MAC5 (MP5 Clone) Range Report and Review

[Alpha-17]

BLUF: It's cheap and works great, but the quality of finish and welds leaves much to be desired.

With Bass Pro and Cabela's offering their Club Member Monday deals right now, I figured it would be an excellent time to grab one of the cheap MP5 offerings currently available. Ended up grabbing one of the FDE/RAL-8000 ones because I'm a sucker for FDE and it was noticeably cheaper than the standard model. It got even cheaper with the Club Member 10% and Veteran 5% discounts as well.

First impressions were Ok-ish. The fit was ok, the finish was pretty bad. The RAL-8000 finish is painted on, and it wears very easily. Just putting a mag into the gun rubbed some of the paint off both the mag and receiver. Anything that rubs on the metal also seems to peel some paint off. But, it was less than $1K for me, so I can accept it not looking pretty. Bolt Gap was good, measured mine to .35mm, and everything locked up and was ready to go.

From the factory.

I knew I'd want to add a brace, so I picked up a SB HKPDW brace. The thing is rock solid. Had a bit of trouble getting it on (it doesn't simply slide on like every other end cap or buttstock I've ever seen on a roller lock, but pivots on from the bottom) but after a few hours of yelling, and a simple prayer, it eventually went on. (I'm crediting the prayer) Naturally, it rubbed some more of the finish off. I spray painted the brace's end cap with some Rapco RAL-8000 spray paint, and it seems to be a good match, and holding up better than MAC paint job.

Painted and ready for the range. Mount and dot installed for proof of concept. Still figuring out what I want to go with there.

I also picked up an HK MP5/SP5 from Midway. Expensive, but only a little bit more than buying an MKE mag locally.

Yesterday, I finally had a chance to get it out to the range. Everything worked great. I fired 620 rounds of mixed types, and had exactly 4 malfunctions, one of which was very much induced by me. I had heard these guns were picky about ammo, but I never saw that. 124gr NATO, 115gr Winchester White Box, 147gr JHPs, it ate everything. The only thing that stopped my range day was running out of 9mm to shoot.

For anybody that is curious, ammo totals for the day were:

150rds of Wicnehster 124gr NATO
--1 Malfunction, Dead trigger (I think I rushed it, and didn't let it reset)

50rds of Wicnhester 115gr Service Grade (High Velocity)

24rds of 115gr Gold Dot Reloads

150rds of Federal 147gr Syntech TSJ
-- 1 Malfunction, FTF. (HK Mag, may not have had it seated properly)

240rds of Herter's/Winchester 115gr FMJ
-- 1 Malfunction, FTF. MAC Magazine

6rds of 147gr HST Reloads
-- 1 Malfunction. Last round Failure to Eject. Stove Piped.

Between the MAC and my HK MR556A4, I burned through a lot of ammo and had a lot of brass to pick up.

HK MR556A4, faux 416, and MAC 5, faux MP5. Ain't they a cute couple?

Now for the bad. Just as I was wrapping up, I realized that one of the mags that came with the gun had decided I needed a bigger witness window in the back, and popped its seam. It still seems to function at the moment, but I doubt that will be the case for long. I need to look in to MAC's warranty and see if I can get a replacement.

Two mags I received with the MAC 5. Split seam on the right.


So, again, the bottom line is I like this gun. It isn't perfect, and it is definitely not "just as good" as an actual HK SP5, but it's also a fraction of the cost. I'm looking forward to playing with it more in the future, and can't wait for AS Designs to release their drop in FRT trigger pack for it.

 

[Catt57]

Nice write up.

 

[Alan]

Good one! honestly, any gun surviving 620 mixed rounds nowadays deserves at least a little emotional support and fresh magazines.

 

[Alpha-17]

Got a reply back from their warranty department, asking if sending a black mag as a replacement would be OK as they are out of RAL-8000 mags. Since spray paint is a thing, I said yes. We'll see if they get it to me in a timely fashion.

 

[gerhard1]

Interesting. If memory serves, the gunshop in Winfield had something very similar. I want to say it was a semi-auto H&K, but I'm not 100% for certain. As I recall, it was priced around $600--$800. Not a bad price, but way too low for an H&K.

 

[Tahoe]

Interesting. If memory serves, the gunshop in Winfield had something very similar. I want to say it was a semi-auto H&K, but I'm not 100% for certain. As I recall, it was priced around $600--$800. Not a bad price, but way too low for an H&K.

If I see an H&K SP5 (or H&K anything, really) for $600 I'm grabbing it. That's a deal!

 

[Alpha-17]

I forgot to update the thread; replacement mag arrived on the 22nd. Works great. Got it painted up to match the gun.

Unfortunately, a Turkish Contract Seconds mag from Hk Parts will not work. It won't feed right, and the rounds fall back under the bolt. Only could get them to even remotely feed properly if I loaded them with no more than 9 rounds. Won't be using that mag for much, I guess.


Otherwise, the gun worked great again. Got the Holosun zeroed, and put another 150 rounds through it. Total is now 768. Probably won't have a chance to shoot it again until Father's Day, but until then, at least I got a nice picture.

 

[jagdawg]

Missed this the first time. Good review. Lots of other roller delayed options coming out now, but of course, this is what they are chasing.