Newest toy - MPA71 range outing

Absintheur

Absintheur

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Took my newest toy out to the range to proof it with 4 new magazines. It is a Masterpiece Arms MPA-71. A Frankenstein of sorts consisting of (basically) FN/FAL lower mated to a MAC-11 upper, 16 inch barrel threaded for an H&K three lug adaptor for a suppressor, (I already have a papered suppressor for it) uses AR15 carbine handguards, a SAW buttstock and it uses easily available (and cheap) Suomi 71 round drum magazines. The gun was actually built around the magazine thanks to the old ban that allowed the mags to be imported as curios but made it illegal to adapt them for use in other guns. Enter Gary Pool and Len Savage and a few others who decided to design a new rifle basing it on the Suomi magazine and the end result was the MPA-71...here is mine...

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The Suomi magazines have the reputation for being one of the sturdiest drum magazines ever made and I will attest it is a very solid peice of work and also one of the easiest to load I have ever used. Loading does take a few minutes as lining up 71 rounds of ammo does take time but it is easy to do. Odd tho when a box of ammo won't fill one magazine...lol.

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The range trip was a success, all 4 magazine functioned without a single malfunction. I will soon buy a couple more ($25.00 is cheap for this type of magazine) and will also get a half dozen 30 round sticks. I mounted an old...about 25 years old...Aimpoint Mark III on it and using my range bag for a rest was able to get 1 inch groups at 50 yards using junk ammo. Seeing as the rifle uses AR15 handguards I will add a adaptor and bipod when I get the chance. Till then it is a blast to shoot and I cannot wait till the next 4X4 shoot, that is seeing who can shoot a 4X4 post in half the fastest, so I can hear the moans and groans when I load up that 71 round mag...I am sure accusations of cheating will be raised. Will be fun!
 
Yes...9mm, I am considering buying a PPSH 41 Rifle in 7.62X25 as it will use the same magazine. I will add that my trusty SAK was instrumental in adjusting the dot. There are also 50 round coffin magazines available but they tend to run much higher in price than the drums and are a pain to load.

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That's pretty strange...I like it. Any reason they went with a SAW stock instead of AR-15 series buffer tube?
 
Why use an AR buffer tube? No need for the buffer and the FN SAW buttstock already fir the FN lower. Remember a SAW is not necessarily a US weapon, it is an acronym that stands for Squad Automatic Weapon, other countries use SAWs that are not based on the AR. I have thought about switching out the buttstock with the one on my FN/FAL but the FN is grey and this is black so the furniture wouldn't match but it would be a nice stock on my 308.

I did forget to mention this is a heavy beast, especially when loaded...lol. This one will build up the arms if shot much offhand. This is why it falls more into the toy category for me rather than into the SD arena. It would do well for SD work but is heavier than I care for in a serious work carbine. But we all need toys as well as tools...
 
I'm not sure I understand the cost for Thompsom drums myself, other than they are such low demand items they are not mass produced. Also they are more complicated than the Suomi drums requiring more handwork to produce. Still 200 for reproduction 10 round drum does seem rather silly.
 
Absintheur said:
I'm not sure I understand the cost for Thompsom drums myself, other than they are such low demand items they are not mass produced. Also they are more complicated than the Suomi drums requiring more handwork to produce. Still 200 for reproduction 10 round drum does seem rather silly.
Click to expand...

Considering there should be a large surplus from WWII and perhaps Korea, I wonder if someone didn't buy up the majority available when the demand was low (AWB) and is now trying to reap a profit. :confused:
 
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