{"id":13490,"date":"2016-03-22T17:57:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-22T22:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hcstx.org\/?p=13490"},"modified":"2016-03-22T17:57:46","modified_gmt":"2016-03-22T22:57:46","slug":"military-weapons-from-the-past-integrally-suppressed-hk-mp5-sub-machine-gun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/22\/military-weapons-from-the-past-integrally-suppressed-hk-mp5-sub-machine-gun\/","title":{"rendered":"Military Weapons From the Past: Integrally Suppressed HK MP5 Sub-Machine Gun"},"content":{"rendered":"

If any of you grew up in the 80’s like me, most all of the military action flicks you watched had this gun in it. Remember Die Hard?\u00a0Then when you grew up you thought “Why would anybody stake their lives on a glorified 9mm pistol?!” I still feel the same way about small caliber sub-machine guns, buy hey, guns are tools and just like carpentry, every job has to have the right tool to be done right and efficiently. -SF<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"MP5\"<\/p>\n

In the early 1970s, Heckler & Koch began work on an integrally-suppressed variant of its extremely popular roller-delayed blowback submachine gun, the MP5. The company designated the new suppressed weapon the MP5SD, \u201cSD\u201d meaning Schalld\u00e4mpfer<\/em> or \u201csound suppressor.\u201d<\/p>\n

While all MP5s could be fitted with an external suppressor<\/a> using the quick-detachable tri-lug system, this compromised the handiness of the weapon. With this in mind, H&K decided to develop a dedicated variant. The firm introduced the MP5SD in 1974. It boasts an integral suppressor and includes several other changes \u2014 such as a lighter bolt \u2014 to ensure reliable cycling.<\/p>\n

\n
In 1964 Walther, one of H&K\u2019s main rivals, developed its own suppressors for its MPK submachine gun and P38 pistols. Walther was the first German arms-manufacturer to be granted a special permit for suppressor production. The MPK\u2019s barrel configuration allows the suppressor to be used without impeding the weapon\u2019s sights. These equipped West German intelligence agents \u2014 and may also have been issued to U.S. Special Forces stationed in Western Germany.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"Unlike Walther\u2019s add-on suppressor, the MP5SD\u2019s integral<\/em> suppressor minimizes additional length. The MP5SD\u2019s suppressor is aluminum, which helps to keep down its weightand<\/em> retain the weapon\u2019s previous balance.<\/p>\n

The SD\u2019s short barrel featured 30 2.5-millimeter ports in order to bleed off a significant amount of the propellant gases into the expansion chamber of the suppressor. This allows the volume of the gas to expand \u2014 and the pressure to drop \u2014 before the gas passes through the second chamber, which contains conical baffles and further reduces the weapon\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

The MP5SD\u2019s barrel-and-suppressor combination cuts the speed of the round to subsonic velocity. The suppressor reduces peak muzzle noise to approximately 70 decibels, roughly the same intensity as a loud human voice.<\/p>\n

\"HK1\"<\/p>\n

One drawback<\/em> of H&K\u2019s early SD design was carbon build-up inside the suppressor housing and on the barrel, which \u2014 without regularly cleaning \u2014 would cause the suppressor to lock up.<\/p>\n

The MP5SD quickly gained favor with tier-one special forces units, such as the British Special Air Service and Special Boat Service, U.S. Army Delta Force and the U.S. Navy SEALs \u2014 and has been adopted by military and security forces around the world.<\/p>\n

Not only does the suppressor reduce the sound of the weapon, it also dissipates muzzle flash. Since its launch in the mid-1970s there have been six incarnations of the SD with various stock setups and trigger groups. The MP5SD continues to be popular with militaries and police forces around the world.<\/p>\n

This story originally appeared at Historical Firearms.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Read the Article as it Appears Here at War is Boring<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If any of you grew up in the 80’s like me, most all of the military action flicks you watched had this gun in it. Remember Die Hard?\u00a0Then when you grew up you thought “Why would anybody stake their lives on a glorified 9mm pistol?!” I still feel the same way about small caliber sub-machine…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1286,4827,24],"tags":[10515,10516,10517,10518,10519,10520,10521,3913],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13490\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}