These HK433 rifles are turning up all over the place. Rumor originally was that there were just 20 in country for field trial live fire testing. But the sightings are so common now, that can't be accurate. In part, the mere fact they are ending up in so many different far flung units. Here we see one with a unit of free Chechens fighting with Ukraine, alongside the more common CZ Bren 2 the other fellows have.
I've said before that companies might just be donating their product to Ukraine simply to get exposure and free advertising from dudes like me sharing pics like this. With Germany reportedly uninterested in the HK433 and fixated on the HK416 (like most of NATO), HK might be very motivated to make the HK433 project pay for itself by getting some international sales. And nothing sells quite like the power of the demonstration. I wouldn't be surprised if, when the war finally ends, one of the surviving soldiers who used one in theater gets hired by HK as a sales rep to send around the globe singing its praises.
In recent weeks, a small amount of Steyr AUGs have suddenly appeared on the training ranges. Most of them are molded black plastic, seeming to indicate they were/are either civilian or law enforcement models. Although a few have been green. The numbers have not really been enough to speculate if they were donated by a friendly nation, such as Australia, who has donated quite a bit of other weaponry and gear. And their black color would seem to indicate otherwise. Civilian owned AUGs have been around during the conflict, but they have always been very few in number. Why the sudden appearance of several more is a mystery.
