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Author: TAB
Ultimax 100 Light Machine Gun
In the late 1970s James Sullivan, one of ArmaLite’s former chief designers and one of the men responsible for the M16, began developing a new light machine gun for a company in Singapore. The Ultimax 100 is a 5.56x45mm, gas-operated magazine-fed light machine gun. It uses a short stroke gas piston system that acts on a continuously recoiling bolt.
Sullivan was originally approached to develop a new select-fire intermediate cartridge rifle for the Singaporean military. Working with Chartered Industries he developed a very lightweight light machine gun. Sullivan was especially interested in recoil mitigation and developed the Ultimax’s bolt to travel rearward without ever hitting a buffer or the receiver. This greatly lowers perceived recoil and makes the weapon much flatter shooting.
The Ultimax fires from an open bolt (which uses a multi-lug rotating bolt head) and has a non-reciprocating charging handle. It’s buttstock can be removed to make the weapon even more compact. The absence of a buffer in the butt allows the weapon length to be reduced to just 81cm (32 inches), making it an excellent weapon for jungle or urban combat. The Ultimax is also extremely light for a squad automatic weapon, weighing approximately 4.7kg unloaded, and around 6.5kg when loaded with a 100-round drum.
While the MkII Ultimax has a fixed barrel, the MkIII has a quick change barrel which releases by pulling a catch the the rear and simply twisting the barrel and pulling it forward. Unlike other machine guns the bolt can remain forward when the barrel is being removed.
The Ultimax feeds from either an adapted STANAG magazine or a 100 round drum magazine, which has a controlled internal feed rather than a belt. The drum was co-developed by Sullivan and Bob Waterfield. The weapon’s rear pistol grip is similar to the Stoner 63 weapon system’s (which Sullivan had also worked on) while the smaller, grooved front pistol grip is reminiscent of the classic Thompson submachine gun’s.
It is said that Singapore’s government would not allow the Ultimax to be entered in the US’ Squad Automatic Weapon trials as the US government had refused them the technical package for the M16. Other sources suggest there was a commercial disagreement between Colt and Chartered Industries Over region sales of the M16. As a result the FN Minimi won the trials and was adopted as the M249. Those who have fired both claim that the Ultimax would have given the Minimi more than a run for its money. Despite this the Ultimax has seen action around the world and has been in service with the Singapore Army since 1982.
An updated version was offered in the US Marine Corps’ Infantry Automatic Rifle trial but was beaten by Heckler & Koch’s HK416, now the M27. ST Kinetics, formerly Chartered Industries, continues to improve and produce the Ultimax with the Mk8 introduced in 2012.
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Technical Specifications (from 1982 Sales Brochure):
Length: 103cm (40 in)
Weight (unloaded): 4.7kg (10.4 lbs)
Barrel Length: 50.8cm (20.0 in)
Action: Gas operated
Calibre: 5.56x45mm
Feed: 100-round drum or 30-round STANAG magazines
Cyclic Rate: ~400-600 rpm
Bibliography:
The Interview: L. James Sullivan, Part II, 28th February 2007, Small Arms Review, (source)
1982 Ultimax 100 Sales Brochure, Chartered Industries of Singapore, (source)
The Past is Another Country: Ultimax 100, WeaponsMan, (source)
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, I. V. Hogg, (1985)
F1 Submachine Gun
The Australian military adopted the F1 submachine gun in 1962, with the first guns reaching troops in April 1963, it replaced the venerable Owen gun. Like the earlier Owen the F1 had a top-mounted magazine – a position that lent itself to prone firing and more comfortable carrying when slung. But it also shared some similarities with the British L2A3 Sterling.
The F1 entered service alongside the Australian L1A1 (self-loading rifle/FN FAL), it shared the rifles butt plate and pistol grip – slightly minimising additional unique parts needed by the submachine gun. Australian Ordnance had begun searching for a replacement for the ageing Owen gun after the Korean War. The Owen had been made quickly and cheaply during the Second World War and while it was well liked by Australian troops it was felt it could be improved upon. Maintenance of the older Owen guns proved difficult as each weapon had been hand fitted to speed up production and some parts proved not to be interchangeable.
