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I'm pretty sure this has been discussed before but again it seems my search-fu isn't worth a damn around here. I have been looking at a few options for acquiring my first roller lock in the form of an MP5K-N/SP89-N clone lately and I've narrowed it down to roughly four options.
1) Buy a German demilled parts kit from which I'd have swap out compliance parts (long term goal is to SBR into the -PDW configuration)
2) Build from the ground up using mostly US made components a la carte that typically cost less than their German counterparts
3) Buy the BA89
4) Have a custom built by one of the reputable smiths in the H&K world
Now as far as I can tell the supply of option (1) is so low that the price for one of those kits borders on absurd (Again I'm not insulting anyone merely remarking on the standard supply/demand market where the rarity of the items causes cost to run $3-4K just for the kit). Now option (2) is the one that truly appeals to me the most simply for the "I did it myself" aspect as I left my job as a machinist and fabricator a couple years ago to drive a desk and I truly miss working with my hands, but again, the price of the components for the build runs roughly $2500.00 which compared to option (3) at roughly $1100.00 not counting transfer fees or shipping seems a little redundant. Obviously in order to achieve the -N configuration I'm after I'll have to have someone either press out and replace the SP89 barrel with the proper one or find someone who can weld on an extension and lugs which is a little more money but again everything is relative in this discussion. Now that being said, the BA89 is new to market and I haven't seen where anyone has been able to confirm for certain that they are/aren't just the latest iteration of SW/CA/TB/whatever so I don't know what kind of quality is available or what support will be available down the road which brings me to option (4).....
Now I'll I haven't done my homework here as I have yet to actually contact any of the builders for pricing on this, but my thoughts are pick a good smith and wait long enough and the product will be a good one. Odds are I'll have to supply my own parts kit and they would merely charge me for their services so the data points in (1) & (2) are still relevant.
What are your opinions on the various options available to a person in this situation? Just a discussion, I'm not trying to stir the bucket, point fingers, or cause any issues I'm just interested in hearing everyone's take on things in case someone has thought of something that I haven't considered on my own.
1) Buy a German demilled parts kit from which I'd have swap out compliance parts (long term goal is to SBR into the -PDW configuration)
2) Build from the ground up using mostly US made components a la carte that typically cost less than their German counterparts
3) Buy the BA89
4) Have a custom built by one of the reputable smiths in the H&K world
Now as far as I can tell the supply of option (1) is so low that the price for one of those kits borders on absurd (Again I'm not insulting anyone merely remarking on the standard supply/demand market where the rarity of the items causes cost to run $3-4K just for the kit). Now option (2) is the one that truly appeals to me the most simply for the "I did it myself" aspect as I left my job as a machinist and fabricator a couple years ago to drive a desk and I truly miss working with my hands, but again, the price of the components for the build runs roughly $2500.00 which compared to option (3) at roughly $1100.00 not counting transfer fees or shipping seems a little redundant. Obviously in order to achieve the -N configuration I'm after I'll have to have someone either press out and replace the SP89 barrel with the proper one or find someone who can weld on an extension and lugs which is a little more money but again everything is relative in this discussion. Now that being said, the BA89 is new to market and I haven't seen where anyone has been able to confirm for certain that they are/aren't just the latest iteration of SW/CA/TB/whatever so I don't know what kind of quality is available or what support will be available down the road which brings me to option (4).....
Now I'll I haven't done my homework here as I have yet to actually contact any of the builders for pricing on this, but my thoughts are pick a good smith and wait long enough and the product will be a good one. Odds are I'll have to supply my own parts kit and they would merely charge me for their services so the data points in (1) & (2) are still relevant.
What are your opinions on the various options available to a person in this situation? Just a discussion, I'm not trying to stir the bucket, point fingers, or cause any issues I'm just interested in hearing everyone's take on things in case someone has thought of something that I haven't considered on my own.