Lee Sporting AR Style Lower for the H&K MP5

December 13, 2022 in Review, Guns & Ammo

What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

Because I primarily shoot 9mm, the H&K MP5 is pretty up there if not my favorite firearm. This is just one of the smoothest, soft shooting, and overall easy-to-handle firearms. However, I’m not a die-hard fanboy, pun not intended. Although the radial delayed blowback operating system is fantastic, there are shortcomings elsewhere, at least compared to more modern options.

First and foremost, the lack of a last round bolt hold open. That just is what it is. If you want an MP5, you just gotta understand that. Another issue that I have with the MP5 is just the entire lower. At the back, we have an integrated, molded into the lower, grip. This is going to be a hit or miss depending on the user. Me personally, the grip angle of a stock MP5 is a bit too angled back for my taste but it’s something that I can deal with. Moving forward, we have the safety. With this particular lower and safety, the safety is extremely stiff and basically impossible to use with my right thumb. When I want to use the safety, I actually use my left hand. With my right hand, the safety switch is not the right shape so it only catches the edge of my thumb. This doesn’t allow me to employ any leverage. Because of this, I pretty much always leave the safety off on this MP5 because if I had to defend myself with this firearm, I wouldn’t want to put myself at a disadvantage having to deactivate this safety. Finally, we have the trigger. I think it’s universally agreed that the MP5 trigger isn’t that great. It’s pretty heavy, pretty mushy, and there’s a lot of travel. It’s functional but leaves a lot to be desired. But that’s kind of the theme with the entire MP5 lower. All of it is functional but leaves a lot to be desired.

Really, all of these problems can be fixed by hitting the aftermarket and buying new parts. I personally haven’t because I haven’t found anything that I like. That is until recently when YouTube randomly advertised to me this video, asking about a Geissele SD3G AR trigger in an MP5. I was very intrigued and after some research, it turns out that Lee Sporting, the people who made that video, actually makes aftermarket lowers that essentially allow you to run AR parts on an MP5. My mind was blown by this and I had to try this lower for myself.

Lee Sporting offers housings for the various MP5 variations out there so there should be something that fits most people’s needs. I received a comment from a viewer that does a good job of explaining the various versions of the MP5 lower attachment systems and will include it here for those who need it.

You can either buy a complete lower or a stripped lower. A complete lower comes with a grip, safety, and trigger pre-assembled. Installing the complete lower is one of the easiest installs you can do as the entire lower stays together in one piece and is held in place by only two pins. Even if you purchase the stripped lower and have to install your own parts, the lower is an AR-styled lower so installation for all the parts is basically the same as on an AR-15. Again, pretty straightforward. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube if you need help. I do want to note that there are some requirements as far as what parts will fit in these lowers so if you are interested in a stripped lower, definitely read the description of the product. All the necessary information is laid out there.

Alright, now that we got all the informational stuff out the way, what’s actually use of this product like? In terms of shooting with it, I can’t say because I haven’t had the chance to live fire with this lower yet. I’m recovering from an injury that’s affecting my shooting hand so I’m letting that heal. It’s also raining quite a bit so I haven’t been able to get to the mountains and do anything fun. For this video, I was pretty excited to share the lower with you guys so this is more of a first impressions. I’ll come back with a more in-depth review in the near future so make sure to subscribe for that.

Now, how’s the Lee Sporting lower in terms of improving the MP5? For me, great. The Lee Sporting lower solves all the problems that I had with a stock MP5 lower. First of all, with the Magpul MOE K grip that was included in my lower, I get an overall more comfortable shooting position. Not only that but this lower actually moves the grip slightly higher and more forward. From my experience, this does help with the overall balance and feel of the gun in hand. Something interesting that I did notice was that because everything is now a bit more forward, I’m actually now able to use the side mag release button of the MP5. This was basically useless to me before because it was too far away but now that it is functional, I can do some more practical mag changes.

Something else that’s more practical is the safety. It’s actually now usable and is as easy to use as it would be on an AR. It’s light enough for me to flick with my thumb and I’m now able to use this thing without worrying about it slowing me down if the firearm is actually ever needed to be used in a defensive scenario.

