The .300 Blackout cartridge and the rifle we now know as the Honey Badger were originally developed by AAC by request of a US special forces military unit. They wanted to replace their MP5SD submachine guns with a weapon that was still very quiet but had more terminal lethality than subsonic 9mm Parabellum ammunition. To do this, Kevin Brittingham and AAC started with the .300 Whisper cartridge and made a few tweaks, then chambered it in an AR derivative with a collapsing stock, short buffer system, short barrel, and telescoping silencer like the MP5. Later, when Brittingham started the company Q, he introduced a commercial version of that rifle as the Honey Badger.

So the question is; how well does the Honey Badger accomplish the mission of replacing the MP5SD?

For this video, I will be comparing a Honey Badger with an H&K SP5 converted to SD configuration by HiTec Arms. My conclusion is that the Honey Badger actually is a very competent replacement for the MP5SD. The MP5 is a bit quieter and has quicker followup shots (thanks to less recoil and more weight). The Honey Badger is lighter and handier, has better controls, is just as fast, is more accurate at ranges beyond CQB, and has better terminal performance. The MP5SD has massive aesthetic appeal, but I think the Honey Badger is pretty clearly the more practically effective of the two designs for the role they were designed for.