Airsoft Action

#STANDWITHUKRAINE

ISSUE 171

ISSN 2634-9515

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8 ARMOURY: ICS X DANIEL DEFENSE DD4 MK18/DDM4 PDW

As this issue of AIRSOFT ACTION goes live the new DANIEL

DEFENSE models from ICS via their EMG licence collaboration

should soon be on show at IWA and starting to hit the stores too,

so it’s 100% time that we tell you all about the models we’ve had

on and off the range for a while now; Bill tells all about the new

AEGs and their performance so far!

#STANDWITHUKRAINE

Editorial Director: Bill Thomas

Deputy Editor (Asia): Stu Mortimer

Deputy Editor (USA): Dan Whedon

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Publisher: Calibre Publishing Limited

ISSUE 171

ISSN 2634-9515

16 ARMOURY: KWA ATP-Z GBB

KWA are best known for their superb recoil-system platforms,

along with some absolutely spot-on GBBRs and we’ve had the

great pleasure to work with both systems extensively! However,

more and more they have concentrated on “airsoft-for-training”,

and now Dan takes a very close look at their latest handgun, what

KWA call “The Ultimate Training Companion”, the ATP-Z!

Web: www.airsoftaction.net

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26 ARMOURY: SPECNA ARMS SA-J02 EDGE ASTER V3

Specna Arms have been rolling out AR-style AEGs at one hell of a

pace both historically and indeed more recently, and we’ve been

very impressed with all the technology they’ve baked-in as an

integral part of this program! Our resident “AK Geek”, Bill, has

been putting one of the new models, the SA-J02 EDGE ASTER V3

through its paces!

42 ARMOURY: TRIL TACTICAL TTI G-SERIES RMR SLIDE KITS

Furtive phone calls in the dead of night, secretive meetings in the

rafters above the hub-bub of MOA 2024, high quality cutting edge

components provided for review from people who want to keep a

low profile despite their high quality product? What’s been going

on with Stewbacca during November and December 2024?

Contents

ISSUE 171

36 ARMOURY: PROJECT 132

Everyone that writes for Airsoft Action is an airsofter in one way or

another, but one of our most active player-contributors is Ben, and like

many of you he always has a “project” on the go that will help him

enjoy his airsoft adventures just a little more! One such project relates

to his minigun, and as this nears completion he finally agreed to spill

the beans on “PROJECT 132”!

50 RED CELL: THE FINAL YEAR

So, we’re into the FINAL YEAR of the RED CELL program, and what a

time we’ve had testing a cornucopia of AEGs, GBBs, and even humble

springers over the last four years! But it’s time to start making our

final cut to what we’ve had in-game and on the range, and to get this

rolling we’ll come back to our G-SERIES category!

62 KIT & GEAR: VICTOPTICS

We all like to accessorise our AEGs and GBBs don’t we, and

increasingly there are a wide range of “bolt-ons” that make our

platforms look cool… but one thing that we add can actually increase

the in-game effectiveness of our primary or secondary significantly, and

that’s a good optic. Miguel tells all about what he’s been using recently

to good effect!

68 KIT & GEAR: UPDATING YOUR LOADOUT!

“New Year, New Gear”… we hear this phrase right about now each

and every year at AAHQ as we start to prepare ourselves for games,

events, and training days ahead, but it does set the scene for the fact

that you should keep on top of your clothing and gear as you face

another twelve months of airsoft-life! Bill looks to his own setup, and

decides it’s time for him to invest in something new…

74 INSIDE AIRSOFT: 4UAD SMART AIRSOFT

Our man in Taiwan finally made good on a long held promise (or

threat!) to visit an increasingly prominent group of like minds who

are building a niche for themselves in the airsoft and wider shooting

related hobby space! The folks of 4UAD Smart Airsoft have recently

moved into a new office space and continue their expansion efforts.

Stewbacca found out what’s going down!

82 AA LEGION EVENT REPORT: BAKURETSU-SAI

As well as flitting around MaruiFest 2024 in Akihabara our man in

Japan, Tama, was once again pulling double-duty like last year to

ensure he also captured the happenings at the Bakuretsu-Sai; the

‘Explosive Festival’ over in Ikebukuro, Tokyo!

92 AA LEGION EVENT REPORT: SHOT SHOW 2025!

Show season is fully upon us for another year, and after Stewbacca’s

superb coverage from MOA the gauntlet had been well and truly laid

down as Boycie, Li’l Stu and Steve boarded the “big freedom bird”

across the pond to Las Vegas to report on SHOT SHOW 2025… and to

find out exactly what happened in Vegas, read on…

6

SMALLER ROUND BIGGER PUNCH

• SSS.III E-trigger system (SSS only)

• Smart Trigger & Pre-cocking Function (SSS only)

• MASTER Upgraded Internals (SSS only)

• Komodo M-LOK Handguard

• Pistol Caliber Style Magazine

• ICS Split Gearbox

• QD Spring Guide Design

• 20°-Vertical Pistol Grip

Facebook (Global):

ICSBBAirsoft

Twitter (Global):

icsbbairsoft

Youtube:

