Marui MP5K-A4 – Review.
The Heckler and Koch MP5 series has got to be one of the most popular designs in modern weaponry for several decades. Making appearances in almost every action film that ever hit the big screen, popular with both the bad, and the good guys. Just as popular with the Airsoft world it would seem, many people choose to opt for the MP5 as their primary weapon against the Airsofting scum of the universe. So why did I choose one? Let me tell you why…
Lock And Load…
The MP5K-A4 is much smaller than its counterpart, the simple MP5-A5. Primarily used in a close quarter combat role, this gun can be easily strapped to the body, keeping it out of harms way. Equally so, it is always there when you need it, and packs a punch on the receiving end too! Some say that the “K”, doesn’t have the range required in your average skirmish, obviously they have never fired one. It definitely holds it’s own against the big boys, like the M16 variants and the other H&K series, which although may make good assault rifles, tend to be over-dosing in the length department, when trying to rapidly deploy a team through an open window. Like all of the Electric Airsoft guns, it comes with a standard magazine, which holds 30 rounds. This is next to useless whilst giving covering fire whist trying to dive behind the nearest cover, 30 rounds in full auto gives you about 3 seconds “running” time. Chucking out 0.2g bb’s at around 600rnds per minute, all thanks to the EG700 motor as standard, you would be silly not to invest £24.99 wisely and get yourself a Hi-cap magazine.
Now, the standard magazine which comes with the gun (as pictured) is a tad longer than the fore-grip, stick a Hi-Cap magazine in the gun, and you double that length, the Hi-Cap mags are actually for the MP5-A5. My personal view is that the gun looks better with this extra magazine length, but it does tend to leave something sticking out, which could get damaged in a moment of firing frenzy.
The gun weighs in at about 1.7kg fully loaded, which makes it a fairly easy gun to fire one handed, although obviously, by doing this there is going to be a fair loss in accuracy. Talking of the big “A” word, this gun certainly hits its target. You will find it easy to hit a man size target out to about 40m, and can expect 5-6″ groupings in full auto at around 10m.
Face Value…
On the aesthetics side, this gun has more than its fair share of realism. The gun’s frame is mostly made of the usual high density plastic, with many metal parts included, such as the adjustable rear sight, the fire-sight, cocking handle, trigger and magazine release catches and magazine. The rear plate, of metal construction, which accommodates the swivel sling harness, comes off after releasing two spring pins. From here you can get access to where the 8.4v AK type battery is housed. Now, one major downside of this weapon is the time taken to change the battery, and I certainly would not advise it during games, as the chances are you would end up loosing pieces of the gun. I purchased my gun second hand, and as I could not get my hands on any of the Marui connectors, I swapped the connectors on both the gun and battery for spade type. One male and one female on each, so not to get the polarity reversed by mistake.
The cocking handle on the gun is purely to add to the “fiddle” factor, when the gun is unloaded. However, when the battery is in, by simply unclipping the power connector, and taking the back of the gun off, when pulling back on the cocking handle, the battery is ejected – nice idea. The same can be said for the fully adjustable rear sight, which is pre-set for 10, 20, 30 and 40 metres, by rotating the turret in a clockwise direction. If you don’t like the idea of looking down the sight, then the usual array of accessories is available for this gun. Such as a laser dot sight, and a telescopic sight which fits on thanks to Marui’s clever little scope mount, which looks and works exactly like the real thing. Also available is the tracer unit, which when using the 0.2g glow in the dark bb’s, this clever little device allows you to follow the streaks of ammo to your target. The tracer unit is styled like a silencer, so you can imagine it looks very cool mounted on the gun.
Conclusion…
For me this was £200 very well spent, also being the first AEG I have owned despite the many I have used, I really do like this gun. Possibly the best buys for this weapon would be the tracer unit, the laser sight, and a twin clip with two Hi-cap magazines – the ultimate CQB package.
Editors note – Tokyo Marui make an unlicenced H&K replicas, for a fully licenced replica with realistic trademarks please check out the Umarex range of guns
