Image credit
- Title
- File:HK416.jpg
- Author
- Dybdal .(attribution required)
- Licence
- CC BY-SA 2.0
- Source
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HK416.jpg
How Muzzle energy is calculated
E = ½ · m · v²
Not calculated: v has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Muzzle velocity is calculated
no sourced velocity for this load
Not calculated: muzzle velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
How Loaded mass is calculated
m_loaded = m_empty + m_magazine + n · m_cartridge
Not calculated: m_magazine has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- One magazine, filled to the stated capacity. Spare magazines, optics, slings and lights are the owner’s, not the arm’s.
3 of 4 inputs link to their source.
How Free recoil is calculated
E_recoil = ½ · m_firearm · v_recoil²
Not calculated: v_recoil has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Propellant gas momentum is excluded: ARMAG does not record charge weights (SPEC.md §14). This is therefore a lower bound on the real free recoil, consistent between entries but smaller than a figure that includes the gas term.
- Free recoil: the arm is unrestrained. Stock design, muzzle devices, stance and shooter mass are not modelled, because none of them is a property of the arm.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Capacity is calculated
as published for the primary chambering
Inputs
- capacity30verifiedsourceSTANAG magazine.
1 of 1 inputs link to their source.
Derived figures
Computed from the sourced values above. Open ƒ on any figure for the formula, its inputs, and the assumptions it makes.
How Momentum is calculated
p = m · v
Not calculated: v has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Sectional density is calculated
SD = mass(gr) / (7000 · diameter(in)²)
Inputs
- mass4.018 g62.01 grverifiedsource62 gr as published, converted to grams.
- diameter5.7 mm0.2244 inestimatedsourceNo free NATO dimensional standard is published. The C.I.P. datasheet for the .223 Remington, which shares this bullet, gives a cartridge-maximum bullet diameter of 5.70 mm.
Assumptions
- Reported in the conventional lb/in² so it is directly comparable with published figures.
2 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Power factor is calculated
PF = mass(gr) · velocity(fps) / 1000
Not calculated: velocity has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- A competition classification defined by the IPSC and USPSA rulebooks, stated in their units. It describes a scoring category, not an effect.
1 of 2 inputs link to their source.
How Magazine dump is calculated
How Sight error at 1 mm is calculated
θ = atan(misalignment / sight radius)
Not calculated: sight radius has no sourced figure yet. Nothing is substituted for a missing input.
Assumptions
- Shows what a stated aiming error costs. The misalignment is the reader’s figure; the site does not claim how well anyone aims.
No input on this calculation carries a clickable source yet.
Specifications
Every row here is generated from the schema, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table — and the same rows, read the same way, are what the comparison shows.
Identity
- Type
- Rifle
- Action
- Self-loading
- Fire modes
- Semi-automatic
- Fully automatic
- Operating system
- Gas, short-stroke piston
- Designed in
- Germany
- Produced in
- Introduced
- 2004
- Production
- 2004–present
Dimensions and mass
- Mass, empty
The article publishes 3.12–3.85 kg for the A5 without a magazine, across barrel lengths. Recorded as the midpoint of that range.
- Magazine, empty
- not recorded
- Length
- 1,030 mm40.55 insource
A5 with the retractable stock extended.
- Length, folded
- 709 mm27.91 insource
A5 with the retractable stock collapsed.
- Width
- not recorded
- Height
- not recorded
- Barrel length
- not recorded
Sights and rifling
- Sight radius
- not recorded
- Sight height over bore
- not recorded
- Rifling twist
- not recorded
- Twist direction
- not recorded
- Grooves
- not recorded
- Sight graduation
- not recorded
Operation
- Cyclic rate
- 850 rpmsource
- Trigger pull
- not recorded
- Effective range
- not recorded
- Units produced
- not recorded
- Launch price
- not recorded
Chamberings
- 5.56x45mm NATOprimary30 rounds
Scale
A to-scale outline against family siblings. The dimensions are sourced; the shape is a representative outline for the type, and says so.
- Heckler & Koch HK4161,030 mm40.55 inheight not recorded
Representative outline — the dimensions are sourced, the shape is not. Overall length, and barrel length where recorded, are drawn from this entry's own figures; the profile is a generic one for the firearm type and says nothing about this arm's actual contours. Heckler & Koch HK416 records no height, so its outline is drawn at the type's proportion — that height is part of the shape, not a measurement.
Lineage
This design
- Derived from AR-15 platform
What came from it
- Derivatives M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle
Detail
Heckler & Koch’s answer to the argument the M16 has been having with itself since 1963. Keep the AR-15’s layout, controls, magazines and manual of arms — a soldier trained on one is trained on the other — and replace the direct gas impingement with the short-stroke piston from the G36. Combustion products are vented at the gas block instead of being blown into the receiver.
Whether that is worth doing is genuinely disputed, and the honest summary is that the piston runs cooler and dirtier ammunition better, at the cost of weight, a slight loss of accuracy from the piston’s off-axis impulse, and a great deal more money. What is not disputed is that it sold: Norway, France and the US Marine Corps have all adopted versions of it as a general-issue rifle.
Its origin is a joint development with the US Army’s Delta Force in the early 2000s, which is why the first version was called the M4 Enhanced Carbine before HK gave it a catalogue number.
This entry records no barrel length, no width and no height: the cited article publishes all three as ranges across configurations without naming a standard one, and a midpoint would describe a rifle nobody makes.
References
This entry's own bibliography. Every citation key on this page resolves into this list.
- Heckler & Koch HK416 · Wikipedia · 1369565248 · read 2026-08-31 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated