CODE 04-041-973

NAME – HK23A1

COMMON NAMES – German SAWs Candidate

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN – Germany

DATE OF MANUFACTURE – 1973

CALIBER – 5.56x45mm (.223 Remington)

OVERALL LENGTH – 100.8 cm (39.7 in)

BARREL LENGTH – 48 cm (18.9 in)

RIFLING (TYPE & TWIST) – 6 Groove, right hand twist, 1 turn in 22.2 cm (8.74 in)*

LOAD – XM287 Ball Full metal jacket with lead core

BULLET DIAMETER – 5.69 mm (0.224 in)

BULLET WEIGHT – 4.47 g (69 grains)

MUZZLE VELOCITY – 890 m/s (2920 fps)

MUZZLE ENERGY – 1,771 j (1,307 ft/lb)

WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 6.51 kg (13 lb 7 oz)

WEIGHT (LOADED) – 10 kg (22 lb 1 oz) with ammunition box attached loaded with 200 round M27-type link belt loaded with XM287

WEIGHT (MOUNTED) – 10.76 kg (23 lb 12 oz) with bipod, sling, and ammunition box attached loaded with 200 round M27-type link belt loaded with XM287

TYPE OF MOUNT – Removable folding bipod

WEIGHT OF MOUNT – 0.58 kg (1 lb 5 oz)

WEIGHT OF SPARE BARREL – 1.57 kg (3 lb 7 oz)

WEIGHT OF CARRYING SLING – 0.18 kg (6 oz)

SIGHTS – Open, iron, adjustable, Front sight – Hooded post, Rear sight, aperture with rotating elevation drum, 100 meters click stops (109 yard) graduated 100 to 1100 meters (109 to 1,203 yards)

OPTICAL SIGHT – ZF 4×24

OPTICAL SIGHT WEIGHT – 0.65 kg (1 lb 7 oz) with mount

OPTICAL SIGHT MAGNIFICATION – 4 Power

OPTICAL SIGHT FIELD OF VIEW – 5 degrees 40 minutes – 10 m @ 100 m (30 ft @100 yds)

OPTICAL SIGHT ADJUSTMENTS – Adjustable for windage and elevation, 6 adjustments from 100 to 600 m (109 to 656 yards)

EFFECTIVE RANGE – 650 m ( yards)

OPERATION – Delayed blowback, roller-locked bolt, fires on closed bolt

TYPE OF FIRE – Selective, semiautomatic, five-round controlled burst, full automatic

RATE OF FIRE – 50 rpm semi, 100 rpm full automatic with barrel change

CYCLIC ROF – 850 rpm

FEED DEVICE – M27-type flexible disintegrating metallic link belt

FEED DEVICE WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 0.39 kg (14 oz) 200 M27-type links

200 ROUND MAGAZINE BOX WEIGHT (EMPTY) – 0.64 kg (1 lb 7 oz)

FEED DEVICE WEIGHT (LOADED) – 2.85 kg (6 lb 5 oz) 200 round M27-type link belt loaded with XM287 Ball

200 ROUND MAGAZINE BOX WEIGHT (LOADED) – 3.49 kg (7 lb 11 oz) with 200 round M27-type link belt loaded with XM287

BASIC AMMUNITION LOAD – Six 200-round ammunition boxes (1,200 rounds)

LOAD WEIGHT – 20.94 kg (46 lb 3 oz)

MANUFACTURER – Heckler & Koch GmbH, Oberndorf/Neckar, Germany

STATUS – Developmental

SERVICE – Evaluation

     Testing showed that, with the shooter in a prone, bipod-supported, position, a hot barrel could be changed in an average time of 7 seconds with no other protection than the hand grip of the barrel. Reloading the weapon by removing an empty 200-round belt box and replacing it with a loaded one, and charging the weapon, took an average time of 27 seconds.

Optical sights were not used during the SAWs testing and evaluation.

*This twist rate for the rifling was used for the US Army Squad Automatic Weapons (SAW) trials with the developmental XM 287 ball ammunition. Barrel of a differing rifling twist rate were available along with the proper locking rollers for the bolt.