I adopted another carbine today, a H&K SLC-45. The owner of the EBR store admitted that it had been taking a spot in the display rack for over two years, and the only reason he had it was because it was part of H&K's "take it or leave it" package to get the other items he wanted. Sooo, after a bit of friendly bargaining, I came home with this under-appreciated cutie:
While it's nice, it's also lacking some refinements due to the "assault weapon" ban when this model hit the market. Ten-shot mag, funky non-folding stock, and lack of flash hider, among other things.
The first thing I did was to try to improve its self-esteem by adding what I had knocking around the basement. An Eotech, a Sig light-laser combo, and a GG&G of Arizona gangsta grip helped a lot.
Then I stopped by at HKparts.net, where I've scored so many goodies from my earlier GSG-5 and HK91 and SP89 upgrades. Sure enough, the FBI is not trusted with the full-auto version of the UMP, so there exists a semi-auto lower receiver that will allow the more natural folding stock, and the SMG's 25-round magazines. And, another quality dummy suppressor to hide the exposed part of the 16-inch barrel. The UMP, which also comes in .40S&W and 9mm, just has a couple of inches of flash hider sticking out past the front sight.
Aside from a certain degree of coolness, I see the UMC as a viable "residential area" long gun. For one thing, I can use up the rest of my .45ACP +P ammo, which should really have some zing out of a long barrel. Second, it should still give me more reach than the generic AK47, and the generic zombie behind it. Stay tuned, this project probably has several more weeks to run.
Another unexpected item arrived this week. A $138 South Korean clone of the $260 Beta C-mag. This is the hundred-round double-drum 5.56mm magazine that so many shooters, in and out of the military, either love or hate, if the can get their hands on one in the first place. I never wanted to shell out $260 for the real deal, but felt I could trust Victory Industries enough to risk $138. Here it is, adding a bit more bulk, and a lot more capacity, to the Sig 556.
Here it is from another angle, along with a Sig light-laser combo, also being blown out at a significant discount.
Victory Industries has some odd things going for it in its product line. Their M14 magazines are used by the American military. Their Glock clone magazines are produced under license from Glock. They make MP5 and SA80 magazines that must be part of some agreement with H&K. And then there's this C-mag clone, which I only saw on Monday.
While all the patents and designs are probably public domain by now, you can't make all these goodies without some sort of approval of the original makers.
Tomorrow, more unplanned gunsmithing on the M1911. I think I'm starting to like the .45ACP round, which is why I bought the H&K, and another 1500 rounds of ball ammo this week.