Value of my Transferable MP5

[Greasegunner]

Hello all .

I own a factory HK MP5 that is fully transferable (no restrictions)

Its really a mint gun.Very very presentable

What is your opinion as to value?

Appreciate any input 

[JoshNC]

$55-65k to the right buyer in the current market.

[johnsonlmg41]

The first one's out of the gate brought a lot....until people figured out there were hundreds instead of three.  Eventually I think prices will drop below sear guns if not already in the same way double push pin conversions fell behind eventually.

[Greasegunner]

I agree with you on the first guns. one of our members sent a Beretta PM12s to an auction house and it brought less than the first few that did flip. So Johnsonlmg41

is spot on 

[Rex Tyson]

I disagree. With the asks in the mid 60's now for sear guns, the original guns will never be below that. I believe they will add a 5-10k premium. I said it before. When will an original be less than a clone? Never. It doesnt happen with tube guns, sideplate guns, AR15 conversions,  Classic cars,  sports paraphernalia, artwork, jewelry, watches  or anything else. Many other examples to list. Original will always be worth more. How much more may be debatable, but people that buy machineguns have means. Its not like it was 25 years ago anymore and theres plenty of money and plenty of buyers out there. Thats how prices got to where they are.  Dont kid yourself.

[MPFiveO]

In reality the market decides. I have a factory Colt M16A1. I see asking prices around $40K. I would like to think that I could get that out of mine if I wanted to sell it. But I've seen a few sell recently in the low 30's and that's reality. Ultimately the market decides what it's willing to give for something rather than what someone wants for something or what they believe it's worth.

[Chef]

On 12/27/2025 at 3:43 PM, Rex Tyson said:

I disagree. With the asks in the mid 60's now for sear guns, the original guns will never be below that. I believe they will add a 5-10k premium. I said it before. When will an original be less than a clone? Never. It doesnt happen with tube guns, sideplate guns, AR15 conversions,  Classic cars,  sports paraphernalia, artwork, jewelry, watches  or anything else. Many other examples to list. Original will always be worth more. How much more may be debatable, but people that buy machineguns have means. Its not like it was 25 years ago anymore and theres plenty of money and plenty of buyers out there. Thats how prices got to where they are.  Dont kid yourself.

You are correct.
Undoubtedly, sear owners will disagree, pointing to the fact that they can move their sear to different hosts, and that makes them more versatile and therefore, more valuable. But that versatility is hardly ever used by sear owners, so the vast majority of them stay in 9mm hosts.
Plus, with FRTs gaining more and more popularity every day, soon the only value in some MGs will be their originality/collector status, and no one sees a sear as a "collectable", but an original, factory MP5... That will always have a high value to collectors.

 

[johnsonlmg41]

This is what the ballistics RR double PP guys used to tell us....until they didn't.  Sears will win, because 90% of the HK market is shooters and "cool stuff" collectors.  The hardcore "factory" HK collector is pretty rare.    The one sear sear guy with 5 hosts with clipped and pinned lowers IS the HK market.   The transferable factory MP5 is no longer in the "rare" category, thus has literally lost 30% value in the last year starting at 80K last year and ending today with one here at 55K.

[shadowman]

On 12/27/2025 at 9:43 AM, Rex Tyson said:

I disagree. With the asks in the mid 60's now for sear guns, the original guns will never be below that. I believe they will add a 5-10k premium. I said it before. When will an original be less than a clone? Never. It doesnt happen with tube guns, sideplate guns, AR15 conversions,  Classic cars,  sports paraphernalia, artwork, jewelry, watches  or anything else. Many other examples to list. Original will always be worth more. How much more may be debatable, but people that buy machineguns have means. Its not like it was 25 years ago anymore and theres plenty of money and plenty of buyers out there. Thats how prices got to where they are.  Dont kid yourself.

As I have both an HK sear and a recently-acquired, factory original, MP5, I'll offer my $0.02...