A number of designs were developed including one designated the ‘Kokoda’ (presumably after the Kokoda Trail campaign fought by Australian troops in 1942). This design was lighter than the Owen but suffered from overheating problems. A series of designs from the Australian Design Establishment, designated the ‘X’ series, were then developed. These weapons incorporated elements from both the Owen and the British Sterling. Including the Sterling’s perforated barrel jacket and magazine and the Owen’s bolt, magazine orientation and forward pistol grip – a feature many troops with experience with both the Owen and F1 lamented to loss of with the adoption of the F1. The first two ‘X’ series weapons developed into the X3 which in 1962, after successful trials, became the F1.
The F1 used a standard blowback action with a non-reciprocating charging handle. The charging/cocking handle was positioned on the left side of the receiver with its slot protected from the ingress of dirt by a dust cover. The F1 has a two-position fire selector with up for ‘safe’ and down for ‘fire’. The trigger mechanism allowed for firing single shots by pulling the trigger to the half-way point, this allowed the sear to trip into the semi-automatic position (see the diagram below).
Chambered in 9x19mm, the F1 fed from a 34-round curved magazine, although it could use straight, single-feed, Sten or Owen magazines. In the 1960s, in order to achieve commonality with Britain and other Commonwealth nations, that used the Sterling Submachine Gun, the Australian government contacted the Sterling Armaments Company to enquire how much a license to produce Sterling’s magazines would cost, only to be quoted an exorbitant fee. The Australian government were unwilling to pay for the license and produced them anyway. And as Sterling could not afford to take legal action were able to continue to do so – with the understanding they would not sell any commercially. The Australian government would later purchase a number of suppressed Mark 5 Sterling-Patchetts, also adopted by the British army as the L34A1.
The weapon’s ejection port was located on the bottom of the receiver ahead of the trigger guard. A small piece of metal was added in front of the ejection port, as a hand stop, to prevent the operator from inadvertently moving their hand over the port. The F1 had an in-line stock fitting into the rear of the tube receiver. The sights were offset to the right, the rear peep sight folded against the receiver when not in use while the front sight, rather than over the muzzle, projected from the right side of the magazine housing. The F1 could also mount the L1A1 self-loading rifle’s standard L1A2 sword bayonet.
The F1 weighed just over 7lbs (3.2kg), was 28 inches long and had a cyclic rate of approximately 600 rounds per minute. It had a solid butt stock, unlike the Sterling which had a folding stock. The F1 was produced solely by the Lithgow Small Arms Factory with most sources suggesting 25,000 were produced for the Australian military between 1963 and 1973. The Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum were kind enough to look into the exact number made for us, and reported that there is some uncertainty surrounding the exact number produced with production report totals varying, giving a total of either 21,916 or 24,828.
The F1s saw extensive service in Vietnam and later with Australian peacekeeping troops through to the 1990s. It was issued to rear echelon troops, ACP and aircraft crews and to infantry sections. While the F1 was appreciated for its reliability, for those troops who had experience with the venerable Owen Gun, the F1 lacked a certain something. Colonel Warren Feakes noted that “every time I picked up an F1 I had the feeling that something was missing.” Another Australian veteran, Warrant Officer Kevin Konemann, who served in Vietnam in 1966-67, recalled: “It was awkward to fire from the shoulder and more awkward to fire from the hip” and that “the F1 wasn’t popular. Soldiers found it more difficult to point and bring on target than the OMC [Owen Gun] and firing from the shoulder… was decidedly more difficult without the front hand grip.”
Despite the shortcomings identified by some troops the F1 remained in service alongside the L1A1 self-loading rifle into the early 1990s, when both were phased out of use as the 5.56x45mm F88 (Steyr AUG) was adopted.
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Technical Specifications:
Length: 28 inches (71cm)
Weight (unloaded): 7lbs (3.2kg)
Barrel Length: 8.35 inches (19.8cm)
Action: Blowback
Calibre: 9x19mm
Feed: 34 round box magazine
Cyclic Rate: ~600 rpm
Bibliography:
1966 Infantry Training Pamphlet, Platoon Weapons, Sub-machine Gun 9mm, F1, Australian Army, (source)
Repair Parts Scale, 9mm, F1 SMG, Australian Army, (source)
Vietnam ANZACs Australian & New Zealand Troops in Vietnam 1962-1972, K. Lyles (2004)
Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, I. Hogg & J. Weeks (1985)
‘Another Australian Native: The 9mm F1 Submachine Gun’, Arms & Militaria Collector No.21, pp. 53-56, I. Skennerton, (source)
Modern Small Arms, F. Myatt (1979)
The Owen Gun, W. Wardman, (1991)
F1 Sub-machine Carbine, Lithgow Museum, (source)
Please do not reproduce photographs taken by Matthew Moss without permission or credit. ©The Armourer’s Bench 2018.
