Heckler & Koch#HK naming system

File:GERMAN RIFLE G3 7.62MM-1.jpg rifle, Heckler & Koch's first firearm, photographed by the United States Army's Ordnance Corps in January 1961]]

With the fall of Nazi Germany and the following Allied occupation of Germany, Oberndorf came under French control, and the entire Waffenfabrik Mauser AG factory was dismantled by French occupying forces. All factory records were destroyed on orders of the local French Army commander. In 1948, three former Mauser engineers, Edmund Heckler, Theodor Koch, and Alex Seidel, saved what they could from the factory and used what they had salvaged to start a machine tool plant in the vacant factory that became known as the Engineering Office Heckler & Co.{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Jerry|title=Standard Catalog of Rifles & Shotguns|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLlG3aX7enAC&pg=PT1143|year=2011|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-1-4402-3014-1|page=1143}}{{cite book|last=Lee|first=Jerry|title=The Official Gun Digest Book of Guns & Prices 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zyYXCAyeBZwC&pg=PA490|year=2013|publisher=Krause Publications|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-1-4402-3543-6|page=490}}

On 28 December 1949, the Engineering Office Heckler & Co. changed its name and was registered officially as Heckler & Koch GmbH. Initially the new company manufactured machine tools, bicycle and sewing machine parts, gauges, and other precision parts.{{cite book|title=Firearms: An Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ma0MAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA256|year=2014|publisher=DK Publishing/ Smithsonian Institution|isbn=978-1-4654-3089-2|page=256}} In 1956, Heckler & Koch responded to the West German government's tender for a new infantry rifle for the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}} with the proposal of the G3 battle rifle, based on the Spanish CETME Model 58 rifle and developed in cooperation with CETME. The German government awarded Heckler & Koch the tender and in 1959 declared the G3 the standard rifle of the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}}.{{cite book|last=Schwing|first=Ned|title=Standard Catalog of Military Firearms: The Collector's Price and Reference Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xrmt_KlkvcC&pg=PA174|date=5 November 2005|publisher=Krause Publications|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=0-87349-902-6|page=174}}{{cite book|last=Tilstra|first=Russell C.|title=The Battle Rifle: Development and Use Since World War II|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_a0zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA45|date=21 March 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-1564-6|pages=38–50|chapter=HK G3}} Later in 1961, Heckler & Koch developed the 7.62×51mm HK21 general-purpose machine gun, based on the G3.{{cite book|last=Cutshaw|first=Charles Q.|title=Tactical Small Arms of the 21st Century: A Complete Guide to Small Arms From Around the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=npHP9aV5rBgC&pg=PA368|date=28 February 2011|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-1-4402-2482-9|page=368}}

In 1966, Heckler & Koch introduced the HK54 machine pistol, which eventually launched in 1969 as the MP5 submachine gun.{{cite book|last1=Musgrave|first1=Daniel D.|last2=Oliver|first2=Smith Hempstone|title=German Machineguns|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f_9CAAAAIAAJ|year=1971|publisher=MOR Associates|page=345}} Two years later, the company introduced the HK33 assault rifle, a smaller version of the G3 chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO.{{cite book|last=Gander|first= Terry J.|editor= Hogg, Ian V. |title=Jane's Infantry Weapons 1995/1996|publisher=Jane's Information Group|edition= 21 |year=1995}}{{cite book|last=Willbanks|first=James H.|title=Machine Guns: An Illustrated History of Their Impact|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWkYoAkoMHIC&pg=PA138|date=1 January 2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-85109-480-6|page=138}}

In 1974, Heckler & Koch diversified into two more areas, HK Defense and Law Enforcement Technology and HK Hunting and Sports Firearms. Since then, HK has designed and manufactured more than 100 different types of firearms and devices for the world's military and law enforcement organizations as well as sports shooters and hunters.{{cite book|last=Shideler|first=Dan|title=The Gun Digest Book of Modern Gun Values: The Shooter's Guide to Guns 1900–Present|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWFXRDeFrpsC&pg=PA326|year=2009|publisher=Gun Digest Books|location=Iola, Wisconsin|isbn=978-0-89689-824-0|pages=322–326}} In 1990, Heckler & Koch completed two decades of development of their caseless weapon system and produced prototypes of the G11 rifle. The company also produced prototypes of the G41 assault rifle intended for the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}}. Due to the international political climate at the time (East and West Germany uniting and defense budget cuts) the company was unable to secure funded contracts from the German government to support production of either weapon system and became financially vulnerable. The following year, Heckler & Koch was sold to British Aerospace's Royal Ordnance division.