In terms of the trigger, this particular lower came with the Geissele SD3G. I have this trigger in my Primary Weapons Systems AR so it’s nothing new to me. However, having it here in the MP5, it’s a night and day difference compared to the stock trigger. Obviously, trigger feel is very subjective so I don’t want to blatantly say that this is better but I will say that the Lee Sporting lower gives you more opportunity to find something that does work for you. The AR platform is extremely popular and has massive aftermarket support. There are so many options out there and this lower allows for the opportunity to use many of them. The stock MP5 lower, on the other hand, there is really only a few handful of options and as with many other MP5 specific things, the price can get pretty high. This Geissele is relatively expensive, but you don’t have to go with this. There are plenty of other options that are more budget-friendly. One thing that I do want to comment on is the minor attention to detail that went into the Geissele that Lee Sporting installed. To get the SD3G to work in this lower, you have to file some edges down for proper clearance. I knew this but didn’t expect for Lee Sporting to actually polish the hammer the way they did. This type of attention to detail is just something that I appreciate.

Overall, I’m very happy with this lower. It really improves the utility of an MP5 for me. But I know that this isn’t going to be for everyone, especially the traditionalists out there who think that the MP5 is fine the way it is and that we shouldn’t try to turn it into an AR. That’s perfectly fine and I can appreciate that. However, I personally try to make all my firearms as practical as possible for my uses. I personally love the MP5 because of the radial delayed blowback, not necessarily because of the MP5 clout. So, if I have the radial delayed blowback and can make the controls more functional for me, I’m going to do that. This lower provides me with just what I need to get that done. So, if you have a similar mindset then the Lee Sporting lower for the MP5 is definitely something that I can recommend. This thing is such a game-changer for me. It takes something that I already love in the MP5 and makes it even better. Now, if someone can ever figure out last round bolt hold open, then I’d pretty much have my perfect firearm but I don’t think that day is coming any time soon if ever so for now, we have the Lee Sporting lower.

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Shadow Systems CHPWS Holosun HE509T Adapter Plate

November 23, 2022 in Guns & Ammo, Review

What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

This is my Shadow Systems MR920 War Poet 2.0 Edition and mounted on top is the Holosun HE509T-RD X2. If you’re unfamiliar with these two products, with Shadow Systems, a major selling point is their optic cut that allows users to mount optics with a wide variety of footprints. This is done by cutting an overly large space into the slide, then using spacers to fill the gap depending on the optic footprint. The system isn’t perfect but does offer the least amount of compromises in my opinion. However, with the 590T, this is a closed emitter red dot that doesn’t allow you to screw it in place from the top down like many open emitter red dots. Instead, you would typically install the provided plate that has an RMR footprint on the bottom onto your slide that’s cut with an RMR footprint. This plate has the proprietary 509T lugs on the top, so this plate essentially allows you to convert the RMR footprint to the 509T footprint. Finally, you tighten a bolt from the side of the 509T and it clamps onto the top lugs of the adapter plate.

In terms of mounting a red dot onto a handgun, although simple, that’s kind of a convoluted process. Especially so if you’re slide is cut for another footprint. This means that you’ll have to get another adapter plate to convert whatever you have to the RMR footprint, then the RMR footprint to the 509T footprint. So, what you get is stacking multiple plates on top of each other which is not exactly ideal. Not only would the mounting system be structurally weaker, but the optic would sit very high. It’s already difficult to co-witness now with my suppressor height sights, I can’t imagine stacking even more plates. The best way to mount the 509T is probably to get a slide direct milled for the 509T but obviously, that comes with its own cons. I wasn’t sure how committed I was to this optic so I wasn’t going to do that. Especially considering that I run the 509T on the Shadow Systems so that wouldn’t have been possible anyway.

For a long time, that mounting process was just what you had to do. Until recently, when C&H Precision released an adapter plate that allows you to go directly from the Shadow Systems footprint to the 509T footprint. This means no RMR adapter plate and no spacers are needed. The benefit of this would mean a stronger connection between the slide and the optic.

Unfortunately, I can’t show you the install process for this plate as that would go against YouTube’s terms and service because it can be misconstrued as modifying a firearm but if you’ve ever mounted a red dot it’s essentially that. The plate is held in place by two T10 screws and that’s about it. But if you want to have a little more peace of mind, you can use a torque driver and torque the screws down to 10 in-lbs as suggested by CHPWS. I have a torque screwdriver from Olsa Tools that I keep around for torquing red dot and scope rings and it does the job. I find using this screwdriver is easier than something like the Wheeler Fat Wrench because, with this, you can precisely set the torque value whereas the Fat Wrench has a bar that raises up and down with no exact indicator as to what value it’s set to. This Olsa Tools toque screwdriver is a nice item to have if you install a lot of optics.

