I truly believe and I have said this to customers when asked about why I don’t mess with piston uppers is that if there was a standard that was followed, they would have caught on faster and would have been more reliable by now. No sense dealing with the extra weight and headache, go DI.
Anybody try to put a pmag in one yet?
The largest obstacle that HK had was that they did not have the American manufacturing base that FN, and other companies already had.
Now that they have Plants operational in the USA, one in Columbus, GA. we will see more and more HK products coming online with a mix of German and US made components with the same Quality control of the true German counterparts.
I have used the 416 and granted it is a little heavy,but it works and works. I know that my next AR will be the MR556.
Count me in for an MR556, but probably not this year. I’ll wait a bit. I’ve got other builds in the works first.
However, if HK were to drop this onto the public, I can see myself being first in line to get one
Like the SCAR, if I can’t SBR it with factory parts and get spares easily, my interest falls down to zero. As long as companies keep getting this wrong, I’ll continue to overlook all new guns, no matter how cool they are
Please forgive my ignorance everyone. But what does the 416 really offer that makes it better and any other DI or piston AR already out there? I have never really paid much attention to the platform since I am not a big piston fan and they were pretty much unattainable.
Yeap.
Its now time for the shake out.
I want these other brands killed off.
I have one on backorder thru my FFL friend. The HK416 has done relatively well in military sales and I’d like to put a little more trigger time on one. I don’t particularly like the weight aspect but this is just going to be a range gun for me.
im curious, I know the g36 doesnt run pmags well but magpul is working on mags to accomodate them, emags i think?
E-Mags have been out for awhile now and were designed for the SCAR and HK416 where P-Mags didn’t work. They would work in the MR556. Europeans have had P-Mags work in some of their MR223s, so they may work in the MR556. Someone will have to get one and try it out.
Won’t work. Magwell is the same as the 416, which is too long on the front end, and interferes with the seating of a Pmag because of the nature of how it’s curved on its frontstrap. It binds where the frontstrap of the Pmag meets the front of the magwell and won’t seat.
Emags work because of their lesser wall profile.
TD ACRs work.
USGI mags work, but be mindful of them. It’s possible, upon loading/push-pull, or whatever, to overseat those and cause a whole slew of other problems. Not horribly common, mostly just another reason to inspect your metal mags, don’t freakin’ get posessive over them like some people do (they’re just magazines; they’re not love), hammer-treat problem mags and get replacements as required.
You are right.
Cameron
I don’t get it.
Everything that is ‘wrong’ with pistons is ‘wrong’ with the HK, even more so. The goofy magwell makes using standard Pmags impossible and the rail height requires completely different sights and scope mounts. The ‘esteemed’ membership of M4C has been berating piston owners for years that pistons are too heavy, too expensive, and chock full of proprietary parts.
But now that HK has released a rifle that is too heavy, too expensive, and full of proprietary parts the same M4C intelligentsia is falling over themselves with glee and ecstasy.
A month ago, piston ARs were evil and vile stuff. “No benefit over a DI!” was shouted from the M4C roof tops. If you owned a piston AR you were an idiot and a moron. Now that HK kicks one out, it’s a whole new ball game. It’s an earth shaking event. We are to gleefully celebrate the establishment of an HK factory in the US employing a handful of Americans. At the same time we are to wish for the complete demise of other US companies that have been making piston ARs for years, employing hundreds if not thousands of people. All because HK has made a piston AR, and that changes EVERYTHING!
I’m sure the HK416 or whatever this is called is great. I’m sure the M27 will serve the USMC well. HK makes great stuff, no doubt. I love that they’ve put a factory on US shores and might compete more fully in the US market.
But it’s still just a piston AR.
==================================
Would you call that “closet fanboyism”?
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so what exactly is the hole in the rearward portion of the lower?
And it will only standardize piston ARs if it is obtainable and affordable. Look at the “splash” the ACR made. And LWRC and LMT have been around, but new and cheaper retro fit kits keep on popping up all the time, so I doubt the HK is going to do much.
Like all of the other piston ARs, I am still waiting for a thorough, well executed, and independent review/torture test.
Not quite right. Everybody that squalls about this does so only because they conveniently forget to add the “…for the money spent…” aspect that makes the actual bottom line of the sentiment.
Which makes sense, since if they could be bothered to remember that small yet profound part of it, they wouldn’t be able to accuse anybody NOT in direct lockstep with them of being anti-piston for no better reason than it’s not a DI gun.
It IS just another piston gun. It merely has the distinction of being an even more expensive piston gun than its competition.
Bingo! The new argument is going to be, “What does the HK do that my $1,000 M&P15 PS doesn’t”?
Heavyweight
If were to mess with any piston it would be HK…but no Im not going to buy a $3k AR15 that weighs more than my SR25 by almost a pound.
Full disclosure: I’m rather ambivalent on the whole piston thing. I have a piston AR, and like it a lot. But I have DI rifles that I like even more. I think the benefits of the piston system are oversold, but the negatives are way over blown too. I’m not expecting anyone to march in lock-step with me to Piston Land, because I’m not going there myself.
I never quite understood the piston hate (and it runs deep around here). I understand even less how that hate just evaporates when HK releases a piston AR.
My core question remains: If the major faults of a piston AR are that it’s too heavy, too expensive, and full of proprietary parts, why does the HK get a pass even though it is all those things (and more with that magwell)?
If this is just a HK fangasm, ok I get that. Who hasn’t seen that. HK people are almost as bad as the 1911 people.
But I find it hard to take seriously anyone who says that pistons ARs suck because they are heavy, expensive, and full of proprietary parts but also says that the HK piston AR is awesome. That’s pretty retarded, even for the internet.
I don’t like piston guns in general because most of the companies putting them out have been using their customers as beta testers. The DI system is pretty well refined while the piston guns are pretty new. How many different problems have had to be corrected in the past?
Proprietary parts don’t bother me too much since I own an SR15…just as long as I can actually get spares.
The mag issue is also stupid with the 416/MR.
The HK 416 piston is one of the few that is engineered to be a piston AR15, instead of a piston modification slapped on a regular AR15.
HK will also be around forever.
I can’t say the same for companies like Adam’s, Osprey, Titan, etc. I can’t see these companies being around in 20 years.
Will I own an HK416? Yes, but I’m not in a hurry to go out an buy one until an SBR option is avaliable that doesn’t cost $7000.
Will I own any other piston AR15? I highly doubt it.
Will I use a piston AR15 as “my go to gun”? Doubt it.
I also don’t really care to use the HK because it is so expensive. It will just sit in my reference collection and I really can’t justify using it with importation bans looming on the horizon.