An Overview of Heckler & Koch (HK) Weapons

This article is a stub, intended primarily to serve as a linking point for articles on HK firearms

HK is a German gun manufacturer, probably best known for the iconic MP5 and G3 rifles. After the prolific AR and AK families, HK's designs are probably currently the most widely copied semi-automatic (or select fire) rifles in the world. For details on the company itself, please see the Wikipedia page:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_%26_Koch

Known Manufacturers of HK-Pattern Rifles

The table below represents the last known status of all HK manufacturers I'm aware of. This does not count the various builders you can send a parts kit to, but only manufacturers providing complete rifles. I keep inactive dealers in the table here because people researching used items will still find the information useful. Most of the inactive dealers are inactive in the HK market because parts kits are difficult and expensive to come by at present, and are still in business producing other types of gun.

Status	As of	Name
ACTIVE	9/5/2012	HK, naturally, continues to produce rifles for the US market.
ACTIVE	9/5/2012	Century Arms still occasionally puts out a variety of HK-pattern rifles.
INACTIVE?	9/5/2012	Cohaire Arms once made HK-pattern guns, but their website seems inactive since 2009.
ACTIVE	9/5/2012	Lusa USA, which puts out weapons based upon HK actions.
ACTIVE	9/5/2012	JLD Enterprises, which produces some very high quality HK91 clones.
INACTIVE	1/1/2006	Red Rock Arms, formerly known as Bobcat Weapons.
INACTIVE	9/5/2012	Special Weapons' website doesn't even load anymore
INACTIVE	9/5/2012	Vector Arms, generally known for decent clones.

The Todd Bailey Companies

This tends to come up whenever HK rifles are mentioned in the US, so it may as well be mentioned here. For many years, the only source of "budget-priced" HK-pattern rifles has been a progression of companies linked to one man: Todd Bailey. While the rifles his companies put out are almost universally derided, dealers seem to agree that his companies follow a pattern. This pattern is that their early products are actually fairly decent, but it's not long until they manage to annoy their experienced builders into quitting their jobs. At this point, the company starts using inexperienced builders and the quality of the final product suffers. One very interesting piece on Bailey's companies is here.

Companies known to have links to Todd Bailey are:

• Bobcat Weapons (Note that Todd does NOT run this company - only supplied them some parts. BW put out good rifles, and stopped in Jan 2006)
• Cohaire Arms (the most recent company, and as of 2008 their work was fine)
• Special Weapons (the only good thing I've heard about SW rifles is that once you've fixed them, they stay fixed and run well - view these as parts kits)

General Reference

• About HK91-style (G3 clone) buttstocks
• Stripping a USP 40 Compact

Legal Considerations on HK Weapons

• HK-pattern Guns in California
• 922(r) UMP sheet (military version of USC)
• MP5 sheet (HK-94, and all clones)
• G3 sheet (HK-91, PTR-91, and all clones)

General HK Gunsmithing

• Installing an Extended Mag Release on the HK USP
• Removing a flash hider from an HK-93 pattern rifle

California Specific HK Gunsmithing

• Converting a G3 clone to a CA-legal fixed magazine rifle
• Firmly fitting a loose kydex sleeve to a CA-94 (MP5 clone)

-- SeanNewton - 03 Sep 2012