Cool toys at work (Real steel content)

[Speedbird_666]

So, into the office I go for another day of pushing spreadsheets around only to find that my employer is hosting an Armed Forces day with a few military units having set up stands/displays. 
 

So I got to play with some real guns, namely the L119A1, the L129A1, Glock 17/19 (Military Police Special Operations use both ‘17s and ‘19s with laser grips). Cool stuff. 

 

They also had another rifle/carbine on display that I was surprised to see. I was not allowed to photograph it, but they still let me play with it. They shoved it in a peli case shortly thereafter as they had been asked loads of questions about it from other gun nuts on campus.

 

And to think I was going to Work From Home today…

 

[Tackle]

OK, so no pics, but what did this new "sooper gnu" resemble, m4 variant ?, bullpup ?, you can't leave us hanging?

[Tommikka]

Did it look something like this ?

[Speedbird_666]

9 minutes ago, Tackle said:

OK, so no pics, but what did this new "sooper gnu" resemble, m4 variant ?, bullpup ?, you can't leave us hanging?

 

Made in Germany. 7.62mm. 12in Barrel (mental). Looked barely used so probably not an SF Cast-off. Only non-SF unit to be issued them in the UK so that's why they didn't want them pictured for OPSEC (their words). There's quite a few gun enthusiasts and ex-army guys on campus, so they realised pretty quickly that they probably shouldn't have put it on display in the first place.

 

The Glock 19 was quite surprising to me. No idea any of these were in use within the Army. 

 

 

 

 

[Speedbird_666]

Just been down again. Grabbed a couple more pics. They still had their secret squirrel gun in its case under the table but left the mags out on display…?

 

[Tackle]

Lol, my googleFu is weak, I've tried cross-referencing everything German made in 7.62, I'm thinking a 417 variant but the 12 inch barrel is stumping me & pushing me towards an mc51 type carbine. 

?

[Wavey_Gravey]

Got to be a 417, those mags are chonky.

 

[Diemaco]

Hk says the 417 can be had in 3 different barrel llengths,13" being the shortest. 

 

https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/products/military/assault-rifles/hk417/hk417-a2-13/overview.html

Edited July 7, 2022 by Diemaco

[AirsoftTed]

Not to disagree with the above, because H&K make them so they'll know best and also I'm not very knowledgable on the subject but there does seem to be a lot of references to 12" HK417s on the internet if you google "HK 417 12 Inch barrel".

 

Maybe a misreporting somewhere and people (including perhaps the end users) are incorrectly referring to the 13 inch variant as a 12 inch one?

 

[Diemaco]

4 minutes ago, AirsoftTed said:

Not to disagree with the above, because H&K make them so they'll know best and also I'm not very knowledgable on the subject but there does seem to be a lot of references to 12" HK417s on the internet if you google "HK 417 12 Inch barrel".

 

Maybe a misreporting somewhere and people (including perhaps the end users) are incorrectly referring to the 13 inch variant as a 12 inch one?

 

 

 

I'm sure that if you buy enough of them, HK will make them in whatever configuration that you ask for. 

[Speedbird_666]

16 minutes ago, Diemaco said:

Hk says the 417 can be had in 3 different barrel llengths,13" being the shortest. 

 

https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/products/military/assault-rifles/hk417/hk417-a2-13/overview.html

 

That's the A2.

 

Pre-2013 they were 12in (assaulter version). The gun I saw definitely wasn't 'new' but was in very good condition. No indication of any kind of sound suppressor, and was setup with pretty much the same kit as the L119A1 (Grip pod and ACOG with red dot). Definitely not setup for long range precision shooting (that's the L129's job). If I had to guess, it's employed for counter body-armour.

 

That being said, I had less than 30 seconds with it and was more concerned with cocking, dry firing and looking through the sights, so it could have been a 13in version, but it only seemed fractionally longer than L119A1. In fact when I approached the stand I thought it was a '416 and took me a good couple of seconds to realise that it was it's 7.62 brother. Once I put the gun down and asked a few questions - it got nabbed and put into it's peli case.

 

Anyway, cool day in the office.