Now that my 509T is reinstalled with the new CHPWS plate, I have to say that I’m pretty happy with how things turned out. The fit and finish are fantastic and as someone who’s had a lot of time with this combo and has looked at it a lot, I would say that aesthetically, the gun looks a lot better. The new plate just makes things look like they belong together.

In terms of this specific combo, the Shadow System optic cut and the 509T mounting system, I do want to note that this isn’t exactly supported. In the past, Shadow System has put out statements saying that the 509T doesn’t mount properly on their optic cut and that’s largely because of the screws. The Shadow Systems slide mounting holes thread pitch is a specific diameter, one that does not match the thread pitch of the screws that come with the 509T. So what you end up having to do is use the screws that come with the Shadow System optic cover plate and hope that that works. This definitely is a hit or miss as some fit and some don’t. My Shadow Systems screws didn’t fit the 509T adapter plate properly and were a bit oversized. I had to bore the holes of the plate out just a bit for the screws to fit. This is not the case with the new CHPWS setup because they provided exact fitting screws. With the old setup and because the screws were oversized, you can see them sticking out from the sides. That’s not the case anymore. Everything is slick and streamlined.

I also want to point out that with the old setup, the spacer was in the rear and CHPWS has moved it to the front with their plate. From my research, this is more of a durability thing. People will argue that with the forces that the slide and optic endure during recoil, having the spacer up front with be able to endure that energy better than having it in the back. I don’t know. It’s worked for me in the back but I would say that it looks better in the front. There’s less of a gap between the optic and the rear sights so I’m happy with that.

To conclude things, if you’re a Shadow Systems user with the newer universal mounting footprint and you want to use the Holosun 509T, this CHPWS plate is the absolute way to go. Spend the money and do it right. Forget about the included plate, just go with this.

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Wall Control Metal Pegboard Firearm Wall Mount Panels

November 19, 2022 in Guns & Ammo, Review

What’s going on guys? It’s Hai.

I recently made a video showing the Wall Control panels that I installed in my garage and gym. In short, Wall Control is a metal pegboard option that includes holes for the typical pegboard hooks and also slots to be used with the proprietary Wall Control accessories.

Aside from being used as a way to hang up tools, I have seen Wall Control being shown a lot as a way to display firearms and that’s what I’ve decided to do with the last two panels that I had.

So, here they are. What you’re looking at is two Wall Control 32” x 16” panels, making essentially a 32” x 32” square. Installation of the panels is fairly straightforward, just drill and screw them into the wall.

For size reference, I have up top a CZ Scorpion Evo 3 S1 with an HB Industries 5.3″ Micro K Barrel swap. In the middle is a Century Arms AP5 so essentially a standard length MP5. At the bottom is an AR-15, the Radian Model 1 chambered in 300 Blackout and a 9” barrel. Finally, I have a couple of suppressors hung up, the CGS Mod9 and Dead Air Wolfman.

To hang the firearms up, I’m using the Wall Control 3” U-Shape Slotted hooks. I find that these fit all my firearms from the PCCs to ARs pretty much perfectly. They are just the right size to hold the firearms up straight without them leaning from side to side. I also have the Wall Control 4” U-Shape Slotted hooks but do find these are a bit too big for my firearms. However, if you have a particularly wide stock or forend, you may want to look into the 4” hooks or another option.

One thing that I do recommend is to pick up some rubber hook liners. They help to keep things from sliding around but more importantly to help prevent damage from metal-on-metal contact. Wall Control offers some under the Wall Control branding but it’s about $10 for 3’. That is pretty expensive considering that I paid about $12 for 10’. You may not need that much material and you can buy the liners in shorter lengths, but I’m just saying that there are other options. From the pictures, I can almost assure you that it’s basically the same thing. I’m pretty sure Wall Control just bought the liners in bulk and is reselling them under their own name. I mean at the end of the day, it’s just rubber edge trim, not some special proprietary product.

To hang up my suppressors, I found some pegboard double hooks. They’re rubber coated so should offer protection without needing anything else.

