MP5 Feedback from someone with extensive military use of MP5's

The MP5 on CTE, where to begin..

Oh I know where; I FREAKING LOVE IT!
Good job on the feeling, the sound of it is almost perfect to the point where the only thing to change would be such a minor detail that most people won't even notice it or even know what that sound is (that being the MP5's audible sound when its roller-locking happens).

If there is a single point of note I have about it, it's the "combat-reload" on empty we did in the military, we were explicitly instructed to not do the "HK-slap" reload because it was horribly inefficient under stress and a waste of critical time.
The order in which we did on-empty reloads were as follows:

  1. eject the empty magazine
  2. put in the new magazine
  3. quickly rack the charging handle back and let it go home

Because it would be taking about half the time of doing

  1. pulling back the charging handle and locking it back in the notch
  2. taking out the empty magazine
  3. put in the new magazine
  4. positioning it so you could accurately slap the handle so it would go home

Most commonly the order would be

  1. grab the new mag
  2. while holding the new mag, grabbing the empty mag and just pulling it out so it drops
  3. inserting the new one
  4. racking it quickly

Saving time and not trying to do some (as the officers called it) "flashy hollywood bullshit", all about saving time with as few steps as possible with as little distance to move arms to conserve time. There wasn't any instructions on a combat reload per se while not on empty, but it basically was just the last mentioned just without racking it.

There is a tiny point of note:
It does however need itself some lower profile optics, as they get mounted so high up on it, so it's not rail-mount -> optics mount -> optic, but instead a low-pro mount directly mounting the optic to the rail or some of the mp5-mount optics that exist, but oh well

last edited by Mainfold

@mainfold said in MP5 Feedback from someone with extensive military use of MP5's:

If there is a single point of note I have about it, it's the "combat-reload" on empty we did in the military, we were explicitly instructed to not do the "HK-slap" reload because it was horribly inefficient under stress and a waste of critical time.

I've seen people go both ways on this, and have seen people do "slap" reloads very quickly. From my experience, I agree with you though, I've found that doing a mag swap and rack feels a lot faster.

Did you down-load your mags at all? I've found the MP5 to be a bit finicky when inserting a fully loaded magazine with the bolt closed. The mags are so skinny giving them a slap to seat them is somewhat awkward.

@maa_bunny Funny thing about worn MP5 mags is.. you can often manage to get 31 in them, doesn't mean you should lol
We would mostly load them normally, but the short mags we would sometimes load less in if they had new springs etc. Because screw trying to get them in and them popping back out if you don't slap the shit out of them hahaha

Hi Mainfold,

If you have any reference videos of the sound you are describing let me know, will see what we can do.

Friendly reminder that H&K themselves recommend that you do the slap to ensure proper seating of the bolt.

@fortran said in MP5 Feedback from someone with extensive military use of MP5's:

Hi Mainfold,

If you have any reference videos of the sound you are describing let me know, will see what we can do.

WOW that's gonna be hard to find lol, the best case would probably be finding a video of someone cycling the action of the MP5 and then isolating the roller-locking sound

Yah, after playing a bit with the MP5 today the speed reload animation is a bit odd. Pulling back the charging handle looks weirdly delicate with just the thumb and finger, and slapping the handle down with a closed fist doesn't actually work very well, since the force needs to be down, not forward.

I think Mainfold's initial reaction is spot on. The speed reload should be the same magazine manipulation as the G36 speed reload: retrieve fresh magazine, use the thumb to depress the mag paddle and clear the old mag, insert fresh mag. Then rack the charging handle quickly.

@mainfold said in MP5 Feedback from someone with extensive military use of MP5's:

WOW that's gonna be hard to find lol, the best case would probably be finding a video of someone cycling the action of the MP5 and then isolating the roller-locking sound

Yah, that's one of those things like the buffer spring twang on an AR - you can't hear it unless your face is right next to the rear of the gun when it fires.

@maa_bunny But it's those sounds that distinctly stand out and you recognize after having used them for years, and a lot of recording equipment won't pick those sounds up like an ear would, as they have protections triggering that muffle the sounds a bit. Would almost need an analogue recording to pick up something like the AR buffer-spring

last edited by Mainfold

Yah, recording it would be pretty difficult. I wonder what a contact microphone on the receiver of the gun would pick up.

Some of the sounds I don't think are really things you even hear conventionally, but are transmitted through bone conduction to your ear by the parts of your head that are touching the weapon when it fires.

@Fortran
This Topic is about the G3 which is also a Heckler & Koch Wepon with almost the same mechanics.
The reload procedure is the same. And here is your Video :
https://forums.focus-home.com/topic/31704/loading-g3-without-latching-charging-handle-pls

last edited by GSG_9_LIGHTNING

@gsg_9_lightning There is actually an argument to be made for the G3 to be locked back and not just racked quickly when it comes to being done in prone (due to angles of operation, needing a lower profile, etc video didn't show prone reload as it should be a side-roll style one on the G3), but otherwise for efficiency's sake quick-racking always