July 2021 PSA MP5 Update:
A few weeks back I reached out to my contact at Palmetto State Armory asking for an update to their highly anticipated MP5 Release. This was spurred after I went to their range session and had a chance to shoot the Century Arms AP5:
And by the way, the AP5 is essentially the same gun as the one Zenith used to offer. I have a review on the Zenith “K” model MP5 that you can read.
Zenith, by the way, has also announced a new MP5 that they’re bringing to market in the near future but MSRP is way more expensive than it should be for the average citizen, which makes the Palmetto State Armory clone much more desirable.
Anyway, the update from my contact is that the “PSA5 is coming and that great things take time.“
That’s it. That’s the quote. I have no date, which is probably a good thing because people get pissed off when dates are given and then missed.
The rest of this article shows past updates and should be discarded, though there is some interesting info below that is beneficial.
Here is a video we recorded at SHOT Show 2020 of a rep showing it off:
A few weeks ago, I had the distinct privilege, along with a few other members of the gun media, to go down to Palmetto State Armory’s facilities. I got to tour their many manufacturing plants, the warehouses where all our goods come from, and had a chance to shoot many of their guns during a range day.
I even had the chance to push a 6.5 Creedmoor PA-10 out to a mile. It was a lot of fun, and good times were had by all who were there.
One question that I had, and something that came up a lot from other media in attendance, is where is the MP5 clone, known as the PSA-5?
We all knew that if Palmetto State Armory could develop an MP5 it would be very affordable, and drive the price down on all the other MP5s out there like those from Zenith and HK themselves.
The story behind the Palmetto State Armory MP5 release update is that it’s currently stalled. It’s still on their list of things to do, but they can’t get the price to value ratio where they want it. Instead of releasing a sub-par product, or one that’s just too expensive, like everyone else has done, it’s been put on the back burner … for now.
It’s reportedly still on the stove top, though. They’re still trying to make it work, they just have some things to work out before it’ll be ready for release.
They have the goal of staying under a certain price point, which is $1,200 if I can remember correctly. And, I do believe that they’ll sell a ton of them, just like with their AK-V that goes out of stock all the time, if they can get the price and reliability right.
Heck I’d buy one. I had a Zenith MP5-K clone for a while that I was able to get a review in on, and it was a ton of fun at the range. I would have bought it if the price wasn’t so steep. The roller lock design is uber reliable with the right setup, so I’d get a brace for one and call it done.
You can watch the short video I was able to record below that features a small snippet of them talking about the PSA-5. This was one of the videos that has OK quality sound, and it still kinda sucks. Most of the vids I recorded were shoddy, at best. Here’s the video:
Let me know what you think about this. Do you appreciate PSA’s desire to try and keep the price down with the quality up? Let me know in the comments below.
Also, the AK-V that I mentioned above was a blast. If they’re in stock, you should buy one.