ICS AIRSOFT

Instagram:

icsbbairsoft

ARMOURY

ICS DANIEL DEFENSE DD4 MK18/DDM4 PDW

DD

PERFECTION

8

AIRSOFT ACTION - ISSUE 171

ARMOURY

ICS DANIEL DEFENSE CYBERGUN/BOLT DD4 MK18/DDM4 BRSS SCAR-SC PDW

AS THIS ISSUE OF AIRSOFT ACTION GOES LIVE THE NEW DANIEL DEFENSE MODELS FROM ICS VIA

THEIR EMG LICENCE COLLABORATION SHOULD SOON BE ON SHOW AT IWA AND STARTING TO

HIT THE STORES TOO, SO IT’S 100% TIME THAT WE TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE MODELS WE’VE HAD

ON AND OFF THE RANGE FOR A WHILE NOW; BILL TELLS ALL ABOUT THE NEW AEGS AND THEIR

PERFORMANCE SO FAR!

When I first looked at the

original MK18 from

ICS back in ISSUE 141

(available in Back Issues on the AA website)

I was in the extremely privileged position of

having a pre-release sample for initial review

and full testing, and since it arrived with us I’ve

been giving it some serious abuse personally, and

making sure that other members of the AA Legion

also got a chance to give it a go too!

To recap though, my comment in closing for the

review of the EMG-licenced ICS Mk18 was:

“I have to commend ICS for once again for creating

something that sings to me in every way possible,

and if the need for “NavSpecWarGru” is strong with

you, then this is one AEG that you will most definitely

want to own. If you’re in the market for a new AEG

generally though, then I would certainly take a very

good look at the ICS DD MK18; if this is the shape of

things to come from ICS in the future then I’m superexcited

to see what they come up with next!”

Further rangetime has proved that my initial

assessment was totally correct, and in truth after

several thousand BBs have now been put through

original Mk18, if anything it’s better than it was when

it first arrived with me, and it’s been my platform

of choice when I’ve run out in my multicam

gear!

I’ve been playing around with

different weight BBs to see what the

hop can handle, and after trying .20,

.23, .25, .28, and even .30g BBs I’ve

reached the conclusion that .28g is the perfect

weight for this AEG set to UK spec, as using this

weight gives a fabulous combination of range and

accuracy. I had almost settled on .25g being “the

thing” until I took the Mk18 out in high winds and

driving rain, and found that at this weight the BBs

were straying somewhat; just an incremental weight

change took them back to the trajectory I’d already

come to expect on .25g in fair conditions, so I believe

I’ll continue with .28g as the standard fodder from

now on.

In terms of power, the Mk18 initially went through

the chrono at 0.92 Joule/315fps, which is obviously

perfectly site friendly, on the my usual RZR .20g BBs,

and I’m pleased to report that now everything is

settled, this power level has remained consistent, with

a fluctuation of just 3-5 fps over extended testing

strings. This bodes well for the longevity of the Mk18,

but I’ll continue to check this at regular intervals in the

future. I would note that I have also tried the Mk18

with many different brands of AR-style magazine now,

both Mids and His, and most brands will fit in the well

securely, and the Mk18 appears to feed well from

anything you put into it… a real win for team “mag

sharing” scenarios!

IN WITH THE NEW!

Now that’s all well and good, and the original ICS

“FURTHER RANGETIME HAS PROVED THAT MY INITIAL ASSESSMENT WAS TOTALLY

CORRECT, AND IN TRUTH AFTER SEVERAL THOUSAND BBS HAVE NOW BEEN PUT

THROUGH ORIGINAL MK18, IF ANYTHING IT’S BETTER THAN IT WAS WHEN IT FIRST

ARRIVED WITH ME, AND IT’S BEEN MY PLATFORM OF CHOICE WHEN I’VE RUN OUT IN

MY MULTICAM GEAR!”

www.airsoftaction.net 9

ARMOURY


Mk18 is one rocking bit of kit that not only

looks great, but performs superbly… but I’ll

return to that statement I made back in my

initial review, “if this is the shape of things

to come from ICS in the future then I’m

super-excited to see what they come up with next!”

And my excitement has definitely paid off now with

ICS introducing TWO new DANIEL DEFENSE AEGs to

their line, the EMG X DANIEL DEFENSE LICENSED DD4

MK18 RIII S3 and the DDM4 PDW S3!

Now the real DD4 RIII comes in several different

configurations with different lengths of the new

RIS III rail, one that has been modelled after their

revolutionary RIS II two-piece handguard developed

for USSOCOM, which features an M-LOK attachment

system for lighter weight and greater versatility. But

of course the one we’re interested in here is the DD4

MK18 RIII SBR, and Daniel Defense tell me on their

website that...

“The rest is all MK18, including a 10.3-inch Cold

Hammer Forged barrel, the same length found in

the MK18 upper most commonly used for CQB

operations. An independently ambidextrous GRIP-

N-RIP Charging Handle accommodates left- and

right-handed shooters, and

the rifle comes with our

ergonomic

Daniel

Defense

Buttstock and

Pistol Grip.”

And from what I can see

ICS have got this 100% right, as the new AEG looks

amazing! What you get with the new MK18 “RIS

III” is an EMG-Licensed Daniel Defense DD4 MK18

RIII 9.55” Handguard, EMG-Licensed Daniel Defense

DD4 MK18 RIII Body Lettering, and the EMG ZETA

Grip/Stock combo which faithfully replicates the

unique Daniel Defense buttstock and pistol grip…

the DD4 MK18 AEG really does look a million dollars,

and EMG/Daniel Defense must be extremely happy

and satisfied that the “real” has been so faithfully

replicated in airsoft-form.

