First some preliminaries: the rifle came looking fine and well built, no complaints from the external examination. The slim handguard did rattle loosely a bit, but not being a guru, I have no idea if that is normal/standard or not. Putting the wide forarm I picked up form CDNN several months ago on in its place was a bit of effort. First, the lower end of the wide forearm that slides over the front end of the mag well had to be trimmed a bit to fit over the mag well fencing trim of the SW3 - it 'appears' that this detail is different from the original H&K where the raised ring on the mag well turns up and back on the mag well much sooner (ie does not go all the way to the front of the mag well as with the SW3). Again, not being a guru, I don't know if the forearm or the rifle was at fault, but some very small filing of plastic from the forearm was required.

Bigger problem, the top (muzzle end) of the wide forarm (from CDNN a while back - I think its FMP or Greek made)did not fit on at ALL. I could get it on mostly, but still needed to pivot the forearm up a good inch or so to get it in place and push the pin though. I had to grind out some of the metal at the bipod-groove on the inside of the forearm to make room for the big 'ring' on the barrel, just behind the point where the barrel and front sight post meet. Again, not sure what was at fault. Any comments on these issues are welcome to be posted on www.subguns.com semi-guns forum, and I'll try to incorporate the responses and knowledge as I get them. After much grinding, fitting and cursing, its finally a nice tight solid fit.

AT THE RANGE
Loaded up 5 rounds, the SW3 functioned flawlessly from a mechanical standpoint. I did have misfeeds feeding from the Thermold plastic magazine that came with the SW3 - no problems what-so-ever with the alloy FMP magazines. Either the Thermolds just don't work well or the need adjusting (maybe the spring??).

Precision: was OK. No benchresting or attempts at high accuracy were possible do to us being in the middle of a military range. The shooting was done prone from a concrete ramp at targets placed at 50 meters approximately and rounds hit within a 5 inch group. At least the rounds go where the gun is pointed -thats all I can say at this point until actually controlled firing is done at a later time. Shotters were myself and my uncle, who shot the G3 in the Bundeswehr in the late 60's. The old soldier was happy with the performance and the appearance of the gun - of course was curious why the 'feuerstoss' didn't work and why there was no flash supressor- which was followed by an explanaition of the convoluted US firearms laws. Recoil was no problem, the gun shoots great, reliably (using FMP alloy mags) and hits the target aimed at.

Stripping and Cleaning
Got the gun home and stripped it - actually, the old soldier did. Amazingly, after not having been able to handle or shoot the G3 in 30 some odd years, he still remembered how to take the thing appart and put it together, including the bolt, locking piece etc. AND get it all back into the gun (ie the rollers and whatnot properly positioned). What we found on surplus military parts in the new SW3. The bolt head and bolt head carrier were apparently built in the 1960's. I recall seeing 61 or 63 or someting of that nature on the bolt head. The stamping on the barrel also seemed to indicate it was of 1960's origin. There was significant pitting on the bolt head, but nothing that interfered with the operation. The barrel inspection, after cleaning revealed that it appears to be pitted and the lands and grooves appear to be worn. This is based on the initial inspection by someone who shot a G3 in the German Bundeswehr but has not seen much rifle use in 30 years since then. I looked at it and to me the rifling also appeared to not be 'crisp' and there were 'spots' inside the barrel that might be pitting. I'm still trying to get this confirmed by independent inspection by others before I make final judgement.

Verdict: the bolt head and carrier were over 30 years old and the face of the bolt head appeared pitted -but everyting worked flawlessly. Barrel, I'm still looking into. Also, inside of the tube of the bolt head carrier there was some 'orange brown' substance - possibly rust, possibly not. Cleaned it out and went on . The carrier and inside of the new SW3 reciever were well greased .. I've left that grease in place for now until I get at least some more rounds through the weapon to see how it holds up just to give it some 'break in' time .

August 23, 1999 Update:

After some more opinions including a local gun-smith, it has been determined that there is indeed slight pitting in the barrel of the early production SW3. A talk with Special Weapons confirms that these barrels are indeed used barrels from FMP of very good to excellent condition. The factory selected and examined the surplus barrels from the surplus kits and discarded those barrels which did not meet Special Weapons minumum standards. I can find no fault on the quality for the price. I will be testing the precision at longer range with a scope within the next 4 weeks I hope and will post those results here. The barrel does function flawlessly, but the pitts and worn rifling does concern me; it is a surplus G3 style machinegun barrel. Special Weapons indicated that all the rifles purchased at the higher price, that is all current production rifles, will be with new, polyagonal bore barrels.

The only reason I'm really at all bothered by this is that I intend to build a good longer range rifle on this .308 platform. It does no good to mount a scope, get a good stock addition for proper eye relief and cheek weld and a trigge job for a crisp trigger if it turns out the rifle cannot group as accurately as I would like; but that still has to be determined. Special Weapons indicated that it was known form the start that these initial, reduced price guns, were to be built on used parts. I cannot agree with that statement as I did not find out about the used parts until production was in progress. Based on the initial letter from SW, it indicated that non US parts would come from H&K contract manufacturers, however, it did not state that the parts from the manufacturers would be surplus or used. It was my mistake for assuming that they would be new. I assumed that by investing in the beginning, we, for taking the chance, would get the same rifles as would come off the line later, but at cost. That is not the case. None-the-less. I am extremely please with my SW3; it is a wonderful rifle for the price paid. I would not hesitate to purchase another weapon from Special Weapons, but would encourage all potential customers to get exact details from them and do not assume anything. The company does have a serious problem in its ability to get information out to the public. I do not think they conceal anything from anyone on purpose but they certainly could do a better job at informing customers and potential customers.

Special Weapons did a superb job at putting the SW3 together and I'm pleased with my purchase.

Here is the letter that we, the prepaying customers got from SW back in November of 1998.

Can anyone find anything in this letter implying that the rifle will be built from surplus parts? This is the only communication we, at least I, recieved directly from SW. The remainder was posted sporadically on the website and I do not recall seeing anything there indicating surplus parts either.

Update: December 10, 1999 - Scope Mount Troubles

UPDATE: May 17, 2000 - newly configured and much more range time

Another range day saw some failures to feed the ammunition - rather failure to chamber. The rounds would get stripped from the magazine and impact below the chamber, driving the bullet back into the case slightly. Clearing the round got the rifle back in business. I have yet to figure out if this problem is related to the magazines or the rifle. It seems to happen with a particular magazine more often but it may also be related to the up/down slack there is in the SW3 when the magazine is seated. You can push up and pivot the seated magazine somewhat and if the magazine gets angled, this may be causing the issue. Now that I have more 7.62 ammo, I'll be trying to figure this out for sure with some scientific testing and accurate record keeping.

Finally, the SW3 is in a new set of clothes in its transition from the G3 slimline it came as to the MSG/SG1 sort of target rifle I had envisioned. This is a transition phase with the PSG-1 stock and the Hines PSG-1 style synthetic tactical grip. PSG-1 forearm, large cocking handle, MSG90 bipod and PSG-1 sling are comming. Further up the road is a rebarrel and something needs to be done about the scope mount (see previous troubles).

Update - August 28, 2000

Update - June 28, 2002

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