Airsoft Action - February 2021

armoury
LCT LCK-16
THIS MONTH BILL GETS FULLY BACK TO HIS OPFOR “ROOTS” AS HE FINALLY GETS HIS HANDS ON
THE LCK-16 (RPK-16) FROM LCT AIRSOFT. HE’S BEEN WAITING FOR THIS SUPPORT VARIANT FOR SOME
CONSIDERABLE TIME AS IT’S ALREADY PROVING TO BE A POPULAR MODEL, SO HAS HIS WAIT BEEN
WORTH IT?
It seems only yesterday that I first started speaking
with LCT Airsoft about the RPK-16 and, as always,
development takes a while to complete - but their
little sneak-peeks during the process had me drooling!
Fast forward to MOA 2019 and there in all its glory
was the finished product, and I knew I had to get my
hands on one as soon as possible… But then came
“2020” and the supply chains slowed right down. The
initial stock of this much-anticipated AEG went superfast
and I needed to put my patient head fully on and
just bide my time…
Thankfully, although we are still not yet back to fullspeed
in terms of airsoft games, things are beginning
to speed up again and new stock of many models is
finally landing in the UK, so when I heard from Tom at
NUPROL that the LCK-16 was finally arriving (and that
one had my name on it for testing) I was overjoyed!
Sadly, with the backlog of containers at the ports right
now, even though the AEG was “officially” in the UK
there was yet another wait until the container was
released. However, just prior to Christmas the LCK-
16 was delivered to me and I knew that the festive
season was going to be a great one!
Why was I so excited about this AEG you
may ask?
It’s simple
really… Although I
own a very nice PKM for
“OPFOR Support Duties”
old beastie and if you like to
and aggressive in your style of
it’s quite the lump to drag
day. Even though it benefits
HUGE box magazine I
myself if this benefit
obvious negatives. Yes,
standard AK variant
magazine but that really
with me as a “purist”; a
it’s a BIG
be mobile
play, then
around all
from a
often ask
outweighs the
I could use a
with a drum
doesn’t sit well
support gun
should be quite obviously that, and indeed many
games, especially MilSims, will ask that a support gun
be true to the real deal.
Of course, with the old Russian doctrine where
offensive direct action using overwhelming firepower
was the key denominator of infantry tactics, for
general OPFOR “play” there are a number of
options that bring the weight of the support gun
down whilst still keeping things “real”. The RPD is a
physically smaller weapon that’s more manageable
than the PKM, but it’s still a bit of a heavyweight and
although the LCT Airsoft RPD is a thing of beauty, it’s
also expensive. That brings us neatly to the RPK, or
Ruchnoy Pulemyot Kalashnikova, that’s been in service
since the 1960s and, with various upgrades and
re-chamberings, is still in use to this day by Russian
reserve and police units!
The RPK has really been the best choice for the
“OPFOR gunner on a budget” as they are cheap
(certainly in relation to many support AEGS!), easy to
work on and, as in the real world, can use virtually
any AK magazine as well as a dedicated high-capacity
drum. It is a great choice if you want a “Russian”
support gun that covers a LONG period of service and
will serve well for virtually any OPFOR scenario
but again, it’s now kind
of “old skool”, long,
heavy and slightly
unwieldy
with that longer
barrel.
These days we want a support
gun that, like the M249, is shorter and
lighter but still able to lay down a huge amount of
suppressive fire when needed. So, what’s the answer
to our OPFOR prayers? It has to be the RPK (or as LCT
“IN THEIR USUAL INIMITABLE STYLE, LCT HAVE REALLY PULLED IT OFF AGAIN WITH
THEIR LCK-16! I AM CERTAIN THAT THE “STITCH COUNTERS” OUT THERE WILL FIND
SOME MINUSCULE REASON WHY THIS DESIGN IS SOMEHOW “WRONG” BUT, TO
ME, THE FINISHED PRODUCT DOES THE JOB EXCELLENTLY AND REALLY GIVES A
TREMENDOUS “FEEL” THE MOMENT THAT YOU LIFT IT CLEAR OF THE BOX.”
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