Caracal CMP9 Pistol - An MP5 Replacement?
Notably, Caracal is not just slapping together me-too designs and instead had one of the most sought after designer teams in the industry lead the design for its firearms. For the real weapon nerds out there, you might recall that Chris Siroi was the engineer and designer behind the legendary and epically reliable HK416 that surpassed every abuse test conceived. Chris was then joined by Robert Hirt at Sig Sauer where they developed the Sig 516 (widely known as the Gen 2 HK416), the MPX, MCX and a backlog of many of the firearms Sig is still continually rolling out. They then moved on into the Caracal division of Edge Weapons group and developed many of the cutting edge firearms including the the latest revision of the HK416 design, the CAR816 and a DMR 7.62 version and precision bolt action sniper rifles.
Notably the CAR816 is the latest refinement of the 416 and 516 and the only firearm ever to surpass and eclipse the HK416 reliability tests including bore obstruction tests. This makes the CAR816 one of the most rigorously tested and reliable firearms on the planet earth. They also designed the forthcoming CMP9. So when we look at the CMP9, this is not just another PCC pistol, this is a pistol design with a level of refinement that includes a lot of lessons learned from Chris with the Sig MPX development.
Caracal has released the CMP9 in other markets a few years ago in machine gun, integrally suppressed, and SBR formats, but this will be the first appearance in the US in consumer pistol format. There are a lot of unique design elements, however one of the more notable from a market penetration perspective is the NATO standard HK MP5 magazine fed format. This offers several advantages including wide and often inexpensive magazine options and also a much less costly path for government and LEO agencies already deeply invested in the MP5 format and supporting equipment.
It’s likely no secret that the legendary MP5s in service around the world are aging to a point reliability is suffering. Even if old models are working, retrofitting for red dots and weaponlights is an unwise investment in a vintage platform. The now very aged 57-year old HK MP5 and similar clones used globally by many major militaries, special operations units and police departments have been treated badly for over half a century. Keeping in mind, these are hard used, daily carry guns that get beat up continually, have been repaired, bent and welded back together continually for fifty years.
The HK MP5 has a well earned reputation for reliability and some of the better quality models will live on another 50-years, however the reliability of most of these old guns with decades of dubious repairs is slipping a lot. Notably the new Caracal CMP9 fills a very unique niche which is a direct replacement option for departments who want to replace these guns with a modern platform, run red dots or add modern tactical equipment like weapon lights and lasers without updating ammunition, magazine and soft goods gear with MP5 specific pouches.
The challenge is that all these militaries and departments are not only invested in the firearms, but a metric shit-ton of magazines and also tactical accessories, chest and vest rigs with pouch systems all designed around accommodating the MP5 magazines. Add in all this gear being dispersed country-wide, this is a lot of inventory replacement when really the gun is the only reliability issue. This can easily add 50% of the gun price for magazines and soft-good equipment replacements. Offering a firearm replacement that shoots the same ammo and magazine while using all the gear, ammo, and magazines you did yesterday makes a lot of sense. Obviously for Caracal, this is financially compelling to provide a military bid that negates the need of replacing anything other than the firearm.
Notably this is one of the reasons both CZ Scorpion and Sig MPX magazine were designed to fit MP5 magazine pouches. Caracal went a step further and just uses standard HK MP5 compatible magazines. There will be a lot of consumers interested in the CMP9 asking why stick with a legacy magazine, however the design was to offer an attractive replacement strategy for global agencies with issued MP5.
The plus of course is that the MP5 magazines are well proven, prolific and also available widely as surplus and new OEM aftermarket options. CZ learned from Sig’s mistakes with a price drop of its magazines. Allegedly from a global military bidding perspective the $60 each proprietary MPX magazines were a deal killer, so when Chris and team designed the Caracal CMP9 they designed it to just work from MP5 magazines. This design feature along with a establishing in-country of contract production has already helped Caracal land many contracts to displace aged MP5s and other firearms. Caracal also offers SBR, machine gun and integrally suppressed versions providing one stop shopping for governments.
MP5 magazine feeding aside there are a huge number of other design features that will look familiar on the CMP9. The CMP9 has a proven rear picatinny rail brace/stock mounting, ambi-AR controls, ambi-charging handle, MLOK handguard version in the US, and a HiperFire PCC trigger included. Overall it is a beefy PCC designed for very hard military use. The final production samples I saw were still light, but appeared to be something that would withstand getting run over by a truck. Caracal is targeting offering both a 5.5-inch and 9-inch barreled models initially in the US. Jeff Spalding - CEO noted they are designed for extreme hard use beyond what current consumer focused PCCs can handle.
The CMP9 is an “advanced blowback system”. The CMP9 uses a direct blowback system, but with a buffered AR180 or BRN180 style dual captured spring system similar to that used in the MPX. It is still a direct blowback system that offers more simplicity and likely higher reliability for the commercial owners. The unique system is purported to offer additional damping and buffering while also removing the need for an extended buffer tube. The result is a very compact pistol that offers a very simple field serviceable firearm with similar operational, cleaning and maintenance SOPs to that of an AR15. This reduces training requirements for military and LEO teams adopting the firearm and allows direct ergonomic and muscle memory transitions between the CAR15 and CMP9 formats.
Based on what I saw, I am very excited to get my hands on the Caracal CMP9 for testing. It appeared to be another very high tier PCC option for those attracted to the MP5, MPX, Scorpion, and Kriss tier formats. According to Caracal USA, the ATF approval for release into the US market is expected before Shot Show 2024 in January.