What's so special about HK 416/556 AR rifle?

[JesseR]

Searching around gunbroker, I saw where the HK piston AR uppers are selling for $3000+....

Can anyone help me understand, beside it saying HK, what makes this piston upper any better then an American offering? I'm at a loss in why people are dropping so much coin on an upper.

I'm also a member at HKPro, but wanted to ask here because I they are a little intense about anything with 'HK' on it.

 

[peanut]

Jesse, I know you and I are big HK fans, but i don't see the hype in their AR.
I guess it's because some variation of the HK AR is used by SPAYSHUL FORCES, therefore it is worth more!
Edit; actually in my limited mechanical aircraft maintenance tech mind, after researching all of the piston AR's, settled on the Addax/PWS piston upper.

 

[thefenux]

If you're a big HK fan, I can see paying the high price.

I had the oppurtinity to tear down an MR556 the other day. It seemed well built and had a good feel, but it did have a premium price for the name on the side.

There were two features on it worth mentioning as I don't recall seeing them on a factory AR before.

First, the takedown and pivot pins require something to be inserted in them before they release. A punch or a 5.45x39 round work, but the 5.56mm bullet isn't narrow long enough to work. To me, it was a little obnoxious because I just wanted to see what was on the inside, but I can see the appeal of them.

Second, it had a firing pin return spring. I'm assuming this is to prevent slam fires and might even function as a sort of drop safety, but I wasn't quite willing to pay for the gun if I broke it testing my theory.

 

[peanut]

The firing pin spring has become common in several piston type uppers.

 

[JesseR]

Yea... not worth it to me... The German's can over engineer almost anything. For what it is, a 5.56mm battle rifle, I'll just keep good ol' AR-15's... Now if you wanna talk roller lock, that's a different story. Love my HK Roller Locks...

 

[Glocktogo]

I'll say that having fired one, I'm not impressed. The recoil and severe ejection indicate to me that the system is not optimized. IMO, they erred too far on the side of reliability, at the expense of shootability and parts longevity.

 

[Norman]

HK. Because you suck, and we hate you

 

[AKguy1985]

HK. Because you suck, and we hate you

THAT and.....Its the gun that killed bin laden

 

[been]

its expensive because its made with love and magic.........overpriced but i would like to buy the one that killed Bin Laden.

 

[338Shooter]

I've shot lots of HK stuff. None of it has been worth the money. The UMP is pretty sweet, but looking at $3500 for an SBR USC conversion is nuts.