Accessories, Suppressors and Optics

7.1 The accessory programme

H&K’s “accessories programme MP7 A1 4.6 mm x 30”, dated September 2012, lists what H&K itself supplied, by H&K identification number.¹ It is the authoritative list for the period and is the backbone of this volume:

Table 1 — H&K's "accessories programme MP7 A1 4.6 mm x 30", dated September 2012, lists what H&K itself supplied, by H&K identification number.[^hkacc2012] It is the authoritative list for the period and is the backbone of this volume

H&K no.	Item	H&K’s remark
217851	Magazine, 20 rounds
234271	Magazine, 30 rounds
217852	Magazine, 40 rounds
202764	Magazine loading device
202765	Magazine unloading device
209946	Picatinny rail (incl. screws), aluminium	mounting position 3 and 9 o’clock
984869	Silencer	Ø max 40 mm / L 222 mm / W 590 g / 31 dB A
209571	Muzzle cap
202766	Height adapter	for RSA in connection with NSV80
202715	Buttstock, retractable	3 locking positions
209456	Buttstock, retractable	1 locking position
260092	Charging handle, extended
260089	Bolt cover
260218	Blank firing attachment (BFA)	Bundeswehr variant
202786	Safety blank firing attachment (SBFA)	for assembling on flash hider
260530	Blank firing attachment (BFA)	only for NM249 plastic training ammunition 989992
989992	Ammunition 4.6 mm x 30, NM249 plastic training	manufacturer: Nammo
233549 / 233548	Diopter sight / front sight
203012 / 203005	Rear sight / front sight
203058	Rear sight, foldable	3.2 mm rear sight bore
233905	Rear sight, foldable	2 mm rear sight bore
203057	Front sight, foldable	with 203058 or 233905
260096	Loop for carrying sling
299221, 968225, 214085, 207059, 219685	Carrying slings, 20, 25 and 38 mm wide, with and without quick release
985692, 968224, 968481, 984515	Elastic carrying slings, 1,250 to 1,600 mm
209357	Cleaning kit 4.6 mm x 30	contents in Volume 6
260397	HK multi purpose holster
985993	Leg holster
299211	Shoulder holster
242760	Breakup suitcase
989804	Ammunition, monolith steel bullet	manufacturer: RUAG
989524	Ammunition, copper plated steel bullet	manufacturer: Fiocchi
989637	Ammunition, full metal jacket bullet	manufacturer: RUAG
989514	Ammunition, hollow point bullet	manufacturer: RUAG

Source: H&K, v003.09.12.¹ Part numbers are H&K’s; they are given so that a reader can match a part, not as a buying guide, since the MP7 and its parts are supplied to armed forces and police.

7.2 Rails

The MP7A1 carries a full-length MIL-STD-1913 rail on top, on which the iron sights are screwed; H&K’s 2006 manual says it is “sufficiently long to take, in addition to an optical sight, a night sight as well”.² The sides of the fore-end carry threaded bushes for short rails (“Casquillos roscados para la fijación de las guías universales”, both sides), and H&K’s 2012 rail, part 209946, mounts at 3 and 9 o’clock.²¹ H&K’s brochure says the side rails can be fitted “to the right or left side of the receiver above the forward grip. This permits the fitting of laser aiming units and target designators.”³ The MP7A2 adds a rail section under the fore-end in place of the folding grip (Volume 4).

H&K made the long top rail a selling point against its competitor. Its 2004 presentation shows the MP7 with a day sight and a night-vision device fitted together, and the P90 with neither, under the caption “The rails of competitive systems are too short and allow only the alternative attachement of daylight or night vision devices.”⁴

7.3 The issued sight: Hensoldt RSA and RSA-S

The reflex sight that came with the weapon was made by Hensoldt of Wetzlar, a partner in the programme from the start: H&K’s 2000 presentation names “Hensoldt Systemtechnik GmbH” as the sight’s maker and describes it as having a lens, a housing, elevation and windage screws, an “Integral rail grabber”, a “Light collector” and a “Tritium source (battery option)”.⁵ Small Arms Review reported in 2000 that it had been “developed specifically for the Heckler & Koch PDW by Hensoldt”.⁶

H&K’s 2006 manual describes the version issued with the MP7A1, the RSA-S:²

• a red-dot sight with unit magnification, for shooting with both eyes open;
• a spring clamp, fitted to the top rail without tools;
• powered by a solar cell and a CR2032 3 V lithium cell, the solar cell extending battery life in daylight; the sight works only with a battery fitted; it switches itself off after four hours;
• worked by a membrane key under the Hensoldt logo: one press switches it on, a long press off, and press-and-hold sequences raise or lower the brightness or select a night-vision mode;
• zeroed at 100 m by covered screws, one graduation being 1 cm at 100 m; adjustment reserved to an armourer; the screws have integral seals and must not be unscrewed completely.

