The MKEK MPT is a rifle intended to take abuse and extreme mistreatment and still maintain high accuracy and reliability in order to survive in true battle environments.

Turkish soldiers testing it reported that they preferred the 7.62×51mm NATO round which has far greater stopping power and range, similar to those of the existing G3 service rifles.

[13][19] The rifle was reported by Turkish soldiers to be extremely accurate and reliable, and outmatched the G3 in all categories.

[20][21][22] The Turkish Army plans to gradually phase out its G3 and to make the MPT-76 its main service rifle.

The first tranche of the initial phase, consisting of 20,000 rifles was contracted to the state-owned company Machines and Chemical Industries Board (MKEK) in June 2015.

[28] The MPT-76 has some ergonomic deviations from what would be considered traditional AR-10 style rifles: the HK417[13][29] inspired buttstock must be rotated counter-clockwise about 30 degrees, to adjust the length of pull.

It also possesses an angled foregrip-style plastic mount that bridges the transition between the lower receiver and the picatinny handguard.

Turkey planned to[needs update] obtain 20,000 of the smaller-caliber rifles to replace license-produced HK416s within special forces.