HECKLER & KOCH HK33

AT AIRSOFT ACTION WE ARE EXTREMELY PROUD OF THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT WE HAVE BUILT UP OVER THE YEARS, AND EVERY SO OFTEN WE GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO BRING IN A REPORT ON A NEW AEG MODEL THAT HAS COME DIRECT TO US FROM THE MANUFACTURER. WE ALSO KNOW THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO REACH OUT TO WHEN IT COMES TO UNUSUAL MODELS, SO THIS MONTH WE’RE JOINED BY OUR FRIEND LAWRENCE FROM STRIKEHOLD.NET TO INTRODUCE LCT’S LATEST CREATION!

Google up a photo of an HK33 with a slim-line handguard and 40-round magazine and you immediately notice its classic “Sturmgewehr” look. However, the lineage of the HK33 isn’t related to the well known StG-44, but rather to the lesser-known Mauser developed StG-45.

The war ended before the StG-45 could enter production and the Mauser factory came under the jurisdiction of the French Occupation Forces. The StG-45 team, under Wilhelm Staehle and Ludwig Vorgrimler, was sent to work for the French at the Centre d’Etudes et d’Armement de Mulhouse (CEAM). There they developed a roller-locked, .30 caliber assault rifle, however, the French Army chose to go with a more traditional rifle design.

Ludwig Vorgrimler resigned from CEAM in 1951 and moved to Spain to work for the state-owned CETME (Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales). He continued to work with the roller-locked, delayed-blowback system and created the 7.92x41mm caliber CETME “Modelo 2” rifle in 1953.

The Modelo 2 caught the eye of both the newly-formed Bundesgrenzschutz (West German Border Guards) and Bundeswehr (West German Army) but they wanted it in the new 7.6x51mm NATO cartridge. CETME adapted the Modelo 2 to this more powerful cartridge and it was adopted by the Spanish Army as the Modelo 1958.

In the meantime though, the Bundesgrenzschutz and the Bundeswehr had purchased quantities of the Belgian 7.62x51mm FN FAL in 1956, which they called the G1. The Belgian government, however, refused to allow Germany to license manufacture the rifle locally, so the Bundeswehr went back to CETME for a German version of the Modelo 58. CETME delivered and this rifle was officially adopted by the Bundeswehr in January 1959 as the G3.