From what I gather… there’s two methods that seem to be more popular. Michael’s Machines cuts out the carrier block in the receiver to allow usage of a full auto carrier. And TSC sells modified carriers that you insert into the receiver and then screw the sear trip onto once it’s past the block.

Any of you guys use either method?

The last time I talked to TSC they were no longer selling the "removable sear trip"  SP5 full auto carriers.

Based off the conversation with Mike the carriers were difficult/time-consuming to make given the very small threaded hole that had to be added to the rear of the carrier for the locking/set screw to hold in the removable trip.  He was also getting all sort of "legality" inquires from people and Mike W. is pretty conservative when it comes to legality of his builds/parts.   Between the difficulty in making them and the legality debate, it just wasn't worth the effort anymore.

One of my local friends has one of TSCs removable trip carriers and it works perfectly in his SP5.  The upside is it requires no mods to the host gun and drops right in.   The only real downside is that removing the carrier from the gun for cleaning is a bit more time consuming as you have to remove the trip each time via the set scew.  There are pics online of the TSC carrier so you could maybe find another machinist to make you one if you wanted to go that route.

One of my other friends had MM remove the full auto carrier block so he could use a factory full auto carrier.  He was under the impression that the carrier block would be fully removed and a full size HK9X style shelf installed.   The gun came back with only the top of the block milled away (the lower portion of the block by the rear take down pin is still there).  Not that it really matters from a function perspective but if you want the block fully removed without a leftover "stub", you would need to be specific about it.

The bigger issue IMHO was that a full size 9x shelf wasn't installed on the gun.  Instead of installing a full size shelf, the gun just had a partial circumferential weld over the formerly peened-in-only "front push pin" that holds the paddle mag release.

Again just my personal opinion but if you remove the the sear block in an SP5 you really need to put a full size 9X shelf on the gun as the much reduced in size factory SP5/SP5K "semi" shelf won't prevent a factory full auto trigger pack from being installed as the SP5 shelf is only about as deep as the sheet metal embedded in the grip frame so the shelf doesn't intrude into the grip frame interior in any meaningful way (like the 9X shelf does) to prevent a factory full auto pack from being installed onto the gun.

On the SP5 the full auto carrier block is what really mechanically functions as the machinegun receiver "denial island" in these guns, not the front shelf like the older HK 9X imports.  If it were me I would insist a full size 9X style shelf to be installed if you are cutting out the full auto carrier block to allow a factory full auto carrier to drop in.

I use the TSC FA carrier in my SP5 with sear pack. It functions very well. No issues firing suppressed or unsuppressed. Mike installed an H buffer in my A2 stock. This prevents the removable trip from hitting the sear block.

I didn’t know he that he had stopped making the carriers. From talking to him, they were difficult to produce. He was using hk94 carriers. The German steel is very hard and difficult to machine.

I guess it never hurts to call and ask and see what he says and if he would make more of them if you asked really nicely and/or were a good no-drama previous customer.

The big challenge (aside from the legal debate) was that set screw that held the trip in place was really small.  I think its like a 4-40 thread pitch or something similar.   Drilling the hole for the trip post and the hole for the screw wasn't terrible but the big challenge/risk was when you went to use a carbide tap to thread that little hole.  The carrier steel is really hard as you mention and if you snap the thin 4-40 tap off in the carrier while threading that little blind set screw hole the $300ish German HK semi MP5 carrier is basically ruined at that point.

I still think the modified carrier route is/was the best route.  Sucks he stopped doing it.  I'm sure if you were a machinist you could knock it out.

I didn’t realize MM quit doing them.

I have a SP5 that he converted to Mp5-N

He installed the shelf, removed the block, and modified the carrier.
Also did all the engraving.
At the time , it was either $1100 or $1200


I have a friend with a DLO, but have not shot the MM conversion with FA pack yet.

Last I talked to them they will do the conversion but don't have 94 carriers in stock.  I even asked if a German carrier pulled from a post-86 MP5SD would work, they said no, only 94 carriers.

Coincidentally does anyone have a source for German 94 carriers?

I had a follow up conversation with Mike at TSC as well about the carrier mods about two weeks ago when I was talking to him about another project.  He still doesn't have any for sale and it didn't sound like he was very enthusiastic at the prospect of making any more of them for general sale but would consider making one per customer request if the customer could provide him an HK94 carrier.

Based off my conversation, the reason for the insistence on the  HK94 carrier is a financial liability one.

Basically he said that given the failure rate on the conversion when tapping the thread hole that he then takes the responsibility to purchase the end customer a new replacement carrier should something go wrong.  The old HK94, non-full auto, non-F carriers are the only ones he felt were cheap enough and available enough for him to purchase as a replacement and not lose money on the whole deal.   He said he wouldn't do an older full auto carrier as he didn't want to have to mill away the ramp on a perfectly good full auto german carrier.

I asked him if there was a technical reason he couldn't just use the semi-auto F style carrier that comes with the SP5 and it sounded like there wasn't a technical limitation but that he wasn't willing to take the financial risk on a newer SP5 style carrier that would be more expensive/difficult for him to replace if the tap broke during the conversion process.

I tried to get a price from him (assuming I provided the HK94 carrier) and wasn't really successful in getting a price or time-frame commitment.  He seemed to indicate he would need to figure out what the going rate was for a HK94 carrier and factor that in to the conversion price tag as even the HK94 carriers seemed hard to come by now a days and he didn't have any spares available in his inventory.  I didn't continue to press him on price and timeline, etc. it as I am not in the active market for one of his carriers right at this moment.

Anyway, it sounded to me like he didn't seem thrilled at the idea of taking on more of these SP5 carrier mod projects but didn't give me a flat out "no" either if I really wanted one and provided him the HK94 base carrier for the conversion.

To the best of my knowledge Mike Otte and Michaels Machines will still remove the block in SP5s and add a trip to the SP5 bolt carrier.  

It was the bolt carrier add on trip mod by Mike Woodard at TSC that was in question if he would still make more of them.

I bought an SP5k host and sent it off to TPM in Dallas (only a few hours from where I live). They did an awesome job and the turn around time was quick. There is a CO2 laser engraving place about 35 miles from my house and I had them engrave the 3 round burst and full auto markings on my housing. I didn’t want to put miles on my sp89 and so I did this instead.

Any pics of the engraving??

+details on the red & white color fill please.

I've got an old HK burst housing with faded markings and idk the best way to add color back.

Are you talking about sear ready conversion or just remarking?