Kraut Space Magic: the H&K G11
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I have been waiting for a long time to have a chance to make this video - the Heckler & Koch G11! Specifically, a G11K2, the final version approved for use by the West German Bundeswehr, before being cancelled for political and economic reasons.
The G11 was a combined effort by H&K and Dynamit Nobel to produce a new rifle for the German military with truly new technology. The core of the system was the use of a caseless cartridge developed in the late 60s and early 70s by Dynamit Nobel, which then allowed H&K to design a magnificently complex action which could fire three rounds in a hyper-fast (~2000 rpm) burst and have all three bullets leave the barrel before the weapon moved in recoil.
Remarkably, the idea went through enough development to pass German trials and actually be accepted for service in the late 1980s (after a funding shutdown when it proved incapable of winning NATO cartridge selection trials a decade earlier). However, the reunification with East Germany presented a reduced strategic threat, a new surplus of East German combat rifles (AK74s), and a huge new economic burden to the combined nations and this led to the cancellation of the program. The US Advanced Combat Rifle program gave the G11 one last grasp at a future, but it was not deemed a sufficient improvement in practical use over the M16 platform to justify a replacement of all US weapons in service.
The G11 lives on, however, as an icon of German engineering prowess often referred to as "Kraut Space Magic" (in an entirely complimentary take on the old pejorative). That it could be so complex and yet still run reliably in legitimate military trials is a tremendous feat by H&K's design engineers, and yet one must consider that the Bundeswehr may just have dodged a bullet when it ended up not actually adopting the rifle.
Many thanks to H&K USA for giving me access to the G11 rifles in their Grey Room for this video!
Contact:
Forgotten Weapons
PO Box 87647
Tucson, AZ 85754
>takes it apart >is built like a watch Yup, it's German.
Geoffrey Guestion show that one to WW2 Russian rifle engineers, I’m pretty sure they would come up with a ways to greatly simplify it 😸
Why use 2 parts when you could use 50. Ronnie Barrett would simplify this, much like he did with the M240.
You sure it's not Swiss?
There’s german gear based warhammer with opening face revealing 4 flintlock pistols. Just wanted to share this fact
@@Ake-TL I think the thing you're thinking of was a wheelock.
"We fire the whole bullet, thats 65% more bullet per bullet" - Cave Johnson
Regular guns: *cries in 65% less bullet per bullet*
"I have yet to meet someone who can outsmart bullet"- Heavy.
@@Attaxalotl scout: yo what's up
@@Attaxalotl Scout, Spy dead ringer and anyone who is uber charged
@@dr2d2 ah.
This rifle was designed so that in the field you can disassemble it and create a steam engine for quick evac.
Steam engine? Nah, a luxury airliner.
😂😂😂
@TheDuckMeister You haven't checked the triggergroup ... did ya? Greetz from Germany!!!
@@theduckmeister1600 Feels like they tried to.
Steam engine...Dude u r so increative. That is designed to build a wrap engine so you can actually evac to another galaxy
No matter how long you've been around guns, this is like learning about the rotary engine after 1 week in mechanical engineering school
The rotary is simpler than a piston engine though
This caseless firearm and the Wankel motor are both smart and well executed advancements. But that is not what humanity prioritizes. Perhaps each will return as SoTA year 2030.
Just keep their undersea electric pistol as your sidearm when you use it!
Wankel engines are pretty simple though a 2rotor only has 3 moving parts
@@manzion7591I can only hope and pray we get an rx9/rx7 revival.
*Pulls off front* Ah, it's just a barrel. *Pulls off back* Ah, it's just a time machine or something.
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Business in the front, Cenobites in the back
*28:42*
It’s a modified windscreen wiper mechanism...
Campost Heap germany west: what a country...🇩🇪🇩🇪! merkel👻, porsche, bmw, mercedes, münchen 👍🏻👹 and people from 800 other nations. a multistate par excellence .....
Before taking off the plastic: oh this looks like a sci-fi gun After taking off the plastic: oh it's a steampunk gun
Looks more like a rolex watch
Or a sewing machine
it's kraut steam magic
It has made me consider if you could syphon recoil into a pinwheeel and by proxy charge a battery for sci-fi stuff
That gun has more parts than my chance of not getting prediabetes
I remembered as a 6-7 year old boy I was peering through this new set of encyclopedia my mom bought and in one of the volumes was the G11 rifle dubbed as being "advanced warfare". I remembered that some of the things alluded to here were discussed: the rotating chamber, the 3-shot no recoil, the caseless ammunition. One of my earliest memories as a kid just gobbling up information like a sponge. Thank you for this trip down memory lane.