But what of the DDM4 PDW S3? Well, this little

handful of joy is quite the ticket! Many moons ago I

tried to recreate a super-short AR platform called the

NOVESKE DIPLOMAT, and kind

of succeeded, but the DDM4 PDW S3 gives

me everything that I wanted from that old

build of mine… plus a LOT more!

The real DDM4 PDW SBR comes in 300

Blackout, with a 7 inch 300 Blackout Cold

Hammer Forged barrel that provides “great

ballistics for such a short barrel using subsonic

loads”, or so I’m told. The real PDW SBR comes

with a Maxim Defense CQB Gen 7 stock and

6 inch MFR XL front rail for fast handling

in tight spaces, and Daniel Defense say

“compact and easy to transport, the Daniel

Defense DDM4 PDW Short Barrel Rifle is

the kind of AR15 style firearm you can rely

on for home and personal defense...plus

it’s a ton of fun to shoot.”

And the same can be said of the ICS

AEG replica of this superb little PDW! Once again

you get some superb replications using the

EMG-Licensed Daniel Defense M4 MFR XL 6”

Handguard, EMG-Licensed Daniel Defense

M4 PDW Body Lettering, and the EMG ZETA

Grip, although with the DDM4 AEG you get

an ICS PDW stock rather than the Maxim one…

but that’s a GOOD THING as the ICS stock

looks spot-on, works brilliantly, holds a good

size LiPo that’s easy to change out in the wild,

and IS ACTUALLY LONG ENOUGH FOR ME

when fully deployed!

Another really interesting point to note is

the Linear Compensator fitted as standard,

“THE DD4 MK18 AEG REALLY DOES LOOK A MILLION DOLLARS, AND EMG/

DANIEL DEFENSE MUST BE EXTREMELY HAPPY AND SATISFIED THAT THE “REAL” HAS

BEEN SO FAITHFULLY REPLICATED IN AIRSOFT-FORM”

10


ARMOURY


footprint” is absolutely

minimal; if you’re a

CQB-beast, then you will

love the PDW as much

as I do.

which is a

REALLY nice touch and

looks amazing, and

it’s kind of why the

PDW reminds me

a little of the old

NOVESKE

with the “Sound

Hog”; the

difference is

that a typical

muzzle brake

vents gases out

to the side,

whilst the Linear

Compensator

directs blast force

forward, both

reducing the

lateral signature (a good

thing in tight spaces!) and helping to reduce perceived

recoil (probably also a good thing for such a shortbarrelled

platform using 300 BLK!).

I’ve gotta say that while I adore the new Mk18, I

totally love the PDW!

Now those that

NOT usually

fanboi as I find

too short for my

the ICS version

and once you get

up correctly it is

manipulate well,

know me would

scratch their heads

a bit I believe, as I

am most definitely

an airsoft PDW

the sliding stocks

ape-arms, but

works for me,

the PDW set

insanely easy to

and the “workspace

KEEPING THINGS

ROCKIN’

Internally

(on both models), the

tried and

tested ICS SSS-System and

the Smart

Trigger work flawlessly.

In Full-Auto mode, you’ll fire continuously in fullauto

if the trigger is held down, and the DD’s will

fire three round bursts on semi if you give it a single

tap once you have it set up. The Unique SSS Trigger

system offers you the choice of four firing modes

between Safe – Semi/3 Round Burst, and Full Auto

through the fire selector and is controlled by a microchip

in the trigger system. The Short Stroke Trigger

that works with the pre-cocking feature of the SSS

E-trigger effectively reduces the trigger travel distance,

increases the rate of fire, and greatly enhances

responsiveness.

And this is most definitely something that the team

and I have commented on before when it comes to

ICS AEGs, that

the trigger is

light yet crisp;

everyone to

have tried

the DDs

thus far has

commented

both on the

feel of the

trigger, and

indeed on the

quietness of

the AEG overall

when in operation.

The motor sounds as if

it is perfectly set and balanced, with no

whine or “drag”, and the gearbox is whisper-quiet

indicating that everything is mated properly and

working together efficiently.

“WITH THE DDM4 AEG YOU GET AN ICS PDW STOCK RATHER THAN THE MAXIM ONE…

BUT THAT’S A GOOD THING AS THE ICS STOCK LOOKS SPOT-ON, WORKS BRILLIANTLY,

HOLDS A GOOD SIZE LIPO THAT’S EASY TO CHANGE OUT IN THE WILD, AND IS

ACTUALLY LONG ENOUGH FOR ME WHEN FULLY DEPLOYED!”


ARMOURY


And once again ICS have in no way scrimped on

the other internals in the two new AEGs as they come

“pre-upgraded” (the new ICS “normal” so it would

seem!) with a QD spring guide, one-piece metal

hop chamber, MASTER MODS reinforced full-metaltoothed

piston, MASTER MODS AL6061 cylinder

head, piston head, and nozzle, and a MASTER MODS

hop tensioner nub. Everything is driven along by their

excellent high-torque motor, and I have to tell you it

all works seamlessly together!

