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The HK33 was developed by the German company Heckler und Koch in the
mid-to-late 1960s as a scaled-down version of their G3 battle rifle, and
entered production in 1968. The HK33 was developed for the then-new
cartridge, 5.56x45mm (.223 Remington), and while it had not been adopted
by the German military, it saw significant use by some West German police
and security units, and also widely exported, and used by Malaysia, Chile
and Thailand armed forces. Since 1999, HK33 has been also manufactured
under license in Turkey. The HK33 is still in production in Germany by HK,
and also served as a platform for further developments, such as G-41
assault rifle and HK53 compact assault rifle (known by HK as submachine
gun).
HK33 is a delayed blowback operated, selective fire rifle, that
utilized two pieces bolt with two rollers that used to delay bolt
blowback. The receiver is made from stamped steel, and HK33 is available
with either a polymer fixed buttstock (HK33A2) or retractable metallic
buttstock (HK33A3). Carbine version of the HK33 also available and
featured shorter barrels and similar fixed or retractable stocks (HK33KA2
and HK33KA3, respectively).
All HK33 variants available with different trigger units, with or
without 3-rounds burst mode. HK's proprietary claw-type mounts allow
telescopic sights to be mounted on any version of HK33. Full-length HK33s
can be equipped with bayonet or underbarrel 40mm grenade launchers,
HK79A1, also made by Heckler & Koch. Full-length HK33 rifles also can
launch rifle grenades from combined muzzle compensator/flash hider.
Both HK33 and HK53 can use 25, 30 and 40 round box magazines, but
latter have been out of production by HK for some time.
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