So I have my Masada back…

Welcome home, my love. I’ve missed you.

-dizzy

 

APS UAR: Update

So, after showing my brief review of the UAR to my coworkers today, we decided to actually power up the APS UAR for the first time since we got this particular gun. It actually turned out to be not that bad, as we were all expecting. I guess with some work, it could turn into a somewhat decent platform (V3 AK-style gearbox with quick change spring guide, and AK style hop up unit), but out of the box performance was less than stellar for all three of us.

We actually shot it quite a bit. We initially went with a 7.4V LiPo, then went through 600 MaH on a 11.1V LiPo battery – lots of cycles of the gearbox and no breakages.

It surprisingly didn’t break after firing so much. That being said, the grouping on full auto was pretty terrible, even at 10ft. This video shows the performance on a 7.4V battery.

Not caught on film was the first 1 minute 30 seconds of continuous full auto fire, the Tamiya connector to battery coming apart, or the chrono. The chrono happened to show that this gun shot 280 FPS on a 0.20g BB – this may explain why there was so little heat build up in the wires or battery, as well as the lack of anything breaking in the many cycles put through the gearbox.

Also, head tech “Kampfer” at work corrected me – no microswitch in gearbox, just a normal-ish APS AK V3 gearbox with the addition of the quick change spring guide as per Kampfer’s recommendation to the UAR design. Sorry for the fuzzy picture, Kampfer moved both times when I was attempting to take a photo.

Yup.

-juicy

PS: final update about the UAR is as follows.

UAR part 3: https://overhoppers.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/aps-uar-internals-review/

APS Urban Assault Rifle (UAR)

Turns out that this little guy was in at work when I stepped in Saturday. APS made a little delivery on Friday to my place of employment, it seems. To start with – the head rep of APS (I don’t like that guy’s arrogance to begin with) apparently dropped it off. The staff at work looked at it and pretty much immediately figured out it wasn’t brand new – there were scratches in the plastic and on the finish of the few metal parts that are accessible externally, and there was a pin or two missing.

Frankly, I’m not impressed. Looks to me like an ARES clone quick change spring guide gearbox, and apparently there’s a microswitch in there, too. (This statement corrected here as of 29/01/2013) All 3 mag catch buttons work somewhat okay. Selector lever has a ridiculous placement. You more or less can’t reach the highest selector position with your thumb (this is more easily actuated with a trigger finger) – I can’t even recall if its for safe or not, it was that forgettable. Speaking of triggers, the trigger pull is long and mushy, far worse than your already-crappy AEG trigger. Bolt stop has pretty much ceased functioning at this point in time. Plastic feels like your standard made-in-China APS plastic, and there’s definitely a bit of flex in it. On the flip side, it’s got lots of rail space, has lots of integrated external QD swivel points, and isn’t overly weighted in the rear like some other Airsoft bull pups I’ve handled, but still – this is really not my thing. M4 mag compatibility is the only other distinctive plus – let’s hope that this APS takes PTS PMAGs, unlike some of those earlier APS M4’s that weren’t compatible with the nice PTS Magpul mags…

I’ve been told that this gun is the first Airsoft gun being made into a real steel gun, as patterned after the Airsoft gun. Good god, someone’s cloning an APS clone? APS, a.k.a. “A Piece of Shit” as locals started calling them after our first experiences with the owner’s son showing off his gun. Those first APS guns didn’t even function through a day of gaming at 400 FPS (or perhaps higher, no one actually chrono’ed him that day, if I remember correctly). This APS UAR hasn’t yet been disassembled, much less shot by any of the staff at work; I’m afraid of what the internals look like and how the gun shoots. Very afraid.

Next thing I expect to see is a rebranded Javelin Airsoft Works version of this gun. Oh, hate to spoil it for all you Javelin fanboys – your Javelin EBB AEG’s are just rebranded “A Piece of Shit” guns. /rant

Well, at least the flash hider looks cool.

-juicy

PS: posts updating about the UAR are as follows.

UAR #2: https://overhoppers.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/aps-uar-update/

UAR #3: https://overhoppers.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/aps-uar-internals-review/

Star Wars Boba Fett Customized Crye Airframe Helmet

Yes, that is a Crye Airframe helmet customized to look like the helmet of Boba Fett from Star Wars fame.

The helmet was customized by Q Concepts, and was recently auctioned off at SHOT Show 2013.

Yeah. That happened. That is a thing that exists.

–dizzy

VFC HK416-C and M27 IAR AEGs coming soon!

Popular Airsoft (one of my favorite sites for airsoft news) is reporting that AEG versions of VFC’s HK 416C and M27 IAR are nearing release.

VFC has previously released the 416C and M27 in GBB form, but this is the first time they’ve been released as AEGs. The 416C is the PDW version of the popular 416D, sporting a short barrel and a funky looking retractable stock. Unless VFC managed to find a way to stick a tiny lipo in the buffer tube/cheek rest portion of the stock, it looks like you’ll need a front-wired battery in a PEQ to power this thing. Aside from that one caveat, it looks like a standard version 2 gearbox/motor/hop up. Looks like a good candidate for a high-ROF/CQB kind of gun.