DOWNRANGE

Both the new models come into the aim surprisingly

easily, and with a quick “click” it’s safety off and

onto the target. Both models chrono’d in at a very

respectable, consistent and sight-friendly 1.03

Joule/334fps using .20g BBs and once the hop was set

it was accurate enough for me! Switching up to full

auto gives a crisp response from that excellent trigger

and sends the bolt cover, the electronic blowback

component (also neatly marked with the Daniel

Defense logo) clattering happily back and forth.

Neither the DD4 MK18 or the DDM4 PDW come

with iron sights fitted, so this is something you may

wish to add yourself; I personally always like to cowitness

irons with any optic. In this case I fitted a holo

sight to the Mk18 and put a T1-style onto the PDW

for testing, and at 10m both AEGs created groupings

that were tighty-tight, whilst at 30m I was happily

hitting my sandbags; the BB trajectory was pleasingly

flat, with .20g just spinning off at around the 50m

mark. This was easily rectified by moving up to .28g

BBs and re-setting the hop, which results in a clean

“flat to fifty” BB-flight.

A couple of months into testing, and with several

thousand BBs downrange, my respect for what ICS

continue to create has grown even further, and that’s

saying something as I’ll admit I’m a long-term fan of

the brand! As I’ve said many times before I do like

an ICS AEG, especially the Mk18 variants but the

new PDW has really, REALLY grown on me; it’s light,

ergonomic, perfectly balanced, has great controls and

easy-to-use-features, and thus far it’s proved internally

superb. It’s also accurate, with a range on a .28g BB

easily in excess of my metre woods range, and has a

“THE TRIGGER IS LIGHT YET CRISP; EVERYONE TO HAVE TRIED THE DD’S THUS

FAR HAS COMMENTED BOTH ON THE FEEL OF THE TRIGGER, AND INDEED ON THE

QUIETNESS OF THE AEG OVERALL WHEN IN OPERATION. THE MOTOR SOUNDS AS IF IT

IS PERFECTLY SET AND BALANCED”

12


ARMOURY


great ROF on an 11.1 LiPo for those moments when

you need a lot of BBs downrange fast to suppress.

In conclusion, in my opinion ICS have got

everything 100% right with these new models, and

there’s already a couple of members in the Red Cell

crew that have placed the DD4 MK18 RIII S3 on their

wishlist for “modern opr8r duty”. All I can suggest

to you is that if you’re in the market for a thoroughly

up-to-the-minute, beautifully-replicated Mk18 you get

down to your local store as soon as you see them in

stock and try one for yourself… trust me though, you

WILL be buying one if you do! If you’re an out-and

out CQB monster then the PDW will undoubtedly be

the one for you, but with the two new models I truly

believe that you’ll be spoiled for choice!

Once again, my sincere thanks go to ICS Airsoft for

kindly providing early test models for us; please do

be sure to visit www.icsbb.com and their social media

channels to get the very latest on the release of the

EMG X DANIEL DEFENSE models, and much, much

more! AA

“IN MY OPINION ICS HAVE GOT EVERYTHING 100% RIGHT WITH THESE NEW MODELS,

AND THERE’S ALREADY A COUPLE OF MEMBERS IN THE RED CELL CREW THAT HAVE

PLACED THE DD4 MK18 RIII S3 ON THEIR WISHLIST FOR “MODERN OPR8R DUTY””


ARMOURY

KWA ATP-Z GBB

NEXT

LEVEL

KWA!

16


ARMOURY

CYBERGUN/BOLT KWA BRSS ATP-Z SCAR-SC GBB

KWA ARE BEST KNOWN FOR THEIR SUPERB RECOIL-SYSTEM PLATFORMS, ALONG WITH SOME

ABSOLUTELY SPOT-ON GBBRS AND WE’VE HAD THE GREAT PLEASURE TO WORK WITH BOTH SYSTEMS

EXTENSIVELY! HOWEVER, MORE AND MORE THEY HAVE CONCENTRATED ON “AIRSOFT-FOR-

TRAINING”, AND NOW DAN TAKES A VERY CLOSE LOOK AT THEIR LATEST HANDGUN, WHAT KWA

CALL “THE ULTIMATE TRAINING COMPANION”, THE ATP-Z!

Well Airsoft Action readers, it’s certainly been

a hot minute since we’ve been graced

with a new GBB pistol release from KWA

Performance Industries!

KWA’s hugely popular ATP series, which featured

the venerable NS2 system has been an established

staple for many an airsoft player for years now. But,

never one to rest on their laurels for long, KWA has

been quietly cooking behind the scenes on an update

to NS2 system. It was in fact during SHOT 2024 that

we received our first real look at this new system in

the form of the ATP-GT and ATP-Z, both being built

around the newly christened NS3 system. At long last,

production has kicked into high gear and the newly

revamped ATP series has begun to find its way into

players hands!

Keen as I was to check out the ATP-GT, which

itself is essentially a product-improved version of the

original ATP and still very much containing some of

that Glock-DNA in its architecture, I was keener still

on examining the ATP-Z more. This is an entirely new

design from KWA, albeit still very much based on an

existing real steel model; in this case the SIG M17/320

series of polymer-framed semi-auto pistols.

