[Stealhead]

You mean to say that the Germans made many excellent but over-engineered weapons their problem was that they could not let go of all that design in a war of mass production such things hurt you as they make the machine more costly to produce and much more difficult to maintain in the field.Take the both the Panther and the Tiger I both where over designed and the panther was rushed into service a problem that both tanks had where the wheels they had very close spacing bad news in the Russian climes where mud and ice would freeze up these close gaps during the night it was a problem never fully solved and the Soviets took advantage when they could and often they liked to attack in the early morning to take advantage of the frozen conditions in fact the Soviets became masters of night/early morning combat as the war progressed as this was a weak point for the Germans.

The MG42 was a simplified design inspired by the MG34 which was much more expensive to produce in my opinion the MG42 was the best weapon designed by the Germans during the war because it was one of the few that was actually designed with ease of production in mind and actually had more simplified design than what came before it.

The MG3 is nothing more than an MG42 chambered for 7.62x51mm NATO therefore it is not really a redesign more than an improved MG42 think of it as an M16A4 being the end of the line to the M16E1(the first model pre foward assist).the G36 is really an average rifle because it does not perform in a notably superior manner than a current M-16 which sets the standard more or less for modern military firearms.It has the same problem that the M-16 has as well the rapid over heating which is funny because the H&K versions of the M-16 the HK416 and 417 solved the overheating issue of the M-16 design by making use of a gas tapping piston system rather than a gas port system the HK416 is just an M4 with a different upper receiver then bolt and everything else is an M4 in fact the ones that they hoped to sell to the US military where just that an upper receiver kit.

Another sign that few are coming up with something that really changes the game is that the DOD has tested several weapons that are supposed to be much better than the M4/16 yet in tests they prove to only be marginally better and not worth the cost of procuring you can easily just buy an improved gas tapping kit for the M-16/M4 for only few hundred bucks some are better than others I am sure but they reduce the overheating issue alot
and you can install one yourself easily I have one on my AR-15 and it keeps the bolt so cool that you can take it out and hold it in your hand if you tried this with a a regular AR-15.M-16 you would get burned.

The G-36 now its over heating problem lies elsewhere because the G-36 already uses the cooler gas piston set up so the issue lies elsewhere but it does prove that H&K did fail to really put the G-36 through the ringer when they tested it because an over heating problem should become very obvious if it is unreasonably rapid in occurring I bet they knew about it but the German Army had too much faith in H&K due to past history.

H&K makes most of its money on the US civil market(military's usually buy in bulk so the money that pays for research for must gun makers comes from non military buyers who buy at market prices) and guys who think that H&K makes the best guns in the world and are wiling to pay $200~$400 more for their pistol,rifle over just as good or better firearms from other gun makers H&K is the gun that the flashy guy that probably can not field strip his gun and takes his gun to a gun smith just for cleaning owns.

@antikristuseke I only fired the G3 at a military range on a joint training day while stationed in Germany based on my experience there it seemed decent although I condenser the FNFAL its direct competitor to be a far superior design(I might be biased though I do own an SA-58) the bolt operation on the G3 really sloppy to me and counter intuitive I can see it getting fouled easily with dirt as you mention.Funny thing is a G3 will cost you often twice as much as any FNFAL or CETME(Spanish G3 or should I say that the G3 is a German CETME how innovative is H&K really?) you can buy a used CETME for several hundred less than a G3(HK91) and an old FNFAL will run a couple hundred less and now you can buy new SA58 US made FAL for a good price. I have seen chepo HK91 clones go for what a quality made AR or FNFAL or even a Springfeild M1A(M-14) goes for new.

I lived in Germany for 4 years as an American military member I do like the German culture as a whole but as Skybird often says there are alot of problems in Germany more so than the US.I would own a nice house in the woods in Germany and visit it and German friends of mine a few times a year but I would not want to live there and deal with their many current problems.My German friends are more than happy to come to the Us and visit me though when they need a break form the ratte race.