I took advantage of the 10% off sale that FBT had for a few days and snagged a Sig MPX Gen 2 with folding arm brace. I'd been jonesing for one of these for quite some time, but the price had me waffling. Then I did the math where a quality AR build in 9mm would cost me (dedicated billet lower) and realized it wouldn't be that much cheaper than the MPX. Plus, it wouldn't be as "cool" as a semi-auto approximation of the MP-5, a creature I thought was so rad for years. Then the FBT sale came along..
My gf and I went to Red Castle this morning and set up at their plinking range. We put out upside-down QuikTrip cups and shot at them from about 25 yards with Blazer Brass 9mm 124-grain FMJ ammo. After getting the red dot dialed in, we found the MPX would bounce the cups with regularity, and we could even "walk" them up the berm despite their propensity for sliding or rolling back down.
I was quite impressed with the very mild recoil of the MPX, after having had a 9mm AR that was definitely sharper in that regard. Muzzle rise was minimal, and double taps were no problem. The A2-style birdcage flash hider did a nice job keeping the blast from coming back into our faces, too. The Magpul AFG-2 I installed made for a more comfortable hold on that short hand guard, but that was the only thing I've done so far - the MPX is that good for me. The trigger wasn't bad at all - definitely not as horrible as the reports online made it out to be. Perhaps I got lucky with a trigger that was put together "just right," or else I'm not as finicky as some about the feel of the trigger. It's not as nice as the drop-in Velocity or Timney triggers I have in my AR's, but I wouldn't ding it for sure.
There was one fly in the ointment, however. My gf and I found that the bolt would occasionally fail to pick up a new round, or else the round would get hung up, causing the bolt to stop halfway into battery. This happened five or six times out of the 250 rounds we put through the MPX. I thought it might have been caused by failing to fully seat the magazine, as it fell out once after my gf experienced the ftf issue, but slapping the bottom of the magazine after loading it didn't seem to cure the problem. I didn't have another magazine with me to determine if it was a mag-related issue, though. Next time I go back, I'll be sure to try another one.
That aside, the MPX was a real pleasure to shoot. All the more so when we picked it back up after shooting our 5.56 AR carbines - we were struck again by how mild the MPX is when the trigger is pulled. It was such fun that we did experience another potentially negative issue.
It goes through ammo too fast.
My gf and I went to Red Castle this morning and set up at their plinking range. We put out upside-down QuikTrip cups and shot at them from about 25 yards with Blazer Brass 9mm 124-grain FMJ ammo. After getting the red dot dialed in, we found the MPX would bounce the cups with regularity, and we could even "walk" them up the berm despite their propensity for sliding or rolling back down.
I was quite impressed with the very mild recoil of the MPX, after having had a 9mm AR that was definitely sharper in that regard. Muzzle rise was minimal, and double taps were no problem. The A2-style birdcage flash hider did a nice job keeping the blast from coming back into our faces, too. The Magpul AFG-2 I installed made for a more comfortable hold on that short hand guard, but that was the only thing I've done so far - the MPX is that good for me. The trigger wasn't bad at all - definitely not as horrible as the reports online made it out to be. Perhaps I got lucky with a trigger that was put together "just right," or else I'm not as finicky as some about the feel of the trigger. It's not as nice as the drop-in Velocity or Timney triggers I have in my AR's, but I wouldn't ding it for sure.
There was one fly in the ointment, however. My gf and I found that the bolt would occasionally fail to pick up a new round, or else the round would get hung up, causing the bolt to stop halfway into battery. This happened five or six times out of the 250 rounds we put through the MPX. I thought it might have been caused by failing to fully seat the magazine, as it fell out once after my gf experienced the ftf issue, but slapping the bottom of the magazine after loading it didn't seem to cure the problem. I didn't have another magazine with me to determine if it was a mag-related issue, though. Next time I go back, I'll be sure to try another one.
That aside, the MPX was a real pleasure to shoot. All the more so when we picked it back up after shooting our 5.56 AR carbines - we were struck again by how mild the MPX is when the trigger is pulled. It was such fun that we did experience another potentially negative issue.
It goes through ammo too fast.