Hey guys, not super familiar with the MP5 clones and was wondering what the consensus is on the quality of Special Weapons mp5's.

THanks

Mixed, and the customer service is as bad as you will ever encounter.

They are no longer in business and there are better options now for inexpensive MP5 clones anyway. I'd suggest looking at the POF offerings or try to hunt down a decent deal on a MKE.

I have a v89/40 that was sold to me as a Vector gun but which I am 99% sure was a Cohaire (aka SW) build on a Vector receiver.  It was a pain to get to run and involved replacing many parts to HK.  Todd Bailey companies should be avoided.

Buy a DJ Getz clone

Mixed opinions on them.  I've been vocal against them in the past, but I just purchased a full size SW89 pistol from DJ Getz's latest group buy and I'm happy with it.  Bolt gap of 0.019 and hasn't hiccuped yet, although I haven't shot many rounds through it.  Just isn't fun without a stock.   (Come on Form 1!)

Most of the troubles can be solved with some parts swapping, but there have been reports of some of the newer SW MP5s from Black Market Parts having excessive bolt gap and needing the barrel repressed.  I'm happy enough with this one that I'd buy another, and just may. Since these things seem to breed like rabbits.

how much is it?  can you test fire it before buying it?  I generally agree with everyone else that they are hit and miss, but so far, I've bought 7 SW, Bobcat and Coharie guns and all were fixable with some testing, minor parts swapping.  The most expensive fix was a new bolt on two of them.   if its 1200 or more, and you cant view it in person to confirm bolt gap, function test it, then have them take a video of them shooting it.  A quick cell phone video means alot. For me, anything above 1200-1300 with out confirming the prev, isnt worth it.  I've had several buyers frustrated with their guns and just want to dump them.  Those are often HK newbies that dont know what to change out and have just washed their hands of the trouble and just want out. A MP5 clone for 700.00 is hard to pass up..  :)  I'm lucky enough to live close to one of the HK guru's (he's in NE Oklahoma) and have taken a 3 guns to him for a quick T/E on these 3 that had me stumped.  Those fixes were a locking piece, a recoil rod and a new lower housing, less than 100.00 in parts and he had them figured out in less than 30 mins total.  We even went to his range afterward to shoot all 3 to confirm.    

The recent Coharie guns sold by DJF for 1100 were a steal and I was lucky enough to get 2 of them in some of his past sales.  Those days are no more.  Average prices are around 2k + for a DJF or Turner Fab, trouble free gun, etc. The POF's seem to have good reviews in functionality, but seem to have a bad finish/paint job (theres a fix for that).

Do a little searching, i.e. the search function is your friend.  Special Weapons stopped making complete guns years ago, but until very recently made receivers and/or barreled receivers marked with the SW name.  Because of this, there are many questions that need an answer.  I could be wrong but, as I recall SW switched over to Coharie Arms about 10 years ago.  But the owner, Todd Bailey, continued using SW name for rolled and welded receivers.  So is the gun an original SW5?  What does it say exactly on the receiver?  What is the model #?  Are their any markings on the barrel?  I have two full size 9mm guns made by putting HK MP5A2 parts sets into SW receivers by a "name" smith that are worth around $2,500.  On the other end of that spectrum, some one could have gathered some "factory seconds" (Todd was know to cut up the guns that were built too far out of spec and sell the parts on Gun Broker) and welded the gun together himself with a SW bare receiver.

Todd's early guns didn't have flutes in the chamber.  Does the gun you are considering have a fluted chamber?  If so how many flutes are there in the chamber?  The flutes are only required for function in rifle calibers.  There seemed to be enough demand in the market to justify fluting the chambers that eventually Todd started fluting the chambers in the barrels he made.  What does the bolt look like?  Does the bolt have any markings?  There will be a lot of things you'll need to know to buy a custom build.  Just because it says "Special Weapons" on the receiver, doesn't mean that Todd built the complete firearm.  Todd has sold rolled and welded receivers, barreled receivers, with no finish, barreled receivers with finish, barreled receivers with finish and bolt groups, and complete firearms with the SW name on them.

