H&K - Oberland - ProArms

AR/M4 AR General Discussion
1

Hello guys !

I’m from a country in Western europe. I’m looking into buying a semi-automatic .223 weapon that’s available right here.

The downsize on that is that there aren’t a lot off reviews on these type off guns in comparisson to US M4-like weapons.

For myself I narrowed the search to 3 systems :

- Oberland OA15-M8 (price range : 2450 euro’s)

Very light, but i’ve found it to be a little “toy-ish” in my hands. This is the one i like the least. 1-7twist. gas operated

Not much info to find about it out there.
[b]

  • Pro arms PAR mk3 (price range : 2150 euro’s)[/b]

“Cheapest” of the bunch. Very nice detailing on the outside! I like this gun very much. But on the reliabilty side, there is not much to find about it. Available in 10,5; 12,5; 14,5 and 16,5 inch. Gaspiston operated.

- H&K MR223 (price range : 2475 euro’s)

Many guys say the same thing : very nice gun, but expensive. (for the price you don’t have flashhider, no optics, only 10 round magazine, …) Only available in 16,5 inch.

My preference goes to the Pro arms PAR mk3. For the buildkwality and the small barrel size. If there are people who could inform me about reliabilty, this would help me a lot!

Other Pro’s and Con’s are very much appriciated :slight_smile: !

Thank you !

2

I’d go for the H&K given it is a very well known quantity. Of course, those other guns could be great as well, we just don’t hear of them over here.

As far as price, the H&K is only 25 euros more than the Oberland, so that doesn’t seem like a huge issue to me…

3

HK MR223 without a doubt.

4

Can’t they buy lower recievers seperately in Europe?

Couldn’t he buy an HK lower, and have a Colt upper imported or something?

5

No, because the H&K MR223 uses different pin positions than a standard AR in order to prevent them being placed on “military” lowers (It is a legal requirement of the German government). The MR556A1 we got here in the States on the other hand uses standard pins and as such can be placed on regular lowers. Additionally, American ITAR would disallow him from importing a Colt upper unless it was a Colt Canada upper and even then I don’t know what Canada’s export laws are when it comes to weapon parts.

6

Another contender could be the STI sporting rifle. Over here we “only” pay 1600 euro’s for the gun, which is a whole lot cheaper than the other one’s.

Does anyone have experience with this? Is it as good as the handguns?

7

Does nobody have any idea?

8

The HK is the only one I would buy.

9

Those are very different weapons. It comes down to what you do want to do with the gun:

  • HK MR223 is the one to take if you are looking for a serious tool that you do not plan to modify. It would not be my first choice for 3gun.

  • Oberland OA-15’s are generally gtg, but in my opinion they have some much better models than the 10" M8 you mentioned. They are of good quality but not 100% milspec so all AR-15 parts will not be compatible.

  • Pro arms PAR mk3: I’ve seen couple of those and they have had problems with reliability.

  • STI Sporting rifle: this is the best option for 3gun. Very good quality, 100% milspec, ready for 3gun when you take it out of the box. Easily tuned to be great at run-and-gun type of sports: add JP speedhammer and a different stock and you’re almost done. Barrel is not Green Mountain as said on some other forum, but it is made by Lilja Precision: 16", SS410, mid-length gas system and button rifling with 1/8 twist. Capable to sub-MOA accuracy with quality factory ammo.

YMMV, as always.

10

The ProArms and the Oberland Arms rifle both have Lothar Walther barrels. I’d feel comfortable with either.

11

in italy MR223 cost around 3000€ without sights, and if you want customize you can but depends what you want to change. I have changed with new rail, flash hider, trigger, selector, grip, you can’t change bolt group and piston but is ok, i mean don’t need to change that parts!