TAB: Recommended Reading – The ArmaLite AR-10 by Joseph Putnam Evans
This is the first instalment of what will hopefully become a regular feature where we discuss some of the books we use when researching the guns we feature in our videos. We’ll give an overview of what the books cover, how they approach subjects and how good a resource they are.
With Vic’s recent special episode on the AR-10, I’ve been using Joseph Putnam Evans’ book ‘The ArmaLite AR-10: The World’s Best Battle Rifle‘ to help write the accompanying blog posts. While not without its flaws Evans’ book is without doubt the best published source on the AR-10 currently available.
For many years the published material on the AR-10 was confined to both contemporary gun magazine articles on the ‘new’ rifle and a handful of retrospective articles published later. Very little was written about their surprisingly extensive combat use or even the nuances of the design changes. Even the Black Rifle books, also published by Collector Grade, lacked the context of where the AR-15 evolved from. ArmaLite AR-10 is well worth reading, and a great base for further research.
Special Episode: The ArmaLite AR-10 (Pt.2)
If you missed the first part of our special episode on the AR-10 you can find it here!
Vic brings us the second part of his special episode looking at the story of the AR-10, with a very unique run down of various variants of Eugene Stoner’s weapon. Vic runs us through every production model made by Artillerie Inrichtingen as well as several special prototypes and transitional models.
After a recap look at an example of a Hollywood-made rifle Vic shows us how the AR-10 worked using an instructional cutaway model. Throughout the video Vic examines all of the major production guns, beginning with an early A.I. production gun that incorporates the same ‘beer can’ muzzle device as the original American-made rifles. Vic then takes us through a series of rifles that represent the evolution of the design.
Beginning with the Cuban model, with its pencil profile barrel and top mounted gas tube. This model was also trailed by both the Dutch Army and the German Bundeswehr. Later in the video Vic gives us a quick look at the various German trials rifles the FAL (G1), the SIG 510-1 (G2), the H&K/CETME (G3) and the AR-10 (G4).
Vic follows the Cuban model with a look at the Sudanese Model, with its bayonet lug sleeve, and the Guatemalan variant which swaps out the bayonet lug for rifle grenade launching capability. The Sudanese military ordered 2,508 rifles from A.I.
In addition to these Vic also gives us a look at an extremely rare prototype carbine, a sporter model (the AR-102) and a prototype squad automatic weapon with a heavier profile barrel. Vic then takes us through the features of the final A.I.-made variant, the Portuguese or NATO model. The rifle was officially adopted by the Portuguese army’s Caçadores Páraquedistas (paratroops) and saw action in Angola, Portuguese Guinea and Mozambique.
Vic then takes a look at a series of rare variants and one-offs, including a rifle with green furniture made for Prince Bernhard, the Royal consort to Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and a heavy barrelled magazine-fed squad automatic rifle with a rubber butt-pad and additional folding carrying handle.
To round out the story of Artillerie Inrichtingen’s involvement with the AR-10, Vic is lucky enough to take a close look at an M1 Garand adapted to feed from surplus AR-10 aluminium waffle magazines. This concept was developed to equip the NATRES, the Dutch Army Reserve, and was based somewhat on the Italian Beretta BM-59. Vic shows us both a very early prototype BM-59 and one of only two A.I. Garand adaptation prototypes.
In the next part of the series Vic will examine several examples of the belt-fed AR-10. If you missed the first part of the series, which featured the early history of the ArmaLite AR-10 and a very rare original promotional film featuring Eugene Stoner himself, you can find that here!
If you enjoyed the video and this article please consider supporting our work here.
Bibliography:
The Armalite AR-10: World’s Finest Battle Rifle, J. Putnam Evans (2016)
Hybrid Sten
During our first research trip last spring I had the opportunity to examine an unusual ‘hybrid’ Sten submachine gun. The weapon combined a MkII Sten’s receiver with a MkIII’s magazine housing. Added to this was a proprietary folding stock and a new fire control group and pistol grip.
Very little is known about the hybrid Sten with Peter Laidler’s book The Sten Machine Carbine mentioning it and the later Osprey book by Leroy Thompson sharing a photograph and brief caption which calls it an “experimental version of the Mk III.” It is also unclear exactly when it was built.
