Introduction
The Classic Army range of MP5's are known as good rifles. Let's see what this new "updated" B&T MP5 A2 SMG has to offer. This B&T variant claims to be an exact replica of the MP5's most special operation units use. It comes with full metal body with serial number, Navy version trigger group (SEF), flash light foregrip, navy style flash hider, full metal body, a dustcover/ejection port that hides the full metal hopup and ofcourse the origional B&T logo is engraved! Here you will find some more information about B&T (Brügger & Thomet); www.brugger-thomet.ch Looks like an impressive list of improvements to me. The rifle will cost you around the 335 Euro, let's see if they are worth it. We would first like to thank Classic Army and Action Sportgames for their generosity to provide this rifle for review.
Real Steel Rifle Information
The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a submachine gun, developed by German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch (HK) in the 1960s. A typical MP5 fires 9mm Luger ammunition from a curved detachable box-type magazine. The MP5's accuracy, reliability, and wide range of accessories and variants have made it the submachine gun of choice for military and law enforcement agencies worldwide.
The original MP5 was available in fixed or folding butt forms. Some variants did not have a 3-round burst capacity, or had only a 3-round burst mode. In 1971 (MP5A2) and 1973 (MP5A3), HK made several general improvements in the MP5.
The next major development was the MP5SD series (SD1-SD6), introduced in 1974. This model had an integrated suppressor and a specially-made barrel which reduced the muzzle velocity of its ammunition to just below the speed of sound. The result was that the MP5SD series is almost inaudible at distances of more than 15 meters. By its remarkable sound and almost invisible muzzle flash, it is chosen as a stealthy operating weapon in many police and military forces.
Under a special contract from the United States Navy, HK developed the MP5N or "MP5 Navy" variant for the Navy's elite special operations units (including the U.S. Navy SEALs). The MP5N features a fully-ambidextrous trigger group, a retractable stock, and a threaded barrel for mounting suppressors. In addition, HK replaced many of the metal parts on the MP5N with lighter and corrosion-resistant plastics.
With the increased use of body armor, the future of the MP5 is uncertain. Several new trends in gun design have begun to eclipse the submachine gun; small caliber PDW like HK's new MP7 and compact carbines such as the M4, AKS-74, the G36C variant of HK's G36, and the XM8 rifle based on the G36. For now the gun is highly popular with special forces and counter-terrorism units around the world.
Facts and features
Classic Army has redesigned its entire line of MP5 series AEG's. The new look includes both a facelift as well as functional improvements. The facelift includes indiviual series numbered Brugger and Thomet logos on every MP5! On the functional side Classic Army has made some significant changes as well, including:
* Navy grip
* Full metal body
* Metal front set
* Hi-cap magazine (200 Rd)
* New Design Hop Up System!
* Quick Disassembly Metal Body
* Flashlight fore grip with 6V light bulb
* Movable Cocking Lever and Functioning Bolt Cover
* Real Gun Logo with Unique Serial Number
The most significant of these changes is the hop-up system. The old-style exposed adjuster on the left side of the foregrip is gone. For those of you who own an MP5 and have to reset the hop-up because it constantly gets bumped, this is a big deal. The new hop-up system is similar to an M4-style AEG. Located behind a moveable bolt cover, the new design protects the hop-up from accidental bumping, as well as dirt and debris. We will see this later in the review, for now we list all the facts about the gun below...
Product Name CA B&T MP5 A2
Model Number MP001M
Weight 2635.0g
Barrel Length 229mm
Barrel Caliber 6.08mm
Bullet Capacity 200
Bullet 6mm BB
Hop-Up Adjustable
Initial Bullet Speed 92 (306) m/s (fps)
Shooting Mode Semi, Full Auto
Battery Type Large Type
First Impression
The first impression of this rifle was wauw! This new generation MP5 looked really promissing but now in real life they look awesome. The finish, the looks and the feels are very good! It was finally here for review. The box design is good as always with Classic Army, all wrapped up in nice bubble wrap. The gun arrived in perfect condition. The body is full-metal in construction and the finish is superb and makes the hart of this MP5 rock solid. Even the ejection port looked excellent. I picked up the gun to find that the weight was nicely balanced and respectable. The plastic parts on the gun are also of high quality!
Externals
What really is nice is that a Flashlight fore grip with 6V light bulb is included into this package! The asembly really fits good and is wel finished. The power of this 6V lightbulb performs very well. It really contributes to the cool SWAT look! 2 CR123A batteries are needed for the flashlight and it gives a nice bright lightbundle. However I must say the RICO Alpha 9 provides a better stronger light but this is a special designed tactical light.
One of the biggest improvements on this MP5 is the newly designed Quick Disassembly Metal Body which enables you to acces your gearbox really easy. We will see this when we will further at the internal parts.
