New "Black Rifle" To Drool Over

[mantis]

Blue Line, a large firearms distrubutor up here in Canada has inked a deal to import the Masterpiece Arms MPAR-556 rifle into Canada as the MPA-RC 556. Because it has a proprietery short stroke gas piston system and no commonality to the AR (other than accepting AR mags), this rifle shoud be classified as non-restricted. So far no work on price or date of arrival but I'm thinking one of these could find it's way into my gun safe! It is expected to be under $1,200.

[Das Sheep]

Nice looking gun, I worry about stuff getting into that gap behind the charging handle, but it still looks nice.

[AKFTW]

Basically a Leader T2 reincarnated:

[mantis]

Interesting. Anything this side of the border in the form of a "black rifle" classified non-restricted, chambering a .223 cartridge and feeding from AR mags is going to be a best seller. ARs are readily available but classified as resrtricted because some idiot bureaucrat thought they look "scary" which mans that they have to be registered and they are range-only firearms and that you must have a restricted license in order to own or possess. Non-restricted means you can use it for hunting if you want and it does not have to be registered. Anything non-res and AR-like is usually very desirable up here.

[BullOnParade]

Damn it! Another on the "Maybe" list. I've established that if I buy any guns this year it would be a non-restricted 5.56 semi with AR mags. Bad enough waiting on the t-97's to compare to a vz58, now I've got to wait for this thing to be released? Ugh!

[Turtlewolf]

Very interesting.........
Except with the current state of affairs we're lucky to see this in three to four years.
Highly unlikely anything new will be coming out of the USA any time soon in the "black Rifle" arena.

[BullOnParade]

Very interesting.........
Except with the current state of affairs we're lucky to see this in three to four years.
Highly unlikely anything new will be coming out of the USA any time soon in the "black Rifle" arena.

Who knows, maybe with the current state of affairs, we could expect firearm manufacturers to try and broaden the markets to the north. Optimistic thinking much? Yes, but a boy can dream.

[The7thNazgul]

Does anybody have any idea on MSRP here in the states? (besides if you have to ask you can't afford it... cause that thing looks freaking expensive)

[Kutter_0311]

Highly unlikely anything new will be coming out of the USA any time soon in the "black Rifle" arena.

As well as they are selling right now, that makes no damn sense. I truely expect any roadblocks to be worked around at mach 3. Dude, Russia imports AK's here. Yes, they look like hunting rifles. Hurdles are meant to be gotten the fuck over. Improvise, adapt, and overcome. Perhaps one of the benefits of lawmakers not knowwing jack about the stuff they want to ban.

[mantis]

Does anybody have any idea on MSRP here in the states? (besides if you have to ask you can't afford it... cause that thing looks freaking expensive)

According to the Canadian Gun Nutz site where I found that info, it's around $1,000k in the US and will probably be around $1,200 in Canada which sucks given that our dollar is worth more at the moment!

[Turtlewolf]

Highly unlikely anything new will be coming out of the USA any time soon in the "black Rifle" arena.

As well as they are selling right now, that makes no damn sense. I truely expect any roadblocks to be worked around at mach 3. Dude, Russia imports AK's here. Yes, they look like hunting rifles. Hurdles are meant to be gotten the fuck over. Improvise, adapt, and overcome. Perhaps one of the benefits of lawmakers not knowwing jack about the stuff they want to ban.

What I ment was the state of affairs in the USA will probably prevent importation to Canada for the short term, lets face it the market in the USA has gone crazy so I doubt we will see shipments to our small market any time soon.
they will likely stay stateside for the domestic market.

[mantis]

Highly unlikely anything new will be coming out of the USA any time soon in the "black Rifle" arena.

As well as they are selling right now, that makes no damn sense. I truely expect any roadblocks to be worked around at mach 3. Dude, Russia imports AK's here. Yes, they look like hunting rifles. Hurdles are meant to be gotten the fuck over. Improvise, adapt, and overcome. Perhaps one of the benefits of lawmakers not knowwing jack about the stuff they want to ban.

What I ment was the state of affairs in the USA will probably prevent importation to Canada for the short term, lets face it the market in the USA has gone crazy so I doubt we will see shipments to our small market any time soon.
they will likely stay stateside for the domestic market.

According to the disributer - Blue Line - it's a done deal. Just waiting for the RCMP to issue the FRTs and classification.

[raxar]

I like it, but I think that stock need to go, it just doesn't flow well into the rest of the rifle

[We'reWolf]

I like it, but I think that stock need to go, it just doesn't flow well into the rest of the rifle

i think a scar buttstock would look nice

[400 Grains]

Basically a Leader T2 reincarnated:

Wow, that brought back a bad memory.....

[Dave_M]

MPA?!?



Yeah, buy five

[Turtlewolf]

MPA?!?



Yeah, buy five

Other than your usual pointless sarcasm, do you please have links and or proof of issues so we may all learn?

[Dave_M]

Other than your usual pointless sarcasm, do you please have links and or proof of issues so we may all learn?

Google MPA. Have a gander at their current projects. Talk to someone who has actually handled and fired their products. There are several on this board.

[Turtlewolf]

Other than your usual pointless sarcasm, do you please have links and or proof of issues so we may all learn?

Google MPA. Have a gander at their current projects. Talk to someone who has actually handled and fired their products. There are several on this board.

Alrighty, I was hoping you'ld have a specific link-I did ask with an open mind as I think we don't ever stop learning-I googled earlier and found some pretty decent reports on thier MAC clones but nothing glaringly negative yet.
Not working this afternoon so I'll look harder, thankyou for the reply Dave!

[Dave_M]

Other than your usual pointless sarcasm, do you please have links and or proof of issues so we may all learn?