Below are some photographs I took of the Sten, lets look at some of the interesting features of the Hybrid Sten.
No production Variant of the Sten was fitted with an under-folding stock, the Australian Austen, however, directly copied the MP38/40. The entire weapon is covered by a layer of textured, crackle paint finish, this was commonly used on commercial Sterling Mk4 submachine guns. The weapon has a short, 3.5 inch, perforated fore-end welded onto the front of the tube receiver that appears to be from a Lanchester.
The under folding stock is rudimentary but effective, the butt plate swivels free but the lock up is quite secure. It uses the receiver main spring-loaded return-spring cap. The folding stock attaches to the pistol grip assembly (which can be seen detached below).
The proprietary rectangular trigger group housing brazed onto the tub receiver is unlike any other Sten and lacks a fire-selector.
The pistol grip itself is made from paxoline, a form of early resin plastic. The shape shape of the pistol grip does not resemble any production or prototype Sten grip. A simple hand-stop, made from a bent piece of sheet metal, has also been added in front of the weapon’s ejection port to prevent the user’s hand moving back and fingers being caught if gripped by the forend.
While the origins of the hybrid Sten remain unclear I don’t believe it was an officially made prototype. While impressive it is relatively crudely assembled and does not match the Sten prototypes made by Enfield, such as the VI. Intriguingly, the magazine housing of the weapon has been stamped ‘PILOT’ below the usual ‘STEN MkIII’ stamp. I suspect that the weapon may have been put together by a unit armourer, perhaps authorised by a superior officer to suggest improvements or as an unofficial project gun.
UPDATE: Their is some evidence emerging that this Hybrid Sten may be related to the T42 Sten prototype, part of the Sten MkIV development program. Where this hybrid fits into the story is not yet clear but the similarities are striking, when we have more information we will revisit this weapon.
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Technical Specifications:
Length (with stock folded): approx. 40cm (30in)
Weight: approx. 3kg (7lb)
Barrel Length: 16cm (6.5in)
Action: Blowback
Calibre: 9x19mm
Feed: 32 round box magazine
Cyclic Rate: approx. 500 rpm
Bibliography:
The Sten Machine Carbine, P. Laidler (2000)
The Sten Gun, L. Thompson (2012)
Please do not reproduce photographs taken by Matthew Moss without permission or credit. ©The Armourer’s Bench 2018.
1958 ArmaLite AR-10 Promotional Film
In the first part of Vic’s special episode on the AR-10 we brought you a remastered version of the fascinating 1958 ArmaLite/Fairchild promotional sales film made for ArmaLite salesmen, like Sam Cummings and Jacques Michault, to show to prospective buyers of the new rifle. Back in the 1990s Vic was lucky enough to scan Michault’s copy the film and has recently remastered with better image quality.
Below you can find the video, time stamped to begin at the promotional film (although I highly recommend you watch the entire video for Vic’s introduction to the early history of the AR-10).
Lets break the video down, with the help of some screen captures. The film opens with a rifleman emerging from the sea, firing as he advances. The film then explains Fairchild’s background and beings to explain the features of the rifle.
The film then shows several shots of the rifle’s lower receiver being milled.
None other than the rifle’s designer himself, Eugene Stoner, then takes an AR-10 from a wall display and proceeds to completely disassemble it.
Stoner completely strips the rifle, its muzzle device and its magazine before Charles Dorchester, ArmaLite’s production manager, demonstrating the rifle’s operation and subjects it to sub-zero temperatures and once again firing the rifle.
Chuck Dorchester submerges he rifle in what appears to be liquid nitrogen
Dorchester again test fires the rifle
The film then shows the rifle being used in a variety of roles:
Stoner then covers the rifle with sand before running five magazines through the rifle in quick succession to demonstrate reliability:
The rifle is then submerged in mud (with its dust cover closed) and demonstrated again.
The film then shows how simple field stripping and cleaning is before Stoner demonstrates the belt-fed variant of the rifle:
Don’t forget to check out the full episode and the accompanying blog here!
If you enjoyed the video and this article please consider supporting our work here.
