#Mke

Atlantic Firearms, importer and purveyor of interesting guns, has imported a range of collapsible stocks for roller delayed blowback firearms. These new production stocks are made by MKE in Turkey and imported with cooperation from Century Arms. Atlantic is also the source for the CORE series AP-5, so it is fitting that they would obtain these stocks.

The iconic roller delayed blowback Heckler & Koch MP5 and its clones enter another chapter as Century Arms introduces the AP5 (Apparatus Pistol). These clones are made in Turkey by MKE manufacturing and imported by Century Arms in a variety of versions, from full-sized to the most compact models.

Century is importing affordable (well….*more* affordable) MP5 clones from MKE of Turkey. Many shooters don’t know that Heckler & Koch licensed certain factories to produce the MP5 in somewhat recent history. Licensee factories existed in places like Turkey, Mexico, France, Great Britain, and even Iran, and they produced copies of the MP5. MKE, a/k/a The Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (Makina ve Kimya Endüstrisi Kurumu or MKEK or MKE for short), was established in 1950 and is a reorganization of a government-controlled group of factories in Turkey that supplied the Turkish Armed Forces with military products. MKE has over 7,000 employees. Now Century is bringing in these MP5 clones for the US market.

Zenith Firearms is a family-owned company based in Afton, Virginia. I remember them clearly from my last SHOT Show visit, where one of their employees took a lot of time and effort to show me around and explain their products. I appreciated that, a lot.

Zenith Firearms‘ booth at SHOT Show made quite an impression on me last year, with a lot of interesting firearms. One of their employees took a lot of time to walk me around and show me all the details, which I appreciated.

The Portuguese NAVY joins the Swedish Army and Home Guard in bringing eternal life to the Heckler & Koch G3 by buying the Spuhr Upgrade Kit for their service rifles.

In just a few short days Magpul have launched an army of new parts. Some are brand new, like the CZ Scorpion EVO 3 line of products which we told you about a few days ago and some are more of an extension of existing product lines.

The JMK  Bora-12 (or JNG-90) isn’t exactly new or groundbreaking as the Turkish state-owned arms company MKEK has been working on it since 2004. However what is new is the configuration that we saw at Indo Defense 2018. Essentially updating the design, the Bora-12 is going to start to see wider use in the Turkish Land Forces. More than a hundred rifles have been ordered for service with Turkish soldiers.

At Indo Defense 2018 this year we at TFB were able to get a hands-on examination of MKE’s KNT-76 Designated Marksman Rifle. The rifle is an upgraded MPT-76 service rifle that has a number of additional design features to increase its accuracy and precision as a squad level DMR rifle. Currently, there aren’t any in service with the Turkish Land Forces, but this is because the rifle hasn’t entered circulation yet. In addition, it appears that only MKE is producing the KNT-76, unlike the MPT-76 which is manufactured by three different Turkish arms companies; MKE, Kales, and Sarsilmaz. However, there have been modified MPT-76s that are in service with Turkish Land Forces, but these are armory level modifications.

In a show of patriotism Turkey’s state-owned small arms manufacturer MKEK (Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation) has delivered the next batch of new MPT-76 rifles to the Turkish Army ahead of schedule.

GİRSAN, known better for the Turkish handguns and shotguns that get imported into the United States, has appeared to step foot into the commercial AR15 market. Several online Turkish news organizations ( VIDEO7 and KG) have published articles detailing what appears to be a GİRSAN press conference that shows a GİRSAN employee demonstrating the company’s entry into the AR field. The articles specifically mention that the rifle is an “Infantry Rifle”, intended for law enforcement customers. However, one of their plans is to try and compete for serial MPT76 production, already underway at MKE, Sarsılmaz, and Kalekalip. The Turkish Armed Forces number some 500,000 plus troops, and the current MPT76 production plans only call for around 45,000. If there is an operational requirement to produce more, the government will probably come looking for other private sector small arms manufacturers.

Someone somewhere posted these old price lists from Heckler & Koch. They are dated from 1985, 1991 and 1992 and includes some of the HK firearms on sale back then.

Turkey’s state-run Makina Ve Kimya Endustrisi Kurumu/Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKEK) have announced that non-commercial military exports of their new MPT-76 rifle have begun. Turkish news site Hurriyet report that MKEK have already secured a number of foreign contracts for the new 7.62x51mm, select-fire rifle.

One of the draw backs of an MP5 is the trigger. The triggers are long and heavy. There are some people who claim to perform trigger jobs but the results are mixed. Marek Marekovič has been working on a custom lower for his MP5. It allows the use of a drop in AR-15 trigger.

Zenith Firearms have released a new model called the Zenith Z-5RS “Pistolman”.