Century Arms is launching a new line of Heckler & Koch-derived roller-delayed blowback firearms “based and built off of the original and historic design from the 1970s,” called the AP5 for “Apparatus Pistol.” Chambered for 9mm Luger, Century is working on three models to start with.
The pistols, made in partnership with MKE, will be offered as the full-size AP5, a mid-size AP5-P and a compact AP5-M. Century plans to offer compatible accessories to follow, although many existing aftermarket parts may work with it just fine or with some fitting.
“This firearms platform is iconic,” said Century Arms Marketing Director Adam Ruonala. “We at Century Arms have been a leader in the US firearms importation business for many years, to now have the opportunity to bring such a fan favorite to the U.S. market under our company flag, is truly a huge honor for everyone involved in the project.”
The AP5 is being imported in numbers and is shipping to stores now. Each version of the AP5 ships with two 30-round magazines, standard, a Picatinny-style rail for optics, a cleaning kit, a sling, a gun lock and a hard case for storage.
All versions are rated for 9mm NATO and 9mm Luger +P ammo and have cold-hammer-forged barrels featuring both 3-lug accessory mounts as well as a threaded extension for 1/2×28 muzzle devices and direct-thread suppressors.
For now, Century has released specifications for the base model AP5. It has an 8.9-inch barrel with 1-in-9.8 rate of twist, an overall length of 17.9 inches, and an unloaded weight of 5.5 pounds.
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Century recommends using full-pressure ammunition for the AP5 for the initial break-in, which is common for these firearms. Pricing for the AP5 starts at around $2,799, although market rates right now are hard to pin down.
For anyone who has been on the fence about picking up a roller-delayed H&K-style pistol, now might be the time. Regardless of the price at the counter, these are sure to move fast.
For more information about the AP5 and the rest of the Century catalog, check them out online.
Our fake president can and will eliminate these with a exec order.
I wouldn’t like this but it is what it is.
So if you really want something like this you have very little time to get it.
A few opinions . . . they’re worth what you’re paying for them. LOL!
The price is “out there” to say the least, but, most likely, there’s a market. Forget “practical” or “economical”. An AR based 9mm in any form factor is going to be less than 1/3 of this price with lots of options available. The market for this weapon is someone who wants as close to an MP-5 as possible. And there’s more to that than it would seem. Allow me to elaborate.
HK is offering their version, but it has some significant differences from an MP-5. I don’t know their availability, either. So perhaps availability could work in this model’s favor.
What I haven’t learned, yet, about the Century model is if it can be a donor for an HK FA sear kit or not. I don’t believe the new HK version can accept HK FA sears so they can’t become donor guns for people who own the old sears (I’m talking legal NFA sears from years ago . . . of which there are a lot more than you’d think!). If this gun CAN accept the old NFA FA sears, then $2,700 is a small price to pay in comparison to either using an original MP-5 or an expensive legacy donor gun. If I wanted to rock and roll, I’d buy one of these in a heartbeat, put my sear in it, and beat a new “non-HK” gun up . . . when we get ammo, of course.
Is this a really expensive gun? It all depends on our angle. If I wanted to buy a cool little 9mm “braced pistol”, then yeah, this is sort of out there on price . . . assuming price is an issue . . . and it’s NOT for everyone, but most people, let’s say. On the other hand, let’s say I have five or so HK full auto sears put back, and I want to get them running in something. Hunting down an old HK donor gun from the 80’s is going to be tough and expensive. I’m looking at $30k(ish) for a new MP-5, and a long time to get it. Or I can drop around $2.5k on one of these, put my sear in it, and I’m shooting. And if it breaks, maybe I get it fixed or just replace it. For people who want to do a lot of full auto shooting, worrying about dropping $3k on the gun is like someone who races cars worried about how much the oil in the engine costs. If you can’t afford $3k for a gun, you weren’t going to do many mag dumps at the weekly range shoot, anyway.
Of course, this all goes out the window if the gun isn’t a donor . . .
If you in fact own multiple registered HK MP 5 sears they are worth a fortune a piece. If I owned them and wanted a gun to host them I would prefer a an HK, PTR , Dakota Arms to host it. I realize the last batch of HK SP5 did not host the sear trigger pack out of the box. I not sure if the latest ones (MP 5 version) do.
My point anyone who legally owns a wouldn’t be wasting their time with a Century arms clone. It’s like putting a BMW high performance engine a 1987 Yugo. They would likely own a HK 94 , 93, and 91 since they all take the same trigger pack.
$2,799 for a Century Arms firearm ; LOL.
Exactly!
Maybe it’s because they inherited the tooling and machinery, but I can’t see why a full-size rifle like the PTR-91 sells for under $1K and this micro-poodle-shooter is 3x that. I suppose it’s because Century knows that the HK SP-5 offering is unobtanium for even $5K and Century will sell every one of these they make….even for more than $2700…..all the cool kids have MP-5 clones….
When are these people going to get something better than 9mm, like 10 mm. There is no way I would ever pay over 2000.00 for any underpowered 9 mm, it just don’t make sense to me. If I am going to spend that kind of money on a gun, it surely will be one with more stopping power than the puny 9mm. Will never even think about purchasing one !!!
You sound like a man child and ignoramus , you’ve probably never been shot at much less in a gun fight . Both of which I have been you fool and can tell you the ones I shot weren’t calling me an asshole because I didn’t use a bigger caliber.
If you’re so sure 9mm is puny and can’t cause any harm give me the opportunity to shoot you with a 9mm; say 25 yards and you can stand behind 3/4” plywood.
Just when you think caliber wars are a goofy trend of the past. Some joker comes along and runs his yap.
You do your nothing that doesn’t begin with a 4. And ill be happy with my anemic round that I can get surgical repeated hits with. All handguns suck for stopping power and if im going to a loud toy party I can’t avoid ill be bringing my o6
Too high in price. Get HK.
Who wants to buy a 9mm gun of any type now when ammunition is not available for good range work.
I can’t be the only one who thinks $2800 for this gun from Century is comical. At that price point, people may as well just pay the extra cheddar to get an actual H&K model that you KNOW will be a quality gun. I know people will pay that ridiculous price but it sure won’t be me.
I had a HK-91. I bought it mostly due to that roller-delayed action. The action worked Really well!
That said, convince me that I need a 5.5 lbs pistol with only 50% more ammo capacity and which is Way bulkier, at $2800, compared to say, a Glock 19, at 1.5 lbs, 15rds(std), and $600. Sorry, no sale here.
MKE made the firearms/parts for Zenith. Who knows what happened behind the scenes there but Zenith dropped their LE side of sales and Im sure I havent seen a Zenith being sold at any retailers for over a year. I wonder, if its MKE’s doing, why they think Century is a better vehicle then Zenith at a higher cost? 2800 for this gun when zeniths 2 years ago or so were 2500ish? Shrug