The M27 IAR is the one I’m a little more interested in, the M27 being the replacement for the M249 SAW in service with the US Marine Corps. The Marine Corps uses it mainly as a support/suppressive fire weapon, but the long barrel lends itself well to DMR usage in airsoft (and I believe the Marine Corps is considering adapting the M27 for use as such). Toss an ACOG, bipod and possible a foregrip on there, and you’ve got a kosher M27 that would make a swanky DMR.

Anyone out there thinking of picking one of these up?

–dizzy

Geargasm: Eagle 100rd SAW Pouch in RG

I’ve sort of been half-assing towards a plate carrier inspired by the transition between RG, MJK, and Multicam nylon, as used by US Army SOF in 2011. Pictured below is a Airborne soldier at Fort Bragg sometime in 2011, if memory about this picture serves correctly. I first noticed the set of pics that this one comes from, as this specific soldier is rocking a VTAC Extreme BattleRail on his carbine – that really caught my eye as I had a hard-on for the Troy TRX Extreme/VTAC Extreme series of hand guards at the time.

I know, I know – the EPC replica I’ve got is Coyote Brown, but I spent many hours staring at legit Eagle Khaki and repro Flyye Coyote Brown and the difference in colour when both have been used and are dirty is minimal enough for me to tolerate. Plus, I don’t have to go out and buy a whole new plate carrier just for an impression that may or may not ever see the light of day.

There are a few specific pouches that I’ve seen in pictures of Special Forces – one of which is the Eagle nutsack pouch. This pouch isn’t the latest and greatest, but it is super useful as a medic/general purpose pouch, as well as an ammo/magazine pouch. So, I went and found a Eagle Industries 100rd SAW Pouch in OD (100rd SAW magazines are also known as a “nutsack”) when I was shopping at DS Tactical a few months ago. It looks like the following (picture comes from http://www.triadtactical.com/images/P/AP-SAW-100-OD.jpg):

It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, as I was looking for one in Ranger Green to go onto a Eagle Plate Carrier (Flyye replica) to get that “look” that I want. Like I’ve found so many legit Eagle nutsack pouches, but either the bidding on eBay went way up or I totally missed the boat. For example, I’ve seen one Ranger Green one in my searches since September last year. I later saw a Multicam one go up to close to $100 USD a day before the end of that auction – holy crap, that’s one expensive pouch… as compared to how much the one pictured below costs.

The above pouch pictured is the Toy Soldier had a clone for $45.00 USD, but this one says “sold out” next to the price tag, now. I guess I’ll wait till Tactical Workshop (eBay store for Toy Soldier products) is back up and running and then give them a shout to see if I can get one made for me.

But seriously – I’m interested if anyone who reads this has one that they would be willing to sell to me. Clone or not clone – but must look the part and colour must be correct. I’m down. I’m so down.

-juicy

16/03/2013 update: I’ve gotten my Toy Solider clone and have posted a simple photo review here.

Retention Lanyard Hijinx #2 – Caption This!

 

Jester and I share a special connection. It’s made of cordura.

–dizzy

So I have a PTW now…

Yeah… it happened. Bought this from a team mate who is not playing Airsoft enough anymore to warrant keeping his “baby” (as he called it).

I’ve been told by a number of team mates who have owned or currently own SystemA Professional Training Weapons that playing with a PTW is like cheating in Airsoft. I’m pretty stoked to play with it, to say the least.

Still need to pay in full for it, so might not be able to have access to full set of parts and mags required to get it up and running. It’s not set up exactly how I want it – I got lazy and didn’t want to pull off the rail that was already on there. Instead, I slapped on a variety of accessories that I have lying around for eventually building a tacticool civilian-style carbine.

-juicy

First look: PTS Magpul Masada ACR Streamline

I walked into work this morning and found the tech department dicking around with this – what is (from what I know of) the first batch of PTS Magpul Masada Streamline Versions to arrive in Canada. Yeah, I know… my job is pretty freaking awesome.

First off, I’m going to say that I want one.

I’ve always wanted a Magpul PTS Masada ACR – since I first started pushing the Masada AEG platform on people at my previous Airsoft retail job. Honestly, I’d have to say that players “BremboD” and “Spaz” were the first ones who I successfully sold on Masada’s… or at least the concept thereof – they were out of stock at the store I was working at, so they went and bought them at another local store (the store I currently work at now). I just could never afford one of the expensive ones.

… I’m probably going to buy one; my wallet is already hating me. Time to go eat Kraft Dinner and Cup Noodles for months on end again.

Read on after the break – lots more pictures and short captions coming up after the break.

Dizzy’s MK18 PTW Optics

Like a boss.

(I do apologize for the audio sync issues going on, haven’t really figured out how to work on video clips quite yet.)

-juicy