Much like its real steel counterpart, the ATP-Z

features a full metal slide, outer barrel, and Optics-

Ready (OR) mounting interface paired to a polymer

frame, all of which is designed around the same

principle of modular components; we’ll of course

get into that modularity part a little later. Like the

M17, the ATP-Z is a hammerless design, with simple

ambidextrous controls consisting of a manual thumb

safety, slide release lever and a reversible magazine

release button.

The frame itself is crafted from the same polymer

blend KWA uses in the KO:EVE series, which is to

say it’s both impeccably finished and very durable. A

standard 1913 rail rides on the front for mounting

your flashlight or LAM units, while a removable rear

panel for the back of the grip is present. At this stage,

there are not any plans for different thicknesses of

grip panel, but it’s something that might happen in

the future. As on the real M17, the magazine well has

a nice bit of flaring to help guide the magazine home.

The magazine boasts an impressive 30 BB capacity

and has the classic KWA follower catch that locks

the follower down to allow for easier loading of the

magazine.

The ATP-Z’s grip is something that must be talked

about here...

I have handled many a pistol over my lifetime, but

few have pointed so naturally in the hand as the ATP-Z

does. The grip appears to retain the same shallow 16°

degree grip angle the SIG M17 has but suffice it to

say, when you bring the ATP-Z up to your eyes, the

entire ensemble sits flat and level with the sights just

lining up with nary a grip correction or adjustment.

The ATP-Z points so naturally that it feels almost

supernatural, like an extension of your arm, even.

In conventional terms, you might describe this

as a large-frame handgun, certainly existing firmly

in the realm of duty / service sized semi-auto’s and

not among the smaller compacts or concealable

pistols. No doubt this is attributable to the higher

bore-axis, full-length slide and extended magazine.

Ergonomically speaking, it is however, very

comfortable to hold and handle and it does not feel

overly massive in the hands. I would feel confident

in saying this pistol should find appeal with the vast

majority of shooters and it will also feel comfortable

to a wide range of hand sizes.

Moving back to other exterior details; the slide has

both the standard rear serrations as well as similar up

front. I somewhat wish for slightly more aggressive

“THE FRAME IS CRAFTED FROM THE SAME POLYMER BLEND KWA USES IN THE KO:EVE

SERIES, WHICH IS TO SAY IT’S BOTH IMPECCABLY FINISHED AND VERY DURABLE.

A STANDARD 1913 RAIL RIDES ON THE FRONT FOR MOUNTING YOUR FLASHLIGHT

OR LAM UNITS, WHILE A REMOVABLE REAR PANEL FOR THE BACK OF THE GRIP IS

PRESENT”


ARMOURY

KWA ATP-Z GBB

serrations here,

but they do the

job, and I am

probably spoiled

by the rather

aggressive grip my

RWA Agency NOC

slide offers. The

finish appears to be

based around some

kind of blackening

process and not

the satin paint that

previous KWA pistols

utilized.

Overall, it looks quite a

bit nicer in the fit and finish

department than past

designs. Most will remember past KWA iterations

have always used plastic outer barrels, but here the

ATP-Z surprises us with a full metal outer barrel. The

anodized orange tip is removable with a bit of heat

to break the thread locker loose. KWA has confirmed

they plan to release black tips at a later date.

As mentioned, this is an Optics-Ready (OR) slide,

which has a cover plate installed out of the box.

KWA includes a universal adapter plate which will

accommodate the vast majority of red dot optics

out there. And finally, a simple 3-dot style iron sight

arrangement finishes it out. I generally prefer just a

dot front and

a blacked out rear, but this isn’t obtrusive

and it also appears to be something I

could easily modify with a paint pen

too. KWA will also be offering a set of

suppressor-height irons later this year,

which for those of us running Trijicon RMR style

optics, will definitely be needed.

While the optics plate allows for a huge variety of

RDOs to be mounted, I did discover that the relative

industry-standard RMR footprint encounters an issue

with the factory rear sight that precludes being able

to mount it. Essentially with where the holes for the

RMR sit, the back of your RMR will hit the rear sight.

Reportedly the suppressor-height sights will remedy

this issue as they have a cutout that will clear the

body of the RMR. As all I really own is RMR pattern

optics, I was unfortunately not able to mount an optic

to the slide for this review.

RANGING IN

For the purposes of this review, I elected to shoot the

ATP-Z as it came straight from the box, and as most

users would likely do too. I am well familiar with the

performance and expectations for KWA’s previous

GBB pistol entries, so I had some ‘expectations’ going

forward. For many years I rocked a KWA USP Tactical,

then its more modern sister, the HK45. Both proved

themselves to be tanks, albeit maybe not the most

accurate or efficient pistols out there, but dead-on

reliable nonetheless, so I was quite curious to see how

the ATP-Z and more specifically, the NS3 system stacks

up.