During 1994 and 1995, the German government awarded Heckler & Koch contracts for producing an updated standard assault rifle and updated standard sidearm for the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}}. Heckler & Koch developed and produced the Project HK50, a lightweight carbon fiber assault rifle, which became the G36 assault rifle. In addition, Heckler & Koch produced the P8 pistol, derived from its USP handguns produced since 1989. The USP was adopted as the standard sidearm of the {{lang|de|Bundeswehr}} in 1994, and the G36 was adopted as their standard-issue rifle in 1995.{{cite web | last = Heckler & Koch Global | title = Pistole P8 | url = http://www.heckler-koch.de/HKWebText/detailProd/1925/121/4/21 | access-date = 2008-07-28 | archive-date = 2008-09-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080901200846/http://www.heckler-koch.de/HKWebText/detailProd/1925/121/4/21 | url-status = dead }}

As the result of a 1999 merger between British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems, Heckler & Koch was owned by the resulting BAE Systems; it was contracted to refurbish the British Army's SA80 rifles (which had been manufactured by Royal Ordnance){{cite web|url=http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/support-weapons/1458.aspx |title=British Army Website information page on the SA80 A2 rifle |access-date=2008-08-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828040318/http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/support-weapons/1458.aspx |archive-date=28 August 2008 }} This contract entailed a modification program to the SA80 series of rifles to address a number of reliability issues with the design. In 2002, BAE Systems restructured and sold Heckler & Koch to a group of private investors, who created the German group holding company HK Beteiligungs GmbH.

In 2003, HK Beteiligungs GmbH's business organization restructured as Heckler & Koch Jagd und Sportwaffen GmbH (HKJS), and its business was separated into the two business areas similar to the 1974 business mission areas: Defense, and Law Enforcement and Sporting Firearms. In 2004, Heckler & Koch was awarded a major handgun contract for the United States Department of Homeland Security, worth a potential $26.2 million for up to 65,000 handguns.{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3197/is_11_49/ai_n7579143|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707233942/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3197/is_11_49/ai_n7579143|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-07|title=Industry arms Homeland Security|access-date=2008-08-30 | work=Shooting Industry | year=2004}} This contract ranks as the single largest handgun procurement contract in U.S. law enforcement history.{{cite web|url=http://www.hksystems.com.au/news.htm |title=HK Australia website |access-date=2008-08-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719173707/http://www.hksystems.com.au/news.htm |archive-date=19 July 2008 }}

File:Heckler & Koch Oberndorf 01.jpg, 2008]]

HK was contracted by the United States Army to produce the kinetic energy subsystem{{cite web|url=http://www.thegunsource.com/Heckler-Koch.aspx |title=The Gun Source - HK |access-date=2008-08-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522150520/http://www.thegunsource.com/Heckler-Koch.aspx |archive-date=22 May 2008 }} (see: kinetic projectiles or kinetic energy penetrator) of the Objective Individual Combat Weapon, a planned replacement for the M16 rifle/M203 grenade launcher combination. The OICW was designed to fire 5.56 mm rounds and 25 mm grenades. The kinetic energy component was also developed separately as the XM8, though both the OICW and XM8 are now indefinitely suspended.

Heckler & Koch developed an AR-15/M4 carbine variant, marketed as the HK416.{{cite web|url=http://world.guns.ru/assault/as75-e.htm|title=Modern Firearms|access-date=2008-08-30|archive-date=2006-06-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060619190113/http://world.guns.ru/assault/as75-e.htm|url-status=dead}} HK replaced the direct impingement system used by the Stoner design on the original M16 with a short-stroke piston operating system. The civilian models are named the MR223 and, in the U.S., the MR556A1.{{Cite web|url=https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/products/sport/rifles/mr223-a3/mr223-a3-165/overview.html|title = Heckler & Koch :: Product Overview | MR223A3 - 16.5"}}

In 2007, United States Secretary of the Army Pete Geren agreed to hold a "dust chamber" test pitting the M4 against the Heckler & Koch HK416 and XM8, as well as the rival FN SCAR design. The Heckler & Koch XM8 and FN SCAR had the fewest failures in the test, closely followed by the HK416, while the M4 had by far the most.{{cite web|url=http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003908.html |title=Defence Technology Website |access-date=2008-08-30 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828125442/http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003908.html |archive-date=2008-08-28 }} In 2007, the Norwegian Army became the first to field the HK416 as a standard-issue rifle.{{cite journal|last=Bentzrød |first=Sveinung Berg |date=April 13, 2007 |title=Arvtageren til AG-3 |journal=Aftenposten.no |url=http://www.Aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1733557.ece |access-date=2007-06-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090212064123/http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article1733557.ece |archive-date=February 12, 2009 }}

HK sells its pistols in the United States to both law enforcement and civilian markets, through its HK USA subsidiary. The company has locations in Virginia, New Hampshire, and Georgia.

