This is quite possibly the most German thing ever created.
[ H&K "Aiming Point Projector" ]
Thanks for tuning in to another video on ForgottenWeapons.com.
I'm Ian McCollum, and I am here today at Morphy's
taking a look not at this gun,
we're taking a look at this H&K APP or ZPP.
It is an Aiming Point Projector.
And essentially the idea here is: what do you do when it's dark?
Well, it's funny, I remember talking to Larry Vickers about his 733 carbine,
and he had the same problem, what do you do when it's dark?
And he, and Delta Force, hose clamped some flashlights to the side of their rifles.
HK was like, "Hold our schnapps, we're going to build a whole thing to do this."
So this project was actually a collaboration between H&K and Hensoldt
(the optics company), in the late 1970s, '78, '79 they put this together.
And this is not just a flashlight for your gun,
this is a combination of flashlight and aiming device.
So, let me just skip real quick to what it actually does.
Alright, we are in one of the back rooms here at Morphy's where we've got mostly dark.
And there you have the Aiming Point Projector.
So you've got a flashlight to identify whatever it is that you're aiming at,
but it's not just a flashlight.
That circle of light is specifically calibrated to be 2 metres wide at 50 metres distant.
And you can see that there's a little black dot in the middle of it.
That is specifically your aiming point, and that is 30 centimetres at 50 metres,
or approximately a one foot dot at 50 metres.
Which would make it ... approximately 25 MOA.
And what's really remarkable is when I just clamped this onto this essentially random HK93,
that black dot actually lines up almost perfectly with the iron sights.
Now in order to make all of that happen you need all sorts of infrastructure.
So we've got the whole carry case here. We've got cleaning tools, we've got the manual,
we've got the tool for assistance
in adjusting the bulb filaments to make sure it all works properly,
we've got the batteries, the battery charger.
And of course our entire flashlight unit here mounted on top of the rifle.
Let's take a closer look at how this all actually goes together.
While I might make fun of it a bit here,
what HK did with this does actually make really good sense.
Having a light is one thing, it allows you to identify the target.
But if you are potentially identifying targets,
you really ought to have a way to actually shoot them.
And that black dot in the centre which, yes, you can zero.
... In fact that right there is one of your zero screws, and there's another one right on the other side.
That allows you to have an aiming device and an illumination device in one.
Kind of similar to the light and laser combinations that are more common now,
but of course back in the '70s having an aimable laser in a compact package wasn't a thing.
You've seen some of the other laser stuff that I've filmed from this period, it's not exactly small.
Alright, so here's all the kit that goes into this. We've got the carry case, spare lamp bulbs.
This uses five C cell batteries,
and HK originally shipped these with five ... rechargeable C cells in a plastic sleeve.
So then to go along with that you've got the battery holder,
which plugs into your battery charger so that you can recharge these things.
That plugs into the wall.
You can see straight from HK: European 220 volt [plug].
They did also offer it with a 120 adapter, but this is the proper German original.
We've got a manual, we've got a cleaning kit, a couple of tools which we'll get to in a moment.
And then the sight itself is screwed on.
It has basic STANAG mounting points there and it's attached to a claw mount.
So you can put this on any of HK's basically 90 series guns.
So the 91, the 93, the 94, the G3, the HK33, all of those guns.
Anything with a standard claw mount will fit this.
We've got a lens cap, just a rubber cap on the front.
The activation button is right here.
And what's funny for me as a left-hander, that's actually really conveniently accessible.
So there is our light turned on.
Worth pointing out they did make some variations on these things,
and there was a version that actually has a cable connection as well as that button.
And then they made a grip module that has a light switch activator in the grip.
So you would plug your grip through an intermediate cable
into the Aiming Point Projector.
And then you can engage the light with the pistol grip hand. Kind of handy, kind of neat.
Also worth pointing out, this is the ZP.
This is actually the first pattern that was put together by Hensoldt and HK for this purpose.
It's actually smaller and lighter,
but it doesn't appear to have the adjustability that the ZPP does
(or the APP), the final, more common version.
It's funny, it's attached with these like the wire straps like you'd see on a ZF-4 mount.
And it has this switch wired into the back.
... It's worn through here, but that's a pressure switch
which presumably you would wrap around the handguard of a firearm.
So you could mount that to anything, and that button would turn on your light.
But they improved from this to the ZPP.
Now here's where things can get a little more interesting.
In order to make this all work you have to actually calibrate the thing.
So by the way, I am currently running this with five ... generic modern C cell batteries,
not using the original HK batteries that come with this thing.
And I did actually calibrate it before doing the video.
So if you take the rear cap off, you've got three adjustment screws back here.
Because what you have to do to make it work right
is get the filaments in this thing aligned properly.
So this, which is sometimes misidentified as an infrared filter,
it's not, this is an aiming calibration aid,
because when you put that in and then turn this on. ...
OK, it's a little difficult to see there because it's too bright for the camera,
but if you look down there you can see that zigzag squiggle.
Well, there's actually two of those guys, and these screws allow me to adjust them.
Because what I need to do is line them up.
You can see I'm tweaking with them right there, I need to line them up so that they overlap.
And I've got a screw for up/down, and a screw for left/right.
Once they are properly aligned, then you get your aiming circle and your black dot
that are in focus and are the right size at the right range.
So like ... the Delta Force equivalent to this was,
"We hose clamped a flashlight to the side of the gun."
Not, "I have to understand how to run an oscilloscope
to set up my flashlight aiming device."
The exact number of these that came into the US is a bit speculative,
but it's almost certainly less than 100 for a couple of reasons.
First off, the thing is heavy. With the battery and the mount
this comes in at about 2.5 pounds, it's 1.6 kilos.
It's a lot to have hanging off the top of your gun.
Secondly, they were really expensive.
I think for a lot of police departments there was a pretty viable alternative of,
"Well, we'll just like hold a flashlight in our hand, which is a lot cheaper."
Now I said at the beginning of this video that this was possibly the most German thing ever created.
Am I wrong? Tell me down in the comments.
A big thanks to the consignor of this thing for sending along the other accessory pieces,
the early one, and the one with the grip attachment conversion.
Very cool to get a chance to look at a little more
than just the standard version of HK's Aiming Point Projector.
Hopefully you guys enjoyed the video.
Thanks for watching.