Running the HK Platform

http://www.onesourcetactical.com/search.aspx?manufacturer=284

Just like we did with the AK, we will discuss running the HK platform. I will say that I have absolutely zero interest in gun games...if you want to speed load the HK just like the dude shooting in the track suit, let me stop you right there.  Buy a different rifle.  This rifle is for killing...not playing. My background with the HK systems parallels that of many of the SI staff. Many of us having come from the MP5 generation. I have attended more schools put on for and about the HK system than I can remember, and I carried either an MP5 or an HK53 into harm's way for years. The HK Legacy systems, as HK Corporate refers to them today, are by far the most robust and simplest system in the world, paralleling the simplicity of the Kalashnikov with the refinement that only a German company can put into play. It is one of the Big Four systems you will find around the world (The M16, the FAL, the AK-47, and the HK). Complaints that you hear about the HK parallel those you hear about the AK or the FAL or about anything not a customized M4 that does not break the delicate shooter's manicured fingernails. I have found in my travels that "ergonomics" is a myth and a cop-out for those too lazy to learn a new system. The HK is as easy to learn as anything else...and easier than most. The safety is even easier than that of the AK, and it is right under the thumb for those paranoid about an off-safe weapon. Ambidextrous safeties are available for those wanting such things as well. The charging of the weapon is the easiest and most direct I have ever worked with. Move the charging handle back and lock it in place. Insert the magazine. Slap the charging handle into battery. It is harsh, and direct...like a German waitress at a military beer hall. To fix a problem, charging handle back, magazine out, slap charging handle forward and back, and lock. Replace the magazine and slap the charging handle home again. In other words...unload it and reload it. The reload process is just as simple. The traditional way learned from the HK school and the SAS guys: Bolt-magazine-magazine- bolt. Lock the bolt back...change magazines...slap the bolt forward. For the simple-simon guys, it can be run just like your AK. Magazine, magazine, bolt...take your pick. Ok....cleaning is as simple as throwing it in a river, shaking it off and dropping some used engine oil in the rifle. If you want to care for the rifle more, disassembly is as easy as it gets and when you do you will see the refined but rugged engineering of the rifle. We experimented with our junior staff, well versed on the AK and the M16 systems. We gave them a rifle and a brief tutorial on its use. Then instructed them to strip and reassemble it, load it, shoot it, etc. There was virtually no learning curve...it was that simple. So simple an illiterate child soldier in Africa fighting over conflict diamonds can run one. Ruugedness? Well...I have fond memories of giving receiver smashes on steroided out, but unarmed gangmembers as we entered rooms in a drug raid. I recall a team mate dropping his MP5 five stories as we worked on rappel drills...without damaging the weapon beyond the cosmetic. I recall an HK53 being run over by a truck during a southern vacation once. Anything the AK can take, listen carefully, the HK systems can take. Soon, we will be doing an HK specific DVD with members of our staff.  The HK Rifle...the weapon the Kalashnikov should have been...if its makers gave a crap.