Hello all,
With the news of the MR556a4 coming and appearing to be very similar to the HK 416a5, I thought I'd weigh in and provide my observations and opinions on the matter seeing as how nobody asked for them. My experience being that I have owned a semi-auto 416a5 for about 2 years now and it has about 8-10k ish rounds through it, aside from the charging handle, lower receiver, and buffer tube detent pin (the one you rollpin in place on a regular HK, I didn't want to drill that rollpin hole because I'm lazy), everything is HK.
In this post I'll be making the assumption that the HK416a5 and the MR556a4 share the same features.
All that being said, what does the 416a5 and possibly MR556a4 offer over the standard mr556a1/416D aside from standard things which can be swapped easily (grip, stock, etc...)
This would be my first HK rifle, should I buy the Mr556a4 or try to buy a used Mr556a1 from someone who sold his to buy a new Mr556a4?
To which I believe
You should buy the new Mr556a4, HK makes good guns yes but God keeps making stronger idiots, I should know, I'm one of them. In addition, the Mr556a4 has a lot of nice new features which scale nicely with things you may want to do such as actuate the bolt release with your right finger, put on a suppressor, use random mags that maybe aren't standard aluminum mags enough to the point they'll have issues in a mr556a1, or look cool on the internet. I'm not big on buying used stuff unless it's not made anymore purely because I know how much I abuse my stuff and I fear what other people do to a gun I would hold the financial burden of.
I already have an Mr556a1, should I sell/keep mine and get an Mr556a4?
To which I believe
That depends, if you have a kid around "needs his first rifle or a needs a nicer rifle" years old, I'd say yes. Give the kid your Mr556a1, get an Mr556a4, go out and train, training with your kid(s)/family is without a doubt the coolest thing you can do ever, full stop. If you have a reliable rifle and the opportunity to shoot with your family, I'd say take it.
If you do not, it depends on you, if you have a stock mr556a1, I'd probably say no. You can buy the adjustable gas block at some point from HK and put it on your Mr556a1 with a 16.5 inch barrel, you should have no issue and at that point. All other features to me seem superficial or fixable with a magpul B.A.D. lever or taking your mr556a1 lower to an end mill and putting an HK ambi bolt release in it.
If you have a 416D clone, I'd say probably but it still depends on you. If you want that adjustable gas block for a suppressor, you'll need a longer barrel. For a longer barrel, you'd need to cut a 16 inch mr556a1 barrel OR get a new mr556a4 11 inch barrel. For the mr556a4 11 inch barrel, you'd need a new upper receiver to go with the new barrel. See where I'm going here? If HK ends up selling an MR556a4 upper like they do with the MR556a1, I'd say that is 100% the way to go for the 416D clone owners who want in on that new hotness.
How do I tell my wife/parents that I'm gonna drop 3500-4000 some odd dollars on a rifle
to which I believe
Get it for Christmas or see the "How to get your wife onboard" section of this 1911Syndicate and James Williamson video with the addition of "Honey, it's ambidextrous!"
I'd be happy to answer any more questions about the differences in the Mr556a1 vs 416a5 platform that I missed but please keep in mind,
THESE ARE COMPARISONS I MADE BETWEEN A MR556A1 THAT I HAVE ON HAND AND MY 416A5. THE MR556A4 MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE CHANGES LISTED/NOT LISTED HERE! I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU BUY THE MR556A4 AND IT IS DIFFERENT THAN WHAT I LISTED HERE AS I DO NOT OWN AN MR556A4 AND THE ONLY REAL PROMOTION MATERIAL AT THE MOMENT IS ABOUT 1 MINUTE OF FOOTAGE!
With the news of the MR556a4 coming and appearing to be very similar to the HK 416a5, I thought I'd weigh in and provide my observations and opinions on the matter seeing as how nobody asked for them. My experience being that I have owned a semi-auto 416a5 for about 2 years now and it has about 8-10k ish rounds through it, aside from the charging handle, lower receiver, and buffer tube detent pin (the one you rollpin in place on a regular HK, I didn't want to drill that rollpin hole because I'm lazy), everything is HK.
In this post I'll be making the assumption that the HK416a5 and the MR556a4 share the same features.
All that being said, what does the 416a5 and possibly MR556a4 offer over the standard mr556a1/416D aside from standard things which can be swapped easily (grip, stock, etc...)