What you're seeing is Advanced Warfare
what you're seeing here is advanced warfare
Same thing for me. I remember seeing a diagram of the internals and was fascinated with every part of it. Ya know, I think that encyclopedia set is still at my parent's house. I might have to look for it the next time I visit them.
not surprising that the encyclopaedia had an entire volume dedicated to the G11
It's incredible to see all the cost and precision that went into this gun be almost entirely in the internals while the outside is just a plain, albeit rugged, plastic shell. Like a 5 gal bucket housing an atomic clock.
"We fire the whole bullet! That's 65% more bullet per bullet!"
The cAkE iS A LiE
That's a fancy drill bit launcher you gentlemen have.
@@AxiomIndustries You mean the CASE is a lie...
Ah yes, of course
If you were to design a rocketball round for a modern caliber, that would literally be firing the whole bullet. Rocketball rounds are an early concept of caseless ammo from before cased ammo had been popularized. You hollow out a miniball projectile and pack it with powder, then cap it off with your primer. Most rocketballs were small caliber meant for pistols and were woefully underpowered, but new materials and powders someone looking to do a caseless weapon could potentially revisit rocketball...
"This is like the AN-94, but simpler" (confused screams)
simpler in concept*
@Alex Jongenelen ah nuu cheeki breeki iv damnke
The Russians managed to create something more complex than the Germans... What has happened to the world?!
i walways thought the g11 was fake, and treyarch made up a gun
@@billysmith4688 nah it's very real and the working prototypes still exist.
I'm surprised that Switzerland wasn't all over this one: if there's anyone who could be taught to field strip that monster it's probably a hardened watchmaker.
"hardened watchmaker" .....lol.
I freaking love the fact that each prototype of G11 has their looks reflective of the futuristic aesthetic of the respective time period.
Yeah. Being 80s, it has that Robocop sci-fi feel
This looks like a space marine weapon. If I'm not mistaken, the guns in the Alien franchise all use caseless ammunition. Never thought I'd be confronted by firearm hauntology.
holy hell word salad... tell me - how are you able to **reflect** on the future? Furthermore, how are you able to reflect on a future that is simultaneously the present (*respective*) time period? Finally, how will you prevent yourself from commenting in the future?
@@tumetal The looks of the weapon reflects on how "future" was perceived in the time period when the weapon was designed. If this, too, is word salad, I can try to dumb it down more for you :)
It's not even necessarily the future of the past (which by the way is also a tense in English grammar, meaning that particular concept is embedded in the language core functions.) Futurism *is* an aesthetic. The sentence simplified could just mean "the G11 is reflective of that particular aesthetic at that time in history". He wasn't even anally correct.
An old college friend described the G11: "Its a gun from the future from the past."
That is the best description of this by far.
It could have replaced the p90 on SG1 stargate since it is as weird looking.
I rember the enclave in fallout packing these. I fit in pretty well with the sci energy weapons
Feldgrau Fox Believe it or not, it’s called the H&K G11. It’s from Fallout 2 though so maybe you’re thinking of the wrong game.
And he let you live?
"The redstone is simple"
-mumbo jumbo
@@Regnum_Scilandicum 0⁰00000000000000000⁰000ppppppppp in Agadir in Agadir last season with no loss for
@@aksellstavik559 r u austistic
@@aksellstavik559 r/ihadastroke
Idk why this gives me “The game is fun” vibes but it does
This is my "Aliens" of forgotten weapons episodes. I have it memorized but I keep watching it and it never gets old. This is the coolest functional firearm on this or any other planet
Ich durfte das G11 im Jahr 1990 in der Grundausbildung im Rahmen eines Truppenversuches mal schießen. Also ich muss sagen das Teil war Gut. Ich fand es Schade das es diese Waffe nie in die Truppe geschafft hat. Die war präzise , relativ Leicht und gut zu Schießen. Das war Technik auf hohem Niveau.
I'd say it's some of the most cutting-edge engineering work of mankind. I feel honored to see it out in the world. I think the futuristic design used on this gun is still too early for us today, but it could be me. My thinking is still stuck in the 2000s or even earlier. After all, people in the past would think complex products were cool. But when it comes to weapons, what we are popular now is a simple style with good performance and versatility. I will tend to use this gun as a prototype. Just like smokeless gunpowder and M1886
So zufrieden ich mit dem G36 auch bin hätte ich lieber das G11 bekommen. Hast du das Gewehr im Rahmen des Truppenversuches auch zerlegen müssen? Das stelle ich mir bei dem Brocken anstrengend vor
On the Outside: 80's futuristic space Gun. On the Inside: Steampunk Clockwork Gun.
