Close-quarters shooting is fast and gritty, but Q’s Honey Badger in .300 Blackout don’t care. 

Originally built to replace the iconic suppressed HK MP5-SD, this compact AR platform is made to thrive at close ranges with a suppressor attached. Its short 7-inch barrel, topped with Q’s Cherry Bomb muzzle device, makes it ready to accept a quick-detach suppressor to keep close and long-range disputes quiet.

On top of all that, it has Q’s so-called Literally the Best Trigger Ever Made installed. We put that claim and this entire platform to the test with some hands-on range testing. Here’s how it performed.

Quick Summary: The ultra-compact Honey Badger ran with fantastic reliability and accuracy. Q’s Literally the Best Trigger Ever Made is fast, flat, and light, breaking at 2.8 pounds, and the 7-inch barrel with Cherry Bomb muzzle device makes this a perfect low-recoiling suppressor host.

Table of Contents

Video Review
Origin of the Honey Badger
Features
Specifications
Reliability & Accuracy
Honey Badger vs. Sugar Weasel
Pros & Cons
Final Thoughts

Video Review
 

Origin of the Honey Badger

Hitting the commercial market in 2017, the Honey Badger line was built to fit the needs of a special military program to replace the beloved 9mm HK MP5-SD. The new design upped the caliber potential with .300 Blackout and 5.56mm options in a similarly compact, suppressor-optimized package with low recoil.

The gun was designed by Kevin Brittingham, who founded Q and launched the Honey Badger just a year later. Brittingham has extensive experience with modern suppressors, and he leveraged that knowledge to make the Honey Badger a close-quarters beast that could take the place of suppressed 9mm submachine guns like the MP5.

Q also ensured the Honey Badger remained extremely lightweight, weighing in at just 4.6 pounds on my scale. Combined with a collapsed length of only 20.9 inches, this made the Honey Badger a perfect companion for suppressors and close-quarters work.
 

Features

The Honey Badger uses the classic AR-15 direct impingement gas system, but with a twist. It has an adjustable gas block under the M-LOK handguard, and the operating system uses a two-piece bolt carrier group with a short buffer tube. 

That short buffer tube and two-piece bolt carrier group are what keep this gun incredibly compact. Still, recoil is minimal with the .300 BLK chambering, and Q added a bunch of enhancements for faster shooting. 
 

First and foremost, those enhancements include Q’s Literally the Best Trigger Ever Made. This two-stage, cassette-style trigger has a flat face, a crisp break, a short and positive reset, and a pull weight of just 2.8 pounds on my gauge. It’s even compatible with any standard AR/M4 platform should you choose to add that trigger to other guns in your collection.

Is it truly “the best trigger ever” from my experience? Not exactly, but it’s darn close. I’ve shot a lot of nice AR-15s over the years, and this trigger is no joke.
 

Another key feature of the Honey Badger is the Cherry Bomb muzzle device, which dissipates gas and reduces muzzle flash. More importantly, the tapered and threaded design is optimal for easily aligning and quickly mounting suppressors.

This gun begs to be suppressed, especially in .300 Blackout, whether you pair it with Q’s Trash Panda, Thunder Chicken, or any of a number of budget-friendly suppressor options fit for .300 BLK. Plus, the 7-inch barrel has a fast 1:5 twist optimized to stabilize heavy .300 BLK bullets and subsonic loads.

Short and compact are great virtues in a close-quarters gun, but so is simplicity. To that end, Q used its proprietary two-position stock/brace. This opens to only one set position, which makes it ideal for rapid deployment when you don’t want to finagle with multiple lengths and pesky levers. 

Just push the button, rip out the brace or stock, and start shooting.
 

Q beveled the magazine well on the Honey Badger to aid with rapid reloads, and the Radion Raptor charging handle is ambidextrous and smooth. Similarly, the shortened ambidextrous safety levers are optimized with a 70-degree throw, which I love because it’s faster, feels more natural, and they don’t get jammed on my hand when I have a high grip.
    
