The Firearm Blog

The lawsuit between ATI and H&K has been settled. Ed reports ...

Production and importation of the original design GSG-5 ceased as of Oct, 8, 2009 with the signing of the agreement. The remaining inventory now in the USA can be sold by ATI, all distributors and dealers. ATI currently has GSG-5's in stock.

Read the full press release over at at Ed's blog.

The GSG-5. If you want one, buy it NOW.

SaysUncle reports:

Heckler and Koch is suing German Sports Guns and American Tactical Imports over trade dress infringements. Seems they don’t like GSG making a 22LR version of their MP5.

These cases, like when Colt sued H&K over the 416, are counter productive to the industry in general. It seems bizarre that a firm, which is a subsidiary of a German company, is suing the importers of a German made gun. They must not be able to sue for it in Germany court.

I know nothing about "trade dress infringement", but I do know that those fanciful concepts of "common sense" and "justice" have long been forgotten in intellectual property court, thanks to the efforts of Disney Corp's hard working lawyers and lobbyists.

I recently reported that H&K has licensed the production of .22 rifles patterned after the MP5, MP7 and other H&K firearms to Umarex. No doubt this is the reason they have taken legal action against ATI.

UPDATE: H&K and ATI settled. GSG-5 sales will cease.

UPDATE:

How long till the Wii MP5 controller gets banned! (Thanks David for the link)

Anything this ugly should be illegal

From Xavier's Ugly Gun Sunday Series.

This year the Dutch Police have been trailing new pistols which will replace their current service pistol, the Walther P5.

A new cartridge, called the 9x19mm NP (Netherlands Police), has been developed for their future service weapon. The 9mm NP features a 94 grain (6.1 gram) solid copper hollow point bullet with a plastic cap inserted into the hollow.

The "AA" stamp indicates that this is trial/prototype ammunition. Photo by Marco.

Ballistically it is the same as 9mm Luger / Parabellum. It is given a separate designation because some firearms, such as the MP5, will need to be modified to function correctly with the lighter bullet.

Many thanks to my source for this information.

The president of HK-USA mentioned in an interview that H&K has sold a license to Umarex for the production of .22 LR rifles patterned and branded after the H&K 416, MP5 and MP7. From HKPRO forums:

.22's: HK has licensed Umarex to produce .22-cal versions of the 416, MP5, and MP7. At least some of these should be on display by SHOT Show in January 2010. It has not yet been determined which models will be released first.

At this years SHOT Show Umarex unveiled a licensed rifle patterned after and branded the Colt M4.

The MP5SD is the integrally suppressed version of the famous MP5 submachine gun. This video, taken by the THOR Group, shows just how silent the gun is.

Unlike most videos on YouTube the sound on this video is very clear and you can distinctively hear that a lot of the noise is caused by the bolt itself, rather than the escaping gas.

One of the reasons I love my suppressed .22 bolt gun is that there is no noise from the action other than the firing pin smashing the case rim.

Thanks to Max for the link.

I know I said I was not going to blog for the next few days but I am very excited to finally see photos of the new Chinese made submachine gun I had heard about.

It looks a lot like what I would expect the child of a Sig 550 rifle and an H&K MP5 submachine gun would look like. I actually think it looks pretty good. Not much is known about this gun. It chambers 9mm less-lethal rubber bullet rounds (effective range of 10-80 meters) and 9mm Parabellum. The intended users are law enforcement.

It features a folding stock, H&K style diopter iron sight and quick detach red dot sight.

Grenade launcher attachment. Probably for less-lethal / crowd control ammunition.
Note MP5 style forward charging handle.

A few more images:

Hat Tip: china_police at MP.net

Suppressor maker Gemtech will be selling a customized GSG-5 SD rifle that is suppressed. The GSG-5 SD is a .22 rifle patterned after the MP5SD, but the suppressor on it is fake.

The Gemtech GSD-5 is permanently suppressed (you cannot remove the suppressor) and is available in either a 16″ barrel configuration or in a SBR config. The price for the 16″ model will be $1195.

SBR model

16″ barrel model

This video shows it off:

Hat Tip: 7trees @ ar-15.com

American Tactical Imports will be selling the GSG-5 rifle in an SD configuration. The SD is patterned after the MP5-SD, a suppressed variant of the MP5. The main difference between the SD and the standard GSG-5 lies in the bigger stouter fore grip which is patterned after the MP5-SD integral suppressor and a fake over-barrel suppressor. It will be available in April/May as a complete rifle and later in the year as a conversion kit.

What is really cool is how the gun came into existence. Chris from ATI told me that last year after the original GSG-5 was introduced they noticed many people on the ar15.com GSG forum voiding their warranty to achieve the SD look. Late last year they flew to the GSG HQ in Germany to discuss these modifications. They worked out a plan.

This is a fantastic example of a company listening to it’s customers. I wish more gun companies would do this.

MP5SD3. Photo from Wikipedia.

