Shopping pointers for the H&K Family

Known Manufacturers of HK-Pattern Rifles

• Red Rock Arms, formerly known as Bobcat Weapons. They no longer produce HK pattern weapons.
• Century Arms puts out HK91 and CETME-pattern rifles.
• Cohaire Arms (limited production)
• HK, naturally, produces some rifles for the US market.
• JLD Enterprises, which produces some VERY high quality HK91 clones.
• Lusa USA, which puts out HK-based weapons.
• Special Weapons (no longer in production)
• Vector Arms, well known for putting out good weapons.

The Todd Bailey Companies

The only source of "budget-priced" HK-pattern rifles, for many years, 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. The pattern is that their early products are actually fairly decent, but it's not long until they manage to annoy their experienced builders into leaving. 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 supplies them some parts. BW puts out good rifles, actually)
• Cohaire Arms (the most recent company, and as of 2008 it seems they still do good work)
• 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)

Buying one in California

In California, if you want a G3-style rifle, what you probably ought to buy is a PTR-91. They're available in several different models. You have a few options for legality on them - one is to fix the magazine, which you CAN do by inserting E-clips onto the mag release button. 5/16" clips will fit, however I do not personally feel very comfortable using that for my legality kit.

Another option is to build a Rorschach pattern mag lock. You can fabricate one yourself using the instructions above, or order it from Rorschach on Calguns.net for $25.

Another option is to buy a metal trigger housing with a grip installed, remove the grip to expose the slimline metal skeleton, and then wrap a sheet of kydex around it, using a heat gun to shape it. This will result in a "monsterman-like" setup sometimes referred to as a "shark fin" grip.

• http://www.robertrtg.com/ has a lot of inexpensive G3 parts, including stripped pistol grip housings for $15.

-- SeanNewton - 16 Aug 2006