Trade marks are a big issue on this gun; Classic Army has purchased the license from B&T so they can use all their trademarks on the gun. Which is really a big plus for collectors.
Internals
Usage
The new hop-up assembly together with the Movable Cocking Lever and Bolt Cover is a great feature of this MP5. The newly designed hop-up is very user friendly and really easy to adjust. It's not working with the old hop-up wheel but with a little slide which indicates how much hop-up you have selected. You can see this clear on the picture...
It's this easy: Just pull the cocking lever and now the bolt cover automatically opens where you can see the hop-up adjustment slide. Now select the desired hop-up level and close the bolt cover again by putting back the cocking lever. That's all. This works far easier without any tools and small adjustment wheels. I also think it will prevent further problems in the future. Sometimes the hop-wheel does not hold it's possition and after a few shots it bumps and you need to readjust it. This slide hop-up model is much more solid and accurate and will hold the level of hop-up you have selected.
What was kinda disappointing is the fit of the magazine into the magwell, a standard hi-cap magazine is included. I does fit and will hang on, however it is far too loose. You won't loose the magazine in the field however the movement of the mag should not be there. To be clear the magazine itself opperates perfect and does not have any feeding problems yet. Take care of the magazine well and do not let mud or sand go into it. We opened the magazine to see the inside and a lot of plastic radars take care of the loading. This is very fragile so we advice to take really well care for your magazines to avoid any feeding problems. When these occur open the magazine carefully, remove the durt with a tooth brush and spray some silicone. All should be fine again. When still having problems replace the inner part (MP017-3) with a new one.
The MP5 opperates on a 8.4V battery and it opperates really good. The Rate Of Fire (ROF) is just fine! Unfortunately you can't use a 9.6V battery because it's to large. However i think there is some room left you might get a 9.6V battery in the stock with some minor modifications. Alternative options are the use high speed motors and gears to increase the ROF. Actually this is not worth spending the extra money on since the 8.4V battery together with the stock set-up just works fine!
The Movable Cocking Lever and Functioning Bolt Cover are really fun to work with and enables you to easily adjust and fine-tune the hop-up. The sigts and the NAVY/SEF trigger group are great in performance. There is no "grey-aria" when selection your fire mode, it all clicks pleasantly in place. This is a great improvement from older MP5 versions. You may have wondered what "SEF" stands for. The three letters of the fire selector mean:
S = Sicher or 'Safe'
E= Einzelfeuer or Semi-auto in English.
F= Feuerstoß or full automatic in English.
Here an informal translation to remind it more easily:
S= Safe
E= Economical
F= FUN!
Performance/Tests
FPS
The FPS test shows that this MP5 shoots at around the 306 FPS on average. With ups and downs of 300 FPS to 310 FPS. We tested this with a Guarder SPEEDER-2000 chrony which is an exelent opto-electric chrony which performs great inside and outside. And offcourse we use some 0,20 Gr Bb's of the brand KSC. Find below some pictures of the chrono testing...
This is just fine straight out of the box. With this power you can shoot over a quite impressive range!! I am used to my 2 tear old CA M15A4 Rifle which has a lot of range, but this MP5 performs nearly as good and maybe even better! I didn't expect an MP5 to shoot this well! Maybe also because of the new hop-up feature...
Grouping
Affcourse we also did some grooping tests. We did this with a standard NLAIRSOFT.COM target printed on A4 paper. We shot around 10 to 15 rounds at 10 meter. See below the impressive result!
As you can see the groupings are really good! The spreading are less than 4cm by 6cm and all are in the 8/9/10 region. However there are 2 shots totally out of range which we did not include in the grouping. Actually i think this MP5 shoots better than my 2 year old CA M15A4 Rifle. Accuracy is thus a big plus for this rifle something we didn't expect from an MP5!
Overall
Overall, I am very pleased with the Classic Army B&T MP5A2 SMG. Ideal for CQB environments! The fact that these are version 2 guns where most problems are corrected leads me to believe that these guns are of superb quality. Classic Army learly shows that they do liste to their customers feedbacks from the field. All the new features make this gun a very convincing replica. The gun is very solid, heavy, and shoots very accurate. Fit and finish is excellent overall, and the gun has a nice appearance to it. A very cool navy look! I would highly recommend that anyone looking for an MP5 consider this gun, as they are good value for money. I have tried to think of anything that could use improvement on this gun, and I really can't come up with anything substantial except some external accesoires.
Final Grading
Quality: *****
Reliability: *****
Accuracy: *****
Comfort: ****
Value: ****
Over-all: ****
Manuals
We have scanned the manuals included with this gun. Click on the images to enlarge and find some usefull operating information. Find also below the technical details of this CA B&T MP5 A2, all parts are labled and can easily be ordered. Very usefull when you are planning maintenance and need to know how to reassemble...
External links
www.classicarmy.com
www.actionsportgames.com
www.brugger-thomet.ch
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