_GUN TESTI

•• I

Mlil MAReK15 HYDRA

BY MATT BERGER

-There are a seemingly endless number

,_ of m~kers t.~rning out AR-15 rifle and.- qarblne vanants. Many of them offera quality product, and a few don't. It'sour goal to sort the two out. Now and

then, however, a manufacturer goes beyond qualityand incorporates innovation into their AR-platformweapon. The Marck 15 is one such gun. It repre­sents the biggest design advance in the history ofthe AR, and is intriguing by its own merit. .

Founded in 2005, MG Industries, of Bangor,Maine, has pushed the envelope in terms of tfle­platform's versatility by making it an individual,modular unit. The Marck 15, also known as theHydra, was designed as a modular rifle capableof firing more than 16 various calibers,including .22, .223 or 5.56, 6.5 Grendel,6.8 SPC, .450 Thumper, .458 SOCOM,7.62x39mm, as well as the .45 Hybrid, M3(Grease Gun) and LE in .45, 9mm and .40LE (using Glock magazines), 7.62x25mmand the .45 Super Mag (.460), and .50Beowulf. Many others are part of the MGIstable, with many more yet to go intoproduction, but that's another story. Theweapon will be available in semi-auto(full-auto for military use).

Modular DesignThat in itself is very useful, but it's

been done before with various uppers.What may pique your interest, however,is that the Hydra is capable of shifting toanother caliber in roughly 20 seconds,without tools, and without changingthe upper. To be realistic, the averageperson will probably make the transitionin 90 seconds, likely faster with a bit ofpractice. The Hydra takes it a step further,

though. It's one thing for a weapon to do so withexpensive proprietary components, but the Hydradoes it all with standard barrels and magazines .

The critical components involve a modular lowerreceiver, QCB-D upper receiver, interchangeablemagazine wells, bolt carrier groups and barrels. Thebase weapon is the 5.56mm version with the QCB­D upper, modular lower receiver arid magazinewell, and a 16-inch barrel. The user can then buildtheir system according to what other calibers theydesire, purchasing the necessary components attheir own pace and budget.

MGl's founder, Mack Gwinn, Jr., has an exten­sive background with small arms and combat ex­perience that begins some four decades ago when

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· ...

CAPACITY: 30+ 1

OA LENGTH: 35.5inches

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Bushmaster Firearms, beginning with theBushmaster pistol in 1970. He eventu-ally sold Bushmaster, but he went on todesign the .50 Quick Change Barrel for FN,high-capacity magazines for MWG, andcontributed to the creation of the first M16rifles as a member of the ArmaLite designteam, among other projects. Mack is nonewcomer to designing firearms.

Gun DetailsThe Hydra, which draws its name

from the seven-headed monster of Greek

mythological fame, ships in a paddedhard-polymer case with an instructionmanual, sling and one D&D Thermold30-round magazine. The fit and finish werequite good; the upper and lower receiversfit snugly with very little movement. Theheadspace was correct, and I noted thatthe gas key was properly staked .

The basic configuration of the Hydrais that of a 16-inch-barreled carbine witha Mil-Std-1913 flattop upper receiver, "A"post-mil-spec front sight and base, andthe gun employs a well-made, machined7075 aluminum forging quad-rail hand­guard, with the rails at 12, 3, 6, and 9o'clock positions. The composite butt­stock is adjustable for length of pull.

At the heart of the Hydra is its QCB-D(Quick Change Barrel, generation D, thefourth iteration of the design, offered witha piston-driven option) upper receiver withits locking-arm retaining block, the mostnoticeable addition to the standard AR-15.These uppers are machined from 7075aluminum forgings. The retaining lock isattached to the 6 o'clock Picatinny rail

, on the forend, secures the barrel lockingarms, and maintains a smooth, no-snag

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design weapons and improve weaponssystems from that point on. With some25 patents in the firearms industry, mostnotable among his achievements wouldbe the founding of Gwinn Firearms,which would later come to be known as

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5.56mm

Gas-operated, semi-auto

CALIBER:

ACTION:

STOCK: Adjustable M4

SPECIFICATIONS:

MGI MARCK 15HYDRA 5.5&MM

he served as a member of the Army'sSpecial Forces recon te?m in Vietnam. Itwas during this time that he consideredwhat type of weapon design might makehis team's missions and survival mosteffective. He would constantly strive to

profile to the handguards. This allows theshooter to use any standard barrel bysimply removing the Delta ring, barrel nut,front handguard keeper and sling swivel.Doing so also gives the added benefit of afree-floating barrel system. Shooters maysnap the locking arm up off of the lockingarm housings, then the block may then beslid forward off the arms, the arms rotatedoutward, and the barrel removed. Revers­ing the procedure allows another barrelto be installed. Changing calibers willalso require the proper bolt and carrierto be dropped into the upper; bolts andcarriers are mil-spec units, the bolts beingmachined from carpenter 151 steel.

In the case of my sample, tile retain­ing lock was quite tightly secured overthe locking arm bases; I actually had touse a small screwdriver to break it loosethe first few times, though after that I wasable to do so with my fingers. The retain­ing lock is not flimsy.

