First of all, what made me choose the ICS MP5 A5? For me, I think it was the full metal body that did it. Overall however, price was the main factor. My limit was around £230 ($400). This had to include a battery and charger. I changed my mind multiple times, but buying the MP5 was by no means a last minute decision. At first I was fairly open minded, looking into the Steyr Aug, M4, AK47 ect. But the gun that really caught my eye was the Sig 552, which merged together the rifle and sub-machinegun styles. After looking at the G36C, I decided that the Heckler & Koch guns were for me. Naturally I looked at the MP5 range, the most popular H&K guns. Due to the good pricing, I decided to get an ICS MP5. From there I had to decide between the MP5 A series, or the SD series. And then between a solid, folding or retractable stock version. I went for the MP5 A5, and ordered it along with an Smg bag, and 30 round low-cap magazine.

The order came in huge box that I ripped open to find a ton of packaging material, which I waded through to get the various items I had ordered. The gun itself came in a rather small, plain cardboard box, with “a5” written on one corner. Inside the box, the gun was cable tied to the bottom of the box, stock fully retracted, with an ICS catalogue and the instruction manual on top. My first impression of the gun before I had even picked it up was its size. I would imagine it would be quite small compared with AEGs such as the M4 and AK47. Even without the metal magazine and the battery, it is a very weighty gun. In comparison to a Sauer Super 9 (weighing 2kg), due to its size, the MP5 feels very heavy, even though they both weigh the same.

Lets look at the bodywork in more detail. The MP5 is truly worthy of the title “full metal”. Just take a look at the picture below. All the green is sturdy ABS plastic, and the red is solid metal.

As you can imagine, this gun is heavy for its size! One of the guns comforting features is a moveable bolt. Although it has no practical function, it still sounds very cool! You can also lock it back and “slap” it back into position. On the real MP5 (and indeed most other guns) you need to either rack the cocking handle (slam it back and forth very quickly) or “slap” it down from the locked open position. The reason for this is that the magazine springs in real firearms are very strong to keep a reliable feed of bullets. If you let the handle ride forwards in your hand, the cocking mechanism does not gain enough momentum to strip a bullet out of the magazine, resulting in a stoppage. Anyway, back to the review. I’ve heard it said that on the Tokyo Marui MP5 series, slapping the cocking handle down could break it off. I don’t know if this is true for the ICS models, but the handle on mine seems to have no visible damage. Plus, after dis-assembling and inspection the cocking parts, I can’t really see how it could break. As expected, the gun is very solid. The retractable stock is very sturdy, with very little wobble. The only wobble you get is when the stock is fully extended, and even then it only moves a tiny amount. This gun has only one small trademark, which is good and bad. ICS is stamped on the underside of the cocking handle.

A little hint; don’t try to take out the fuse carrier unless the fuse has blown. It won’t go back in again, and even if it does, it will come out every time you open the battery compartment. The battery is fairly simple to put in, and as with most guns, it’s a little fiddly to put the cover back on, but nothing unusual.

The sights are designed to be a permanent way of aiming. Not just there to look good, until you get scope or red dot sight. The rear sight can be used in two ways. You can use the V shape for wide angle aiming, or use the aperture sights for more precise aiming. Adjusting the sights is simple: you use a screwdriver to adjust the windage (left and right) and that’s it! To adjust the elevation (up and down) you simply turn the rear sight ring to the right height. This means you can adjust the sights from close to long range in seconds, and without tools.

One thing I like about the Heckler & Koch guns is the selector switch. I find it very easy to use, unlike those on the M4 series, which I find hard to use.

Now, to the function that matters the most: firing. I haven’t yet had the chance to test out the MP5 in a skirmish, but will be able to test it some time in August. I have however been shooting it at targets, to get a feel of the power, range and accuracy. Once I had properly adjusted the sights, it turned out to be far more accurate than before. Both of the targets below were shot at 15 meters.

Until I read the manual, I had problems firing on single shot mode with the metal high capacity magazine. The cheap 30 round magazine however, seemed to fire fine on single shot. What I was doing was over winding the hi-cap. I was winding it 40-50 times, instead of 15 times as recommended! This caused the bbs to be pushed so hard up into the gun, that they would rarely be chambered. I haven’t chronoed the gun yet, but as stated on various sites, 300fps seems about right. A single point blank shot to a soft drinks can nearly pierces both sides; but on full auto, the can disintegrates into a wreck of twisted aluminium.

When I bought the gun, I was expecting a very low battery capacity due to the mini batteries. However, I can usually get about 6 hi-caps before the battery is totally dead. The average amount a hi-cap holds is 230, so that makes for around 1380 shots. Take it down to 1200 shots, because after an entire hour of non-stop full auto, you can clap your hands faster than the gun can fire.

In terms of upgrade-ability, this gun is spoilt for choice. Since ICS only make 3 brands of gun (Colt M4, MP5 Series and soon the AK-74M), you can buy every part under the sun. Since they are so popular, there are a multitude of other companies who make upgrade parts. If I wanted to, I could turn my MP5 into an MP5 SD with very little hassle. This gun is a real winner for upgrades.

Good points:

• Good power
  
  
  
• Good range
  
  
  
• High rate of fire
  
  
  
• High quality metal body
  
  
  
• Huge upgrade potential
  
  
  
• Hi-cap as standard
  
  
  
• No obtrusive trademarks

Bad points:

• Mini battery
  
  
  
• Slightly wobbly stock
  
  
  
• Fairly high price
  
  
  
• No real steel trademarks