Airsoft Action - January 2021

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THE MP7A1
SMALL BUT
PERFECTLY
FORMED!
AS PROMISED AT THE END OF FRENCHIE’S PIECE ON THE GLOCK 18C AEP LAST
MONTH, THIS MONTH HE’S TURNING HIS ATTENTION TO THE MARUI MP7A1.
While some question the point of the AEP
pistols, the Personal Defence Weapons
(PDW) make a more persuasive case for
their existence. It is true that there is now a choice of
gas blowback MP7s to choose from, they are prone
to all the potential drawbacks of their ilk, cost, pricey
magazines, and sometime fickle operation. I know
that there are many of you out there who love them,
and I get it, but if you’re a player who is looking for
simpler and more dependable version of the MP7, the
Marui is almost certainly the best choice.
THE MP7
The MP7, originally the HK PDW, was developed to
meet the same NATO requirement as the FN P90 – a
weapon for second-line troops whose normal duties
didn’t require them to carry a rifle. The requirement
also sought new ammunition capable of penetrating
standard soft body armour, something that existing
9mm-based weapons increasingly struggled with.
H&K developed a 4.6x30mm round, unique in that
both variants were penetrators designed, and indeed
capable of defeating soft armour at 200 metres.
Fiocchi and VBR of Belgium produce ball ammunition
in 4.6mm with VBR producing a two-part controlled
fragmentation round for the weapon.
Due to the wide use of polymers in construction,
the MP7 series can be used as pistols or as
submachine guns with the collapsible stock providing
increased stability. H&K claim that the 4.6mm round
is virtually recoilless.
The compact nature of the weapon and its ability
to defeat body armour have seen its deployment
well beyond second echelon and police roles with it
becoming a useful tool in the arsenal of many of the
world’s special forces.
THE AIRSOFT VERSION
Right, back to the airsoft version and I’ll pop this
in here simply to get it dealt with – while Chinese
factories have produced perfectly acceptable clones
of pretty much everything, I have yet to handle or
work on a clone of the PDWs which is worth the
investment. Why they seem to be problematic I don’t
know, but every example I have handled, fired, or
worked on was prone to issues from poor electrics to
inadequate range. So, while I have nothing against
Chinese guns in general, with these I would say the
original is still best.
Like the Automatic Electric Pistol (AEP) range, the
heart of the MP7A1 is its miniaturised gearbox. These
are a perfect example of Marui’s technical excellence,
and they are also really small! As with the pistols,
there are a whole raft of upgrades available, and
companies who specialise in supplying and fitting
these upgrades. Unlike the pistols, I do get the desire
to improve performance in the MP7A: as a PDW it
is more desirable that it should perform more like a
full-AEG so it can be used as a primary weapon – after
all the real thing can be depending on situation and
circumstance. Technically this is challenging because
of the size, or lack of size of the components, and I
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JANUARY 2021