October 18, 2007-- In what has been both rumored and lamented for some time, HK appears to have finally "seen the light" with respect to its role in the production of one of the most widely popular weapons systems of the last 50 years.

Finally, after years of civilian disappointment and anger, HK appears ready to change course in the most significant way in many years.

SHOT Show 2004 was a period of high hopes for the German small arms manufacturer. The simultaneous debut of the then called HKM4 as well as the XM8 was at the time the talk of the black gun industry both at the show and beyond.

The Oberndorf M16 with the first recent attempt at perfecting short-stroke piston operation was on display, with both select fire and semi-auto only civilian models planned at the time.

16 inch select fire 416, as yet unavailable for sale in the United States. It appears from the BKA report photos that a semi-only civilian version looks essentially just like this, externally.

While all the industry was accessorizing and reconfiguring the direct gas impingement system of the M16 and M4 to ever more amazing and sometimes ridiculous levels, the one thing that remained was the upper receiver and the resultant higher temperature operation, carbon fouling and subsequent parts failure that remained tweaked and tweakable, yet fundamentally unchanged for so long.

At the request of SFOD-Delta, in conjunction with Jim Schatz of HK USA, Larry Vickers and Ernst Mauch, then managing director of HK, the engineers in Oberndorf sought to address this one remaining issue with their expertise. They sought greater reliability, greater parts life, and much higher MRBF, and cook off rates. They brought together their best talent, and that talent brought forth the renamed HK416 and most recently the HK417 in 7.62 NATO caliber.

And then, just as suddenly, in the most inexplicable move of all, HK management decided abruptly to disallow civilian sales of either complete guns or upper receiver units to the civilian gun owning public, worldwide. This despite having written ATF approval at the time to sell upper receiver kits to the American public on their internet web store!

With the number of AR15 variants of all kinds in the United States alone in the millions, the American AR-15 gun owning public reacted with predictable dismay and outright hatred for HK and their perception of it having turned its back on their law-abiding numbers.

And in the subsequent industry wide vacuum created by that decision, a myriad of piston driven upper receivers are under development and in actual production by a host of manufacturers.

As of now, and as has been rumored for several weeks on the Internet, HKPRO.COM can report with accuracy that HK has indeed reversed that decision, and has decided to introduce to the market, a civilian legal version of the HK416 and HK417!

At the time of this writing, the information is very preliminary and it should be noted that HK is quite a way from being able to deliver on this decision.

What I can tell you and is a most refreshing change, is that HK appears to have a strong desire to change at least some of the business practices of the past, and one of those practices has been to introduce a product far in advance of when it's actually available. This has been the reality for HK for years, and is certainly a problem with other manufacturers as well. You can see evidence of that now with the delays in the availability of the P30 and HK45 pistols for American civilian consumption.

But they are trying to change that. One of the reasons I believe that is because HK has delayed the official HK press release announcing the joint manufacturing facility in New Hampshire with Wilcox Industries. HKI New Hampshire is in operation in the preliminary setup stages as this is written. The management actually wanted the first handguns to be in production or near production before publicizing the new arrangement. But, since the Seacoast online article, it's obviously been difficult to keep a lid on that.

The HKI New Hampshire arrangement calls for HK to first manufacture the HK45 pistol at the new facility after a limited quantity is produced in Germany. A first and subsequent final run of the HK45 and HK45C is first being produced in Oberndorf.

Reliable sources at HK confirm that HKI New Hampshire is also proceeding with plans for domestic production of the HK416 and HK417 in a civilian version as yet officially unnamed. (They will reportedly manufacture the rifles with 50 percent parts support from HK Germany. This is significant, and indicative of the necessary moves given the "barrel ban" imposed on importation of complete barrels and upper receiver components that are ultimately for the installation on machine guns. Most likely is that barrel blanks in some form of completion will be finished in the United States, and thereby legal for civilian sale.)

HKPRO.COM can report sources in Germany indicate that a new rifle called the MR223 has been submitted to the BKA (Bundeskriminalamt). This is called a Zulassungsbescheid or notice of licensing. This is purportedly the first step that a German firearms manufacturer must take to see if the new firearm will be permissible for sale to the German civilian public. The BKA takes steps to see if the new weapon is easily or readily convertible to automatic fire. The MR223 has reportedly passed this test. Sources also indicate the possible debut of the MR223 at IWA 2008.

While sources in the U.S. report that the civilian 416/417 will not be ready for SHOT Show 2008, it might possibly be by NRA show, with an estimated preparedness for production in Q3, 2008. One can easily understand why with a projected deadline and unforeseen delays and missed deadlines creates hostility in the gun buying public, that they are now hesitant to be held to that. I can only commend them for that. Progressive companies like MAGPUL have ceased giving estimated delivery dates for their new products completely. So, it's not likely that you'll be able to stroll into your authorized HK dealer for a new 416 or 417 until 2009 at the earliest. But still, how much better than not at all?

20 inch HK416. Possibly the new face of the civilian legal full sized rifle? Internal civilian legal modifications are what matter. Nothing cosmetically wrong with this rifle at all, as far as U.S. law is concerned.

No doubt, this will send shockwaves through the industry. The impact on those selling existing upper receivers from lawfully imported select fire 416s will be immediately obvious. Many gunowners will jump at the chance to own an HK manufactured piston driven AR variant or upper receiver kit. Some will not, forever having forsworn any allegiance to HK after the initial "thumbing of the nose" at the civilian HK customer. While HK is primarily a gun manufacturer specializing in police and military firearms, one only need to look in the gun safe for an HK91, 93 or 94 to remember the different perspective that HK had at one time. However, 2007 is not 1983, neither in managerial philosophy nor statutorily. And one must remain mindful of that.

All signs coming from HK are showing a new sense of commitment to the consumer and to the civilian gun owning public. HK customer service has long taken a beating for problems from both within and without their ability to control. Whether this new commitment will bear itself out remains to be seen. It can only be said at this point that time will tell.