After gassing up the magazine with propane and

filling it with some .20g’s I took it to the chrono

where it registered an average of 0.82 Joule/298 FPS

“WHEN YOU BRING THE ATP-Z UP TO YOUR EYES, THE ENTIRE ENSEMBLE SITS FLAT

AND LEVEL WITH THE SIGHTS JUST LINING UP WITH NARY A GRIP CORRECTION

OR ADJUSTMENT. THE ATP-Z POINTS SO NATURALLY THAT IT FEELS ALMOST

SUPERNATURAL, LIKE AN EXTENSION OF YOUR ARM”

18


ARMOURY

KWA ATP-Z GBB

with

around

a 5 - 8~ FPS spread. It was during

chrono testing that I was noticing a bit

of an issue with the trigger; it felt kind

of gritty. Maybe it just needed to be

broken in though; I cycled it by hand

and dry fired it some, which seemed to help a

little, but not completely improve it. I resolved to look

into a little deeper after I finished with the rest of the

test firing cycle.

Recoil-wise, this feels like it kicks a little harder

and crisper than what I remember of my HK45 and

USP Tactical. Efficiency-wise, I had no issues running

to solid slide-lock on a single fill of propane and all

30 BBs. This also cycled without hiccups despite the

colder 34°F temps we’re currently experiencing this

winter.

I switched out to .30g’s, which is what I’d normally

run through my sidearms and took it to the range

next. Now, and to the delight of KWA GBB pistol

owners everywhere, it should be noted that the NS3

system’s hopup design is entirely toolless! Technically

you can adjust the hopup through the ejection port

area if the magazine is removed, but I found it a little

easier to simply remove the slide and adjust the hopup

wheel where I had more room to get my fingers on

it. The slide itself is removable by simply rotating the

takedown lever until it hits its stop and pulling the

slide straight off. Quick and easy.

After a little test/adjustment, I had it dialed in with

the .30g’s in short stead and it was (surprisingly!)

effectively slinging them out there to the end of

my 80 yard testing range. I was experiencing a wee

bit of ‘wobble’ and variance with trajectory, but it

was most assuredly capable of far more range than

I’ve ever experienced with previous KWA pistols. I

had a suspicion that there was probably silicone oil

contamination

in the bore,

which was

probably

contributing to

some of the weird

trajectory I was

seeing.

BACK TO THE

WORKBENCH

This indeed proved to be

the case when I took it

apart for inspection and

found the bucking and

bore wet with silicone oil.

At this point I elected to fully disassemble the

chamber, clean it all up and rebuild it. I was pleasantly

surprised to note that this is an entirely new hopup

design from KWA; unlike their old versions which

used the rotary drum and tiny ball bearing (plus the

infamous tool that always seemed to go MIA) to

adjust hop, this new design is essentially a TDC - or

Top Down Center - design, applying vertical pressure

against a conventional AEG style nub.

After wiping out all of the lube, resetting the

bucking and barrel and putting it all back together,

“FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS REVIEW, I ELECTED TO SHOOT THE ATP-Z AS IT CAME

STRAIGHT FROM THE BOX, AND AS MOST USERS WOULD LIKELY DO TOO. I AM WELL

FAMILIAR WITH THE PERFORMANCE AND EXPECTATIONS FOR KWA’S PREVIOUS GBB

PISTOL ENTRIES, SO I HAD SOME ‘EXPECTATIONS’ GOING FORWARD”


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KWA ATP-Z GBB

I couldn’t help but observe how easily the hopup

adjustment wheel was able to move. Maybe I was

being overly cautious, but I like a little bit of tension

on the hopup wheel to prevent unintentional

movement. It turned out that a 0.2mm AEG shim

fits perfectly on the bottom of the wheel and this

provided just the right amount of tension I was

looking for to ease my nervous qualms.

Since I had it open, I took at glance at the trigger

assembly to see if I could note anything amiss with

the gritty trigger I was feeling. After some careful

inspection I determined the issue emanated specifically

from up front where the trigger pivots and engages

the trigger bar. I sprayed it out with some cleaner,

let it air dry and then applied some ALG Go-Juice to

the moving parts. This proved to do the trick and the

previous gritty feeling had completely evaporated. The

trigger felt markedly improved and quite nice now.

With it all cleaned up, I think the honest assessment

of the trigger is that there’s about a 1/8” of takeup to

“the wall” followed by an easy 3.5 lbs crisp break.

I took it back out to the range and this time

was happy to see the groups had tightened up

considerably and I was no longer experiencing any

weird BB trajectories. Just a classic case of overlubrication!

I was curious to see what kind of BB weights the

hopup would handle and subsequently ran both

.40g’s and .48g’s through it without running out of

hopup adjustment. I suspect even .50g’s wouldn’t be

a problem for this hopup, but I had none on hand

to try. All that to say: this is without question one

of the most accurate and farthest shooting bone

stock GBB pistols I’ve had the pleasure of using. It

is unquestionably leaps above the old KWA hopup

design and should be the baseline metric they use

moving forward.

INTERNALLY COOL

So what’s at the heart of the NS3 system?

Aside from the new chamber and hopup design,

this also takes a firm whack at evolving the blowback

unit design. This is designed to come out as a

complete self-contained unit, so there’s no fiddly

springs to go flying into the ether. Unlike traditional

“RECOIL-WISE, THIS FEELS LIKE IT KICKS A LITTLE HARDER AND CRISPER THAN WHAT

I REMEMBER OF MY HK45 AND USP TACTICAL. EFFICIENCY-WISE, I HAD NO ISSUES

RUNNING TO SOLID SLIDE-LOCK ON A SINGLE FILL OF PROPANE AND ALL 30 BBS.