Special Episode: The ArmaLite AR-10 (Pt.1)
In this first part of a TAB special episode examining the history of the ArmaLite AR-10 Vic discusses the early origins, history and development of the now legendary 7.62x51mm rifle. At the heart of this episode is a remastered version (certainly the best currently available online) of the c.1958 ArmaLite/Fairchild promotional film that features Eugene Stoner and shows many of the early ‘Hollywood’ Armalites in action! The first part of this special documentary concludes with Vic examining a Hollywood-made AR-10B (the last iteration of the US-made AR-10s).
Part two of the episode can be found here and includes an overview of almost every Artillerie Inrichtingen (A.I.)-made model of AR-10, including the Cuban, Sudanese and Portuguese variants.
Armalite & the AR-10’s Early History
Much has been written about the AR-10, Eugene Stoner and the genesis of the AR-15’s parent rifle. It’s a design which owes much to many: Stoner, George Sullivan, Melvin Johnson and later the engineers at Artillerie Inrichtingen.
ArmaLite, formed by George Sullivan with the help of Richard Boutelle, President of the Fairchild Engine and Aircraft Corporation, began work on the first AR-10 prototypes in 1955. Designed by Eugene Stoner, using his patented direct gas impingement system. Stoner patented this system in 1956, with the patent being granted in September 1960 (US #2,951,424).
The AR-10 had an aluminium-alloy forged receiver, an in-line stock, polymer furniture and chrome-lined steel parts. While conventional steel barrels were the norm an ill-fated attempt to use an aluminium/steel composite barrel during US Army evaluations proved disastrous when the steel inner parted from the aluminium outer and caused the barrel to burst. As a result of these weight saving efforts the rifle weighed just ~3.4kgs/7.5lbs unloaded. The Armalite AR-10 had a side mounted gas tube, a top mounted charging handle and fed from 20-round box magazines. One of the most interesting features was the large aluminium muzzle device, fitted to some ArmaLite-made Rifles, which reduced sound and flash.
In 1957, ArmaLite sold the AR-10 manufacturing rights to the Dutch small arms manufacturer Artillerie Inrichtingen, while US manufacture was licensed by Colt in February 1959. With minimal financial returns Fairchild sold their interests in ArmaLite in 1962.
Featured in the first part of Vic’s special episode on the AR-10 is an original Armalite/Fairchild promotional film, originally filmed in 16mm, that dates from around 1958. While a version of this film has been shared online for a number of years it is grainy, washed out and of relatively low audio quality. Vic reproduced the very rare promotional sales film in the 1990s onto VHS (a process he explains in the video). He has managed to take an original VHS copy and digitally remaster it to regain some of the original’s clarity and detail.
The promotional film was originally used by salesmen to showcase the AR-10 to potential clients and features Hollywood-produced guns. Both Stoner and Charles Dorchester (ArmaLite’s production manager) are seen in the film demonstrating the AR-10. The rifle’s action, function and controls are explained and various variants, including rifle and light machine gun, are demonstrated. The demonstration segment included a sub-zero test, covering in sand and much and Stoner himself dumping 5 magazine’s through the rifle in quick succession. The promotional film concluded with demonstrations of firing rifle grenades and a belt-fed AR-10.
Vic concludes the first part of the AR-10 overview episode with an examination of an AR-10B rifle held by the Netherlands’ Nationaal Militair Museum. In the second part of the episode Vic will look at nearly a dozen AR-10 variants made by Artillerie Inrichtingen (A.I.) between 1957 and 1961.
Part 2 of the AR-10 special can be found here!
If you enjoyed the video and this article please consider supporting our work here.
Bibliography:
The Armalite AR-10: World’s Finest Battle Rifle, J. Putnam Evans (2016)
ArmaLite AR-10 Promotional Video (courtesy of Vic Tuff)
10 Episode Recap
Earlier this week we posted our 10th episode, on the HK53, I thought this would be a good point to recap on our first 10 videos. We’ve reached over 560 subscribers and had nearly 15,000 views over on YouTube. We couldn’t be happier with the response we’ve had so thank you all for watching and reading. We’ll have new episodes up soon and will hopefully be filming more in the new year!
In the meantime here’s a recap of everything we’ve covered so far from 18th century breech-loaders to 20th century caseless assault rifles!
Here’s our very first video, with Vic and I introducing the project and explaining what we hope to accomplish!
Our first proper episode covered the unusual WWII British Besal Light Machine Gun.
The Durs Egg-made Crespi Breechloader with its long spear point bayonet was a personal favourite.
Vic took a look at the X11E4 ‘Belt-fed Bren’ in our 4th episode.
