Another MP5! Just what the world needs! But tarry a moment and read on, because the newest range from SRC is something a bit different...

Firstly, this series of MP5s is completely new, not a rework of the very tried & tested Marui design. With a stamped receiver made from 1.2mm steel, this stuff is hardcore from the get go. Having gutted a G&G MP5 or two recently there are remarkable parallels as far as the design is concerned. Now that's not a criticism, as the G&G guns are a completely new approach to building airsoft MP5s, and it is to their credit that SRC have taken some of those ideas and improved them further.

Pull back the steel-cored cocking handle to open the ejection port. Inside you'll find the same hop unit and adjustment lever as used by their Taiwanese neighbours, and it is a cracking design too. The forsight post is fixed in place by a steel roll-pin, the numbers on the rear sight are neatly picked out in orange just as they are on the real thing.

The furniture is made from a glass-fibre reinforced composite, like the real thing, as is the lower receiver and the end-cap which gives this gun it's very distinctive silhouette. The little catch on the magazine well, the one you always wondered about? It too is steel, riveted onto the receiver just like on the real thing. You could confidently use it for it's intended purpose which is to secure the genuine H&K MP5 sling.

By now you must have noticed that there are a number of references to the 'real thing' and it's quite deliberate because SRC went back to the drawing board, no, further – back to the real MP5 to get the dimensions for this model and others in their MP5 range. If the grips feel real its because they are made of exactly the same materials and are exactly the same size as the real thing – and yes they will fit. This lends a palpable air of realism to this gun which you cannot get when using cast alloy. Even the body pins that hold the whole thing together are interchangeable with an H&K...

Before anyone gets too excited – it isn't a real MP5. Inside that perfectly dimensioned receiver SRC have fitted one of their Gen II gearboxes which pumps out a very consistent 310 fps at the muzzle with 0.2g Bbs. More than enough to give this gun a range in excess of 50 metres with impressive accuracy and consistency at that range. It is very unusual to see MP5s fitted with the receiver end cap these days and I applaud SRC for doing it. The original MP5A1 had this configuration and although version has the far more modern Navy trigger group it still makes for a compact package. Not as small as the MP5K series, but short enough if you're looking for a gun to use in a tight environment or as a backup with a bit of punch.

Build quality is excellent throughout as you have probably guessed with this stockless version weighing nearly as much as my full-stocked MP5A4 from G&G. It comes with a 200 round hi cap magazine, but no battery or charger. As with all MP5s other than those with a full stock, fitting the battery is, to put it mildy, a right royal pain, but you will get the knack of it eventually!

So it's very steel, very real and pretty heavy for an MP5 (think Syte...shhh, you know who!) There is one consequence of all this reality however and it's the magazines. Since the gun has the same dimensions as the real thing, SRC had to redesign their magazines accordingly and the result of that is that only SRC magazines will fit this gun. Believe me when I say that I have tried my utmost to get other mags to go in there, they won't. Not only are the SRC mags thinner but the angle at which they present to the magazine well is subtly different to TM based designs. By the same token, SRC magazine won't fit into other MPS based on the TM design – including G&Gs. We will be getting a supply of magazines in as quickly as possible but if you decide that this is for you, you will have to accept that it is a one-mag gun.

Is that enough to put me off it though? Errr..... no. I have been airsofting for some years now and I have never bought an MP5. Within the last year I have got a G&G MP5a4 and I have a horrible sick feeling that I'll be adding one of these before too long! It simply feels so solid and so right I don't think I really have too much choice in the matter. If you can get your hands on one, I just reckon you might agree with me!

Frenchie
Posted on 26/01/2010 9:19 PM