advanced armament

Zenith MKE Z-5P SB | Subgun second to none

Manufactured by MKE of Turkey and imported by Zenith Firearms, the Z-5P SB is the closest thing you can get to an authentic Mp5 without buying an HK directly. The Z-5P (and its roller-delayed brethren) are manufactured on the same machines and in the same factory as licensed Turkish-made HK guns. I’ve written about my early impressions with this clone of a legend, but now that I’ve been shooting it for a couple of months, it’s time to revisit this gun.

In case you missed the quick look article, it covers the tech specs in detail. For a brief primer (to those unfamiliar to the Mp5 family of guns) the Z-5P is the descendant of the original short-barreled submachine gun chambered in 9mm which uses rollers on the bolt to delay blowback. The benefits of the roller-delayed recoil system are decreased recoil and comparatively greater accuracy when measured against open-bolt submachine guns.

This Z-5P SB is a 4.6lb clone of the Mp5K, with the K denoting the shorter version of the Mp5. We’re looking at a ~14″ overall length and a 5.8″ barrel that features both threading and HK’s three-lug suppressor mount. This version with its short barrel, lack of buttstock and under 26″ overall length is legally defined as a pistol. An arm brace and receiver endcap are both included, depending on your preference. The receiver is topped with a length of Picatinny rail for optional optics attachment.

I used the 1/2×28 threading to affix one of my AAC TiRant 45 suppressors. While this adds a bit of length, the weight of the suppressor is pretty negligible and it lends a fantastic balance to this little shooter. While the stock iron sights are more than adequate, who can resist the temptation of tossing a little red-dot on a gun such as this? When not shooting with the irons, I’ve been using a Vortex Venom micro sight (review here), which takes the Z-5P’s natural point-and-shoot ergonomics and combines them with the speed of a reflex sight to devastating effect.

While this gun handles silky smooth and shoots like a dream, there is one rub. The Z-5P (just like my old Mp5SD) runs flawlessly with brass cased ammo. Steel cased ammo provides the same level of dependability. So where’s the problem? Aluminum cased ammo. The violent nature of HK designed extraction/ejection leaves poor aluminum cases not knowing what to do or where to fly. Some did circles inside the receiver. Some stovepiped. Changing back to brass or steel cased ammo totally and immediately eliminated the issue. Again, this has been true for me when shooting legit/original HK Mp5’s as well as American-manufactured clones and this Turkish made Z-5p.

The universal aluminum case issue aside, this is a flawless recreation of HK’s legend. MKE licensed the HK designs and has followed the plans to perfection. Unlike some other “cloners” (*cough* SW/Cohaire *cough*), MKE has stayed true to the blueprints and has made the closest thing you can get to an HK produced gun. This Z-5P shoots as well as any Mp5 derivative I’ve shot. German or otherwise. The price tag is $1844 for the base pistol (which includes 3x 30 round mags, a plastic carry case and a cleaning kit) and $2104 for the big package, which includes everything from the base model as well as a discreet carry case and the arm brace. While this is a steep price, it’s the cheapest I’ve seen for a quality replica of the legendary Mp5. Check it out!

-Rex Nanorum

Ultra-short 300 Blackout barrels | Round-up Part 3

In the third part of this ongoing series detailing as many commercially available ultra-short (sub-7″).300 Blackout barrels as possible, I’m only adding one more barrel to the lineup, a 5″ slinger from Veritas Tactical, assembled into an impressive upper in conjunction with SLR Rifleworks, utilizing their 4.25″ Helix forend. I was also able to acquire one more ammunition type, Federal’s American Eagle line of 220 gr. subsonic rounds. This round received chronograph treatment from most barrels, and accuracy testing from the Veritas Tactical/SLR upper. Further data will show up in the final article. Be sure to jump back and check out Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.

Much like I’ve mentioned in the previous two articles, the accuracy and chrono data is preliminary and not totally exhaustive. The barrel’s aren’t broken in before accuracy testing (just the rounds used for chrono data). The final article will likely show improved accuracy for all barrels after a break-in period and a good cleaning. I’d like to shoot more groups for accuracy and more strings of fire for chrono data, I simply don’t have hundreds of rounds for each barrel.

