It’s time to don a pair of latex gloves and lay the Q Honey Badger bare. That’s right, we’re giving Mellivora capensis the full-on anatomy and physiology treatment. So, mask up and try not to pass out as we get into the guts of a badass firearm that don’t give a sh*t.
TAXONOMY
We have an exciting specimen in front of us. It’s a somewhat rare subspecies of the Honey Badger, the Honey Badger SD. This little guy is a two-stamp gun that branches directly off from the original Advanced Armament Corporation Honey Badger PDW. AAC’s 300 Blackout Honey Badger was designed to meet a 2011 U.S. Special Operations Command requirement that called for a replacement of its stalwart close-quarters battle subgun, the Heckler & Koch MP5-SD.
In 2011, SOCOM’s Army component was looking for something with the same or smaller footprint of the aging German Maschinenpistole that was easier to take care of. Not that there’s anything wrong with the MP5, but getting parts for the 40-year-old, bespoke platform was reportedly wearing on SOCOM’s armorers. Plus, SOCOM’s Navy component had recently adopted 300 AAC Blackout, piquing interest in the versatile round’s prospects when combined with a new CQB platform.
While developing and submitting the first Honey Badger samples to SOCOM, AAC was sold to Remington, where the program became part of Remington Defense. RemDef submitted the second round of Honey Badgers for SOCOM’s consideration, but its efforts were ultimately bested by SIG Sauer’s MCX variant, informally called the Black Mamba, which won the SOCOM Low Visibility Assault Weapon contract.
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