You know what they say, "Get one that can do both".
German engineers managed to complicate the wheellock mechanism, a clocked based blackpowder pistol from the mid 1500's. www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=18036
Now that would be steampunk LARPer's/airsoft guy's wet dream: leave covers on = 90's most insane gun for airsoft remove covers = insane victorian clockwork automatic handcannon
They had stealth jets and cellphones by 1942, possibly even time travel, ( see Joseph Farrell ) ...they dont make em like that anymore
@@marty2129 Realistically, this rotating sytem would be perfect for airsoft / piant. No cartridge. Ok, cleaning a paint ball misfire in that complicated clockwork could be a challenge. :-) Still, seems a very good design for anything that doesn't require a projectile case.
My heart goes out to the poor Bundesweher armorer that had to strip this thing for the first time "Oh, this is looks not so bad, maybe it is just a few- GOTT IN HIMMEL!!!"
I'll bet he told his buddies at the beer hall "You would not believe this rifle. I know we Germans must overengineer everything, but mein Gott, this was too much! There are Swiss watches less complex then that nightmare!"
German Zach
"Hans!! Look at this gun! The internals look like the inside of a clock tower!"
@@SeaPhantom "That's not a good thing, Schultz."
@@TheAKgunner litterally
A classified study by NASA, Air Force, and Navy found that caseless ammunition or brass retention is a requirement for a weapon intended to be used in zero gravity.
Unless you’re shooting inside a spaceship or station it would require an oxidiser in the powder to work and a way to counter act the recoil.
@@maxpower3990 A bunch of smart engineers at MASA, Air Force Lab, and defense contractors did a bunch of dev work and came up with experimental solutions. The frame of suit would have micro thrusters built in to stabilize shooter automatically using gyros. Boots that gripped the surface. One promising technology used puffs of compressed air from shooter's air supply . A nozzle was attached to firearm with soft hose connected to breathing air mix. Accelerometer inside nozzle device would register recoil and release appropriate amount of air puff as microburst to counteract recoil. Propellant charges are already self oxidizing and work in vacuum . Just as they work under water. Brass is a problem. In zero G it becomes a Hazzard due to quantity. Solution is caseless ammunition. Projectiles also present a space pollution issue in orbit. One proposed solution is frozen solid CO2 rounds. After firing the projectile would eventually boil away aided by vacuum of space, EM radiation. Solid CO2 ammunition would allow forces to manufacture their own ammunition using compressed gas and refrigeration.
@@maxpower3990 Dude, seriously? ALL types of gun powder are a mix of fuel and oxidizer, you don't need external oxygen for firearms to work. What are you, a home-schooled creationists?
Literally every aspect of this gun is a gigantic departure from everything in conventional firearms. Can you imagine how different the gun landscape would be today if this design had been pursued more?
here at aperture science, we fire the whole bullet. thats 65% more bullet per bullet
You're looking for a gyrojet, now that's all the bullet
@@caderidley2309 ITS 100% BULLET
@@caderidley2309 ah yes
Sounds right
I realize it's a portal quote but it's surprisingly close to correct, in this context. The ammo was considered to be just over 50% lighter than 5.56, meaning a soldier could carry 510 of these rounds for the same 16.2lbs/7,35kg weight as 240 5.56mm rounds (also equivalent to 100 7.62x51mm rounds). Doubling a soldiers combat load also lets them fire the G11s 3-rnd hyper burst nearlt as often as they would fire single aimed shots with an M4/M16, meaning they can shoot 300% more projectiles/bullets per shot. Which works out to roughly 66% more bullets per shot.
Looks like it does +20% damage against giant space insects.
"I'm doing my part!" "Would you like to know more?"
LOL!
Or -8000% damage against big scary aliens named after angels
@@RepublicanGuardMan Gotta scale it up to mech sized for those!
@@AnimeSunglasses youre better off using a scaled up ACR tho
When it comes to a technical level of how the gun works this is without a doubt the coolest weapon in existence
Ian, the ejection port not only serves to drop a dud round. It also serves to dump out expended primers allowing for a clean chamber as the next round is placed before going into battery. I've always been fascinated by the G11 since it showed up in the 70s And through the 80s. I wish I could have actually seen this beast in action.
This could be a telescoped cased cartridge design if we eliminate the barrel&mechanism recoil system then...
The internals of the G11 looks like what everyone that doesn't know anything about guns imagines the internals of a gun looks like.
Most underrated comment
Now i can say its complicated.
Some steampunk fashizzle there, eh?!
Maybe to someone who understands this system could look at it and think it looks real simple... I fear what ever looks complicated to them
Where's the shoulder thing that goes up?
