Kestrel said:
How is the PTR quality compared to an actual HK? Who sells them? Are these put together by CAI's chimps?
What kind of barrels? What kind of receiver? What parts?
The PTR's quality is excellent. They are made by JLD Enterprises. JLD is Jose Luis Diaz, who used to be (maybe still is) a South American importer/distributor for H&K.
As you may know, the H&K 91 is simply a semi-automatic version of the German G3 battle rifle. The G3 was the standard issue battle rifle of many countries from the 1950s to the 1990s. One of those countries was Portugal. A company known as Fabrica Militar de Braco de Prata in Portugal built the G3 for the Portuguese military under license from H&K. When the Portuguese military adopted a new main battle rifle, Jose Diaz bought out Fabrica Militar's tooling and parts inventory, and moved it all to the U.S. He established a company called JLD Enterprises in Connecticut, which uses the tooling and parts to make the PTR-91.
If you know the story of DSA (David Selvaggio Arms) and the SA58 series semi-auto FAL clones, then you know that it is an almost identical story. The difference is that David Selvaggio bought out Steyr's FN-licensed FAL tooling and FAL parts inventory, whereas Jose Luis Diaz bought out Fabrica Militar's H&K-licensed G3 tooling and parts inventory. Both set them up in the U.S. to manufacture excellent quality semi-auto battle rifles using the same tooling.
In my experience, the PTR-91 is indeed better than most "authentic" H&K 91's I've examined. The PTR-91 shows great care in the welds, which tend to be fairly rough in original H&K's, and the finish on the PTR-91 seems to be more evenly applied and more durable. The latter is probably due in part to advances in metal finishing technology, as no H&K 91's have been imported for more than 15 years now (I think the last ones came into the U.S. in 1989).
The PTR-91's do use some reconditioned G3 parts, but it doesn't appear to be many. They use quite a few U.S.-made parts, including of course the receiver, which is made by JLD on the former Fabrica Militar tooling. The PTR-91 also comes with a new, match-grade heavy barrel. It is a heavier contour than you will find on an H&K 91.
I have not had the opportunity to shoot an H&K 91 side by side with my PTR-91. I have examined them side by side, though, and found the PTR-91 to be at least the equal in appearance of the H&K 91, and in many cases better. My PTR-91 is also very accurate for a battle rifle, and that is a common report from PTR-91 owners. The H&K 91 also has an excellent reputation for accuracy, but I have not heard that it is any more accurate than the PTR-91. In fact, I highly doubt that it is, given the heavier/stiffer barrel of the PTR-91.
The only advantage that I see of the H&K 91 over the PTR-91 is the collector value. H&K's were imported in very limited numbers, and no more will ever be imported. Prices will likely only go up from here. The PTR-91 is still in production, and will probably never have any significant collector value. You can buy three PTR-91's for the cost of a single H&K 91, however, and I buy my guns to shoot, so I chose the PTR-91.
Nasty.