- More standard magazine well. If you've ever attempted to put a gen 2 pmag in an mr556a1 or the likes you know why this is actually a nice thing
- Adjustable gas block. This adjustable gas block features a suppressed and unsuppressed setting, I have not tested mine with anything but a surefire rc-2 but on suppressed with said RC-2, it's a little gassy but pretty good
- 11 inch barrel. This is mainly a point for those of you who have a 416D clone and want to just put the adjustable gas block on your 10.4 barrel, you need that extra .6 of barrel to put suppressors on your gun with that adjustable gas block. Anyone who has played the video game "Escape from Tarkov" should already know this part. The barrel also interfaces with the upper differently than in previous models so you can't put an 11 inch barrel on the mr556a1 upper
- Extended castle nut. This is pretty self explanatory but for those who don't know, the castle nut on a 416a5 is about 3x longer than standard, idk why but there's some reason, probably durability.
- Different upper receiver. the 416a5 upper receiver no longer has that sexy looking scallop at the back of the upper that the older 416s and mr556s have, it has a flat block all the way to the back and more pic rail to adorn it. In addition to that, the piston guide is different in that the 416a5's is pinned in place with a rollpin instead of screwed in like the mr556s/older 416s, and the pic rail at the front of the receiver has one extra pic rail slot due to integration with the handguard.
- Ambi lower. The lower Receiver comes standard with an ambi mag release and bolt catch, the magazine release can obviously be swapped out for a new one but the ambi bolt catch is made for the HK.
- Longer handguards/rails. The handguards and rails are an RCH longer than the standard 416D short rails and it looks a little weird if you're using a 416D rail on a 416a5, the 416a5 rails also have markings for the N and S markings on the adjustable gas block. The rails also have a different anti rotation tab at the back but it's just to give you an extra slot of pic rail, to my knowledge it doesn't affect the anti rotation functionality itself as my peq held zero on both.
This would be my first HK rifle, should I buy the Mr556a4 or try to buy a used Mr556a1 from someone who sold his to buy a new Mr556a4?
To which I believe
You should buy the new Mr556a4, HK makes good guns yes but God keeps making stronger idiots, I should know, I'm one of them. In addition, the Mr556a4 has a lot of nice new features which scale nicely with things you may want to do such as actuate the bolt release with your right finger, put on a suppressor, use random mags that maybe aren't standard aluminum mags enough to the point they'll have issues in a mr556a1, or look cool on the internet. I'm not big on buying used stuff unless it's not made anymore purely because I know how much I abuse my stuff and I fear what other people do to a gun I would hold the financial burden of.
I already have an Mr556a1, should I sell/keep mine and get an Mr556a4?
To which I believe
That depends, if you have a kid around "needs his first rifle or a needs a nicer rifle" years old, I'd say yes. Give the kid your Mr556a1, get an Mr556a4, go out and train, training with your kid(s)/family is without a doubt the coolest thing you can do ever, full stop. If you have a reliable rifle and the opportunity to shoot with your family, I'd say take it.
If you do not, it depends on you, if you have a stock mr556a1, I'd probably say no. You can buy the adjustable gas block at some point from HK and put it on your Mr556a1 with a 16.5 inch barrel, you should have no issue and at that point. All other features to me seem superficial or fixable with a magpul B.A.D. lever or taking your mr556a1 lower to an end mill and putting an HK ambi bolt release in it.
If you have a 416D clone, I'd say probably but it still depends on you. If you want that adjustable gas block for a suppressor, you'll need a longer barrel. For a longer barrel, you'd need to cut a 16 inch mr556a1 barrel OR get a new mr556a4 11 inch barrel. For the mr556a4 11 inch barrel, you'd need a new upper receiver to go with the new barrel. See where I'm going here? If HK ends up selling an MR556a4 upper like they do with the MR556a1, I'd say that is 100% the way to go for the 416D clone owners who want in on that new hotness.
How do I tell my wife/parents that I'm gonna drop 3500-4000 some odd dollars on a rifle
to which I believe
Get it for Christmas or see the "How to get your wife onboard" section of this 1911Syndicate and James Williamson video with the addition of "Honey, it's ambidextrous!"
I'd be happy to answer any more questions about the differences in the Mr556a1 vs 416a5 platform that I missed but please keep in mind,
THESE ARE COMPARISONS I MADE BETWEEN A MR556A1 THAT I HAVE ON HAND AND MY 416A5. THE MR556A4 MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE CHANGES LISTED/NOT LISTED HERE! I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY IF YOU BUY THE MR556A4 AND IT IS DIFFERENT THAN WHAT I LISTED HERE AS I DO NOT OWN AN MR556A4 AND THE ONLY REAL PROMOTION MATERIAL AT THE MOMENT IS ABOUT 1 MINUTE OF FOOTAGE!
