As the MR762 is close to roll out to retail, I thought some pictures and experiences of the MR308 might be of interest for the readers of the forum.
MR308 is of course the de-militarised version of the H&K 417. These changes had to be done to comply with the German law that severaly restricts the sales of military arms. Mostly the changes non-functional in a sense that they only prevent using military parts in the civilian rifle.
Well, about the rifle I have here. It is a 20" version recently released in Europe. I was actually looking for the more compact 16.5" standard model, but I got an excellent deal on a sample rifle. Rifle was used, but in nearly NIB condition. I equipped the rifle with a Versa-Pod bipod, Troy micros, ACOG TA11 and a BR Scout suppressor.
On the first trip to the range I mostly zeroed in and tested the rifle for functionality. I ran it supressed and unsupressed on rounds ranging from training rounds weighing 123grs to 180grs soft points for. (This was mainly because there have been reports of MR308 not functioning with suppressor, as the most iditiotic change the H&K did from the 417 was to leave the adjustable gas port out of the gun.) Function was however flawless, at least in the low -5C temps I was shooting. There might be overgassing in warmer weather, but that has to be tested later when the summer comes. I managed to shoot a single 0,62MOA 3-shot group, but screwed pretty much the rest. I was freezing my butt of as I had not dressed up properly. Also lighting was pretty bad and I had trouble seeing my reticle against the targets.
Nevertheless I was pleased by the performance with the suppressor. It has to mentioned though, that the rifle does get very dirty suppressed despite having the short stroke piston. There is still some pressure in the barrel when the breech opens, and the can pushes the smoke and crud back to the receiver when the bolt unlocks. It was kind of funny seeing the tranparent magazine filled with smoke.
On a second range trip I tested the gun for accuracy and for the custom muzzle brake intended to be used in competitions. MR308 has soft recoil to start with, but when the timer is running even fractions of a second count. Suppressor did reduce recoil noticeably, but part of the reasoning behind buying a short stroke piston AR was to get rid of most of the scrubbing of the receiver. So I will be using the can mostly whilst hunting in the future. Installation of the brake was a bit of hassle as the gun had about .5" threads followed by .5" threadless part before the shoulder. Smith fitted a collar for the brake to lean on and timed the brake so that it is slightly canted to right to kill the torsion from the recoil.
Second trip was more of success as I got hang of the trigger which, as smooth as it is, is hideously long. I found it quite good for doubles and rapid shooting, but getting solid groups with it did take some getting used to. After testing some different targets and rapid fire drills I decided to finish the day off with some accuracy testing. I gathered some material to form a makeshift bench rest and shot two 10-shot groups. Shooting with the ACOG in less than optimum conditions I was very pleased with the results. Both groups were shot at 100 meters with 123grs Sako Range which makes it pretty promising for higher quality SMK or Scenar rounds. Smaller group contained two fliers spreading it to 34mm (1.2 MOA) with 8 rounds within 0.8MOA. Conditions sunny, no wind, temp -17C.
Larger one of the two groups had one flier and overal size of 45mm (1.55MOA) with 9 rounds within 1,0MOA.
Considering, I was very pleased with results.
Finally, here are some photos if the insides of the gun. I apologise for the quality of them but winters are dark up here and I don’t have very good lighting for the camera. I hope you can make out what the pictures show.
20" barrel:
Gas piston system in place. It looks identical to the Dragunov style system of the MR223/416:
Gas piston system disassembled (very simple process, just pull it out). It is worth mentioning that the two screws holding the railed freefloat handguard are allen screws, and no tool for opening them comes with the rifle. Allen tools are abundant, but this isn’t very convenient when you are in the middle of nowhere and you have to take the gas piston apart. I will have to jury-rig a suitable tool in the buttstock later on.
Piston system bushing in the upper receiver. Inside the receiver there are no signs of wear after couple of hundred rounds I shot (and the unkown rounds shot by the testers of the sample rifle):
Bolt shows pretty much all there is to clean in addition to the barrel after a range session. Compared to the mess I made with the can I was very pleased to find no carbon inside the receiver this time. Not the two ejectors:
Bolt carrier group taken apart. Firing pin retaining pin is captive. Note the firing pin safety lever:
The lower receiver. It is worth noting that the take-down pins require a sharp instrument to push through. There is a small allen tool in the butstock that can be used. Also, the pins are tight, especially the front one, which very tight and requires a bit of wiggling to move at all. There is no play what so ever between the upper and the lower receivers. Safety is ambidexterous. Also note the groove in the hammer for the firing pin safety.
One feature worth mentioning of the gun is the buttstock. Buttplate comes of when you twist it, a feature I wasn’t too fond about but luckily it doesn’t come too easily and additionally it comes “with strings attached”, as you can see from the picture. In the buttstock there is also an allen screw you can use to lock the stock in place to eliminate the play in it (there isn’t much of that). There are also two compartments for spare batteries and such, but I would worry about the water tightness of the compartments. I don’t think they hold moisture out. In between the battery compartments there is the space for the small H&K allen tool that can be used to tighten the buttstock and to open teh take-down pins.
Overall impression of the gun is very favourable. Accuracy is actually better than I expected, and it feels like the gun is capable of more, I am just holding it back from performing. Reliability has been 100% but my round count is still low, I do hope it stays in that figure. Rifle is pretty handy even if it is quite heavy. Adding a can on the 20" barrel does definately make it very nose heavy for unsupported shooting, without it on, I like the balance of it. The rifle gives an appearance of very high quality. It can not really be compared to the race guns of the same price range like JP. I think it will loose, especially in the trigger and probably in accuracy too. But this gun is not really a “Match Rifle” although the name says so, it is a work horse more than a racer. But it is a very refined work horse.
Friend of mine said it in the lines of it being still pretty normal AR, just better everywhere. 
I think that says what I think of it, too.