{{See|List of Heckler & Koch products}}

File:H&K HV 080810 046.jpg personal defense weapon, UMP submachine gun, and G36C assault rifle, firearms developed by Heckler & Koch at the turn of the 21st century]]

Heckler & Koch has produced a variety of firearms including the G3, HK21, MP5, HK4, HK33, HK69, VP70, PSG1, USP, G36, MG4, UMP, MP7, and HK416 which have become some of the most iconic and widely adopted firearms in the world, used by dozens of militaries, police forces, and paramilitaries worldwide. Many of its prototype weapons including the G11, HK CAWS, XM29 OICW, and XM8, have also become recognizable. HK firearms use blowback operation, short-recoil, roller-delayed blowback, gas-delayed blowback, and short-stroke piston gas operation. HK is responsible for several innovations in firearms, such as the use of polymers in weapon designs, modern polygonal rifling, the feasibility of high-velocity caseless ammunition in prototype service rifles, and integral rails for handgun attachments.{{cite book |last1=Hogg |first1=Ian V. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eHC4mwmb1qEC |title=Pistols of the World: The Definitive Illustrated Guide to the World's Pistols and Revolvers |last2=Weeks |first2=John |publisher=DBI Books |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-87349-128-0 |page=161}}

File:HKbaccarat.JPG)
5 (Selective fire carbine)
A5 (Model 5)]]

Heckler & Koch products use an internal naming system, consisting of an abbreviation and a two- or three-digit Werknummern designation popularly referred to as the "HK 3-digit system".{{Cite web |title=HK new 3 digit rifle nomenclature/naming system |url=https://www.hkpro.com/threads/hk-new-3-digit-rifle-nomenclature-naming-system.377009/ |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=HKPRO Forums |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Heckler & Koch :: HK433: Heckler & Koch's vierte Sturmgewehrfamilie setzt neue Maßstäbe |url=https://www.heckler-koch.com/de/presse/detail/article/hk433-heckler-kochs-vierte-sturmgewehrfamilie-setzt-neue-massstaebe.html |access-date=2022-02-27 |website=www.heckler-koch.com}} Each letter and digit is assigned a specific meaning outlined in the convention to make them easier to identify and differentiate by name.

The HK naming convention is not a fixed convention, but rather a guideline, and not all HK products follow it; this is typically done for marketing purposes or quirks in the weapon's development or intended role. For instance, the HK416 does not use a proper abbreviation ("HK" does not mean anything specific), nor does it use proper digits (the HK416 was originally two models, the "HK M4" and "HK M16", that were later amalgamated into the HK416); using the 3-digit system, the standard HK416 would likely be referred to as the G333. Such products tend to have proper internal designations anyway; the HK416 is internally referred to as the HK333.

Most HK products have a prefix of between one and three letters, corresponding to a word or term in German (though some refer to English terms instead, with no German equivalent). Several were only used for a single model, such as the "Universal" weapons (UMP, UCP, USC, and USP). Some abbreviations are used as a suffix to designate specific variants.

The Werknummern designation system assigns two or three digits which correspond to the product's technical specifics. They are placed after (or if a suffix, before) the abbreviation and denote the generation, form factor, and caliber or munition of the weapon.

The date code is a two-letter combination used to specify the year a weapon was manufactured in. These are not part of the product's name, but are printed for identification directly on the weapon itself. They are only used on handguns.{{cite web |title=Date Codes on H&K Pistols |url=https://hk-usa.com/faqs/how-can-i-tell-what-year-my-usp-was-made/ |website=H&K |publisher=H&K USA |access-date=26 October 2020}}

Heckler & Koch handguns produced at HK's German facilities are marked with "DE", Germany's ISO 3166-1 code. Handguns manufactured in HK facilities outside Germany, or those produced in Germany before 2008, do not have the DE marking.