I agree that a factory original HK MP5 is more valuable than, say, a Ballistics RR double PP conversion ("clone"), but a sear is a slightly different
animal.   E.g., you mention AR15 conversions, but which does the market value as worth more:  a factory-original, Colt-mfg, rampaging pony
roll-marked M16A1, or, a run-of-the-mill drop-in auto sear (DIAS)...?   [Per "Machinegunpriceguide," it's ~$41Kish vs ~$50Kish, respectively]

Although potentially more finicky to make work in a random HK clone of dubious manufacture, a sear is arguably the better choice
if you're a "shooter"; you can wear the gun/barrel out, and just move on.  And obviously, one might dabble with various platforms, e.g., MP5,
HK21, etc.   On the other hand, there's something to be said for having "the real thing," that will take standard MP5 parts (easily available at the
present time, in most states).

"How common" these items are is the other factor that's hard to quantify...  I don't know how many DIAS's are out there, but I will say for
sure that during my time in the NFA world, I've seen WAY more M16's (even Colt originals) offered, than DIAS's.   And, the market's still coming
terms with how many transferrable ("flipped") MP5's may be available.

But regardless of all that, still an exciting time to be into NFA, with the unexpected influx of guns into what had been a closed registry.

[Chef]

People like to tout the "versatility" of an HK sear, but how many of those simply sit in a 9mm host? 
How many sear owners have $60k for a HK21e or 23e?
And how many of those sear owners burn up thousands of rounds of 308 at $.70 a round?

And FRTs will kill the sear market. Because who wants to drop $50k on a sear when you can get a FRT for the same host for $500? An FRT is just a different kind of "gimmick" than a sear. Both rely on clone hosts to function, and both have 0 collectability.

But more collectors are born every day, and the number of "original" MP5s is constant and they will always be desirable (as long as machine guns can be owned and transferred).


 

[MPFiveO]

2 hours ago, Chef said:

People like to tout the "versatility" of an HK sear, but how many of those simply sit in a 9mm host? 
How many sear owners have $60k for a HK21e or 23e?
And how many of those sear owners burn up thousands of rounds of 308 at $.70 a round?

And FRTs will kill the sear market. Because who wants to drop $50k on a sear when you can get a FRT for the same host for $500? An FRT is just a different kind of "gimmick" than a sear. Both rely on clone hosts to function, and both have 0 collectability.

But more collectors are born every day, and the number of "original" MP5s is constant and they will always be desirable (as long as machine guns can be owned and transferred).


 

It's really hard to gauge from just one perspective.  My sear does sit in a 9mm host while it's in the safe. But at the range it frequently gets used in a 5.56 and a 7.62 host. I currently have seven host guns for my sear and they all get shot pretty regularly.

I also doubt that too many guys are burning through 70¢ .308 but there are guys like myself that are burning through 15¢ .308 they purchased in the 90's. Some of us were smart enough to buy a lot when it was cheap. I also stocked up on reloading components so I can still load it cheaper than I can buy it for. People that are new to this club didn't get the benefit us older and wiser guys did. Those opportunities are long gone.

As for FRT's, this is a new world to explore. It will be interesting to see how long they'll remain unrestricted. I see a 1934/1986 style act at some point in the future to regulate them. Right now they're legal and they produce the same grin that firing a machine gun does. I talked to a buddy yesterday that was heavily into machine guns all through the 90's and he has tried a couple of FRT's recently and really liked them. I don't think they'll replace registered machine guns or make them significantly less valuable, but they may sit on the shelf for a while longer while enthusiasts play with the FRT's. Like the old saying goes, Ain't nothing like the real thing.

There's a difference between collectors and shooters too. While I have a collection, I consider myself a shooter. I make a trip to the range every weekend, with exception of certain holidays. I'm making a trip today and again tomorrow with two different groups. Both trips will include machine guns. I have some friends that have an equally impressive number of machine guns in their collections but they rarely come to the range. I understand the logic of buying something as an investment, but I couldn't stand to have a machine gun in the safe just as an investment and not be able to enjoy shooting it.

[shadowman]

6 hours ago, MPFiveO said:

As for FRT's, this is a new world to explore. It will be interesting to see how long they'll remain unrestricted. I see a 1934/1986 style act at some point in the future to regulate them. Right now they're legal and they produce the same grin that firing a machine gun does.

Dunno much about FRT's, but just watched a few YouTube vids showing these...  yeah, if FRT's catch on too much, seems like
it's inevitable that they'll be prohibited/restricted.  (oh, and just wait until a crime's committed with one!)

And/or, further restrictions on high capacity mags/belts, clone hosts, etc.