The Gun That Killed Bin Laden Revealed...(HK416-5.56)

USNews ^ | 05/11/2011 | Paul Bedard

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Sources say the HK416 rifle was used to kill bin Laden. The biggest secret in the special operations community—what gun did SEALs from "DevGru" kill Osama bin Laden with—has been revealed. Two military gear blogs, citing multiple insider sources, credit the highly reliable HK416 rifle, an M-16 type weapon, with the "double tap" of 5.56 mm bullets to bin Laden's head.

While the military isn't talking about what SEALs from United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, formerly SEAL Team Six, carried in, two sites—Military Times Gear Scout and Soldier Systems—said the gun used was the German made, Delta Force designed Heckler & Koch rifle used by several militaries.

"I've just heard from a SOCOM vet," says Military Times "He tells me the stack of SEAL assaulters from Red team that went through Osama bin Laden's bedroom door were running HK416s."

Soldier Systems adds that bin Laden "was gunned down using German engineering – the HK416 which was my gut feeling from the very beginning."

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

[ßuddaßudd]

. . she’s pretty . . . ‡

[WayneS]

They should be able to find some way to take advantage of this in their advertising:

“H&K: When your target absolutley, positively MUST be ‘martyred’ over night”...

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Wow, who knew our Seals were using those fine German weapons?

I own a HK-91 (7.62 Nato) and they both use the same gas operations system. No wonder they chose this model. Nothing is more reliable or fool proof. The M-16 is vastly inferior to this tactical masterpiece.

[bmwcyle]

Now if we just killed Communist like the old days.

[yarddog]

I would have guessed they were using the M4 but I guess they were allowed to use whatever they wanted and the HK was the one.

I did read right after the raid that Bin Laden was hit with a double tap. I wondered what gun would have had a two round burst. I just figured it was an M4 and one of the three didn’t hit.

[GonzoGOP]

with the "double tap" of 5.56 mm bullets to bin Laden's head.

Two rounds of 5.56 to the head at close range and there isn't going to be a whole lot of head remaining. Sounds like a good bit of Osama's noggin isn't in the Ocean but decorating a wall in Pakistan.

[Currentriverrat]

nice

[Perdogg]

Standard weapon the Norwegian Army.

[yarddog]

I once owned several HK-91s plus a few others such as the SL-6. I think all of them use the roller locked system, not gas operated.

I bet the HK-416 is gas operated tho I don’t know.

[wastedyears]

And higher ups said an Army group couldn’t use them...

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

The are really incredible weapons. I have the 93 & the 91. (5.56 and 7.62)

They are virtually jam proof. Dip them in salt water, then mud and then sand. (Actual test) And they fire flawlessly. Their gas system routes past the cartridge in the chamber and blows the cartridge clear of the magazine.

[Hacklehead]

Needs more rails.

[wastedyears]

The H&K G36 was designed with semi-auto, 2 round burst and full auto fire.

[ryan71]

NOT GUILTY!

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

You are wrong about that. They ARE gas operated. How else does that roller block ejector system work? The gas is vented around the casing, released it first, then drives the rolling block rearward. It is a very short stroke and the gas only moves a fraction of an inch instead of a long tube at the muzzle like the M-16.

[WayneS]

The civilian versions run about $2,000, don’t they?

[Dixie Yooper]

I was hoping it was an M-14, but in the hands of a Navy Seal, a high powered sling-shot would have taken him out in close quarters.

[NVDave]

Man, what passes for sourcing for the lamestream media these days....

That said, would it be any wonder that operators would ditch the M4? Testing has shown the direct gas impingement action to be a reliability issue, the new contractors to the DOD are all using piston systems... the most infuriating thing here is “why do we (the taxpayers) have to funnel yet more money off-shore to buy something that we Americans know full well how to design and build?”

The answer is, of course, because of the corruption in Colt and their rigging of arms contracts to insure that they win them with inferior engineering.

[OB1kNOb]

They need to come out with a “Used on OBL” Special Edition.