certainly not as easy to maintain as the AK, to load as the AR-15, or to fire as, well, to fire as... maybe I need to fire one before I come to that conclusion.