So, a watchmaker, a steam locomotive engineer and a chemist walk into a bar.....
And the bartender says, "You're lucky folks, we've got a new special coctail today called German Governmental Development Funding"
I thought it was a virgin conception by HK from the "teutonic gods of germanness", as Ian called them in some other video.
And Hecker and Koch came in. They said "Wan sum jobs?"
And they meet a guy who make plastic blocks for a living
Such a shame that they were conscripted into the army to fight the United States....
Absolutely fascinating operating system! The 60s-80s really were an amazing time for the design and development of almost everything! Thank you for taking the time to make this video!
Shockingly bad for architecture though!
The G-11 is futuristic, but it's the kind of future you travel back in time to prevent from happening.
nah
@@tumetal yeh
yup nah...@@andrewsinclair7159
If they knew the costs they would probably terminate its development back in ~1978 after the first unsuccesful NATO trials.
This is why you dont leave german engineers unsupervised in a room alone for 30 minutes
YOU UTTER FOOL GERMAN SCIENCE IS THE BEST IM THE WORLD!!!?
@@torinodeguzman4243 hmm as German i wonder how other People think about us:P I say VW, HK Heckler & Koch has massive problems with the G36 in German Army, and Germany is the most BOOOOOOOORING Place on this Planet.
@@carlsjr.74 did you get the JoJo reference
DOITSU NO KAGAKU WA SEKAI ICHI!! *Extending right hand into the air
Torino Deguzman yes i got the reference stroheim
Caseless ammunition always makes me think of Cave Johnsons line in portal about the turrets "it fires the whole bullet, that's 65% more bullet per bullet".
You forgot... "This is Cave Johnson signing out...….. Caroline.. where's my....."
When you launch an interesting video in the background, listen it for a while, realizing "wow, what a nice story", check the time... and there is 20 more minutes to go!)) Brilliant!
You could just hose it down with WD-40 on occasion and it would probably run forever
Some fun facts about the G11: - The soldiers were supposed to carry additional magazines in a quiver, similar to the one you carry on your back to transport arrows. - The rate of fire slows down after extensive sustained fire. The reason is that the heat leads to thermal expansion of the rotating bolt which acts like a drum brake. At 22:17 you can see the gap between the bolt and the receiver which would get smaller. - Later models of the G11 have a predetermined breaking point in the receiver and bolt which would lead the explosion downwards in case the ammunition detonates. Apparently, it was a real pain to engineer those breaking points in as an afterthought. - H&K has/used to have a civilian division which produces a wide array of machines including sewing machines. Some of the engineers who usually develop the sewing machines worked on the mechanical system of the G11. EDIT: Because there are questions about the sources in the comments below: Some of the information are from a member of the WTS (Scientific Collection of Defence Engineering Specimens) which is part of the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement. They have a very nice museum in the city of Koblenz. I also used to know one of the engineers who worked for HK in the 80s, he told me some of the interesting things. Even though this infos are anectdotal, I have no reason to doubt the people who provided them. I should have mentioned the sources earlier, though. I didn't really thought about it considering this is a KZhead video.
Why does this comment not have more likes? I love trivia like that! Danké sir!
Amazing facts, thanks mate.
'Spare magazines were carried in a quiver'. Stop, I can only get so erect. I
maybe they used civil engineers because they didn't know what you can and cannot do, so they just went for it.
this is one of the best comments i saw on youtube for a while. it must be pinned to the top.
I am a German engineer, and everything about this weapon seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Well there's your problem
@@masterenos the only problem was timing and money. This gun should have been put into production. It should be done rn.
As a German technician it seems to me to have been over engineered (although my experience is more in bigger weapons systems.. Caliber 120mm and above)
@@uwekirschling9757 *Removes the 962nd screw from the subframe of any German car, said subframe is still firmly attached to the chassis and every single part that is supported by it* Yep, Germans made this
As a Romanian engineer i agree.
This was one of my favorite weapons to use in an old PC game called Global Operations (2002) made by Barking Dog Studios (who then turned into Rockstar).
Congrats to jim.. his toy is awesome. Also, wish Ian had referenced the Machinegun Version of the G11 that was planned. Solid Block magazine with x many rounds, inserted as a kind of shoulderstock..
Leave it the germans to teach a clock how to fire bullets.
*applause*
@Alan Hardcastle go sit in the corner and think about your life choices.
You win the internet.
Oberndorf is situated at the eastern border of the Black Forest, home of the cuckoo clock... ;)
Comment of the year
lock german engineers into a dark room with nothing and when you come back the door will open by itself
Also it will serve you a traditional german breakfast and read the whole Duden on command
@@BloodmoonPyke But only after they developed a DIN for your toilet seat, your cats waterbowl and your cars steering wheel.....
