Who likes HK Rifles? Why or why not....

[6500rpm 670]

Just wanted to ask other members that have shot HK33, 53, 93 versions what your thoughs are. I've always wanted one and picked up a C93 that had a bolt gap issue, but other than that seems to be built well with matching low use parts. Once I pushed the barrel back to get the bolt gap up to .020" and re-pinned I gave it a test run yesterday and I really like the way the gun shoots. I mean it feels smooth as silk with almost no recoil at all. At some point in time I thought I'd read a lot of negatives on HK's and their clones, but for the life of me from my one and only experience with the roller action gun, I cant think of a reason not to like it. I don't think I'd recommend the Century built clone to anyone that hasn't had the chance to give it a good inspection, but if this one continues to run like it did I'm probably going to sell off some of the AK's I own and buy a genuine HK53 if the price is right. Any thoughts from those of you that have experience with the platform?

[Kliegl 304]

I like my HK91 and 93. Simple to use and to clean. Throws cartridge cases into the next zip code, and they get dirty.

 

It's a dirtier action than the AR's gas impingement system, and you CAN fubar up the roller blocks' position and make

it hard to get back into the extruded receiver.

 

Mags are cheap, the HK sights are awesome, and it's just a big, heavy chunk of German badassness.

[Matthew Hopkins 1,065]

I have one that once started life as VECTOR 53 pistol. I SBR'd that puppy, took the end cap off and put a A3 stock on it, no gunsmith required, total time to convert 2 minutes . I love it, shoots great.

 

mags, other then the 40 rounders, are going to be very, very pricy. and there is no mag well adpater that will allow for use of M16 mags. I will tell you that even for being small it's a heavy puppy.

 

Edited October 17, 2010 by Matthew Hopkins

[Casp 119]

...there is no mag well adpater that will allow for use of M16 mags.

 

Actually there was, called the HARK adapter kit, however they seem to be rarer then hen's teeth. I have only ever seen one photo of one, and have no idea how well they worked.

[Kliegl 304]

Sorry, I meant hk91 mags were cheap. hk93 mags, maybe not so cheap.

[termite 463]

You don't "adjust" the gap by moving the barrel. You need to look and see what # locking peice you have also, they are also specific for bullet wieght, you maybe should have changed out the rollers with another set, but alot of the "manufacturers" of these type guns, also ground the bolts and locking pieces to get them to shoot. There is a complete listing of locking peices on the HK forum. My vector 93 and 53P both run great.

[6500rpm 670]

The problem was that the gap was close to the fail point before being shot. After reading some of the negatives on the Century clone specific to bolt gap and disassembling the bolt and measuring the rollers (found to be standard diameter w/ a all matching # low wear bolt group) I took a stack of pennies (like I use on the barrel crown when pushing AK barrels) and gave the barrel two mild to moderate taps w/ a 20oz hammer and the gap magically doubled. After some reads it looks like .017-.020" was a good start up gap so I pressed it to .020" and reamed the hole in the trunion and barrel until they were concentric and pressed in a .002" over hole size pin. Problem looked to have been that the barrel was drilled half way through on each side and then possibly one pass all the way-in either event there was sufficient slop to allow the barrel to slide in the trunion with the pin installed and even worse, I drove out the original barrel pin with two hits with a hammer and pin punch with the receiver sitting in my lap. Good news is when I put the barreled receiver in the press and pushed the barrel in, it released with a loud pop so I think the press between the barrel and trunion is good (Century used US barrels and I was leary after the penny trick). Good news is after the first 100 rounds the bolt gap changed less than .001" if at all). I did notice a lot of crap gets blown back in to the bolt group and receiver, but I assume it was designed to take it. On the first couple 20 round dumps I had a few spent rounds that failed to clear the receiver and it stripped a new round leaving both inside. I didn't see a very pronounced extractor punch mark on the back of the case like a AK leaves, but I don't know what to expect from this platform yet and after the second 20 it didn't do it again. I'll have to get the round count up and see how things play out.

[SOPMOD 254]

Nose heavy, sharp recoil impulse, slow to load, funky charging handle way out in no man's land that is like cocking a crossbow to charge the weapon, terrible buttstocks(except MSG90/PSG1) and terrible triggers.

