03-13-2012, 08:27 AM
To clarify - this is my understanding of the situation with regard to Germany and the FN FAL: the FAL was initially bought for the German Border Guard force (which has always been relatively large and well-equipped - very much a para-military force). Those guns were made by FN. The German Army decided to buy the FAL too, but because of the number of guns involved insisted on having a German production line. Either FN or the Belgian government (I'm not sure which) refused to allow this, and the rest is history. The G3 was adopted, which got HK established as a successful company and they and FN have been deadly rivals ever since.