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LOT 1349
Rare and Near Mint Heckler & Koch Factory Original G3 Selective Fire Battle Rifle, Class III/NFA C&R
Fully Transferable Machine Gun - Serial no. 4741, 7.62 mm Nato (308) cal., 18 inch round bbl., matte gray finish,
metal stock. Introduced in 1959, the Heckler & Koch G3 was the product of a long and wide ranging development
program that started in Germany late in World War II, passed through France and Spain, and then came back
to Germany to become the forefather of a generation of European infantry weapons. Bucking the orthodoxy
of the day, which made gas operated rifles the de facto standard, the G3 was built around a roller locked
delayed blowback system, which would later be adapted to a variety of calibers and configurations, becoming a
foundational item in the German military arsenal for the duration of the Cold War and beyond; while no longer the
primary infantry rifle, the G3 still serves in the designated marksman rifle mode, and remains in service with a large
number of nations. This G3 reportedly once belonged to the Harrington & Richardson factory museum collection,
which housed a number of similar machine guns and developmental items, in which it would have been brought
into the United States and registered as a Heckler & Koch factory made fully transferable machine gun prior to
changes in import and registration rules in 1968, making this a rare bird and a highly desirable Class III item.
Harrington & Richardson sold off its museum collection after the company went bankrupt in the mid-1980s.