StuckInToaster and America will say there was a never a door as they relocate the whole room to where they keep a stockpile of paperclips.
And everything falls apart after a few hours of use and it costs a lung to replace.
@@zacharieelfali3401 What you described is Apple's business model.
Just to rub some salt in H&K's wounds, this setup looks like it could also work with FN's 5.7mm round; it looks like the system meant to expel dud caseless rounds would also eject spent brass, and a straight-wall, waxed cartridge like the 5.7 would solve the overheating problem. Also, for all its clockwork complexity, it solved the big issue the AN-94 ran into with its mobile feed ramp by simply fixing the magazine to the action, so it goes along for the ride.
The 5.7 round is necked
@@moparty4409 but straight walled.
HK G11 could be also a telescoped cased cartridge design if we eliminate the barrel&mechanism recoil system. Would be nice to see a prototype in 5.7x28.
Jonathan Ferguson was right when he said. “This gun is like if you gave a clock maker class A drugs and asked him to make a firearm.”
This video made me feel like a dog watching the tv, things are happening and I’m excited but I don’t understand why............
You basically described me watching Evangelion for the first time.
@@devilbuster20xx37 so true, I had to rewatch the End of Evangelion a couple times before I figured out what the hell actually, happened, lol. That being said it is one of my favorite animes,
Arthur Mota lol won’t expect to meet Eva fan in the comment section of a gun channel lol
@@mercuric5-nitrotetrazole678 I'm just a history nut, and a fan of anime, metal, and...browsing the internet at 2 am. Lol.
I been a fan of this channel for years, and it was a good comparison, lol
The G11 sounds like the outcome if they asked a brilliant genius who never seen a gun to design a gun with explaining every little detail but without ever showing him one. And it worked.
It's the Rotary Engine of guns.
@@privateprofile9659 Cool,works but less reliable than a 3$ Master Lock
Quite the opposite. This took a lot of engineering for both the gun and the ammunition. If you want to see the outcome of a gun being made with no knowledge of guns, check out home made guns.
@@Raulz The Wankel is not less reliable that a 3$ Master lock, it functions perfectly fine.
Aliens?
Hi I've just finished watching your G11 it truly is one of your best videos and I've watched many in the past very interesting very informative even though it is history I honestly can see Chinese firearm engineers taking a keen interest in this revolutionary weapon system once again great video
Great video. I read about the G-11 as a teenager in the 1980’s and always thought it sounded amazing. Frankly it still does. It is a shame that no one adopted it and that caseless ammo weapons have not been further developed. Thanks for showing so much of this very cool relic of what could have been.
"The recoil in the three-round burst is not felt by the weapon's user until after the third round has left the chamber." That's my favourite feature of this gun.
"That's 200% more bullet, per bullet."
You will never feel recoil if you dont shoot three shots then😉
@@Ze_N00B See? Just try getting to that cradle now. You can't.
I think Bungie needs to buff it a bit, but I still love the ornaments for it.
Volume of fire is the whole point of the weapon.
"Yeah but how do you stop dirt from clogging the whole system?" Germans: **builds it like a fucking submarine**
if it works why not?
clearly the g-11 is not an example to give of something working
@@Esablaka Because submarines aren't designed to be field stripped by soldiers. If you have to choose, better to have a gun that is easy to clean, than a gun that is difficult to get dirty.
@@SaladofStones But.... it worked? Or are there any reports about the gun not functioning? Atleast this video didnt mention anything about it.
@@Dancingcuban Well true. But I am pretty sure they had something in mind.
This might be my favorite vid title ever.
This G11 made the cover of Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, 6th edition, if you want more info on this weapon, and the ammo... And now we have this excellent video, thank you Forgotten Weapons, great work!
"well where's your cleaning rod?" "Forget it, you're not getting into this thing anyway."
It had special ammo to clean it. :)
@@petrameyer1121 then cleaning would be fun
In addition, at every full hour, three birds come out of the front of the gun and do a loop around the spare magazines
goddammit thats too funny
That’s a good name I approve
Lol
lmfao
That's good. And instead of saying cuu cuuwww, they say pew pew.
I love how excited you look in the thumbnail. And rightfully so.
If have watched this video a couple of times by now, but it's the first time that I noticed that the dummy action has Jim's toy written on the recoil spring housing
I can’t believe that Ian’s vid of the G11 is one of the top results for the search “space magic”
Thanks National Socialist quantum catboy
Schrödinger 7 months ago??? femboy man
Holy shit, it really is!
Now do a G11 reload.