As far as the Vector .40 caliber noted above, Todd made a bunch of .40 S&W kits for Vector.  I never got an exact description of exactly what happened.  Some say that the kits were way out of spec so Vector rejected them.  Others have said that one of the principal owners of Vector got into a legal scrape concerning some 7.62X39 ammo supplied to the Iraqies and used the money that Vector should have used to purchase the kits for his legal defense.  At one time Vector was down to one guy just doing warranty work.  Before then Vector was know as a quality roller locked manufacturer.  Since that time Vector's QC has been less than stellar.  Whatever the reason, the .40 S&W full size kits were sold at $400 each.  There was even some .40 S&W SD kits sold with a .Rim Country Machine manufactured (but Vector marked) .40 caliber SD can with all anodized aluminum internals and tube for $800 including a Vector marked receiver.  The full size .40 was missing the firing pin and the SD was missing the rubberized SD hand guard.  It is my understanding that if all the parts including the receiver is sold, that would be a complete firearm and subject to 11% FET.

If this is a local deal, meet up with the seller and see the gun run.  If it does, whomever built it, doesn't matter so much, at least to me.  A running gun is what you want.  Seeing it run would be the most important thing.  I hate to say it but some sellers have lied as to whether their roller locked gun actually runs.  Roller locked guns are big money.  I've seen post after post of "this thing is making me crazy, and I want to give up and sell it".  So if this is an out of state deal, and you don't know what to look for, this could be a nightmare, if you expect a working gun and you don't receive one.  This could be a great way for you to learn the roller locked system.  But if that is what you are willing to do, I would consider the deal as you are buying a collection of parts that might or might not run.  You also should consider that if additional parts will be required to make it run, you have funds in reserve for such parts, and possibly the services of a HK smith to make the gun run.  There are smiths that offer this service.  Again, I've seen multiple posts where the newbie "borrowed from Peter to pay Paul" to purchase the roller locked that was supposed to run, and doesn't.  Now he doesn't have the knowledge and/or funds to get the gun to run and is crying"What should I do?".  What I really want to post is you should have thought of this and been more knowledgeable before buying.  But that would be mean to rub salt into that wound.

This post is pretty long.  I've only scratched the surface.  There is no way I can give a real answer to your original question.  My first roller locked was a Vollmer converted 94 that was "married" to a Fleming sear.  I didn't need to know much about roller locked guns when I bought it.  I just put ammo in the HK mags that came with it and it ran.  I didn't really start to learn the roller locked system until I bought my first clone from Todd.  I've bought several complete Coharie Arms guns and some SW barreled receivers.  It took a while to learn the guns, the things about the guns from Todd that were different from factory specs, and what I needed to do to get them to run.  Maybe the gun you want to buy runs great.  If you get to see that, you are ahead of the game.  But if you can't, assume the worst and hope for the best.  Good luck with your MP5 clone purchase.  YMMV.

Scott

Nailed it.

I've had one SW, and two Coharie's, and all of them have run excellently out of the box. The only part I ever replaced was the cocking handle support, which was plastic, and I dropped in an HK steel piece just because.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy another, but I would buy it knowing it may need a little massaging. The amount of massaging is far, far less then what a Century gun generally needs, and I've bought a couple of those over the years too.
My current CA89 runs very near 100%, It was finicky for the first couple hundred rounds, but I can't remember the last time it jammed, and I shoot it a lot with all sorts of different magazine and ammo. It is my bedside companion, that's how much I trust it.
*BUT* YMMV! My luck has not been everyones. Until recently, Coharie had a lifetime warranty for the original owner. I don't know how that stands now that they have folded up the last of their shops...for now.

On my first MP5, I decided to forgo the SW, Babcat (that was not a typo), Cohaire mixed bags and went with a Turner Fab TP9. Ran flawlessly and even got to test fire mine with a RSP before I bought it. Not cheap though, 3 long ones, but damn, it was well worth it. Had to work lots of OT to get the funds...

Hit or miss.

I have a bobact and it runs great. I love it.

If buying today? Id buy something like a vector. My V93 is epic.