I very recently, somewhat unintentionally, won a GB auction for a purportedly unfired HK MR556A1. I was debating whether to keep it and pulled the bolt for the first time. It looks like there might be brass on the bolt, which would undercut the idea the gun is unfired. I'm not trying to be paranoid or a stickler, but if it has been fired I at a minimum don't want to misrepresent it if I try to sell it. I've included a photo below. I'd appreciate any feedback as to whether I am seeing things or if it is indicia of having been fired. (It is of course possible it was only fired at the factory, but that wasn't what I was told.)
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Does this look "unfired" to you?
- Thread starter TacosGigante
- Start date
Looks like it was test fired about 1000 times. Maybe the seller never fired it but the guy he brought it from did.
One of the left has 10 rounds on it and the one on the right zero rounds on it.
Agreed. It is a store, not an individual and I probably wouldn't have bid, and certainly wouldn't have bid as much had I known it was used.
Yeah. Then I get to decide if it is worth filing a dispute with the credit-card company.
Why the hell would you buy anything on GB right now? Twice as much as they were a year ago……Buy more ammo…..
What does the cam pin look like? How about the bcg around the cam pin? At first I thought the lugs looked worn AF, but zooming in showed that the white edges I thought were wear marks are just glare. What does the barrel extension look like? It’s hard to access to clean and will be pretty dirty if the rifle has been fired more than a few test shots.
It's been fired, but (TO ME) it looks very minimal....like factory test rounds.
Without the thing in my hands it's a very tough call, but I would be willing to bet less than 50 rounds and that it is easily cleaned to look like it hasn't been fired.
I've bought lots of guns over the last buncha decades, and unless I built it from parts they all have had carbon and brass on the bolts and in the barrels. Some had more, some less, but they were all easily cleaned up to look unfired or with such minor markings you'd have to look very close.
Clean it and see what the actual metal wear is.....I bet it ain't much.
Without the thing in my hands it's a very tough call, but I would be willing to bet less than 50 rounds and that it is easily cleaned to look like it hasn't been fired.
I've bought lots of guns over the last buncha decades, and unless I built it from parts they all have had carbon and brass on the bolts and in the barrels. Some had more, some less, but they were all easily cleaned up to look unfired or with such minor markings you'd have to look very close.
Clean it and see what the actual metal wear is.....I bet it ain't much.
Tacos, since you "unintentionally" won a GB auction it sounds like you put in a pretty low bid and were pleasantly surprised that you were the high bidder.
I get that if you plan to resell it there's a difference between "unfired" and 50-100 rounds down the pipe. But if you plan on keeping the gun that difference disappears. Basically it's the difference between replacing the barrel after 9,950 rounds vs. 10,000 rounds. The HK MR556 is a very nice gun. If I were you I'd just keep it, shoot the crap out of it, have fun and be happy you were able to pick it up for what I assume was a pretty good price.
If you want to re-sell it, be honest, say when you bought it, it was sold as unfired, and you haven't put any rounds through it, but it appears that at least a few rounds were put through it and/or it was test fired at the factory. As a potential buyer that wouldn't have much of an impact on what I was willing to pay.
I get that if you plan to resell it there's a difference between "unfired" and 50-100 rounds down the pipe. But if you plan on keeping the gun that difference disappears. Basically it's the difference between replacing the barrel after 9,950 rounds vs. 10,000 rounds. The HK MR556 is a very nice gun. If I were you I'd just keep it, shoot the crap out of it, have fun and be happy you were able to pick it up for what I assume was a pretty good price.
If you want to re-sell it, be honest, say when you bought it, it was sold as unfired, and you haven't put any rounds through it, but it appears that at least a few rounds were put through it and/or it was test fired at the factory. As a potential buyer that wouldn't have much of an impact on what I was willing to pay.
Sage words. The good news is that now I can shoot it and see how accurate it is before I decide whether to keep it.
Heard back from the seller and he assured me that it was only test fired, which is consistent with many of the learned voices here. Thanks all.
I’m a HK homer with more money than sense and poor impulse control
What I meant was: What was your winning bid?I’m a HK homer with more money than sense and poor impulse control
BCG looks good. The real question to this is, how many rounds does it take to get the circular marking on a brand new bolt? And then how many rounds does HK test fire for?
In there is your answer.
In there is your answer.
Nah, I simply suggested they include the caveat that a gun was test fired only, rather than unfired, to avoid confusion.
They test fire new guns at the factory. I've taken them out of boxes that look worse than that.
Had a bunch of dummies say we shot their guns, but it sat in a safe other than adding it too the books.
Wayne Weber recently stated on a podcast that HK runs a full magazine + two proof rounds (the second to reveal if the first broke anything) through every new gun. That would certainly leave behind evidence of firing.
Wouldn’t they need a third to reveal if the second broke anything?
I always thought that the sequence was HP test THEN MPI test... but maybe I misunderstand what those tests actually test for.
I don’t believe MPI is for checking if you broke something with the HP test, but for checking deformities in the structure.
*An unverified picture of HK proof testing a new gun before delivery to Gunbroker.
Don't give the Germans any ideas, or they'll eventually progress towards a proof testing protocol with 100% fallout, and then proudly declare that they have a stricter quality assurance process than any other manufacturer.
In firearms, MPI is typically done after the HP test to look for cracks. It can be used independently from a proof test; I'm sure that some manufacturers do it before and after. There are also more sophisticated inspection techniques available nowadays, but MPI costs way less than x-ray CT.
This sort of testing lowers the failure rate on the left side of the bathtub in exchange for pulling forward the right side of the bathtub curve, so eliminating the HP test would make the gun last longer. I'd like to see the fallout rate from this test, as my guess is that modern manufacturing produces very few failures and that there are better ways to screen for defective parts on a lot basis. But these sort of test requirements die hard, especially when they get written into contracts. No one wants to be the guy who makes a change and causes a massive field failure, especially when the taxpayer is footing the bill.
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