New rifle from MKE. MPT-76 in 7,62×51 NATO and the MP5 clones at IWA

MKE – Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu – from Ankara in Turkey has roots going back to the 15:th century.

Turkey has a massive army, the Armed Forces number more than 600.000 active people.

MKE is one of the main suppliers to the Turkish Armed Forces, but for civilians they are more likely known for their clones of various Heckler & Koch MP5 and G3 semi-automatic rifles.

For the first time I had a look at their MPT-76 rifle. MPT stands for (in Turkish: Milli Piyade Tüfeği), or National Infantry Rifle. TFB reported about it back in 2014, but here it is in the flesh.

The MPT-76 is 7,62×51 caliber and produced by MKE, and serial production started as late as 2015. The design is made by MKEK & Kalekalip together, with the goal to replace the Heckler & Koch G3.

The rifle on display was semi-automatic. I presume the military version has full automatic capability from a 20 round magazine.

At first, the rifle was built as a 5,56×45 NATO but due to negative feedback they continued with 7,62×51 NATO.

Turkey plans to build around 500.000 MPT-76 for their Armed Forces. To be honest I hope they throw in a similar amount of red dot sights, like Aimpoint, instead of the current iron sights, that would do magic for their training.

As a contrast, the Swedish Home Guard have chosen to upgrade, rather than replace, their H&K G3s (AK4) with parts from Spuhr, more on this here.

To me the MPT-76 looks very AR-10 like, but I am unsure how many parts are compatible (if any). Comments on this would be appreciated.

MKE MPT-76 – Note the plastic grip to give the shooter a better grip at an angle.

MKE T-94K pistol in 9×19 mm.

In my opinion these clones are high quality, I have tried a few MKEs both MP5 rifles and pistols and their G3 version.

However, since Heckler & Koch have released their own line of products for civilians at IWA 2016 with firearms like the SP5k I’d go for the real thing.

More on the H&K MP5s for civilians in this TFB Exclusive.