H&K’s accessory list carries a rubber guard for the RSA-S (979 079) and its adjusting wrench (979 080), and the height adapter for using the RSA with the NSV80 night sight (202 766).²¹ The Bundeswehr’s page describes its MP7A1 with the RSA-S reflex sight.⁷

7.4 Iron sights matched to dot sights

H&K designed the MP7’s iron sights to work with dot sights rather than instead of them, and its manuals say exactly which ones. The 2006 standard MP7A1’s fixed notch-and-post sight has a mean point of impact that coincides with the Hensoldt RSA-S; the KSK version’s folding sight, folded, coincides with the RSA-S compact and, raised, “coincides with the centre of impacts of the dot sights of the firms Aimpoint and EOTech”, with the caution that an Aimpoint must be on a mount of the correct height.² The 2011 English manual says of the standard foldable sight: “in upward position the sight aligns with the reticle of ‘Eo Tech’ reflex sight.”⁸ The point of the arrangement is co-witness: the iron sights remain usable through the dot sight’s window if the dot fails.

7.5 Other optics seen and named

H&K’s 2011 data sheet shows the MP7A1 with a range of optics: a Hensoldt RSA red-dot sight, an EOTech holographic sight, Aimpoint red-dot sights, and an Oerlikon Contraves LLM01 laser-light module.⁹ Photographs used in this dive show, in addition:

• an ELCAN optic on an MP7A1 with suppressor (the photograph on this volume’s title);
• an Aimpoint CompM4 with a light and a suppressor on the Royal Malaysian Navy PASKAL’s MP7A1;¹⁰
• an Aimpoint Micro T-2 on a Spuhr mount on an MP7A2;¹¹
• H&K’s own product image of the A2 with an Aimpoint Micro T-1.¹²

Optics are interchangeable on the rail and move between weapons; the hub’s Scopes dive covers the types (red-dot, holographic, prism) and is not re-derived here.

7.6 Night vision

H&K’s manuals and brochures say the long top rail takes a night sight behind a day sight.²³ The NSV80 named in the accessory list is a clip-on night sight; H&K’s height adapter (202 766) raises the RSA to line up with it.¹ The specific NV devices used by any service were not documented in the sources found.

7.7 Lights and lasers

H&K’s documents name one laser-light module, the Oerlikon Contraves LLM01, and the Bundeswehr’s page describes a laser-light module on the side rail.⁹⁷ Bundeswehr display photographs show laser-light modules on the side rails, with its pressure switch cable run back to the grip.

7.8 Suppressors: how they fit

The MP7 was designed for a suppressor from the start. Its flash hider is the mount: “The flash hider is tightened with a 11 mm fork wrench. The recess on the flash hider permits the quick fitting of a silencer”, and “The silencer is fitted onto the flash hider and firmly tightened.”⁸ The suppressor therefore goes on and off without tools and does not require the flash hider to be removed. The English manual adds: “A special subsonic ammunition is available for firing with the silencer. Standard ammunition can also be fired when the silencer is attached.”⁸

The general mechanics of suppressors, and the law on owning one, belong to the hub’s How Suppressors Work and Suppressor Law dives. The Suppressors by Caliber dive does not cover the 4.6×30.

7.9 H&K’s own suppressor

H&K has published two sets of figures for its MP7 silencer.

• 2004: “Small high performance silencer (430 g)”, of steel and aluminium, in the presentation’s list of advantages and its subsonic-ammunition slide.⁴
• 2007 and 2012: 590 g, 222 mm long, a tube of 40 mm diameter and a locking bush of 44 mm (the 2007 brochure), and “Ø max. 40 mm / L 222 mm / W: 590 g / 31 dB A” (the 2012 accessory list, part 984869).³¹

H&K’s brochure claims the silencer can be fitted and removed easily “also after prolonged firing”, does not affect accuracy, allows “full weapon function on semi and full auto”, has “excellent silencing and long service life”, and allows “Unrestricted use of all types of ammunition having a bullet”.⁹

H&K’s 2004 presentation gives the only sound figures with conditions attached, in a table with no stated measuring method:⁴

Table 2 — H&K's own suppressor

Weapon and ammunition	v0	Level
MP7, no silencer, Combat Steel	720 m/s	141 dBA
MP7 with silencer, Combat Steel	746 m/s	110 dBA
MP7 with silencer, Subsonic	326 m/s	103 dBA
MP5SD, ammunition as printed “supersonic”	310 m/s	115 dBA

The table prints the reductions as 27 dBA with Combat Steel and 31 dBA with subsonic. Its own levels give 31 dBA and 38 dBA. Either the levels or the reductions are wrong; the slide does not say which. It also labels the MP5SD’s 310 m/s ammunition “supersonic”, which at that speed it cannot be. The table is reproduced as H&K printed it, with the errors marked.

