Airsoft Action - September 2023

ARMOURY
VORSK ASG STEYR VMP-1 L9-A2 GBB
Gas platforms can be fickle things at the best of
times, and it does take both time and devotion to get
the best from one. It’s without doubt though that the
platforms themselves have improved tremendously in
recent years, and prices for a basic gasser have come
down. It’s also true that the gasses themselves have
become better, more stable, and more manageable;
this is a dark art all of its own, but gases now are
more consistent than ever before, and the “mix” has
improved too, all the better to keep your gas platform
and accompanying magazines in good shape. Vorsk
have actually done a tremendous amount of work in
this respect, and I’ve been using their V6, V8, and V12
Fuel in a lot of my testing recently with excellent, and
highly consistent, results.
I can now “pick my gas” to get a preferred end
result each and every time, and understanding which
gas does what, and when, allows me to overcome any
power and performance issues easily. Creating such
gasses as a commercial enterprise takes investment
of money and time, and that’s a separate article all in
itself, but the Vorsk team have done both. I now run
Vorsk Fuel in all my gas platforms and I know what to
expect when I do.
Why make a thing of this though, surely he’s
going to talk about the VMP-1 I hear you say…
I honestly believe that starting with the building
blocks of gas performance, and to me that’s a basic
acknowledgement that GBBs, and especially GBBRs
require both good maintenance and a fundamental
understanding of gases to get what you want, and
the best performance, from them… not all gases are
equal!
SMALL BUT PREFECTLY FORMED!
With all this said, let me give you my “take” on the
VMP-1 (at last!)…
I’ve often said in the past that I struggle with really
short, compact airsoft platforms due to me being a
big lad, with gibbon-like arms, but I do love a proper
SMG! One of my absolute favourites is the Uzi, closely
followed by the “Big MAC”… I do like both the MP7
and the MP9 and I’ve owned all these models over the
years, and still do own a (thankfully!) still-functioning
TM Uzi… which only comes out on VERY special
occasions these days. To me, the Vorsk VMP-1 gives a
solid nod to all the best bits of all the aforementioned
models and then melds them all into a single,
business-like and thoroughly modern gas SMG! It’s a
model that players have bought into fully, and from
the comments I see in the healthy, and super-busy
social media Owners Group, a model that they’re
loving more each and every time they use it!
The “basic” model VMP-1 that’s arrived with
players is without suppressor, but is the building block
of the whole deal, and that is a super-compact, magin-the-pistol-grip
SMG that immediately gives the
“hand meets hand” reload benefit, something that
every airsofter (and shooter!) knows pretty instinctively
from GBB pistol use. The upper and lower receivers
are polymer and very sturdy, again something we see
on many modern firearms; initially this seems a little
unremarkable, but the finish is super, and the little
design details, stippling to the pistol grip, and built-in
six-slot lower rail section all sing to me of user-driven
design.
The full-length top rail is just large enough for an
optic and LAM (all you need really), and I love the
fact that you have the option to mount the supplied
3 and 9 o’clock rail sections hi/low to your liking for a
taclite. The controls are simple with the push-through
fire selector, bolt and mag-release all easily within a
thumb/forefinger workspace; I have already reported
back that personally I would like to have seen the
mag-release button a little larger, but I can see an easy
fix to that…
At the sharp end the superbly aggressive and
“oversized” muzzle device looks bomber, and sets you
up immediately for the VMP QD suppressor… more
on this later! One feature that’s seems to be a little
“marmite” is the folding stock with the butt-plate
swivel, but unlike that horrid spread, I love this stock!
It’s as solid as a solid thing from Solidsville either open
or closed, and indeed when new you need to actually
give it a good tap to release it, but this comes under
my heading of “good things” as nobody likes a floppy
stock, now do they?
The fact that you can swap out the folder pretty
easily means that you’re not stuck with just one
option though, and I know that many players are
already experimenting with buffer-tube and alternate
folders with great success. As to the swivelling butt-
“TO ME, THE VORSK VMP-1 GIVES A SOLID NOD TO ALL THE BEST BITS OF ALL THE
AFOREMENTIONED MODELS AND THEN MELDS THEM ALL INTO A SINGLE, BUSINESS-
LIKE AND THOROUGHLY MODERN GAS SMG!”
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