I had mentioned a while back ( here and here ) that I was having some trouble with MKE metal MP5 mags in my MP5k clone. I diagnosed it as some sort of issue with the magazine catch. Plastic mags worked fine, but the metal mags just would not seat and lock in the gun. I tried the mags in my other MP5 copies and they worked fine. No doubt, the problem was this particular gun.
I contacted Bill Springfield, whom I have used for at least eight or nine guns by now, and he said he could fix the issue. So, I sent the gun off to him and received it back about a week and a half later. All my mags seat and lock just fine. I asked him what the problem was. Apparently the catch that engages in the magazine notch of the mag was just slightly (he said .5 mm) off spec. I can’t imagine that half a millimeter makes a difference on anything, but, whatever, all I care about is that the gun does what it’s supposed to.
This is the second time I’ve had to send an MP5 clone to him. Both were PTR’s that exhibited magazine lock/release issues. On one gun, the magazine release lever wouldn’t budge. And on the other gun the mags wouldn’t lock. In both cases, Mr Springfield fixed the issue and got the gun back to me quickly.
While I am a bit disappointed with PTR’s QC, I can unreservedly recommend Mr Springfield for the work that I had performed. I can’t say anything about the other services he performs on other guns. But…for putting paddle mag releases on G3 clones, and for diagnosing and solving magazine seat/lock issue, I recommend him.
Now, you may ask why I didn’t send the guns to PTR for warranty work. Easy reason – my experience with returning guns is that a) they often take forever to get returned and b) too often the problem is never fixed to my satisfaction. To me, it was worth the $60 I paid to get my gun back to me in a hurry and to know the job was done right. YMMV.
Now, don’t think I’m dumping on PTR. The MP5 is a relatively new offering from them so maybe theyre still cutting their teeth. I own eight of their HK91 copies and havent had a problem with any of them…but then again they have had a longer history making those than they have making MP5’s. I have high hopes for the .5.56 gun they are working on but I have no intention of being an early adopter. Let someone else find the land mines.
Anyway, for the work I’ve had done by Mr Springfield, I am quite pleased and wouldnt hesitate to use his services again.
Everyone with a lick of sense knows why you’d choose a Mr. Springfield for the work, because everyone can see the obvious flaw in sending something to be fixed back to Larry, Curly, and Moe, who screwed up doing it right in the first place.
Prudent people like good warranty service.
Smart prudent people want something that never needs warranty service.
“We get it right the second or third time” is not a good company motto.
Neither is “Quality is Job #27.”
Unfortunately many guns have issues with the early versions. It seems to have gotten worse in recent years as companies now do their beta testing on the first batch of customers.
Probably best to wait a year or two before buying a new model. Especially if it is a significant change from what they previously made (vs say the same thing in FDE or Glock changing their same core gun by some negligible dimension).
Agree, never buy the first model of anything, whether it’s a car, gun or Covid vaccine. Just for the record I will never buy the last one, no matter how many “improvements” they make over the original.
Thanks for the recommendation. People who do good work should be recognized for that.
It might be worth contacting PTR and letting them know about those issues you had with your firearms. Maybe the company had to lay off a few people from the assembly line and cut out a few steps before products being shipped. Would be doing a service for them.
Dam, he is just up the road from me! Thanks for that info. Never knew about him.
So are you sending the .50 cal or ten plus P series Rugers (he works on both ) next?