VFC MP5k quick review

[tisane]

Right not done a review in a while and not long got myself a nice new VFC MP5k so I thought I post my initial impressions of this gun mainly because there seems to be a distinct lack of reviews on the net of any kind.

Firstly this was purchased from HK at a price of £230 + postage and charges it came to just shy of £300, given the reputation VFC has this might seem very excessive but I'm one for firsts and I had read that this model was vastly improved over its full size counterpart, and really I had no choice but to pay £300 as it isn't available in the UK even at the time of writing this review. (to my knowledge)

Right then so on to the gun, first off some stats from the site I brought it from.
It's fully licensed by H&K with full and realistic markings on the body and magazine.
It's single and full auto but there is also a single only model (or at least trigger set) available for those of us that live in countries that don't allow full auto RIFs.
The gun is made from a singe piece of steel, most of the other parts of the gun are made from Zinc alloy, ie barrel front sights cocking handle and support, the body pins, mag catch and rear sight are made from steel and the plastics are reported to be Nylon fibre.
It's mag is a 30 round mag with a steel outer shell.
The hop is fully adjustable and the rubber is a double point hop rubber, however I have mine on full hop and it struggles to lift .25g BBs, I'm hoping this will change with use, but given that I've thrown nearly 1000 BBs down it up to this point I'm thinking it might need an upgrade in that department.
The site I brought it from quotes its FPS as 300fps on "top gas" I'm using Propane, that it can take with ease, and out of the box its FPS was hovering around the 370-380 mark, quite hot I thought for such a short barrel, luckily this can be lowered in a couple of ways with reduction valves and weaker valve springs available from HK, just using a weaker spring I have mine around the 340-350 mark consistently.

It's performance as standard is a bit hit and miss, in single its quite capable of knocking out 2, sometimes up to 3 mags at room temps given that your not trying to imitate full auto.
Full auto performance is where it lets itself down, no matter how many vids I see on YouTube of this thing knocking out 2 mags + on full auto mine won't have it, I got 1-1 1/2 mags maximum at room temp and sometimes it would barely knock out a single mag, its ROF in auto is quite satisfying but nowhere near that of the Maruzen or Well versions.

It's build quality externally is in my eyes extremely high, it is the heaviest MP5 I have ever held full metal or otherwise, it is put together very well, no creaks wobbles or loose bits, the plastics are very solid and thick, the only thing that lets the externals down for me is the paint used, it can be very easily (as in finger nails) be damaged and I have several minor marks and one quite deep down to the steel scratch on mine and I haven't actually fielded it yet.
And it is more than capable of performing the good old H&K "slap" over and over again without issue.

Internally the frightening realism continues as the trigger set and bolt on this gun is in every way possible exactly the same as the RS version, a quick look on HK parts.net will confirm this.
Now the trigger group is entirely made out of Zinc alloy with the exception of springs, pins and a couple of reset leavers, now I can't comment too much on their quality and durability as I almost immediately swapped out all trigger components with upgraded items, however due to comparability issues I'm currently still running the standard sear and fire pin, and even mixed in with "steel" upgrade parts these parts are showing very little wear.

The bolt however is a different story and is a bit of a let down, after only 1000 rounds the small part that resets the fire pin on the bolt is showing some substantial wear, this is not really surprising given that it interacts with a steel leaver inside the trigger set at sometimes quite a hefty ROF, but to be fair it would have been nice for VFC to have reinforced this section as I'm sure they are aware of it being a high wear point, I have purchased a spare bolt for when (notice WHEN) this part decides to wear completely.

Now the part that VFC MP5s are renowned for destroying, the nozzle, now although I dropped an Azimuth reinforced nozzle in straight out of the box (due to horror stories) the MP5k has a single bolt guide installed as standard that takes up any side to side movement that might cause the nozzle to impact with the metal feed lips of the magazine, and as such even after 1000 rounds I have seen no damage whatsoever on the nozzle itself.

Overall I'd say that to be fair to it this gun probably well worth its pre tax and fee price tag, sure it has its little niggles, but what GBBR doesn't these days, and upgrade parts for it are very readily available should you want/need to swap anything out and these parts are silly cheap too when you compare them to the likes of WE/RA-tech parts for any of their range, standard spares are also readily available and also very cheap.

Thanks for looking, anything else that I've missed out or that you want to know please feel free to ask.

[1st commando]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

The wear from the auto cut off will cease once it goes so far so I wouldn't worry mate

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

Yeah it doesn't seem to be getting any worse.