7.10 B&T Rotex-LMX

B&T AG of Thun, Switzerland, publishes a data sheet for its Rotex-LMX in 4.6 mm × 30, article SD-123198, that “Fits on HK MP7” with an “MP7 QD - locking mechanism” onto the MP7’s flash hider.¹³

Table 3 — B&T Rotex-LMX

Item	B&T’s figure
Length	179 mm (140 mm forward of the barrel)
Tube diameter	40 mm
Weight	340 g
Materials	aluminium, steel; hard-anodised, Tenifer-QPQ
Sound reduction	”~37 dB A”
Life	minimum 5,000 rounds
Full auto	yes
Temperature	−45 to 70 °C

The data sheet carries B&T’s standard disclaimer that its data “must not be construed as warranted characteristics in the legal sense”.¹³

7.11 A-TEC MP7

A-TEC AS of Son, Norway, publishes a 2023 data sheet for its “A-TEC MP7”, “Designed, developed and tested, purely for the Heckler & Koch MP7”, a modular all-steel suppressor that “handles full-auto shots”, is “designed so it can be attached semi-permanently to the weapon and needs only to be removed for cleaning”, and is threaded on. “These products are in active service today.”¹⁴

Table 4 — A-TEC MP7

Modules	Added length	Total length	Effect	Weight
2	26 mm	93.5 mm	22 dB(C)	144 g
3	46 mm	113.5 mm	27 dB(C)	180 g
4	66 mm	133.5 mm	31 dB(C)	216 g
5	86 mm	153.5 mm	35 dB(C)	252 g

Diameter 30 mm; stainless steel; Cerakote; data “in compliance with MIL-STD-1474 D”. “The added length relates to the flash hider.”¹⁴ A-TEC’s 2020 version of the same sheet prints the calibre as “4.6X33”, a misprint.¹⁵

7.12 The suppressors compared, and why the decibels are not comparable

The three makers’ sound figures cannot be ranked. H&K’s “31 dB A” is undefined beyond the weighting; B&T’s “~37 dB A” is a reduction figure without a stated method; A-TEC’s figures are C-weighted, measured to MIL-STD-1474D, and grow with modules.¹¹³¹⁴ A-weighting discounts low frequencies, C-weighting does not, and the same suppressor will show different numbers under each; the measuring position, the ammunition and whether the figure is a reduction or a level all change the result too. The only fair reading is each maker against itself: A-TEC’s 13 dB(C) gain from two modules to five, for example, or H&K’s own 2004 table. The hub’s How Suppressors Work dive explains the weightings.

7.13 Subsonic ammunition

The 4.6’s subsonic loads are heavy for the calibre. H&K’s 2000 presentation listed subsonic test lots with a steel bullet with a hardened tip, defeating CRISAT at 50 m, and claimed “100 dB with sound suppressor … 30% of MP5SD report”;⁵ its 2004 presentation gave a 5 g (77 gr) bullet at 326 m/s, 270 J, functioning “semi auto and full auto mode without additional attachements” and penetrating CRISAT to 90 m;⁴ its brochure gave a 4.3 g bullet at 320 m/s and 220 J, penetrating CRISAT at 30 m.³ The manuals say a special subsonic load is available for the silencer.⁸ No current maker’s page for a subsonic 4.6×30 load was read.

7.14 Blank-firing attachments

H&K has offered at least three blank-firing devices, which the documents describe differently:

• The safety blank-firing attachment (SBFA, part 202 786), “for assembling on flash hider”.¹ The English manual: it “is fitted onto the flash hider and tightened”, and “is designed to stop up to 3 life [sic] bullets”.⁸ H&K’s 2004 presentation shows a cutaway of the device with three Combat Steel bullets caught in it, fired in single and sustained fire, and claims full safety for the shooter and in front of the weapon.⁴
• The SMPG of the 2006 Spanish manual (part 203 035), which “is screwed firmly onto the barrel (11 mm wrench) in place of the flash hider”, has no adjustable nozzle, can catch up to three combat bullets fired by accident, and must be fitted only by an armourer.²
• A BFA “Bundeswehr variant” (260 218), and a BFA for Nammo’s NM249 plastic training round only (260 530).¹

RWS describes the Bundeswehr’s DM18 blank as needing “a suitable blank cartridge device” for the MP7 to function.¹⁶