The 16-inch barrel has an M4 exterior

profile, though it has rifle ramps ratherthan M4 cuts. It has a 1-in-9-inch twistrate, and the business end is fitted withan A2 birdcage-style flash suppressor.The standard barrel isn't chrome-moly;Mack feels they're more accurate in 41Q

stainless as long as they are properlymaintained; however, chrome-moly bar­rels.(and just about any length and con­figuration) are available options. Barrelsare completed in-house and start life asER Shaw blanks.

MGI's own "Defender" O-ring is addedto the extractor on the full-length rifle ver­sion; the O-ring provides more robust ex­traction, increasing the spring force of theextractor by four times. The extra force'prevents centrifugal force from causingthe extractor to lift and fail to extract withhigher cyclic rates of fire.

If a different caliber is selected, theupper is removed, the triggerguard swungdown, and the magazine release de~

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pressed; the magazine well will then slideup off of its dovetail in the lower receiver.The new magazine well is then slid downonto the receiver until it snaps over themagazine release, and the triggerguardis then replaced. Other than the modularmagazine wells, the lowers are stan-dard AR-15 fare, machined from 7075aluminum forgings. In changing magazinewells, the gun may utilize the appropri­ate magazines for each caliber, as theywere originally intended-there's no needfor expensive, proprietary, ill-functioningmagazines that attempt to feed thevarious calibers through. the standard5.56mm well.

Range TimeIt was time to see how the base gun

performed. No matter how adaptive it is,the weapon's value is no greater than itsbasic functioning. I secured an EOTech512 to the receiver's Picatinny rail forsighting duties and began with simpleaccuracy test~g. With targets stapledup at 100 yards, I benched the Hydra ona sandbag and fired three-shot groupsto see what accuracy the Hydra couldproduce. After several shots to zero thescope, I was able to wring a best groupof 0.81 inches out of the Hydra withCorBon's 55-grain JHP. The largest pat­tern of the day was only 1.88 inches from

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MGI's Marek 15 Hydra can be configured toaccept AK mags, which should come in handy for

soldiers abroad who have captured enemy AKs.The Hydra's adaptability even gives police officers

an edge when they need to switch to .308.

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MGI MARCK 15 HYDRA

Black Hills' 60-grain V-MAX. This is goodaccuracy for an AR-15 equipped with azero-magnification EOTech HWS and amilitary trigger.

Most importantly, the gun ran flawlesslyall afternoon. I fired it on its side, upside­down, and even with the buttstock off ofmy shoulder but was unable to induce amalfunction. All controls were standardmil-spec, feeling and operating the sameas any mil-spec AR. The magazine wellfelt solid, and there was no shifting orslop as one might expect with its detach­able design-and it was the same withthe barrel. The Hydra could be handedto any blindfolded shoot~r familiar with astandard black rifle, and the"y'd.never knowthere was any difference, save for the lock­ing block under the handguards.

The military trigger presented no sur­prises. It broke at 6.25 pounds with thesame amount of creep one would expect

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from a military trigger. The magazinerelease functioned exactly as it should.

Wondering how close to zero the Hy­dra would hold after removing and replac­ing the barrel, I endeavored to find outafter my accuracy and velocity tests werecomplete. The test was simple enough,

and consisted of removing and replac­ing the barrel, then checking its 1DO-yardzero. After doing this twice, I couldn't dis­cern any difference in the point of impactthrough the EOTech. A more precise testwould have been possible with a qualityhigh-power scope, but my tests were suf­ficient enough to demonstrate that practi­cal accuracy hadn't been diminished bybarrel changes.

Final NotesAs a basic AR-15, the Hydra per­

formed as well as a plethora of qualityblack rifles I've handled over the years,both in accuracy and reliable feeding,and there were no differences when it

came to basic function and handling. Interms of the special functions of quicklyremoving and replacing the barrel andmagazine well, everything worked as MGIclaims, and the gun held its zero well.enough that if there was any change, itwas not detectable using the EOTech.

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"Most: importantly, t:he gun ranflawlessly all afternoon. I fired it:onit:s side, upside-down, and even wit:ht:he buttst:ock off ot=my shoulder but:was unable t:o induce a malfunct:ion."

A more comprehensive test of the gun's"convertibility" would have been to switchcalibers as well, but I wasn't given thatopportunity with the components for sucha caliber change. Given how efficientlythe existing components were removedand reinstalled, however, I have no doubt~that the MGI system works as well withthe other available components for caliberconversion.

Mr. Gwinn's designs for caliber con­version are truly revolutionary, with noobvious shortcomings that I was able todiscern. Having fired rifles chambered incalibers such as the .458 SOCOM and.50 Beowulf, I'm able to fully appreciatehow vastly different the performance ofsuch calibers are in the AR-15 platform.And the value for afford ability in shoot­ing and piinking with the .22 conversionis obvious. All of this is achieved withoutchanging the entire upper.

Special military units would find thegun quite valuable, especially in combat

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environs like Afghanistan. Other than itsstandard 5.56mm trim, the weapon couldbe used to adapt to captured AK-47magazines and ammunition, and heaviercalibers such as .308 Winchester couldbe selected for better stopping power orfor turning what amounts to cover for the5.56mm into concealment.

If you're a shooter looking for an ARthat can fire multiple calibers, but youdon't want to have a collection of differentrifles, the MGI Marck 15 Hydra fits thebill nicely. That, in the end, separates theMarck 15 Hydra from all other black riflevariants out there. ~

MG INDUSTRIES

207-817-3280,mgi-military.com

EOTECH

734-741-8868,eotec;.h-inc.com

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