Yooo reload guy
"listen recruits! we're about to start weapons training, but first a 3-year course in clock-smithing"
This firearm looks so futuristic. It looks like it can take out those evil robots from Terminator
What an absolute piece of art. Clearly watch makers were involved.
*G11 briefing* “Alright engineers, take everything you know” “ *AND THROW IT IN THE GARBAGE* ”
Hahahaha
More like: "apply everything you know at the same time" but yeah, both ways end up at the g11
"Take everything you know..." ... ... "And?" "And what?
To get this working, they kind of needed all those parts.
If I have a Country I will pick up this a make a Awesome 25/27/30mm AA cannon for our Troops.
"...plus, we fire the whole bullet. That's 65% more bullet per bullet." - Cave Johnson
That is awesome
Cave Johnson was one of the greatest minds of our time.
Durch Blut und Eisen, lol
"...I'm gonna burn your house down......with the lemons!" -Cave Johnson
@Dan The Man if you;re a gamer play Portal 2 if not.... it's a reference to something a character said in the game
I remember using this gun in Delta Force: Landwarrior on PC way back around 2002ish. I would select it the majority of the time because it looked like a crazy future gun I was used to seeing in comic books.
I remember it had pretty much zero recoil in that game which was at least half accurate. Couldn't put a silencer on it though
@@RongleBringer considering how the recoil system works, a silencer could cause issues
That is even not a rifle, rather a small factory to produce accurate high speed line of bullets!)
"This was a pretty good gun. It met all the requirements for being a infantry rifle, even surpassing the current rifles. For obvious reasons, it was never adopted." Sounds about right.
money
Great video, I learnt valuable things and changed my life Unsubscribed and reported.
"and the U.S. government found there was no improvement over the m16 in combat trials"
@@nlynn98 Good for them...?
@@hiTocopter Someone missed the joke.
Field strip procedure: super simple Detailed strip procedure: throw it away and get a new gun
It works for Apple.
Detailed strip procedure during fire fight for ANY gun - bend over and kiss you ..... goodbye
@@russell7489 Is there field strip strip procedure for a gun during a gunfight where you can come out of it ok?
Clockworks, typewriters, etc you can just dip in solvents for effective cleaning. Maintenance might actually be easier.
They should make a tediore version
I have been watching your videos for years!!! As a fellow gunsmith, you data and knowledge has been an absolute treat! Thank you!
I was at APG as part of the team that tested this beauty the major problems we had where with the ammunition not the weapon. It had severe fouling problems, otherwise I loved it very ergo dynamic and comfortable to shoot from any position .
It is just so mind-blowing how every single concept of this gun is completely different from what you know. It's like re-inventing the firearm from scratch.
Well, at least it still uses powder.
@@averagejoe9040 No, it uses brick. I'm pretty sure that 'shatter propellant brick into powder while feeding' would be a badness thing for this gun.
@@lynansheng whether its solidified or not, its still gunpowder.
There is very little progress in cartridges. Have a look at a 6.5 Swedish from around 1895. More recent designs are very similar. The G11 would have been a real revolution.
So what you're saying, it's the most German-Engineered thing a German Engineer ever German-Engineered?
A G11?! It's a Christmas miracle! Thank you, Gun Jesus!
On gun Jesus's birthday no less, what a selfless guy.
gun jesus? spewed coffee everywhere. too funny. loved it.
The actual Jesus may well have died for our sins, but he never showed us what the interior of a G11 looks like. Imagine if HK still had some ammunition lying around! Also, imagine if Jesus had had a G11. He would have crucified the Romans. For ten minutes, until the sand got in, at which point he would have a small club. I've just noticed, the dummy action has "jim's toy" engraved on the barrel at 27:33. I wonder who Jim was?
I reckon Gun Jesus did this video as a birthday present to himself
I came here to make the same comment. Well played sir, you beat me to it. Merry Chirstmas everybody!
I feel like the creator of cruelty squad took inspiration from your videos, the zippy and this gun are both prominent in his game. Very cool to see :)
The H&K Grey Room. My dream of a man cave.
“Hey Fritz” “Yes Hanz?” “First one to turn the wall clock into a gun wins a pack of Becks” **1 hour later** “I present the H&K G11”
You'll have to pick a better beer for Hans to be motivated
Underrated comment. You deserve my like.
2 minor notes on this: It's not a pack, its called a "Kasten" Don't even bother to try motivating any german with Beck's - Astra, Flens, Rothaus, Altenmünster, Paulaner or Erdinger are way better
@@plt927 thanks for the recommendations. I love German beer.
