Airsoft Action - December 2023

RED CELL
MP5 UPDATE
Any way you look at it, there’s a good few
members of the RED CELL and wider AA
LEGION crew that just “love the Koch” in all its
myriad forms, and H&K platforms form a part in some
way or another of all our personal armouries! Whilst
there’s been an influx of new H&K (both licensed and
not) models in recent years though, in my mind the
MP5 is still “king of the hill”, and I’m not alone in
thinking that!
Personally I have owned early plastic versions, sold
them, moved up to full metal versions, and there are
still a couple of classic sliding-stock versions lurking at
the back of the “man cave”, one old JG AEG and one
Umarex GBB, although these
have now
been joined by one of the
newerstyle
CYMA versions.
They rarely come out
to play these days but
those two original
MP5s have been with
me an awfully long
time now, and have
been involved
in some
awesome
game-time and delivered some fabulous airsoft
memories.
As I’ve mused before, what makes this little SMG
such a “must have” for any airsofter? The simple
reason as I’ve said many times before is that the
MP5 has been used by military and police forces
worldwide, has appeared in the hands of most screen
“action heroes” and of course was the firearm carried
by the SAS on that fateful day on May 5th 1980 when
they stormed the Iranian Embassy. It’s been used by
the SAS, by the USN SEAL Teams, GSG-9 and virtually
every special operations unit in the western world,
and even today we still see the MP5 in the hands of
our UK firearms-trained police officers. Whatever your
style of airsoft loadout may be, the MP5 fits it.
Still regarded of as one of the most reliable and
effective submachine guns in the world many years of
service has seen the MP5 become the choice of the
worlds’ most famous elite anti-terrorist,
special operations and special law
enforcement organisations, so once
again, especially with “modernised”
versions like some of those here in
the Test Pool, the MP5 ticks a lot of
boxes. Returning to our test models
I asked the more technicallyminded
members of RED
CELL about their own
experiences past and
present when it comes
to the MP5, and I
believe what we offer
here can certainly
help you choose the
right variant for your
own armoury.
As usual we’ll
carry on looking at
specific models in depth as
we dig ever deeper and discover
new things about them, and once
again, all of the models shown here
are either in our main Test Pool,
are owned by individual team
members, or have been worked
on by our techs… one thing
“THE MP5 HAS BEEN USED BY MILITARY AND POLICE FORCES WORLDWIDE, HAS
APPEARED IN THE HANDS OF MOST SCREEN “ACTION HEROES” AND OF COURSE
WAS THE FIREARM CARRIED BY THE SAS ON THAT FATEFUL DAY ON MAY 5TH
1980 WHEN THEY STORMED THE IRANIAN EMBASSY”
48
DECEMBER 2023