There’s a Type III clear hard-coat anodized finish on the upper and lower receiver for extra durability and heat resistance – not to mention good looks. This is not really a simple finish but a chemical process that is more durable and gives the gun its honey color. A Magpul grip rounds out the package.
 

Notably, Q removed many somewhat unnecessary AR features, such as the forward assist and ejection port dust cover. The brass deflector is also minimalist, and it worked great in our testing with very predictable ejection patterns.
 

Specifications

Here’s a breakdown of the basic specs for the Q Honey Badger in .300 BLK with a 7-inch barrel and pistol brace.

Reliability & Accuracy

I took this gun straight from my local gun shop to the range for testing. That left no time to fiddle with the controls or practice with the Honey Badger. Yet, it felt remarkably familiar and easy to run on the range all the same.

Q’s controls on the Honey Badger will feel familiar but optimized to anyone with experience shooting a standard AR-15. Despite its small size, the recoil is very controllable. Even shooting with poor support is easy without feeling overpowered by the gun.

The short barrel and Cherry Bomb give off some noticeable concussion if you are standing to the sides of the shooter, but I didn’t have an issue as the man behind the trigger.

Reliability with cheap bulk 150-grain .300 Blackout FMJ over my first 200 rounds resulted in zero issues. Equally important, the gun was easy to get on target at range with a non-magnified EOTech EXPS3-DCR.
 

Running this gun at speed is easy with the low recoil and a very, very nice flat trigger. However, it is a small platform, so you might feel a little cramped if you have longer arms.

Unfortunately, I did not have a suppressor with the proper bore diameter ready to run on the Cherry Bomb muzzle device. However, if I could keep this gun, I would absolutely get it rigged up with a suppressor and turn it into a go-to for home defense.

Accurate, reliable, compact, and fast. There isn’t much more you can ask for than that.
 

Honey Badger vs. Sugar Weasel

We also reviewed the Sugar Weasel rifle recently, and it’s a fine full-length rifle platform. It is not, however, a Honey Badger on the outside or the inside.

Unlike the Honey Badger, the Sugar Weasel uses a full-length buffer tube and collapsing stock. The Honey Badger runs an abbreviated buffer tube, with no buffer weight, and a proprietary Q two-position stock or brace. 

NOTE: There is an NFA-regulated Short-Barrel Rifle variant of the Sugar Weasel with fewer bells and whistles than the Honey Badger. It’s also often hard to find in stock, so we’ll stick with the standard Sugar Weasel for comparison purposes.

Here’s a quick comparison of the basic specs for both guns.

The size also makes the Honey Badger a full-on PDW for personal defense and close-quarters use. The Sugar Weasel is heavier and offers a longer, more traditional rifle profile. This comes down to what they were designed to do. The Honey Badger was made to replace the HK MP5-SD, and the Sugar Weasel was meant to serve as a premium AR-type rifle.

With that said, the Sugar Weasel is significantly more affordable, often coming in at around $800 less than the Honey Badger.

Why Pick the Q Honey Badger? This comes down to what you are trying to do. For me, I would take the Honey Badger, even at the higher cost, because I would add a suppressor and run it as a still-short PDW and home defense gun. The size and design make it better for that role. Besides, I already have several full-size ARs, but there are fewer guns that compete in the same space as the Honey Badger for size and suppressibility. 
 

Pros & Cons

Final Thoughts

This is not a budget AR-15 for plinking at the range. It is a purpose-built, suppressor-optimized package made for close-quarters work. It would be a great option for home defense, some competition shooting, and tactical work. It would not be my go-to option for target shooting at 500 yards.

Q’s Honey Badger is a gun with a mission. If you have a need – or a desire – for the kind of gun that would replace the revered HK MP5-SD, then the Honey Badger would be a great option. It’s accurate, reliable, extremely compact, and offers great features like a wonderful trigger and ambidextrous controls.