@@JBNimbleBand i love it too, but not Becks
They should make the transparent version of this. It'll be brilliant
“It’s a watch _and_ an assault rifle!”
kzhead.info/sun/ZbOwn8utlqekaqs/bejne.html
Swatch is making them
Just go to Home Depot and get some clear paint. SMH 🤦
@@1TieDye1 thanks man. That's amazing
I still enjoy coming back to this video every now and again just because "WOW", in all its forms, needs an occasional top-up.
that looks incredible especially the burst mode
safe semi-auto three round burst and a special fire mode that sucks 45 rounds back into the gun high-tech stuff.
You put what I was thinking into words better than I ever could have myself
As we speak about it: Why does the switch say 45, when the magazine holds 50 rounds ?!
@@Betterhose Because the user was expected to double tap and burst fire the weapon before switching it to party mode?
That's how you reload
That's how you reload the gun 😀
In this guns's case, there is no case I hereby rest my case
can I steal your case?
Cute
Jai ShriRam Get off my case, man.
what case?
I had to say something ... Just in case.
This gun's internals resemble an electric car window regulator assembly.
Masterpiece.
This is like the anti-AK in terms of design complexity
The more I think about it the more accurate this is AK: heavy, relatively inaccurate, made of wood and milled/stamped metal, mostly unchanged since the 1940s, requires practically no maintenance and yet will likely still function at the heat death of the universe. G11: lightweight, relatively accurate, made of precision machined metal in a polymer housing, finished development in the late 80s, is designed to be borderline disposable in part because maintenance is damn near impossible so the service life is guaranteed to be short.
@@Sammie1053 >inaccurate weve got a fudd
@@Sammie1053 >inaccurate Someone takes their gun knowledge from video games it seems?
More like the anti-STEN. The AK actually has some pretty smart engineering and while simple enough that most people with cursory gun knowledge can maintain it, it's definitely got some complexity. Meanwhile, the STEN is just a fucking angry metal tube.
@@casual_speedrunner1482 an angry metal tube that hurts, but does the job well. Still prefer the stg
I feel like the US ACR trials are just an occasional sick joke that the US Military likes to play on the world's top arms developers. "Thank you all for coming, it was fun playing with your toys, but we STILL like the M16!" **blows raspberrys and flips everyone the bird**
The Hiphopopotamus yeah, even Colt and AAI got shafted because “they didn’t meet requirements”
Essentially yes
Just what I was thinking. Imagine what it would cost to replace the M16! Doesn't bear thinking about!
Think of all the "Forgotten Weapons" episodes we wouldn't have if they did........
In fact, none of the 4 testing rifles had superior accuracy than M16. That made the project coming to the end.
Dayum this g11 variant is amazing! I like how the designers really thought about everything
In the PS1 game Syphon Filter 2 you could find the "H11" which looked identical to this in multiple parts of the first mission. Good times!
What age are you ? 50 ?
@@sitluxetluxfuit4481 Ouch. 32 actually, but sometimes I feel 50.
WHAT A GLORIOUS CHRISTMAS!!!
Kacper 89 should I report it for you?
The G11 (or fictional weapons based on the design) was very popular in early First Person Shooter games because its box-like shape made it very easy to model even with the restrictions at the time.
@Potato King I'm talking way back where models were so simplistic that it was hard to tell one handgun from another and they had to cut down the number of model faces as much as possible to make their games run at all. A box gun similar to the G11 is several dozen times less resource intensive than the AR-15 or AK families with all their details and rounded parts - it's just 1-2 boxes with some texture and a grip and scope. Easy to make and looks like a faithful adaption of the real deal.
I think fallout 2 was the first to feature it could be wrong
@Potato King Yeah but the SPAS-12 is a practical and functional weapon. It was even adopted by certain militaries.
@Potato King didn't know they existed until fallout 2. Same with the pancor.
Same with the FAMAS in Metal Gear Solid.
I can only imagine how terrifying being shot at by the 3 round burst would be. All of a sudden you hear a krakrakra all around you.
I remember getting a rifle dictionary a few years ago as a bday gift. This was one of the MANY rifles in that book and i fell in love with it the second i saw it! The Bumblebee movie version of my Transformers oc has a shoulder-mounted rifle based on this gun!
An HK designer explains: "While working on the action for the G11 rifle we had the support of a local Schwarzwald company called Junghans. The major issue they were struggling with was how to stop the cuckoo from popping up every 60 shots fired."
😂
@fullmetaljaco that sounds like something I wanna get into. The company still exists? Do you have more information on it? I like exotic and different things from places other than when I am.