THIS ALSO CYCLED WITHOUT HICCUPS DESPITE THE COLDER 34°F TEMPS WE’RE

CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING THIS WINTER”

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KWA ATP-Z GBB

blowback units, the NS3 setup reverses the mounting

of the piston lid, which is now mounted to the back

of the nozzle unit itself.

There’s a single beefy nozzle return spring that rides

right through the center of the piston lid, underneath

which is another O-ring that helps seal the interior

cavity of the nozzle. I’m actually quite pleased to see

this nozzle spring revision as several previous KWA

designs have used some incredibly tiny nozzle springs

that were known to be fragile. The rocket valve is

still machined from billet aluminum and looks to be

pretty similar to past iterations. The nozzle walls are

considerably thicker than most GBB nozzles are, and

the overall design appears to be quite robust.

On the underside, there’s a nicely fenced square gas

inlet that dovetails neatly into the gas router on the

magazine.

We’ve already discussed the new and improved

hop up design, so I won’t dive into that again. The

inner barrel itself looks to be around a 6.05mm bore

diameter and near as I can tell is plated brass. The

recoil rod is a simple affair made from polymer and

is a non-captured style reminiscent of old school

SIG P-Series pistols. This design allows for easy

replacement of the recoil spring, but conversely

you need to be careful to not send

it flying when performing

maintenance.

One aspect

of the

ATP-Z I can

really appreciate is the

modular Fire Control Unit. The

entire apparatus - slide rails, trigger, firing

assembly, safety, etc. - comes out as a single

self-contained unit. All of this is accomplished

by simply pulling out the takedown lever and pulling

the entire FCU straight out of the frame. This allows

not just for greatly streamlined disassembly, but also

the ability to transfer the FCU over to the ATP-Z

Carbine Kit, which I will talk about shortly. The

components look to be well-made and finished out to

a higher degree of refinement than past examples.

This modular trigger design would seem to invite

possibility of different types of trigger modules too…

say, a full auto FCU for the carbine kit, perhaps? Time

will tell what the market delivers, of course.

CARBINE READY

The carbine kit is a conversion option available for

both

the ATP-Z and the GT models

respectively, each with

their own

distinctively unique

styling.

In the case of the

ATP-Z’s

chassis kit,

this takes

a strong

design cue

from

the Flux

Raider

chassis

kit.

This is

built around the

same grip angle

and design

philosophy

the pistol is,

but with added

storage for a

spare magazine

and the

additional

stability a

stock affords

the operator.

The additional

magazine stowage also

acts as a convenient vertical grip for the

“I HAD IT DIALED IN WITH THE .30G’S IN SHORT STEAD AND IT WAS

(SURPRISINGLY!) EFFECTIVELY SLINGING

THEM OUT THERE TO THE END

OF MY 80 YARD TESTING RANGE. I

WAS EXPERIENCING A WEE BIT OF

‘WOBBLE’ AND VARIANCE WITH TRAJECTORY, BUT IT WAS MOST ASSUREDLY CAPABLE

OF FAR MORE RANGE THAN I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED WITH PREVIOUS KWA PISTOLS”


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KWA ATP-Z GBB

support hand, while a standard 1913 rail interface

is found just in front. The spare magazine can be

discharged via an ambidextrous magazine release that

will feel eminently familiar to anyone who runs an M4

platform.

There is a metal insert that functions as sort of a

counterbalance weight, but is also threaded for 11mm

threaded adapters. So one could easily attach a tracer

unit or mock-suppressor and take the strain off the

actual barrel of the pistol itself. Being that it’s a simple

unit screwed to the chassis, you can also remove it

entirely if wanting to shave a little more weight.

The rear of the chassis sports a single-position

sliding stock. This has a nice little cutout for clearing

your hand when the stock is fully collapsed. Provided

you are a righty, you can comfortably fire this with the

stock collapsed; even offhand if one wishes. Lefties

will sadly have to adapt their dominant hand or run

it extended for the most part. To extend the stock,

simply pull it straight out until it latches in place. The

stock is remarkably stable despite its thin appearance.

Just above this area is a section of the chassis that

wraps over the top of the pistol slide to form another

1913 rail for mounting an optic. There are a pair of

QD sling swivel sockets bolted up here too, both

blessedly made of steel. I found the Magpul MS1 with

the QD sling swivel to be a perfect complimentary

sling to this package. The entire affair is relatively

compact and weighs only 2.6 lbs without magazine(s).

I feel this would make for an excellent PDWtype

concept where one might want a little more

firepower, stability and accuracy than what solely a

pistol might provide.

Unlike some chassis kits, there are no provisions for

a cocking knob or charging handle to be fitted to the

slide. Instead, one simply makes use of the forward

slide serrations to accomplish the same purpose,

gripping it ‘caveman’ style with a c-clamp grip and

driving it rearward. Simple and effective.

I think if I were to reach for any “gripes” it might

be that I would’ve wished for the optics rail to be

a bolt on component. This would’ve allowed the

end user to continue to run their RDO on the slide,

whereas when you have the slide fitted to the carbine

kit you will have to remove your optic and mount

something else to the carbine kit via a picatinny

interface. That being said, you could of course leave

an optic slaved to the carbine kit full time and it will

always be zeroed to the chassis.

