For those playing our weekly guessing game, the answer was 'Pakistan Ordnance Factories G3A3'. Enjoy the episode!

EDIT: As a few of you have pointed out, the picture in reference to Chile is not a G3 (but rather SIG 510's) as the editor will now never forget.

Glad to see that Jonathan Ferguson The Keeper of Firearms and Artillery at the Royal Armories Museum in the UK, home to thousands of iconic weapons throughout history, is doing well

Jonathan's caveat about AK's really only being "cheap" or cost effective at scale (with a huge factory) is such a important and often overlooked point.  This is also why I love Jonathan Ferguson so much, that attention to detail and nuance in these conversations.  AK's are actually not "cheap" rifles in quality or in basic manufacture, the design is scalable. Meaning the design is ideal for mass industrial production with the right machines and assembly lines. Meaning there is a huge upfront cost, but it becomes more and more cost effective the more you produce at scale.  This is actually why American produced AK have such a rocky history, many companies tried small scale production and cut costs by casting parts instead of having them properly milled or hammer forged, which lead to very unreliable and sometimes dangerous firearms.  That's exactly why import AKs were so much better, they already had the multi million dollar infrastructure in genuine cold war era factories.  Ironically AR's are far cheaper to produce in small batches especially with modern CNC machines. For an AR you can just mill out a block of aluminum with a robot, compared to the human labor and industrial presses required for a stamped steel AK receiver.  It's why we are in this situation today in the US where AR's are now half the cost of a decent AK.

At the end of the Cold War, I was trained with the G3 in the German army. Our instructors had taught us to pull the lever completely to the rear in one quick, powerful movement and let go. Locking it in the rear position and then making the ‘slap’ movement was not allowed. I was able to disassemble and reassemble the rifle blindfolded. Everything was easy to operate, robust and logically designed. My rifle was frighteningly accurate, the drum sight took some time getting used to, but worked well. The only thing that bothered me was the heavy weight of the gun. After a joint exercise with American soldiers, we realised how light an assault rifle can be. And we were amazed at how little recoil other weapons had - compared to our G3, which kicked like a horse. But we still liked our rifle.

Wasn't expecting a banger of a Metal Gear Solid 3 quote right away

In Norway, the G3A3 (AG3) was my father's service rifle in the military, as well as mine. Great rifle, kicks like a mule, but heavy and it rusted if you looked at it wrong.
So it was handy that it was so simple to strip down. Doing it blindfolded was not a challenge at all.

I really like having a second person in these. The historian is surely knowledgeable on other topics of the world war but having someone asking the questions in the video itself feels so much better than just having talking points.

I appreciate how this discussion highlights the significance of firearms not only as tools of defense but also as symbols of power and ideology.

I was in the Australian Army reserve from 1986 and we had the L1A1 SLR and our instructors were all Vietnam veterans who were obsessed with silent operations as they had fought in close jungle. There is no way they would have allowed us to do anything like the H&K slap as it would have been heard in Hanoi.

I was issued an FN FAL at college, but once I graduated, I was issued an R1 and later the R4. The R1 was always my 'baby' and had plenty of firepower.

Sweden was strategically important and was 'quietly' active during the cold war.

On the Swedish AK4 (an adopted G3) we closed the bolt with a slap just as you showed it.

I grew up as a conscript with the AK5 (FN-C) in 1993 and got the AK4 (G3) when joining the "Dads Army" in mid 2000s, our proud Swedish Home Guard. My G3 was licence but Carl Gustaf Rifle Manufacturer, and stamped in 1968... still in pristine condition and working like a clock. But it was quiet difficult to handle for smaller soldiers and less muscular women. We often had a laugh that if you ran out of ammo you could always use it as a spear or a baseball bat, bezerking your way through the enemy;-D After experiences in Afghanistan the 7.62 round got a revival as a car motorblock/shooting trough walls kind of round, for a few years back our Home Guard got the AK4C with the new Spuhr stock and the regular forces got the pimped version as a sharp shooters rifle with a fairly good scope on it, also for the spotters in sniper pairs. So it´s still going strong but will probably be back in stores now when we will get the Finnish manufactured AR15 platform.

2024, Greek G3A3/4 are still standing strong! Love that weapon.

Here in Mexico the G3 and the AK colloquially known as "Cuerno de Chivo" (goat horn) clashed almost on daily basis being the favorite tool of the cartels, until the G3 was replaced by the FX-05 Xiuhcoatl in the Mexican Army.

I like how Jonathan's wearing Royal Armouries merch

As a former German Soldier i can say, the G3 nearly never jammed. A G3  jamming for more than one try after a reload never happened in my time. Nomaly you blow out every crap when a shot is fired and the fun goes on. And i can say i sunk my G3 a couple of times in deep mud and fine sand in the dunes. It just worked like a charme. I would not swap my G3 for a G36...you have more punch and longer range in the field. Close quarters are a different thing. There i would choose a modified G36...

I just read the news on the GameSpot channel. Please, Mr. Ferguson, do a collab with Dave and recreate the series on another channel or maybe this one!

The Rhodesian Army used both the FN FAL (South African R1) and the G3 (Portuguese m/963) in the 1970s. Almost all the troops who got the G3 hated it and preferred the FN.

I did basic in the swedish coast artillery in 96 and was issued a G3 (or AK4 as it is called here). I still remember the day the range was double booked and we ended up sharing it with a platoon of logistics guys popping away with their 9mm Carl Gustav SMGs. Then we started sending 7.62s down range... the difference in power was significant. The sheer noise was spectacular. It still makes me smile even though at the time i hated that unbearably heavy piece of ironmongery.