@@slowbuild4840 why don't you, y'know, look it up. of course the company still exists. it's just a watch manufacturer. if you like exotic things from places where you're not from, get a cassio or a timex or some other shit if you're not from either Japan or the US. don't spend a shitload of money on something basically worthless, unless it's tiffany or elgin or faberge. OR you could start collecting Soviet watches. dirt cheap and are copies of designs like junghans and other german/european manufactured expensive watches. they look nice and are generally reliable. and won't ruin you finantially.
:-)
@fullmetaljaco I was looking at Junghans myself, but got a GREAT deal on a Nomos instead.
How to maintain this firearm: 1. Get a PhD in Mechanical Engineering
@@Marzsala its in fallout 2
@@Marzsala a theoretical degree? Those exist?
@@Marzsala what does that even entail what does having something theoretical open the door to I'm intrigued
@@Marzsala A can of WD-40
I accidentally read that as medical engineering.
25:23 "It's complicated, it's insanely complicated" As an engineer, I agree
"As an engineer, I ...." (nobody cares).
That Rifle looks so futuristic!
Germany: The place where the future was yesterday
Ein, zwei, polizei!
The Germans saw the future and decided it wasn't efficient enough and decided to wait with the rest of us as it is a more practical solution
@@1970DAH hahaha you are a funny insecure child. BuT but ThE inViSibLe sKy DaDDy Of ThE BrOwN pEoPle11111111111!!111111!
@@stefanb5189 His tin foil hat is too tight, so that the blood can't flow to the brain anymore.
I should not tell you ... but we Germans are a secret Borg collective. We were sent out to assimilate planet Earth. Resistance is futile. Expects the transformation to a cybernetic organism. A bright future in the Borg collective is approaching you.
i have a feeling the armorers in the Bundeswehr let out a happy sigh when they found out they were not going to use the G11
"good news, we will adopt the L85 instead!"
Yaaaaaaay *ohhhhh Scheisber!!*
@@murkywateradminssions5219 : Scheiße
I think Wesley Snipes found this in the museum in "Demolition Man." "AccMag is now activated."
There's one or two bouncing around Hollywood prop departments somewhere; one made it into Demolition Man as a laser rifle. Otherwise, it's a very german weapon. 'Do not open, no user-serviceable parts inside, if it needs major maintenance use an H&K-approved dealer or mail it back to Germany. We do not understand why you would need to dismantle our wonderful rifle in the field.'
Everyone else: "No cases to eject! Everything can be simpler!" Germans: "Not under our watch."
the watch or wall-clock?
@@DemetriusAniketos [Insert East Germany joke here]
How do you eject a faulty round?
@@gaeroot turn that charging handle 360°
@@zidniafifamani2378 My point being that a faulty cartridge may not behave as a normal cartridge for ejection. Since its not cased either, it can be squashed in some odd location that you now manually have to extract. Imagine the DeserTech 7.62mm MDR having an issue with ejecting a stuck round but now you can't open anything or access the action either - that's the G11 in worst case. But idk, haven't worked with the gun so maybe such a scenario is not possible.
“And low, the angels came down from the heavens with a G11 caseless rifle for Gun Jesus, and we saw that it was good”
*lo
"And St. John Browning wept in Heaven, for man had forgotten the cases of brass. And the LORD saith unto him, 'John, fear not. For the Case will remain. Mankind has not yet understood the G11 which I have given unto them, and they shall abstain, and the Prophets which I have appointed at H&K will be shunned, and called as witches.'"
This thing was certified as 'good to go' in like 1988... I *really* wish I could see what it could do with the improvements in technology, metallurgy, polymers, and optics that we've come up with in the past 35 years
It was abit hard to me to understand how this rifle work, but thank you for the explanation it's amazing, the bullet has to rotate 90 degrees. I expected that Cuz magazine holds bullet vertically not horizon otherwise all other weapons, this is an amazing rifle, I loved it.
He failed to mention one of the first things I thought of when I ran across this gun years ago. The square ammo fills all that wasted space in the corners with usable powder. A standard magazine has a lot of empty air in it. A G11 magazine is a solid brick of send these down range.
That's such a interesting point - effectively making the ammunition smaller for the same amount of powder and making it fit better into the magazine
Mind blown! Such a good point
How hard would it have been to adapt existing weaponry to use caseless ammo?
@@mattrobson3603 Agreed. The mags are long and would be awkward to carry. This is a fascinating gun but regular bullets are superior.
Yeah, like a stick of dynamite… wait
It’s happening OH MY GOD!!!
The happening levels are off the charts!
I wish I could see the face of a basic 17 year old boot who has to field strip and put it back together in under 2 minutes while an instructor is yelling at him.
28:05 the world's most complicated PEZ dispenser.