And there you have it, Wall Control panels for use with firearms. I’m pretty happy with the way that these panels turned out but I do want to point out a few things. First, you may have noticed that my setup is a sea of black on black so everything kind of blends in. I kind of knew this going into it. These black panels are spares so I already had them laying around. I didn’t buy them specifically for this project. If I did, I might buy them in a different color and Wall Control does offer them in a wide variety of colors. There are even some companies selling custom-painted panels so look out for that if you don’t want the black-on-black look like I have here. Something else to think about is a lock system if that’s something you care about. You can get some metal tabs that will allow you to lock the trigger guard or whatever else to the Wall Control panels. These aren’t exactly foolproof but do help to slow would-be thieves down a bit.

Overall, I can definitely give this type of setup a recommendation if you’re looking for a way to hang your firearms up on the walls. The panels look pretty clean once you get everything up and I would say I’m happy with everything.

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Ranger Point Precision Henry Henry 22 Rimfire M-LOK Aluminum Handguard

September 17, 2022 in Guns & Ammo

I just finished installing a Ranger Point Precision handguard on my Henry lever action gun and wanted to share my experiences with you.

My particular firearm is model H001 and it originally came with a walnut Handguard to match the walnut stock. This is a good looking combo but from the beginning, I knew that I was going to throw a Ranger Point Handguard on this gun and one on a Henry X when I pick one of those up.

Installation of the Handguard is fairly straightforward and Henry themselves have made a tutorial on the process so those who are interested can check that out. There are only two screws keeping you from getting the original forend off and three to put the Ranger Point on so installation is a breeze, at least it should be. From my experience, the barrel band that came with the Ranger Point did not fit, not even close. At first, I thought it was just the two side lugs that were sticking out too much so I filed those down and the band was finally able to make it over the mag tube dovetail. Then it was the entire round section that wraps around the barrel. I started with hand filing this section but quickly found out that a lot of material had to be removed so out came the Dremel.

After doing this, I was able to get the handguard installed but the process was a lot more tedious than Ranger Point made it out to be. I actually contacted them when I first discovered the problem but after a bunch of questions to make sure that I was installing their handguard on the correct gun, which I was, the answer that I got was essentially we have one of those guns in house and the handguard fits just fine. Well, that’s great and I’m sure that’s true but isn’t it possible that Henry updated some things that made your handguard not fit anymore?

In the end, I was able to install the Ranger Point handguard but was it worth it? That’s hard to say. If the installation process went as smoothly as it was supposed to, then yes. However, if you have to do the work that I did and you don’t have the tools, you’d either have to buy them or pay someone to do the work which brings the price of what should be a cheap setup higher, which may be counterintuitive.

I’m just glad that I was able to finish the installation because it is a good look to me. Now, I’m probably going to have to do something about the stock to get a matching black theme.

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My SilencerShop eForms 4 Experience

April 30, 2022 in Guns & Ammo

What’s going on guys? It’s Hai and I recently got the approval for my first suppressor, a Dead Air Wolfman, and it was through the use of SilencerShop’s eForms submission system. In this post, I want to talk to you about the process for me and some impressions of the process from someone who’s completed it.

First off, let’s get some background information. In late November of 2021, word around the internet was that the ATF was going to reintroduce eForms for Form 4 applications. A Form 4 is essentially a transfer of ownership of a completed NFA item from one party to another. So it would be you buying a fully functional SBR, suppressor, whatever NFA item from a dealer, and they transfer that item to your legal possession. Prior to the recent reintroduction of eForms, buying an NFA item was done with paper printouts, shipped from one party to another. As you can imagine this takes time and it’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. With eForms, they are essentially digitalizing this process and allowing various paperwork to be sent online. In the past, the wait for a paper Form 4 can largely be a guess. It could be a few months, a year, maybe even more. No one really knows. Well with eForms, the ATF is saying that they will try to keep the time frame down to 90 days in 2022 and possibly 30 days in 2023.

I was always in the mindset of “I’m not going to blow about a thousand dollars and not even see what I bought for a year.” Well, with eForms I decided that maybe now was the time. 3 months is a lot more doable.

What’s funny is that when I purchased this Wolfman on November 16, 2021. I don’t believe the relaunch of eForms was announced yet because I definitely didn’t know about it. The announcement was made a week or two later with the official eForms launch being set for December 23, 2021. Silencershop said that all suppressor paperwork expected to be completed through them from December 4th (something like that) would be held and be done with eForms when it launched a few weeks later because that would be so much faster than just going through with paper form. Everything received prior would be done via paper form. I was pretty frustrated because again, I purchased the Wolfman before the initial eForms announcement. I thought I missed out so I thought I might as well buy another suppressor and see how fast eForms really is, so I did.