7.15 Holsters, slings and carrying

H&K designed the MP7 to be carried like a pistol, and its current page says so: “The multi-functional holster developed by Heckler & Koch can be used as a low-ride, hip or shoulder holster for concealed or partially concealed carry of the MP7. The weapon is mounted on the holster via the side-mounted Picatinny rail … The dedicated locking mechanism of the carrying system holds and secures the weapon, eliminating the possibility of accidental discharge.”¹² H&K’s 2012 list has the multi-purpose holster (260 397), a leg holster and a shoulder holster.¹ The 2004 presentation shows a carrying sling with quick-release clip, a flexible sling, a “Quick Release Harness (for concealed carrying)” and a thigh rig.⁴

The issued sling is the G36’s, hooked to the eyelets on either side with its quick-release clip at the front eyelet; short, it carries the weapon on the chest or back; long, it hangs at the hip for firing one-handed or from the shoulder.²

7.16 Magazines and loaders

H&K makes 20-, 30- and 40-round magazines (parts 217 851, 234 271 and 217 852), weighing about 100, 150 and 200 g empty, and a loading and an unloading device.¹⁹

7.17 What could not be verified

• Which suppressor H&K’s 984869 is, by maker; whether H&K’s silencer is made by B&T (a US dealer’s listing says an H&K-imported demo can was made by Brügger & Thomet; not confirmed by H&K).
• Any measured sound level for any MP7 suppressor by a stated method.
• The NSV80 night sight’s maker and data.
• Night-vision and laser devices in service with particular forces.
• A current maker’s page for 4.6×30 subsonic ammunition.

References

Footnotes

1. Heckler & Koch, “accessories programme MP7 A1 4.6 mm x 30”, v003.09.12, https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7A1_Accessories.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

2. Heckler & Koch, “MP7 A1 / MP7 A1-KSK … Instrucciones para el manejo” (PDF dated 3 August 2006), chapters 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, 15 and 16, https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7A1_Instruction_Manual_Spanish.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18 (translated). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Heckler & Koch, “MP7 A1 — Innovation for the future”, brochure (image PDF dated 2007), https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7_Description.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. Heckler & Koch GmbH, “Close Range Weapon — From ‘NBW’ to ‘MP7 A1’”, 2 March 2004, https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7_Close_Range_Weapon.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Jim Schatz, H&K Inc., “HK Personal Defense Weapon”, presentation revised 12/00, https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7_Presentation.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩²

6. Small Arms Review editorial staff, “HK Unveils New Personal Defense Weapon”, SAR V3N6, March 2000, https://smallarmsreview.com/hk-unveils-new-personal-defense-weapon/ , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩

7. Bundeswehr, “Ausrüstung und Technik: Die Maschinenpistole MP7”, https://www.bundeswehr.de/de/ausruestung-technik-bundeswehr/ausruestung-bewaffnung/mp7 , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩²

8. Heckler & Koch, “Close Range Weapon MP7 A1 … Operators Manual”, fax copy dated 08/08/11, accessories, https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7A1_Operators_Manual.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

9. Heckler & Koch, MP7 A1 technical-data brochure, Id.-Nr. 978076/V002.02.11, https://s3.amazonaws.com/hk-manuals/files/Military/MP7/MP7A1_Technical_Data.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

10. Rizuan, “H&K G36C and H&K MP7A1 of Royal Malaysian Navy.JPG”, Wikimedia Commons, 1 May 2016, CC BY-SA 4.0. ↩

11. SR Tactical, “MP7 A2.jpg”, Wikimedia Commons, 23 July 2018, CC BY-SA 4.0. ↩

12. Heckler & Koch GmbH, MP7 product page, https://www.heckler-koch.com/en/Products/Military%20and%20Law%20Enforcement/Submachine%20guns/MP7 , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩²

13. B&T AG, “Rotex-LMX Kal. 4.6 mm x 30”, data sheet DS_SD-123198-00-EN, https://bt-ag.ch/wp-content/uploads/datasheet/DS-123198-EN-Rotex-LMX_MP7.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³

14. A-TEC AS, “A-TEC MP7: Designed for H&K MP7 4.6x30”, data sheet 2023, https://a-tec.no/mdb/download/2025-datablader-manualer/A4Datasheet_A-TEC-MP7_2023.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩ ↩² ↩³

15. A-TEC AS, “A-TEC MP7” data, 2020 catalogue sheet, https://www.a-tec.no/mdb/download/2020/Mp7_data.pdf , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩

16. RWS GmbH, “4.6MMx30, DM18, Manöver”, https://www.rws-technology.com/en/armed-forces-law-enforcement/product/46mmx30-dm18-manoever-2317553 , accessed 2026-10-18. ↩