The Indian National Security Guard (NSG) have stooped pretty low. They are claiming part of the reason the Mumbai terror attacks were so deadly was because the terrorists were carrying MP5s and the NSG Commandos only had AK-47s. DNA India reports:

The MP5 is far superior to the AK47 and is only used by the security forces of various countries. This led the NSG to believe that the terrorists were more heavily armed than they had thought. But the mystery was solved when they realised that the terrorists had seized Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan’s weapon after killing him. The NSG feel that the acquisition of this weapon had extended their resistance by a few hours. This is also an indication, said a senior officer, that the terrorists were trained in the use of this sophisticated weapon as well.

…

Overall, the HK MP5 is the weapon of choice for most European forces and the US. More notable users include the United States’s Navy SEAL, the German GSG9 group and the British SAS. It is also used by civil protection forces such as police and special SWAT team units.

The thought that these “special forces” were scared off by 9mm submachine guns when they were armed with 7.62×39mm rifles is a joke. Chances are they also had 7.62mm NATO G3s FALs on hand as well.

Pakistan Ordnance Factories MP5

The fact that the terrorists were carrying MP5s is likely to have embarrassed Pakistan and fueled India’s rage. I would put money on the fact that those MP5s were manufactured by POF, the Pakistan government owned small arms and ammunition manufacturer. I coincidentally mentioned that POF produces licensed MP5 yesterday.

Hat Tip: MP.net

I saw this Хроники безумного Макса, the blog of Max Popenker who also runs the famous world.guns.ru.

The inscription says “U.S Army Special Forces Commemorative(?) Mac 10″.

Click to expand

I actually think it looks pretty classy, like that engraved MP5.

In case you are wondering, I cannot read Russian but I do subscribe to various overseas foreign language blogs.

Earlier this year the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced they will be switching from the G3 7.62mm rifle to the HK416. The Turkish government owned arms and ordnance manufacturer MKEK will be producing the rifle under license from Heckler & Koch.

The H&K G3 battle rifle has been phased out in many countries and replaced with assault rifles chambered in intermediate cartridges. Along with the H&K G3, MKEK also produces the a variety of H&K MP5 models so the move to another H&K rifle is not surprising. Norway is also replacing the G3 with the HK416.

An important Turkish guy holding the Mehmetçik-1.Photo from worldaffairsboard.com

The pistol grip and stock look different to most of the HK416 photos on the internet. The wikipedia page has a photo with “HK416N” markings and the same configuration. The photo is marked for deletion from Wikipedia and there are few other references to the “HK416N” on google.

HK416N markings. Photo from Wikipedia.

Mehmetçik-1 markings

I cannot see any other differences between the Mehmetçik-1 and the HK416N other than the MKEK markings. The only different I have read about on a couple of forums is that MKEK are using different manufacturing techniques and different metals than H&K, which I take to mean a slightly different aluminum and steel alloys, which is not surprising.

The scope pictured above is the Elcan SpecterOS34x scope which well known for its use on the Canadian Diemaco C7/C8. The grenade launcher is the H&K AG416.

The Turkish Wikipedia page says the rifle will be manufactured in four different models. A Sub-carbine (10.5″ barrel), Carbine (14.5″ barrel), Rifle (16.5″ barrel) and “Distance” (Sniper/Marksmen, 20″ barrel).

Below is a video of a press conference with that important Turkish guy showing off the weapons and looking out of his depth:

By all accounts the HK416 is a great rifle combining the best of the AR-15 platform with the benefits of a gas piston system.

Turkey has also adopted a new sniper rifle that I cannot identify. Anyone know what it is? See the below photo.

UPDATE: Alcibiades, correctly identified it as the 7.62×51mm JNG 90, also made by MKEK.

Mehmetçik-1 and JNG 90 sniper rifle. Photo from worldaffairsboard.com

Hat Tip: GunPundit

ATI have announced the GSG5-PK pistol.

The new GSG-5PK pistol is a .22 Long Rifle HV Caliber with a barrel length of 4.52″, total length of 15.275″ and a total height of 10″. It weighs in at a dainty 5.2 lbs. It has an alloy frame construction and features a magazine safety and click-adjustable target sight. At a MSRP of $549.95, the GSG-5PK pistol is the perfect partner to the original GSG-5 rifle model.

It is basically a GSG5-P (pistol) with a shortened barrel and MP5K style handguard. Some photos (click to expand):

Hat Tip: SayUncle

American Tactical Imports are importing the GSG-5P, a pistol version of the .22 MP5 patterned GSG-5.

Click to expand.

The specs are the same as the carbine/rifle version apart from weighing 400 grams less. As far as I can see it is a GSG-5 with a butt plate instead of a stock.

The first thing I thought when looking at it was “wouldn’t that be cool in an MP5K configuration”, but bear in mind that adding a forward grip will make it an AOW.

MP5K – Wikipedia

ATI does not sell to the public.