However, something was very weird about my paperwork in the background. I was just waiting and waiting to get a call about the Wolfman and about a month after purchasing, I decided to make some calls and it turns out, whoever did not do the paper form and my Wolfman was being held for eForms. I was surprised but absolutely fine with this because it would work out in my favor.

Now we get into the meat of it. My suppressor is at my FFL and we’re waiting to certify the paperwork but it turns out that Silencershop or the ATF didn’t have the system properly worked out and it was super buggy. They also didn’t launch it to all dealers at once and my FFL did not have the green light. All we could do was wait.

Over two months after the initial purchase, it is January 21, 2022. I got the email saying that my suppressor was ready to certify. I called up my FFL to get things started and we run into more troubles. Well, it turns out the system is still buggy and Silencershop didn’t really give any training so my FFL didn’t really know what to do. They had to call Silencershop but it turns out their dealer hotline is not all that fast and still required them to wait about 40 minutes to get ahold of someone, just like me. So, both the guy from my FFL and myself are calling SIlencershop, waiting 40 minutes, talking to separate people, and eventually, we figured out what to do. For my FFL, I was literally the first person to do eForms so it was a learning experience. At the end of the day, the Wolfman was certified and the official wait started.

Again, the ATF is advertising a 90-day turnaround time. I set my calendar notifications and just tried to forget about the suppressor. Well, about a month and a half or so later, Silencershop started making updates saying that eForms is working and showed customer testimonies. Some people were getting approvals in like a week or two. Some people who were getting approvals submitted the same day as I did so I was a bit excited. Well, it turned out that all the fast approvals are for those who filed as an individual whereas I filed through a trust via Silencershop’s Single Shot Trust. If you don’t know the difference between filing as an individual or trust, I’d advise you to research that because it is kind of a big aspect of NFA ownership. But just know that filing as an individual is generally the faster route, it just has fewer benefits depending on your needs.

So for me, it was back to waiting. The 90-day mark came and went. Once that happened, I didn’t know what to think. Maybe it was any day now. Maybe it’s just as long as the paper form. No one knows. But luckily for me, on the 95th day, I woke up to an email from the ATF with my tax stamp approval. I went and picked up my Wolfman that same day and I’m now officially a suppressor owner.

Okay so let’s backtrack. I purchased my suppressor on 11/16/21 and because of the various eForms issues, I actually didn’t certify my suppressor until 1/21/22 and got the approval on 4/26/22. From start to finish for the Wolfman, it was 161 days but to get the suppressor certified, it only took 95 days.

Again, the situation here is a bit weird but that’s something that you got to be okay with when buying NFA items because you are at the mercy of various entities. You have little power when the train starts rolling. It’s a hurry-up so you can sit and wait type of scenario. All you can do is get your paperwork done and hope that everything else goes right. In my case, it took 95 days to get the approval once the paperwork was sent. Not 90 as advertised but pretty close and much better than going the paper route.

However, there is something that I want to bring up. This whole time I’ve been talking about Form 4s. For those unaware, there are a bunch of other forms that can be filed. When buying a completed NFA item though, you’re likely also going to have to deal with Form 3s. This isn’t something that you’ll likely even be told about but it’s a point of frustration for many people. Form 3 is essentially asking for permission to move the NFA item, prior to someone officially owning it. In my scenario, I purchased the Wolfman from Silencershop which is located in Texas. I live in Washington State. So to move the suppressor from Texas to Washington, a Form 3 approval was needed. Form 3 approval is a complete crapshoot because there’s no telling how long it can take for approval. It can take a week, a month, however long the ATF wants it to take. At this point, I’ve purchased 4 suppressors. I’ve seen Form 3s getting approved in 1 week, 2 weeks, and a month. That’s partially why I think this Wolfman got held for eForms because even though I purchased it in November, It didn’t get to my FFL until mid-December. So again, Form 3s are just one of those things that you may have to deal with that can add unknown amounts of time to the process.

But that’s kind of the entire theme when working with the ATF, you just don’t know. You don't have much say in any part of the process. All I can say is, just put your paperwork in and try to forget about it. Don’t expect anything. It can be a week. It can be a year. Don’t stress too much about it. The faster you put the paperwork in, the sooner you’ll get an NFA item.