Here’s the tech specs for today’s shooter.

Veritas Tactical 5″ barrel:

Stainless Steel 416R
1:8 Twist
5R Rifling
Patent-pending “Micro Gas-Tube”
.936″ gas block journal
M4 feed ramps
5/8×24 threaded muzzle
14.2 ounces (barrel alone)
Price: $189.99 (barrel alone)

The Veritas Tactical upper was put with the same SBR lower I’ve used for all other barrels in this project, with the same Geissele SSP trigger used as well. I did make a change in the optics department, swapping out the Trijicon ACOG for a Leupold VX-3i LRP 4.5-14x. All firing was done from the Stinger shooting rest, as per my SOP for this series.

First let’s look at the chrono data for the American Eagle line of subsonic rounds, as run through all five uppers.

American Eagle 220 gr.

V7 6.5″ – 844 FPS average, Standard Deviation (SD) 41.8
R2B 6″ -848 FPS average, SD 26.8
KAK 4.75″ – 760 FPS, SD 36.2
KAK 6.25″ – 813 FPS, SD 6.1
Veritas 5″ – 783 FPS, SD 21

The rest of the chrono data for the day was all done with the new barrel from Veritas.

Ammo Inc’s Jesse James 110gr: 1696.8 FPS, SD of 52.9

Federal All-Copper 120gr: 1622.6 FPS, SD of 10.2

Ammo Inc’s /Stelth/ 220gr: 831 FPS, SD of 18.1

Remington “White box” 220gr: 834.4 FPS, SD of 25.5

Fiocchi 220gr: 790.8 FPS, SD of 17.9.

The Fiocchi round was the only one that failed to lock back the bolt carrier on the last round when firing unsuppressed. This didn’t repeat later during accuracy testing, so an extremely dirty bolt could have exacerbated low gas pressure.

I ran 5 types of ammo through the Veritas/SLR combo. Below are group sizes in inches (@ 50 yards) and MOA for the average. Notable groups (good and bad) in bold.

Veritas Tactical:

Jesse James 110gr: 1.61″ & 2.5″, 3.92 MOA average

Federal 120gr: 1.7″ & 1.7″, 3.25 MOA average

Ammo Inc /Stelth/ 220gr: 1.8″ & 4.7″, 6.2 MOA average (some bullet yaw)

Discreet Ballistics 190gr: .92″ & 2.2″, 2.97 MOA average (did not cycle unsuppressed)

Fiocchi 220 gr: 3.1″ & 2.95″, 5.77 MOA average.

Some similarities are to be noted between this barrel and others tested in this series. The Federal 120 gr. copper round is still the most consistent, group-to-group and between various barrel lengths, with exception to one zany group out of KAK’s 4.75″ barrel. Subsonics have shown (understandable) tendency to lose a little stability when fired from barrels 5″ and under. The 190 gr. round from Discreet Ballistics continues to impress, both in volume (quietest, unscientifically) and in recoil, where it is by far the lightest.

Veritas Tactical makes a very nice barrel/gas system. The same goes to SLR Rifleworks, who’s handguard is both light and strong. Price wise, the barrel comes in the middle of the pack, above Right 2 Bear and below V Seven Weapon Systems. Performance thus far has been on par with the rest of the pack, which is a good thing. As with the other barrels, I’m expecting improved performance after the round count racks up. I’m off to find some ammo!

-Rex Nanorum

@rexnanorum

AAC Halcyon – Two Rim Fire Silencers in One

Advanced Armament Corporation’s Halcyon: Two Rim Fire Silencers in One
Mike the Mook

Of all the silencers on the market, we find the rimfire cans to be some of the most versatile. The latest from AAC (Advanced Armament Corporation) appears to be one of the most useful yet. The Halcyon is a modular suppressor that is essentially two cans in one.

When suppressing 17 HMR, 17 M2, 22 Magnum or even FN’s 5.7 you may want to run a longer profile silencer for better suppression. In this case that is a matter of 5.28 in. with a weight of 6 oz. However if you want to quiet a bolt action .22 long rifle and keep a shorter profile you can take it down to a 3.4 in. can that weighs a scant 4.5 ounces.

