[Vanquish]

I’ll be honest, I’m not even sure why I’m considering spending $1600 on a clone gun with, from what I’ve seen online, has very hit and miss reviews. But I’ve got a burning desire to own an mp5k style gun that I can’t shake and spending near $5000 on the real deal is not an option at this time.

A lot of the reviews I’ve seen are of the early guns though and many are of the 9ct model and their QC seemed sketchy at best during that time. I haven’t seen many reviews from the past 6 months or so, and I don’t know anyone that owns a ptr of any model. How are the recently manufactured ones?

Do the two little nubs on the grip feel weird or get in the way?

I’ve seen people complaining that the metal hk mags rattle around because the magwell is made to fit the cheap plastic mags that it ships with which are slightly larger? Is that a thing?

I heard it won’t function properly with a suppressor unless you change out the locking piece, but the new one probably won’t fit since the bolts tend to be out of spec.

I don’t know, what’s the general consensus on the late 2021 models? Are they overall worth the money? I hear ptr has a good warranty department, so that’s something but $1600 buys a lot of gun from other manufacturers and I hate to spend that much on a turd, but they look so cool and that that’s why I’m torn.

 

[Lumbergh]

Don't listen to the haters.

Solid gun, lifetime warranty.

The Century Turkish imports are priced right as well.

 

[Vanquish]

Don't listen to the haters.

Solid gun, lifetime warranty.

The Century Turkish imports are priced right as well.

I know next to nothing about the other brands like mke, omega, zenith etc. Are they worth looking into as well?

 

[bangbangduck]

I've owned a pair of SP5K(s), a Zenith, and two PTRs.

HK is best - Nothing beats the feel of the real thing, but you're also talking big bucks.

Zenith is gtg. Quality gun that runs great. The black finish is different with a rougher texture, but I don't really care. I'm looking for another.

PTR - both my 9C and 9KT have a slight upwards bend at the trunnion that's not present on the HK or the Zenith. This makes it harder to look down the sights because you have to get much lower on the gun. Mounting an optic helps.

The 9C runs 100%.

The 9KT is a hunk of trash and I wish I had never spent the money. However, as you have mentioned, mine is an early model; I ordered when the 9KT was first announced. My issues with it:

• Upward bend at the trunnion
• Rear pin holes are not parallel, pin needs to be hammered in and out of the gun.
• Rear sight had to be replaced..cheap POS that won't hold zero and flew off the gun during the first range session
• Paddle mag release doesn't quite work, mags needs to be ripped out of the gun
• Magazines rattle and have a significant amount of play
• Bolt shaves the top of the magazine lips. Say bye to the resale value of your German magazines.
• Bumps on the lower are annoying, replaced lower.
• Had to butcher the new (originally in-spec) lower and trigger pack to get it to fit
• Yes, you need to change out the locking piece to run a suppressor. No, you will never find a locking piece that fits, because they are wildly out of spec.
• Developed roller bumps right away (although, yes, I did run it suppressed for 200 rounds). Had to replace weak recoil spring at 500 round mark.
• Has a steady diet of extractor springs

List goes on. I was heavily considering a G3 clone, but was so turned off by the 9KT that I will never consider another PTR, despite a good experience with my 9C.

I have no experience with the century models.

Good luck!

 

[huggytree]

Bought one as a full auto host. Works perfect. Only minor issue I found is the traditional vertical front grip fits a bit loose. You wont feel the nubs on the grip. Gun appears to be built very well

 

[Vanquish]

I've owned a pair of SP5K(s), a Zenith, and two PTRs.

HK is best - Nothing beats the feel of the real thing, but you're also talking big bucks.

Zenith is gtg. Quality gun that runs great. The black finish is different with a rougher texture, but I don't really care. I'm looking for another.

PTR - both my 9C and 9KT have a slight upwards bend at the trunnion that's not present on the HK or the Zenith. This makes it harder to look down the sights because you have to get much lower on the gun. Mounting an optic helps.

The 9C runs 100%.

The 9KT is a hunk of trash and I wish I had never spent the money. However, as you have mentioned, mine is an early model; I ordered when the 9KT was first announced. My issues with it:

• Upward bend at the trunnion
• Rear pin holes are not parallel, pin needs to be hammered in and out of the gun.
• Rear sight had to be replaced..cheap POS that won't hold zero and flew off the gun during the first range session
• Paddle mag release doesn't quite work, mags needs to be ripped out of the gun
• Magazines rattle and have a significant amount of play
• Bolt shaves the top of the magazine lips. Say bye to the resale value of your German magazines.
• Bumps on the lower are annoying, replaced lower.
• Had to butcher the new (originally in-spec) lower and trigger pack to get it to fit
• Yes, you need to change out the locking piece to run a suppressor. No, you will never find a locking piece that fits, because they are wildly out of spec.
• Developed roller bumps right away (although, yes, I did run it suppressed for 200 rounds). Had to replace weak recoil spring at 500 round mark.
• Has a steady diet of extractor springs

List goes on. I was heavily considering a G3 clone, but was so turned off by the 9KT that I will never consider another PTR, despite a good experience with my 9C.

