Getting Way Too Picky?
Not flaming but asking...
Everyone who claims to have an MP-5 is mistaken - it's not really an MP-5, it's a conversion?
Does that include the hundreds of MP-5s in various configurations that are owned by SOT-bearing civilians, the pre- and post-86 registered weapons? Not to mention the thousands more currently owned by LE agencies, many of which will be sold to other SOTs?
Those aren't conversions, they're the real thing. Probably my interpretation of "civilian" is different, but IMO SOTs are civilians.
---------------------------------
And here's a "conversion" analogy - a guy drives into a mechanic's shop with a '98 Camaro. The mechanic is a recognized Camaro expert. The guy wants his run-of-the-mill Camaro converted into a Z-28. The mechanic uses only certified Chevy/Camaro Z-28 parts, rebuilds to spec what he doesn't replace. When he's finished the guy's car is a Z-28, in every way possible. Only an expert could tell the difference, and that's after taking the car apart.
That's the MP-5 conversion issue? That I can own - in every other way - an MP-5, except it was not really an MP-5... only made by the same company, to the same mechanical tolerances and cosmetic quality; that it looks, smells, recoils, takes the same accessories; can be worked on by HK smiths; uses the same replacement parts as other MP-5s; that unless you're an HK expert, no one else would ever know the subgun you're shooting was not an original MP-5? That you'd have to check the ATF Form 4 to see what it really was? And you're gonna make a point of that, after I spent $6.5-10k on it (depending on model and condition)?
I dunno - not to flame anyone or anything - but it seems damn trivial. Maybe technically important - for historical purposes. But I've got a line of shooters who'll tell you they own MP-5s - they sure aren't SP-89s or HK-94s.
Kinda like telling a guy who's been fat all his life that he's still fat - when he's down to 185 and a triathalete.