 

Outside of pistol caliber subguns I am not a fan of the old HK roller locked system and I have owned every caliber of the real deal German made guns back in the day and even made a lot of money off of them during the ban but I can't say I wasn't glad to see them go.

 

 

On the flip side they are reliable and can be quite accurate.

[zenman223 460]

im glad this topic came up because i have no experience with these rifles but ive been getting an itch for one lately. not sure why i geuss cuz they just look like a "big chunk of german badassness!" plus they seem like an affordable option for a high power battle rifle. after reading the above im not so sure.

 

anyone else who has experience with these weapons please do share b/c i am also interested to hear what others think of them.

[SOPMOD 254]

im glad this topic came up because i have no experience with these rifles but ive been getting an itch for one lately. not sure why i geuss cuz they just look like a "big chunk of german badassness!" plus they seem like an affordable option for a high power battle rifle. after reading the above im not so sure.

 

anyone else who has experience with these weapons please do share b/c i am also interested to hear what others think of them.

 

A lot of it depends on what you want to do with it. If you wanted to slap a Hensoldt and a bipod on it and shoot it prone from cover at anything that walked into a well set up "Kill Zone" it would give you decent accuracy and AK-like durability but if you wanted to "Run and Gun" and expected to use it while walking/standing/crouching behind hasty cover it would stink.

 

A high quality FN/FAL is the better all around Main Battle Rifle because of it's handling, controls and layout IMHO

[TonyRumore 1,332]

In a world of compromise, HK starts with the trigger.

 

Tony

[termite 463]

6500rpm, you'll like cleaning the "racing stripes" off the spent brass if you reload. That is, IF your barrel has a fluted chamber. I heard that some of the century guns did not have a fluted chaber, and that some did. I run a beta drum in my V93 and have not had one minutes trouble from the gun, and like you said they do get dirty as crap, but still fun to shoot. My daughter actually prefers the V93 over the AR15, she says it has less recoil.

[Casp 119]

My only trigger-time experience with an H&K roller delayed product is with an HK770 rifle. It didn't have a bad trigger at all, but then it's not a military weapon, it's a hunting/target rifle. Otherwise, same experience as most other people: reliable, accurate, DIRTY, ejected brass reaches escape velocity and is usually pretty mangled.

 

6500rpm, you'll like cleaning the "racing stripes" off the spent brass if you reload. That is, IF your barrel has a fluted chamber. I heard that some of the century guns did not have a fluted chaber, and that some did.

 

Problem with that rumor is that a delayed blowback rifle won't run without a fluted chamber. Blowback force can't overcome chamber wall friction, that's why they* did the fluted chamber in the first place. The Pedersen rifle had the same problem, which was remedied by coating the brass with wax. I wouldn't put it past Century to build and sell a roller delayed rifle without a fluted chamber, but they wouldn't cycle worth a damn without somehow defying physics.

 

* "they" = Ludwig Vorgrimler, the Mauser engineer who designed the StG.45 during WWII and later worked on the CETME rifles for Spain

Edited October 18, 2010 by Caspian Sea Monster

[6500rpm 670]

Mine is early production in the 99x range and has the fluted chamber barrel. I'm not sure what the deal is with the trigger dislike other than I can see it's not made for a fast trigger pull. Pull is a rather long two stage on mine. There's a lot of slack to take up, it hits a stop point, then brakes as pulled. Not etremely smooth, but in no way gritty. It's my understanding that Century didn't build these, but farmed out to the lowest bidder (actually two). One of them did a fairly decent job of welding and used a SW receiver with the S/N stamped on top, the other not so desirable used a receiver that the rib on the magwell was substancially higher than normal and had the S/N stamped on the side of the magwell and reported poor welds. I feel like a jackass reporting on this with only a 100 rounds down the pipe, but it shot exceptionally smooth with very little recoil IMHO and for the life of me, not heavy. (my S12 is heavy, Galil is heavy, this not so much). My dislikes at this point are the safety lever and mag release button position, possibly the charging handle but you only rack it once a mag and it's locked up front and out of the way. This still has some work to be done-Need to strip it and weld the front fo the rails to the trunion properly and see if the trunion was spot welded or not. SEF lower is on the way and a few more bits. Get rid of the Century paint and give it some MolyResin. Shoot it till it lives or dies.

Edited October 18, 2010 by 6500rpm