I have no experience with the century models.

Good luck!

Wow damn, that’s a ton of issues. It’s crazy a gun can have that many problems right from the factory. It’s like there is no quality control whatsoever.

 

[Vanquish]

Bought one as a full auto host. Works perfect. Only minor issue I found is the traditional vertical front grip fits a bit loose. You wont feel the nubs on the grip. Gun appears to be built very well

See, then someone gets one that seems to be just fine. Is yours a newer model or did you just get lucky with an older one? Can the front grip be tightened up any?

 

[BulkHead]

I've posted about my 9KT in a couple of places. Bought mine in October 2019, so not a first run, and a few problems were being reported on the model by then, but so had a lot of fixes. I bought mine with the intention of running it suppressed and having the PDW stock on it, as well as not shooting anything lighter than 124+P NATO loads as they were meant to do.
-I bought it on a Saturday, intending to SBR and run a can on it, this was mid October. RCM 80* lock piece wouldn't fit in the bolt. Emailed them, and Monday had an RMA printed out. Shipped it out to them on Tuesday, they got it Thursday. They wanted the gun in original condition and also wanted me to send the RCM LP in with it. So all of that went back.
-Repeatedly called and emailed, got zero information back for about two weeks.
-Finally got a reply saying the gunsmith had it and would check it out, expected to have problem resolved that week.
-Two weeks later again after multiple emails I am informed that the problem was "resolved" and that the RCM piece is out of spec and now fits, but this comes with a gap that is now .035 which is way out of spec. They suggest trying an HK piece or finding another locking piece that is in spec. In addition, they found a "problem" with the trunion but don't go into any additional detail and say the smith is recommending that they ship me a replacement. So I was getting an entirely new 9KT shipped back to me.
-Had to wait for the current production run (November of 2019) barrels to be treated so that they could send me the new one.
-I got my new 9KT back, and had to install rollers in it to get it to proper bolt gap with my LP. The LP had been stoned/lapped, and you could see where they had done it so that it would fit. Not sure what current production serial is, but mine was 002XXX, which was about Oct/Nov of 2019.
-Took the 9KT to the range, and ran about 1K of rounds through it. Zero problems. None. No FTF, FTE, nothing. I just shoot 124+P GDHP and ball, or 147 GDHP or ball and that's it. It has been reliable with the can on or off. No issues with extractor springs, ejectors, or the buffer; still using the original parts of all of those. No roller dents at all.
-I've never had issues with the sights, but I also added tritium front and rear sights. I tried an RMR but liked the irons too much and went back to just using those. Also put the MI MLOK hand guard on there with an A3 broom handle and Streamlight 3V light.
-I SBR'd it, which if I had any concerns or hesitations I would not have done so. I don't want to get into a $200 hole and be stuck with an stamped SBR that doesn't work. With the PDW stock on it for over the last 18 months, it has continued to be completely reliable.
-If you are going to shoot it suppressed, using heavy projos, and a stock then you need to replace the LP. If not, then you may not need to replace the LP to shoot suppressed so long as you are shooting lighter loads or not using a stock/brace. That varies by gun and from what I have seen reported you have to just try it to see if it will work. If you shoot suppressed without changing the LP, watch for tearing up your buffer or the start of roller dents or violent recoil. I have heard that PTR has been working to make their bolts closer to spec to accept the different LPs, but I don't have any personal knowledge of this.
-The knobs on the grip are slightly annoying, but not overly noticeable when you are actually holding it. They don't get in the way or anything, I would just prefer a straight/smooth grip. I do plan on switching it out for the Magpul grip module but it really has not been a priority.
-With the OEM backplate I didn't have any issues with the pushpins. With the PDW stock, the fit was worse, and that is universally reported on if you use the Choate stock. I expected it to be the case, and it was. It's not a huge deal, there is some wobble from the back plate of the PDW stock, but again that appears to be an issue with putting the Choate stocks on. Once the stock is shouldered and you snug it up, it doesn't wobble or anything during firing and it definitely does not interfere with or degrade accuracy.
-The front grip issues that I've seen have mainly been with the American production models, which seem to have a shorter ledge that fits into the recess in the trunnion. The HK (and maybe POF and other licensed builders) have a slightly longer ledge that engages the recess better. I have an American K grip that I used before I put the MI handguard on and it had a ledge that was long enough, so that wasn't an issue for me but I have seen people bring that up.
-As far as the magwell issue, mine is a little loose, but not problematic. Never heard of the issue being that the magwells were intentionally oversized for the crappy plastic mags. All my mags are the HK 30s and 15s, and they've all worked great and I have not had any issues with stripping/damaging the feed lips.

