MP5 Magazine Comparison

Over the last couple of years the availability of MP5 mags have exploded on the market. There was a time when your only options were HK, POF, or poorly made US mags. Now you have several options to choose from, but the question remains. Which ones are good, which ones are bad, and what differences are there really? Well we are going to explore some of the most popular magazines on the market to see just that. Like my other comparisons this is not "how many times can I run it over with a car and it still works?" there are a million YouTube videos for that. This is to break down each magazine to every part and compare them with one another.

Steel - Magazine Specs

Country of Origin	Manufacturer	Type	Weight Assembled	Weight Dissembled	Spring Length
Germany	Heckler and Koch	Curved	6.12oz	4.59oz	13.25 in
Germany	Heckler and Koch	Straight	5.68oz	4.41oz	13.5 in
Turkey	MKE (Zenith 2015)	Curved	6.12oz	4.59oz	13.75 in
Turkey	MKE (Century Arms 2021)	Curved	6.46oz	XXX	13.75 in
Korea	KCI (Gen 1)	Curved	6.12oz	4.59oz	13.75
Korea	KCI (Gen 2)	Curved	6.08oz	XXX	13.125in

Weight Assembled is the weight of the magazine full assembled.
Weight Disassembled is the weight of just the body of the magazine, without the floorplate, spring, or follower.
Please note that not all of these magazines are new so some of the differences in spring length can be explained because of high round count.

Manufacturer	Notes	Spring Test 1	Spring Test 2	Spring Test 3	Average
Heckler and Koch	New Production	4.50 lbs	4.7 lbs	4.65lbs	4.62 lbs
Heckler and Koch	LEO Marked	3.90 lbs	4.00 lbs	3.80 lbs	3.90 lbs
MKE (Zenith 2015)	Zenith Imported	5.15 lbs	5.10 lbs	5.20 lbs	5.15 lbs
MKE (Century Arms 2021)	Century Arms Imported	4.40 lbs	4.40 lbs	4.30 lbs	4.37 lbs
POF	Older Import	4.90 lbs	4.85 lbs	4.95 lbs	4.90 lbs
POF	Newer Import	4.70 lbs	4.90 lbs	4.80 lbs	4.80 lbs
KCI (Gen 1)	Curved	5.95 lbs	5.60 lbs	5.80 lbs	5.78 lbs
Gen 2	KCI (Curved)	4.70 lbs	4.75 lbs	4.60 lbs	4.68 lbs

Look at the above graph with a grain of salt. Some of these mags are brand new, such as the MKE 2021 and the new production HK. I personally took those out of wrappers for this article. The majority if not all the HK LEO mags were marked on 10-94, but the actual manufactured date on the mags can very. I have seen ones that are IE marked would indicate they were made in 1984, and the one used in this article is IK marked which indicates it was made in 1989. I just wanted to point that out as it seems the mags could have been made at any point and were randomly selector for the LEO marking.

Steel - Visual Comparison

Looking at the magazines laid side by side you can see they are all pretty much the same, which one would expect. The one huge difference being the bumps on the back of the mags that are used to make sure they are secure in the magwell. If you look at the HK manufactured one as a baseline, then you can see they are all a little different. The one that really stands out is the MKE imported 2015. It has very pronounced and more squared off bumps that sit a little higher, while the others are more rounded and sit slightly lower.

Nothing really exciting to see here. Aside from the KCI Gen 1 and its lackluster finish, they are all pretty much the same.

Here we can see the side markings indicating the caliber and in some cases who made them. In the case of the HK mag, it says Made In Germany on the side.

Polymer Mags

Polymer mags are somewhat new in the MP5 world. There are a few companies that make them ETS, AC Unity, Overwatch Precision, and even MKE, but they all seem to suffer from a similar issue, the way the locking recess is designed on the magazine itself. On steel magazines the locking recess has a ramp on the bottom of the recess. This is because the top of the magazine hits the bottom of the barrel trunnion acting has a hard stop so the magazine itself can not be loaded in too deep. For example the AR-15 has a cutout for the magazine catch to lock into. If you were to remove or press the catch in while inserting a magazine it might be possible to shove the magazine in too deep. This would cause functionality issues with the rifle. The way HK designed the MP5 and using the barrel trunnion as a hard stop for the magazine, you do not need the recess in the magazine to be perfectly squared off, so they made the bottom of the recess ramped because it doesn't matter how big it is.

Polymer magazines on the other hand typically have the recess in the magazine squared off on all sides and as a result the magazine catch has a hard time 'finding' the recess and latching into place. I don't know why they are manufactured this way, but I can only assume it's a result of the manufacturing process and some inability to add the ramp in the mold. Because of the lack of ramp in the recess when you push the magazine into the magwell there is a chance it will not lock into place on the first try and you will have to wiggle it forward or rearwards for the magazine catch to snap into place. Is this a big deal? Only you can be the judge of that, but personally it's very inconvenient to have to snap the magazine into place, then to spend extra time to make sure it's secure. I personally noticed it the most using the ETS and Overwatch Precision magazines when I tested them on my MKE rifles. I have spoke with other MP5 owners that have HK, PTR, MKE, and POF rifles. Some of them told me they had no issues, while others told me that every polymer magazine they tried had issues locking into place. It would seem HK added the ramp to the locking recess for good reason, and that was to compensate for variations in manufacturing and to assist the catch locking into the recess.

As you can see the Overwatch Precision magazine on the left has a squared off locking recess, while the steel magazine on the right has the ramp on the bottom. While I used the Overwatch Precision magazine as the comparison, all the polymer magazines I have run across are this way.

If you look at the parts of the front trunnion the arrows are pointing to, that is the physical stop the magazine runs into when you insert it into the magwell. Because of this you do not need the bottom portion of the locking recess in the magazine to be squared off, so by adding the ramp in the magazine recess it makes the magazine catch lock into place easier.

Polymer - Magazine Specs

Country of Origin	Manufacturer	Type	Weight Assembled	Weight Dissembled	Spring Length
USA	ETS	Curved Polymer
USA	Overwatch Precision	Curved Polymer
Bosnia	AC Unity	Curved Polymer
Tukey	MKE	Curved Polymer	3.02oz	2.06oz	13.5 in

Weight Assembled is the weight of the magazine full assembled.
Weight Disassembled is the weight of just the body of the magazine, without the floorplate and spring.
Please note that not all of these magazines are new so some of the differences in spring length can be explained by round count the magazine has seen over time.

Manufacturer	Notes	Spring Test 1	Spring Test 2	Spring Test 3	Average
ETS	Transparent Polymer	6.50 lbs	6.40 lbs	6.40 lbs	6.43 lbs
Overwatch Precision	Very Magpul Like	4.75 lbs	4.60 lbs	4.85 lbs	4.73 lbs
AC Unity	30 Round
AC Unity	40 Round
MKE	Made in Turkey

Polymer - Visual Comparison

POLYMER

POLYMER

POLYMER

Further Reading

• MP5 Buyers Guide

If you like this please check out the other magazine comparison articles

• Old vs New US Palm
• US Palm vs XTECH
• Zastava M85/M21 vs Galil R4/CR-21
• AK Waffle Mag Comparison