The extremely rare Maxim-Tokarev Light Machine Gun.
Australia’s other WWII submachine gun, the Austen.
In Episode 7 I took a look at the US M45 .50 cal Quadmount
Vic took a look at not one but two Heckler & Koch G11s in Episode 8!
I took a look at the Chilean prototype FAMAE PAF submachine gun in Episode 9.
Finally, in Episode 10 I took a quick look at the handy Heckler & Koch HK53 carbine
Thanks for watching, reading, subscribing and commenting on the videos we’ve posted so far. It means a lot to us that so many people have enjoyed our content so far and we look forward to sharing much, much more with you!
Thanks again,
Matt
Heckler & Koch HK53
In 1968 Heckler & Koch launched the HK33, chambered in 5.56x45mm, to compete with Colt’s AR-15/M16. The HK33, and later HK53, used the same roller-delayed blowback action developed for the G3 in the mid 1950s. However, few major contracts were forthcoming with the German military opting to continue using the 7.62x51mm G3.
Due to the modularity of the HK33′s design users could replace the butt of the standard rifle with a collapsible telescopic metal stock. H&K also subsequently designed a carbine version of the full-length HK33, the HK33K with a telescopic metal stock and 12.7 inch barrel. In the mid-1970s H&K began development an even shorter version. The result was essentially an intermediate calibre submachine gun similar to the Colt Commando and the Soviet AKS-74U. H&K designated this new weapon the HK53, it used the same telescopic stock as the HK33K and MP5 and a cut down 11 inch barrel, the HK53 also utilised a polymer forearm similar to the MP5s.
Like the HK33, the HK53 fed from 25, 30 or 40 round box magazines. The weapon weighed just over 3kg (7lb), almost a 1 kg less than its parent rifle the HK33. Unlike the HK33, the HK53 has a four prong flash hider. A number of police forces and militaries adopted the HK53 for a variety of roles. Special forces units around the world including the British SAS, Royal Military Police Close Protection Unit and Royal Marines, designated the L101A1 in British service, who typically used it during close protection duties and operations involving close quarter battle.
As shown in various MoD Equipment Failure Reports dating from the early 1990s the HK53’s in British service suffered from repeated damage and failure of the carbines’ locking rollers. This issue arose when using a number of different ammunition types including brass cased blank ammunition (H&K recommend the use of their proprietary blank cartridges). Following a meeting between the Army Technical Support Agency’s Directorate of Engineering and H&K a new design for the locking pieces were developed. These changes “increased the roll of blowback force during the unlocking phase… in turn this will reduce the mean energy of the recoiling mass of breech block and carrier” this was intended to reduce bolt bounce. The Royal Military Police Close Protection Unit’s L101A1’s were also fitted with a new two stage buffer within a fixed stock. In British service the L101 was replaced by the L22A2 carbine and the L119A1 (C8 Carbine).
Due to its short length the HK53 also found itself pressed into the port-firing weapon role. Designated the HK53 MICV in this role the foregrip and stock was removed and a specially designed endcap and a spent case bag could be attachment. During its service life the HK53 went through a series of changes to furniture mouldings, buttstock types and fire selector options. It remained in production into the early 2000s, when Heckler & Koch replaced the HK33 and HK53 with the G36 and G36K.
If you enjoyed the video and this article please consider supporting our work here.
Technical Specifications (from 1987 H&K brochure):
Length (with stock extended): 76.5cm (30in)
Weight (collapsible stock, unloaded): 3.35kg (7.4lb)
Barrel Length: 22.5cm (8.5in)
Action: Roller delayed blowback
Calibre: 5.56x45mm
Feed: 25, 30, or 40-round box magazine
Cyclic Rate: approx. 700 rpm
Bibliography:
The World’s Assault Rifles, G.P. Johnston & T.B. Nelson, (2010)
Heckler & Koch HK33 & HK53 manual (source)
HK53 factory colour brochure, 1987, (via Small Arms Review Reference Library)
Itemised list of L101A1’s which suffered damaged locking rollers, MoD Equipment Failure Report, 15 Nov. 1994, (via Small Arms Review Reference Library)
Army Technical Support Agency report on receiver damage to HK53 and G3 rifles, 1996,(via Small Arms Review Reference Library)
Please do not reproduce photographs taken by Matthew Moss without permission or credit. ©The Armourer’s Bench 2018.
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