Regarding their other models, I have the GIR, the GI, and KP3 (set up as a G3K clone) models of their 91s. I have had absolutely no problems with any of those. I plan on getting another PTR shortly.

 

[huggytree]

Mines a month old
Front grip still works. But there’s a bit of a gap. If we’re any shorter it would fall off. 1/8” is all that’s holding it. But it is holding it. Not horribly loose but just a bit. It is the American version not HK

To get a FA Mp5k for $1500 I think it’s an amazing gun for the money . What’s even more nice is it’s 100% FA ready. My vector 53 and ptr.91 needed trigger housings and a bit of tweaking to get to go. The 9k ran 100% out of the box

 

[KD-G Dave]

You are going to hear all kinds of mixed stories on the PTR's any every other clone out there. Im not going to claim the PTR 9kt is good to go just yet since I have only put 4700k though it so far. I will say though that it has not had a single feeding issue thus far and has actually beat my old HK MP5 in that department.

 

[GK_8041]

I remember having to do more than a little tinkering with springs, LPs, mags, ammo, to get an SP89/PDW build to run the sear pack and can reliably. At one point it went RDTS. Comes with the hobby I suppose.

At least PTR has responsive CS and is stateside. Founded or unfounded I had similar reliability concerns with the 9KT and went with the 9CT instead. I’ve put close to a case of cheap plinking ammo thru it; trouble free so far. The gun chewed up one ETS mag which ETS promptly replaced. The KCI mag does not fit as snug as the plastic but runs 100%.

 

[huggytree]

Will ptr help you get a FA trigger pack going if your having issues ?

 

[Vanquish]

You are going to hear all kinds of mixed stories on the PTR's any every other clone out there. Im not going to claim the PTR 9kt is good to go just yet since I have only put 4700k though it so far. I will say though that it has not had a single feeding issue thus far and has actually beat my old HK MP5 in that department.

Have you had to change any parts yet, or is it all stock?
Plastic mags or metal HK ones?

 

[asdf3]

Asking in a forum like this is going to get like 3 people who swear they've never had a problem and 30 people who saw it literally stab their mother to death. Every single manufacturer is going to have some issues. The thing you should be asking yourself is given their popularity are you seeing more people complain about them than you should? Pretty much ignore people without issues as most people without issues are not going to go online and discuss it.

 

[KD-G Dave]

Have you had to change any parts yet, or is it all stock?
Plastic mags or metal HK ones?

Only thing I have changed is the hand guard, did a trigger job to a flat trigger to shorten the pull & reset, added a brace and just removed the picatinny rail off the receiver. All moving parts are original. I run steel & polymer mags.

 

[Vanquish]

Only thing I have changed is the hand guard, did a trigger job to a flat trigger to shorten the pull & reset, added a brace and just removed the picatinny rail off the receiver. All moving parts are original. I run steel & polymer mags.

View attachment 302603

That’s a really clean look. I like it. What trigger is that?

 

[KD-G Dave]

That’s a really clean look. I like it. What trigger is that?

Thanks! Its a flat trigger from HK parts that has been re worked.

 

[RollerLOCKED]

With the Century MKE's selling for the price point they are at, the only advantage to buying a PTR would be if you intended to use it for a sear host... well at least the only prominent advantage... just my opinion

 

[KD-G Dave]

With the Century MKE's selling for the price point they are at, the only advantage to buying a PTR would be if you intended to use it for a sear host... well at least the only prominent advantage... just my opinion

From dealing with the lack of customer service from Century in the past with other firearms that's going to bump the PTR advantage up a notch.

 

[RollerLOCKED]

Well... on one hand, I agree with you about customer service being a factor.... each person really has to stack rank their own priorities when making the determination but for me personally, customer support would be lower on the list when we are talking about a 1650 clone because if I were to have problems, I would feel comfortable sending to a reputable smith for correction rather than relying on customer service. Once you dip into that 2500+ range, then I want it to work out of the box with no further investment necessary. This is, of course, because I already have a substantial number of suitable beater clones but in the past, I probably would have ranked support higher on the list.

So for me, it goes more:

Price
Correctness/Authenticity
Resale value
Function/Support
Host potential

So the MKE option hits everything on the head

If you were

Price
Function/Support
Correctness/Authenticity
Resale value
Host potential

Then I could definitely see how the PTR might be the better option... and if you notice, changing the rank further to say Correctness/Authenticity above price, you would land in the HK range, ETC