mp5

A U.S. Marine fires the MP5. A view through the weapon's aperture sight. The MP5A2 and MP5A3 submachine guns are also available with optional 4-position trigger groups; such equipped weapons are known as the MP5A4 and MP5A5 (respectively). The trigger groups are marked with bullet pictograms rather than letters or numbers (each symbol represents the number of bullets that will be fired when the trigger is pulled and held rearward with a full magazine inserted in the weapon) and are fully ambidextrous (the selector lever is present on each side of the trigger housing). The additional setting of the fire selector, one place before the fully automatic setting, enables a two or three-shot burst firing mode. H&K also offers dedicated training variants of these weapons, designated MP5A4PT and MP5A5PT (PT - Plastic Training), modified to fire a plastic 9x19mm PT training cartridge produced by Dynamit Nobel of Germany. These weapons operate like the standard MP5 but have a floating chamber and the bolt lacks both rollers to function properly when firing the lighter plastic projectiles. To help identify these weapons blue dots were painted on their cocking handles and additional lettering provided. The PT variant can be configured with various buttstocks and trigger groups and was developed for the West German Police and Border Guard. Thanks to the modular design of the MP5, particularly the trigger groups, a large number of configurations are available to meet the user’s individual requirements. Currently offered are the following trigger groups: three-position "SEF" fire selector (positions: "S"-safe, "E"-semi automatic, "F" fully automatic. Located on left of receiver only); three-position fire selector (positions: safe, semiautomatic and a 2 or 3-round burst; selector lever is ambidextrous and its settings are marked with pictograms); four-position fire selector (positions: weapon safe, single fire, 2 OR 3-round burst, full auto; ambidextrous selector; selector settings marked with pictograms); two-position fire control group (positions: weapon safe, single fire only; ambidextrous selector lever with pictograms) and a three-position fire selector group - the so called “Navy” trigger (settings: weapon safe, semi-automatic, fully automatic fire; ambidextrous selector lever; selector settings marked with bullet symbols again).