Classic
Army MP5 SD5 |
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Introduction:
When I opened the Tokyo Marui (TM) catalogue for the first time after
buying my Mk23 springer I instantly fell in love with the MP5SD series,
I think this is mostly due to reading Tom Clancy and playing on Rainbow
Six Rouge Spear too much. After browsing the net trying to find the best
deal on one of these guns, I soon stumbled across the name “Classic
Army” (CA)
in my searches. I read that they were all metal, upgraded to 350fps and
came with a hi-capacity magazine as standard and were only marginally more
expensive than the TM ones, too good to be true?
After asking about and reading some reviews of the CA MP5 I came across some very mixed views of these guns, opinions seemed split 50/50. Some people said things to the effect that the guns were rubbish and they wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole, yet others said they had one or know someone who has one and they are great guns, the same happened with the online reviews I read.
I
soon found out that there were different versions of the CA
MP5 out there and that indeed the version 1 and version 2 guns were indeed
not very good (although when I picked my MP5 up from Airsoft
Kit I spoke to Tree and found out he uses a version 1 MP5 and has
had no problems). However the latest versions were meant to be greatly improved,
I came to the conclusion that a lot of the negative views of the CA
guns originated from these earlier versions and this then started rumours
and a general doubt as to the gun’s reliability.
I researched into the CA MP5 from February 2002 I finally took the plunge/risk and bought one in July, my first AEG, below are my thoughts and findings on this gun.
Name: MP5SD2 The gun comes in a brown box with a picture of a MP5A2 on the front and a small colour picture on the side showing the variant inside the box. After taking the lid off the gun is packaged in moulded foam like the TM AEGs, with spaces for the magazine and cleaning rod, your MP5 shouldn’t be damaged during delivery. The instructions are written in broken but understandable English and with the pictures, you can’t really go wrong. I also purchased a CA MP5 front sight laser mount to fit my Beamshot1000S laser onto the gun. |
Classic Army call the gun a MP5SD5, but I always thought that a MP5SD with fixed stock and a SEF grouping was a MP5SD2, but then again, the MP5 numbering system is a mystery to most. Perhaps a MP5 buff out there can confirm this for me, until then, I will continue to call it a SD2. (Arnie's note: I have filed this review under CA_MP5SD5, as that's what the manufacturers call it)
First Looks: The first thing you notice when looking at the gun is the metal body, it makes the gun look solid! The only plastic parts are the lower receiver, stock and the fore grip, just like the real thing. The rest is in metal, which has a slightly dulled look to it, I am not sure how realistic this is, not having seen a real MP5. I rubbed some silicone oil into all the metal parts and then cleaned it off with a clean cloth and the metal now has a very slight shine to it and is a little darker, it looks like I would expect the real one to.
When picking the gun up the weight is reassuring and the whole thing is solid, the only loose item on mine was the front cap of the silencer, but that is threaded so I just twisted it with my hand and it is now solid. There is absolutely no flex or wobble on any part of the gun, including the fore grip, it is solid! Both CA and TM magazines make a very nice click as they are inserted and both have a slight bit of wobble sideways, but only a tiny amount. The SD front end is lovely, CA have opted to make it totally smooth and with the matt black paint it looks very nice, the moulding lines on it are so good you really have to look closely to notice them. As mentioned above, this MP5 has the SEF fire grouping and a G3 lower receiver, this means that the grip is contoured to fit a right hand, it is very comfortable for me, but I don’t know how a ‘leftie’ would find it.
Another advantage of the metal construction is that you can use the cocking lever and be confident that it will not break if you release it too fast or ‘slap’ it down. The pictures below show the lever in the forward and locked position.
I am not a fan of lots
of accessories on a gun, in reality 1 or 2 is the most you will find in
real life, so that is all I would put on a replica, and any more makes a
gun look overcrowded, especially a small gun like the MP5, however some
people like this, it is personal preference. I decided that I would just
put a laser on, some people who have seen it don’t like the look, but I
do, I think it gives it a nice, simple addition to the gun which is also
a helpful aiming aid when I am to lazy to use the iron
sights.
The idea is that
the small hole is used in good light conditions and gives greater
accuracy over a larger distance, while the largest hole is for use
in imperfect light conditions or at close range, and isn’t as accurate.
I found that I couldn’t rotate the rear sight to the largest aperture,
so I undid the large screw behind the sight and lifted the sight off,
there is a screw under it that I loosened a tiny bit and the sight
is now working perfectly. |
The selector switch moves nicely from safe to Economic with nice click, there isn’t as much of a click when going to full auto unfortunately, but the switch does offer a nice amount of resistance and so it shouldn’t be easy to snap it or over stress it, there is no wobble on this either. The gun ‘shoulders’ very nicely, much better than the Thompson and FAMAS, which are the only other AEGs I have used previous to this one, the dioptre sighting system is quick and easy to use. When firing the silencer dulls the sound made by the gun so from the point of view of a ‘victim’ it sounds more like a “thud”, on full automatic it has a very satisfying sound too, I think the metal body gives it a slightly ‘harder’ sound than AEGs with plastic bodies. The gun shakes a little when you fire it, enough to spoil your aim if you are target shooting and are not used to it, this is nice in my opinion as it all adds to the realistic feel of the gun.
The only rumour about CA guns that I have found to be true is that of their hi-cap mags, these are not as good as TM ones. Sometimes mine will not wind unless I give them a couple of taps first and for some reason turn them upside down. There are no problems with jamming etc however, so I can live with that. I haven’t chono’ed the gun yet, but using the coke can method from 3 feet it goes into the can and straight out the other side, which suggests 350-370fps apparently, more precise figures later. |
| Grouping
tests: The
following pictures show the grouping (not how well I can aim) the gun
gives at 17 and 30feet, on semi and full automatic. 10 shots were taken
on semi automatic and around 30 on full automatic. The gun was placed
on a workmate to keep alignment but the shaking from the gun may have
caused slight movement. The black circle is just under 3” in diameter.
SEMI: 10 rounds @ 17ft | SEMI: 10 rounds @ 30ft
AUTO: approx 30 rounds @17ft | AUTO: approx 30 rounds @ 30ft
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Long term: So far, the gun has had about 7000 BBs through it with no serious problems occurring, that makes for a short section here as I have mentioned the only 2 problems I had above.
I have skirmished with it once so far and it performed faultlessly all day with no jams or breakdowns. It outranges most stock TM AEGs as would be expected and has a good ROF too. The magazine fell out of the gun once, but this was while I was falling over a fence (deliberate tactic, to confuse the enemy), I don’t think I had it secured in place properly as that is the first and only time this has happened.
| Conclusion In conclusion I can only say that this is a superb AEG and I only hope that this review can change the tide of opinion on CA MP5s, as a lot of people are missing out on an upgraded, metal AEG with a good all round performance, and at a good price too. I can see myself holding onto this gun for a long time, and if anything does go wrong with it, I will check back here and inform you.
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What can I say, you get a heavy, all metal MP5 that is upgraded for around the same price as a TM one, and once a little oil is rubbed into the body it looses that, dry, grey finish that it comes with and looks very nice. The only let down is the CA hi-cap magazines, which are temperamental, and that is the only reason I gave the gun 4/5 for build quality. Since buying the gun I have never looked back and thought “why did I spend all that money on this” so I guess I am pretty happy with the value of the gun, in fact the only thing I do think when I look at it is “It’s mine…mwuhaha”. A very satisfied customer…here’s hoping that the CA M16A3 will be up to this standard by it’s 2nd or 3rd generation as I now have a craving for an all metal assault rifle.
by Rob Andrew (aka Rob_A)