Dropped the Crusader enhanced feed ramp in the K today after a couple of BBs decided to jam to the side of the standard ramp, and its one of only 3 upgrades my K doesn't have

Bloody hell for a $5 piece of plastic it sure eliminates 90% of mag wobble, this I presume is part of the cause of the misfeed issue.

VFC vs Crusader


And installed in my K

Yes that photo was a pain to take.

Not sure how it's going to hold up being a plastic part but as always I'm sure time will tell, now someone make it out of steel or Aluminium please

[Olphy]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

I'm impressed with the amount of upgrades available for this gun, especially the reputation it has for generally being a bit of a lemon, how much have you spent roughly on upgrade parts to get it skirmishable?

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

To be fair not a lot, I full om upgraded my MP5k 1) because I had the spare cash and 2) because I too had heard the horror stories about them, but I believe they need downgrading to our site limits and depending on version a couple of other choice upgrades and that's it, I just got myself an A3 version because I liked the K so much and I've left that totally standard apart from the downgrade valve to see how it copes, while I haven't skirmished it yet I've blasted a fair few rounds down it messing about and showing it off and it's been almost flawless.

[Olphy]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

Depending on how the WE Apache turns out, I may look to the VFC MP5A3, so would be interested in what upgrades worked the best for you.


Sent from a phone because I cba to fire up my poota.

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

Depending on how the WE Apache turns out, I may look to the VFC MP5A3, so would be interested in what upgrades worked the best for you.


Sent from a phone because I cba to fire up my poota.

Well if you mean worked best as in what worked without issue then everything I've put into the K with the exception of Azimuth magazine release valves and the Future Energy trigger sear have worked 100% without a single problem to date.

The Azimuth valves 1) have a small rubber in them that restricts gas flow very slightly compared to the standard valves giving slightly better efficiency, without sacrificing too much on overall power, this rubber seal swells over time and my 4 kept the valve closed so much I couldn't fire a shot.
And 2) the ends where the fire pin hits are so small compared to the originals on the odd occasion both my original fire pin and my upgraded one would miss completely and not release any gas.
So they were binned off in short order and the originals are working perfectly.

The Future Energy sear wouldn't interact with either upgraded or original hammer making semi into auto, I think slight modification to the sear would make it work but I've left the standard one in for the time being, as it works fine in conjunction with the Crusader hammer.

I have however just put a Crusader hammer into the A3 and that took a little fettling to interact with the standard sear properly, so the Crusader hammer could be a bit hit and miss I suppose.

The K upto this point has had

Bolt
Azimuth nozzle
Future Energy cylinder
VFC two piece bolt head (looks better)

Trigger
Future Energy fire pin set
Future Energy hammer shank
Crusader hammer
Future Energy sear (needs tweaking and installing)

Misc
Azimuth recoil rod
Azimuth SEF lower
Azimuth feed ramp

Still want to put a Future Energy or TSC hop unit in the latter offers the choice to put AEG rubbers in, might even VSR mod the current hop unit, but apart from that and sorting out the sear I'm more than happy with it as it stands, and I have a feeling it will run forever

[Olphy]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

Is the performance greatly improved with these upgrades?

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

In all honesty no, the only real performance related upgrade ive put in the K is the Azimuth recoil rod, that shortens the bolt travel, giving a slightly higher ROF.

The rest is all to do with reliability.

And out of all of those id say the only thing you REALLY need to do from the start is the feed ramp and to improve the hop.



Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

[Olphy]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

If you could load up a shooting demo I think this would really help me. I can feel an MP5A3 coming up in the not too distanct future but only if those cooldown issues can be kept at bay.

Do you play locally?

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

I don't play much these days mate

Drop me your email in a PM though and id be happy to forward you in a firing video.

Sent from my RM-821_eu_euro1_276 using Tapatalk

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

http://i1100.photobucket.com/albums/.../video0053.mp4

Not a particularly good or flattering video but it shows what it needs to I think.

[bob86]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

Look into my eyes, look into my eyes, the eyes, the eyes, not around the eyes, don't look around my eyes, look into my eyes, you're under..... this mp5k is cool..... *click* your back in the room!

i seriously can't wait until i get mine to play with, but i think getting mags is going to ba a ballache

[Olphy]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

If you ever decide to sell your package, seriously, PM me.

[tisane]

Re: VFC MP5k quick review

Will do bud, but despite my reputation for selling my guns, I really do think this one is a keeper.