This is the MP-5 Mid-Life Improvement. While they haven’t changed the weapon mechanically, they’ve upgrade to a new three position collapsible stock, the Modular Slim Line Handguard and Mounting Rail with STANAG 4694 Profile. All three of these items can be retrofitted to existing MP-5s.
Tags: H&K
Gotta watch out for that sig 😉
Nein, Maschinenpistole in fein.
Obviously a practical upgrade, but really puts a damper on the traditional MP5 aesthetic.
That 1913 mount looks like a good solution. I need to get one of those.
Is a 4694 mount, not 1913.
When did the MP5 come on to the scene? 1980ish? If this is mid-life improvement, is HK thinking the Mp5 is going to still be viable in to 2050?
The MP5 has been in production since the mid/late 1960s, so just about 50 years of service thus far.
Besides, as long as customers are still buying ’em…
So, when is the MLU for the 1911 coming out?
I literally read that as MP5 Mid-life crisis
ditto
This is not a mid-life crisis, it’s an end of life crisis. The MP5 is on the way out and has been for quite some time. Stamped steel was ground breaking in WWII but is too expensive in todays age. I use and love the MP5 but with two magazines the thing weighs 9 pounds. The UMP is pure junk, when the barrel heats up you get a wandering zero. I don’t know about the MP7 but have to assume it suffers the same issue.
When you have guns that are as long as an MP5 but shoot supperior rounds like 300 BO or 9×39 why go for an MP5? HK made enough to last the next 20 years but as trunions wear out, barrels frost, receivers warp and crack, HK will stop supporting them. It isn’t cost effective any longer.
Having used the MP7 in a Middle Eastern summer – it does not suffer from ‘wandering zero’. It is very accurate.
That is reassuring I would like to see how the barrel is married to the receiver on the MP7. It isn’t the heat from the sun that causes zero shift in the UMP. It’s the steel barrel set into a plastic receiver that causes it. Heat it up by firing when it cools down see where it hits. The UMP is a reliable gun minus the zero thing, it’s just the MP5 is better, minus the weight thing.
Again unless you have the MP5 because it was the heat in 80’s and 90’s there is no need to use one today. And if you do have an MP5 it probably was purchased in the 80’s or 90’s and is nearing the end of its service life. We have tons of them and they’re breaking all the time because of age. I just feel instead of waisting money upgrading a dated design that money could be better spent on a new weapon system.
Agreed. This mid-life improvement of the MP5 is nothing more than adding OEM options of aftermarket parts.
A real mid-life improvement would be taking the operating system and improving the shell and user interface as well as updating construction. User serviceable/changeable barrel, multi-caliber ability, aluminum extruded upper receiver, monolithic pic rail, updated trigger pack with more ergonomic selector and provision for AR grips.
But sure, keep pumping out an increasingly obsolete design and “update” it with parts that have been available for a couple decades already.
Yeah HK was built on the shoulders of the MP5 and G3 and now that they’re obsolete they’ve had problems hitting their stride.
The jury is still out but the SIG MP line looks very promising. That’s what happens when MP5 fan boys get a license to make whatever they want. I see they have a 7.62×39 posted on SSD today. The submachine guns day has all but gone, the few positives an SMG had going for them are pretty much gone.
The MP5 is an incredible piece of history. But nostalgia is not a path to future success. SIG fans hate hearing that, but it’s why the 55X series never really caught on at SIG USA and has basically been abandoned in favor of the 516/517 and now the MPX/MCX series guns.
A true mid life upgrade would be making the gun available to the civilian market. Then you would start to see some revolutionary upgrades for it.
This will go well with the plethora of MP5s in circulation in the US in civilian hands.
True enough, Although HK was based off the MP5, UMP, G3 and G36. They seem to be on to more up-to-date and superior weapons like the HK416 Assault Rifle, HK417 (7.62 Variant) M27 Support Weapon and G28 Designated Marksman Rifle. Staying along side the AR/Stoner platform, but with a more superior Gas system. They seem to be doing very well in my opinion. All four are beautifully constructed and performance rifles. Tried and true. Also the given fact that even our own military such as the Marines are replacing the M16 with such M27 rifles. The Germans recently retired their prior rifles (G36 Family) for the 416, 417, M27, and G28.