More HK Rumors
The MR556 will be produced at Heckler & Koch’s new manufacturing facility at Newington, New Hampshire from American and German made components. To conform to German export regulations, certain design changes made in the MR556 prevents the rifle’s upper receiver from being used on other AR-style firearms.
Sticking with the non-mil-spec design for export restrictions? Anyone know of the applicable restrictions? I don’t see that helping with respect to US law.
Update: In comments, KSR brings the skinny:
The scoop from HKPro – can’t find the link right now, but I do recall it correctly – is that the German export law is the requirement that disallows use of a MR556 upper on regular/M16 compatible lowers. Simply put, though the firearm lowers themselves will be made here in the US, and thus make it a US manufactured firearm, the use of oodles of German-made parts like bolt carriers, barrels, internals, etc. in the MR556, means the Germans won’t allow the parts out of the country unless the gun they are being assembled onto meet German export requirements.
November 24th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Did, I mention we hate you?
November 24th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
“To conform with German export regulations” I know HK has a bad rap, but you can’t expect them to break the law for the sake of parts interchangeability.
November 24th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
That’s funny because I just read elsewhere that they changed that design to allow the use of any lower?
November 24th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
What do German export regulations have to do with rifles that are made in New Hampshire?
November 24th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
The scoop from HKPro – can’t find the link right now, but I do recall it correctly – is that the German export law is the requirement that disallows use of a MR556 upper on regular/M16 compatible lowers. Simply put, though the firearm lowers themselves will be made here in the US, and thus make it a US manufactured firearm, the use of oodles of German-made parts like bolt carriers, barrels, internals, etc. in the MR556, means the Germans won’t allow the parts out of the country unless the gun they are being assembled onto meet German export requirements.
So yeah, I’d get a HK416 upper/spring/buffer combo if I just hadda have one – prices have dropped considerably since the MR556 announcement, though most HK416 uppers are assembled onto lowers as 922(r) violations, by ATF’s import ruling. It’s not like there’s any magic in the lower receiver, unless that big chunky HK logo on it tightens your boxers…Or look into the upcoming Centurion Arms uppers for the unique HK416 profile, or LWRC, who has a track record. Either will work if you want to deal with a US company that doesn’t hate you.
KsR
November 24th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Simply speaking, in Germany the upper is the “gun”, the lower is actually the free part.
November 24th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Sounds like sales may suffer.
“The law is an ass.”
November 24th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
I’m sorry, after the 90 series of rifles, HK simply said screw the civilian gun market. They gambled that the mp-5 would be the darling of the military and police swat teams forever. They did not take into account that the m4 carbine would supplant the mp5 and that the civilian market was not happy being snubbed, coupled with some rifles like the sl-6 and the usc, that just did not warm up the public. So now, HK crawls on their hands and knees, wants to build a rifle here but gee, it just aint compatible with ar’s. For me, I’ll stick with the lwrc or the pof. HK can eat crow.
November 24th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
“H/K – because you suck and we still hate you…”
November 25th, 2009 at 1:41 am
Why would anyone who’s done any pre-purchase research buy one of these? One of the greatest strengths of the AR platform is the interchangeability of parts, so you can make it work for you. Why buy a rifle an upper that only works with a proprietary lower, when you can get one that will work with any company’s lower for a similar price?
If they offer it dirt cheap, they may get some people who don’t look beyond the price, but if it’s even close to the cost of a comparable AR, people will start looking deeper and realize they get more flexibility with someone else’s product for about the same price.
November 25th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Here is where I saw it:
http://soldiersystems.net/2009/11/24/rumor-has-it-mr223/
Don’t know who is right.