Switching back and forth takes a matter of seconds without tools, just like the company’s Ti-Rant 45M and Ti-Rant 9M.

When our good friends at Silencershop.com asked us if we wanted to try it, we looked at the e-mail like they were stoopid — we always want to try new cans.

Continue reading on Breach Bang Clear

Reaper Outdoors | Controlled Chaos .300 BLK

Reaper Outdoors | Controlled Chaos .300 Blackout

I’ve viewed .300 AAC Blackout as an excellent round since its inception. I’ve also acknowledged that it isn’t a magic “wonder round” that can do it all. It is another good tool to have in the tool box and excels at its intended function. As with any new offering, it has taken some time to mature as many of the early loading used adapted .308 projectiles which were not designed to perform well at .300 blackout velocities. Time has passed and many ammunition manufacturers have seen the popularity of the .300 blackout round and they have responded by designing new projectiles tailored specifically for optimal performance within the .300 blk envelope. Some very good rounds have been released since that time. I was recently given the option to take a look at one of these rounds, the 110 gr. Controlled Chaos round, by Reaper Outdoors.

The projectile in the Reaper Outdoors .300 load is the 110 grain offering from Lehigh Defense. This is an all brass projectile that is designed to penetrate to a certain depth, then expand quite violently, transferring energy in such a manner that it can temporarily shut down a targets circulatory and nervous systems. Some impressive gelatin testing results can be found on the Lehigh website here. The advertised data shows this round coming out of a 16″ barrel at 2315 ft/s and staying supersonic past 350 yards.

I wasn’t able to get a hold of enough rounds to do my usual battery of testing: zero, three 10 round groups for accuracy and a real world flesh test. So, I got a quick zero and hammered out a few informal groups. As I only had access to a short range on the day of test fire, I was only able to group at ~30 yards. Anything worse than one ragged hole would be a failure but the Controlled Chaos round didn’t let me down. I fired one round into the hard packed dirt at point blank range, dug it out and stuffed it back into the brass casing for display (pictured below). Dirt being a much better barrier than meat, the bullet stopped about 4.5″ deep with one shard disappearing into the ether never to be seen again. Take a look at the bullet below and imagine that tearing through a nice big buck.

Given a very limited number of rounds with which to conduct testing, I don’t feel like I can give a true assessment of this round. I do feel like I can say I’m excited by what I’ve seen so far and can’t wait for deer season to start so I can take out the last few rounds and hopefully get a metal on flesh test complete.

The AAC Halcyon: Two Silencers with One Stamp

Courtesy of Tactical Life

Advanced Armament Corp. has added a new rimfire suppressor to its product lineup.

RELATED STORY: 20 AR Suppressors & Other Muzzle Devices on the Market

Boasting the same tool-less design as the company’s Ti-Rant 9M and Ti-Rant 45M, the AAC Halcyon — as it is so named — is a modular offering that can be disassembled and/or re-configured as a full-size or compact suppressor in a matter of seconds. In its full-size configuration, it’s 5.28 inches long and weighs just six ounces. The compact version is 3.41 inches long and weighs in at 4.5 ounces.

Also included in this product are shielded titanium K-baffles that are keyed for repeatable short alignment of the ports, thereby eliminating point of impact shift, AAC says.

The serialized far tube, FNC stainless steel end caps and anodized 7075-T6 aluminum front tube all boast an armor black Cerakote finish.

Continue reading on Tactical Life

Photo courtesy of Tactical Life

The Silent Majority: Rounding Up Some of the Raddest Suppressors at SHOT Show

(Article courtesy of Tactical Life)

Ok, we admit it: we’re still talking about some of the cool things we saw at SHOT Show this year. And make no mistake, we saw a lot of stuff. As we made our way around the Sands Expo Center in Vegas and drooled over some of the hottest new firearms, we also made it a point to check out some of the coolest suppressors being brought to market in 2017, and, boy, were we not disappointed.

What can we say? We’re big fans of suppressors around here. And with so many advantages to using one — such as protecting your hearing, reducing recoil, improving communication with other shooters and pleasing your neighbors — what’s not to like?

Continue reading on Tactical Life

Photo courtesy of Tactical Life