File:HK_MP5_(6110432280).jpg"]]

Heckler & Koch long arms mostly follow a set of shared trigger group standards for selective fire and safety, with corresponding markings and pictograms.{{Cite web |date=October 1997 |title=H&K LOWER ID GUIDE |url=https://smallarmsreview.com/hk-lower-id-guide/ |access-date=2024-04-28 |website=Small Arms Review |language=en-US}}

H&K has been accused of shipping small arms to conflict regions such as BosniaAbel, Peter, "Manufacturing Trends: Globalising the Source" in Lumpe, Lora (ed.) (2000), Running Guns: The Global Black Market in Small Arms, London: Zed Books. and Nepal,[https://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/IOR30/003/2003 A Catalogue of Failures: G8 Arms Exports and Human Rights Violations (2003-05-19)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150210220943/http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/IOR30/003/2003 |date=2015-02-10 }}, Amnesty International. and has licensed its weapons for production by governments with poor human rights records such as Sudan, Thailand and Myanmar.[http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/conflict_disasters/downloads/control.rtf Out of Control – The loopholes in UK controls on the arms trade (1998–12)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061019135030/http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/conflict_disasters/downloads/control.rtf |date=2006-10-19 }}, Oxfam GB. It has been argued that the company effectively evaded EU export restrictions when these licensees sold HK weapons to conflict zones including Indonesia,Wright, Steve (2001-01), [http://mondediplo.com/2001/01/02arms1 "A Legal Trade in Death"], Le Monde Diplomatique. Sri Lanka[http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engact300032004 "Undermining Global Security: the European Union's arms exports"] (2004-02-01) {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071031065017/http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engact300032004 |date=2007-10-31 }}, Amnesty International. and Sierra Leone.

According to the newspaper Stuttgarter Nachrichten (31 August 2011), as well as the state broadcaster ARD, a large stockpile of G36 assault rifles fell into rebel hands during the August 2011 attack on Muammar Gaddafi's compound in Tripoli. It is unclear how many were exported to Libya and by whom.{{Cite news |title=Libyan rebels use German weapons |url=https://www.thelocal.de/20110831/37283 |work=The Local |location=Germany |date=31 August 2011 |access-date=23 August 2018}}

On 11 December 2011, federal, state and local Mexican police officers used battle rifles to fire on Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College students and peasant organizations to disperse a blockade on Mexican Federal Highway 95D, resulting in the deaths of students Jorge Alexis Herrera and Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús. According to media reports, 7.62×51mm NATO round casings were found at the scene, matching those used by H&K G3 rifles.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2011/12/13/politica/002n1pol|title=Matan policías a dos estudiantes al desalojar un bloqueo carretero (Police kills two students dislodging a road blockade)|last=Ocampo|first=Sergio|date=2011-12-13|website=www.jornada.com.mx|language=es-MX|access-date=2019-02-25}} In Iguala and Cocula, corrupt police officers and cartelmen are known to have used H&K G36 rifles during the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping on 26–27 September 2013. At least six teaching students were murdered by cartelmen and corrupt local police, and 43 others are missing and presumed dead. Other than the six identified persons, no other bodies have been found, and they are believed to have been incinerated.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/02/21/696561255/heckler-koch-fined-4-2-million-over-assault-rifle-sales-in-mexico|title=Heckler & Koch Fined $4.2 Million Over Assault Rifle Sales In Mexico|first1=Bill|last1=Chappell|website=NPR|language=en|date=2019-02-19|access-date=2019-02-25}}

As a result of efforts by civil society and human rights organizations in Mexico and Germany, H&K and two of its former employees were brought before the Provincial Court of Stuttgart. After ten months of trial, on 21 February 2019, the court convicted them of illegally selling arms to Mexican governmental institutions which failed to acknowledge their due observance of human rights.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/heckler-koch-fined-37-million-over-illegal-arms-sales-to-mexico/a-47610975|title=Heckler & Koch fined €3.7 million over illegal arms sales to Mexico|date=21 February 2019|first1=Ben|last1=Knight|website=Deutsche Welle|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-02-25}} The two former employees (sales manager Sahlmann and administrative employee Beuter) had been found to have used fraudulent permits in the sale of 4,700 rifles and large quantities of ammunition. H&K was issued a fine of 3.7 million euros, and the two men received suspended sentences of 17 and 22 months. The spokesman of the Presidency of the Republic of Mexico, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, said that the amount of the fine should go to the victims and their families.

On 30 March 2021, Germany's Federal Court of Justice (BGH) upheld the lower court's decision, finding that H&K employees knowingly falsified information on the nature and destination of arms sold by the company in order to attain federal export licenses.{{Cite web|last=Welle (www.dw.com)|first=Deutsche|title=Germany fines Heckler & Koch for illegal arms sales to Mexico {{!}} DW {{!}} 30.03.2021|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-fines-heckler-koch-for-illegal-arms-sales-to-mexico/a-57047654|access-date=2021-03-31|website=DW.COM|language=en-GB}}

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