Google MPA. Have a gander at their current projects. Talk to someone who has actually handled and fired their products. There are several on this board.

Alrighty, I was hoping you'ld have a specific link-I did ask with an open mind as I think we don't ever stop learning-I googled earlier and found some pretty decent reports on thier MAC clones but nothing glaringly negative yet.
Not working this afternoon so I'll look harder, thankyou for the reply Dave!

Okay, allow me to fully explain: First and foremost, understand that for fighting guns, I only go with known quantities. I do not like being the test subject when it comes down to something that I may have to defend my life with. Yes, I have and will continue to do testing and evaluation of new pieces of equipment but until it is fully vetted it doesn't make it's way onto a fighting/work gun.

Master Piece Arms ('MPA' for the rest of this post) is not known for either high quality nor high quality control on anything that they make. The vast majority of their OEM products are cheap (notice that I did not say, 'inexpensive') closed-bolt, semi-auto MAC clones (not that the MAC/M series was ever all that high class to begin with). They have terrible triggers (to be fair, so did the original select-fire MAC's) which require rubber bumpers as to not rattle a flange apart, are incredibly fickle and finicky about the type of ammunition utilized, and the magazines are hit and miss.

MPA makes mall-ninja shit that only mall ninjas buy.

The non-OEM accessories they carry include very high quality gems such as NC Star lights and lasers--well, if MPA knows anything, it's their customer base.

When something is both cheap and, 'looks badass' it's going to attract a certain type of customer. That customer is going to buy something solely based on two factors: Price and aesthetics (people who buy Hibben and Bud-K knives come immediately to mind). Reliability never comes into play. Never. This is the type of buyer who puts a magazine through something and says, 'I've fired a couple hundred rounds through it and it works for me'. Just look at the airsoft-knockoff crowd or the Hi-Point owners and you might get the picture.

Why should I expect MPA to make a high quality, reliable, and durable 5.56 rifle when they can't even make a shit-box semi-auto clone of a MAC run reliably? Let me add even more perspective: Bushmaster, a very large manufacturer when compared to MPA, who already manufactures middle-of-the-road 5.56 guns, couldn't get a newly designed 5.56 gun (the ACR in this case) to work across the board. Remember, this is a company which already manufactures rifles on a scale hundreds of times larger than MPA. Smaller companies don't do much better (Robarms anyone?).

Imagine why I'm skeptical? Take NC Star. Pretty much everything they make is shit, dick, and ass. Should I consider buying a new NC Star scope just because it's new? I mean, the guys who base everything on price will huff and puff and call me a, 'elitist' or a, 'snob' for not considering the new NC Star 2-18x Chinese shit-tube they just produced. What's one of the definitions of insanity again?, trying to do the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result?

So no, I'm not exactly jumping on board this MPA 5.56 carbine freight train. Why? In short: The current stuff they make doesn't exactly inspire confidence nor admiration and there is no merit or reason as to why their current offering should be anything other than the same shit they've been making for years now.

I hope it all goes well. I hope it's 100% effective and I'm proven wrong. However, you can be the unpaid T&E on this one and not me. I've been burned too many times on too many whizz-bang gee-whiz products to be the test monkey. It's like Hesse claiming they invented something new. Not. Buying. It.

Now go and do whatever else does: Call me a snob and a suppressor of innovation for using known-quantity products and being skeptical of companies with known issues.

[Kutter_0311]

Thanks for the write up/rant, Dave!

That pretty much sums up why I no longer have a Bushy A2 clone, a brace of Tauri, and a bunch of Century AK's.

If I'm going to trust a tool I may need to save my life(or the lives of my kids), I'm going with Saiga/Glock over Century/Taurus.

Bushmaster and MPA can go save their own asses, and stay the hell of my lifeboat. I ain't humpin that shit.

[Turtlewolf]

I think you missunderstood my post Dave, I did ask for your experience/oppinion didn't I?
I can't judge someone for that, especialy when that person owns and shoots more black rifles I'll ever own or be interested in owning.
It is my understanding that you own everything from AK's to the knew HK one that was supposed to replace the AR (can't recall the name), in all honesty any black gun I buy will probably be the only one I buy.
Personaly the SKS does everything I've ever wanted in the semi automatic arena and before that it was a 1943 dated Swedish Ljungman (too expensive to shoot) but lately I have been looking at the .223/5.56 as an interesting addition (twitch) to the armory.
I might just stick with the 7.62x39 but the .223/5.56 was the benefit of actualy being sold at our local Walmart and Canadian Tire-the 7.62x39 is not but I generaly buy it by the case.
So I thankyou for your oppinion and experience but you'll have to excuse me if I don't call you names-maybe one day we'll have beers and argue guns then I can oblige you!

[Turtlewolf]

Thanks for the write up/rant, Dave!

That pretty much sums up why I no longer have a Bushy A2 clone, a brace of Tauri, and a bunch of Century AK's.

If I'm going to trust a tool I may need to save my life(or the lives of my kids), I'm going with Saiga/Glock over Century/Taurus.

Bushmaster and MPA can go save their own asses, and stay the hell of my lifeboat. I ain't humpin that shit.

Now now Kutter! My little Rossi Ranch Hand (made by Taurus) that I just popped a full stock on is pretty decent so far, but I haven't busted it out much yet between work and frigid weather. .44 Magnum has been a bit scarce in my woods too lately though.

[Kutter_0311]

My little Rossi Ranch Hand (made by Taurus) that I just popped a full stock on is pretty decent so far, but I haven't busted it out much yet between work and frigid weather.

I'm not ragging on Taurus, my brace of PT145's ran just fine. However, for guns in a role where performance and reliability must be perfect, I don't think they were quite on the level I require. Nor were my Century AK's.