The only other change I might’ve made would be

to bevel the leading edges of the stock rails instead of

the hard 90° edges presently there. When collapsing

the stock in, that forward edge can rake across the

top of your hand a bit. This would probably be of no

real concern when wearing gloves, however.

Overall, I rate the carbine kit as a fantastic accessory

for the ATP-Z, which adds even more versatility to an

already versatile system.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Summarizing the ATP-Z into a final few words here, I

find it to be an exemplary GBB pistol. It is more than

capable of turning in class-leading performance,

while boasting a plethora of smart features and clever

design. With the ability to transfer the FCU from the

pistol frame to the carbine kit, you conceivably have

an airsoft sidearm for all seasons and occasions. I am

seriously hoping that the aftermarket does not sleep

on this pistol as they have with so many past KWA

designs because there is a lot of untapped future

potential here for different upgrades.

I am looking forward to fielding the ATP-Z in a more

intensive capacity this upcoming year and putting

some hard mileage on it to see how it holds up. For

this article review, I put just over 1,000 BBs through

it, running straight propane, and without a hiccup in

both standalone mode and fitted to the carbine kit.

While not a huge amount of fire in the grand scheme

of things, I feel I can confidently provide my positive

endorsement based on its reliability, accuracy and

performance.

For anyone considering an upgrade from their

existing sidearm or looking to get into a new one, I’d

wholeheartedly recommend the ATP-Z as one to keep

on your radar!

I purchased the ATP-Z and Carbine Kit from my

own funds for the purpose of this review, and nothing

was arranged or furnished for review on KWA’s behalf,

although if you’d like to know more direct from them

then you’ll find the ATP-Z featured on https://store.

kwausa.com. AA

“ONE ASPECT OF THE ATP-Z I CAN REALLY APPRECIATE IS THE MODULAR FIRE

CONTROL UNIT. THE ENTIRE APPARATUS - SLIDE RAILS, TRIGGER, FIRING ASSEMBLY,

SAFETY, ETC. - COMES OUT AS A SINGLE SELF-CONTAINED UNIT. ALL OF THIS IS

ACCOMPLISHED BY SIMPLY PULLING OUT THE TAKEDOWN LEVER AND PULLING THE

ENTIRE FCU STRAIGHT OUT OF THE FRAME”

22


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KWA ATP-Z GBB

“SUMMARIZING THE ATP-Z INTO A FINAL FEW WORDS HERE, I FIND IT TO BE AN

EXEMPLARY GBB PISTOL. IT IS MORE THAN CAPABLE OF TURNING IN CLASS-LEADING

PERFORMANCE, WHILE BOASTING A PLETHORA OF SMART FEATURES AND CLEVER

DESIGN”


TAP/CLICK FOR MORE INFORMATION


ARMOURY

SPECNA ARMS SA-J02 EDGE ASTER V3

THE OPFOR

EDGE

26


ARMOURY

SPECNA CYBERGUN/BOLT ARMS SA-J02 EDGE BRSS ASTER SCAR-SC V3

SPECNA ARMS HAVE BEEN ROLLING OUT AR-STYLE AEGS AT ONE HELL OF A PACE BOTH

HISTORICALLY AND INDEED MORE RECENTLY, AND WE’VE BEEN VERY IMPRESSED WITH ALL THE

TECHNOLOGY THEY’VE BAKED-IN AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THIS PROGRAM! HOWEVER, THE AK-

INSPIRED “J-SERIES” AEGS HAVE NOW ALSO HAD SOME LOVE, AND OUR RESIDENT “AK GEEK” BILL

HAS BEEN PUTTING ONE OF THE NEW MODELS, THE SA-J02 EDGE ASTER V3 THROUGH ITS PACES!

Specna Arms have really been making the moves

in the last year, and are aggressively pushing

things forward in both their offering of airsoft

platforms, and in how they get them to us too!

Being based in the UK it has become a little more

difficult for us to access many mainland-European

brands, especially the smaller ones, but when you’re

the size that Specna Arms are now (and they’re

STILL growing!) you can actually do something

about making sure that your products get to where

they should be, and the recent opening of a UK

Warehouse means that they are 100% committed

to players here, as they seem to be to players

everywhere!

However, watching them spread their wings

across the world has been truly fascinating and

inspirational, and the recent release of the latest

PRIME AEG models that we’ve covered solidly here

in AA has wow’d players globally all over again.

Specna Arms are never a brand that have stood still,


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but the way in which they’re enervating the market

internationally right now is something that we’re

watching very closely indeed.

It’s got to be said that Specna Arms AEGs

are just getting better and better, with levels of

personalization and performance that even a couple

of years ago I wouldn’t have believed possible in

an AEG! As much as I have slight concerns that we

are all getting just a little TOO fixated and reliant on

all the “shiny electrical wizard shizzle” and gizmos

that go inside our favourite AEG platforms, Specna

Arms continue to impress even the most seasoned

of players, including a number of the Airsoft Action

Crew, with their current external build-quality and

what is included in the package with internals as

standard, featuring state-of-the-industry components

along with their ESA quick-change-spring function.

But it’s not just the “AR” platforms that have been

getting some love from Specna Arms over the last

year; I’m certainly VERY pleased to see that they’ve

given their AK-style platforms a bit of attention too,

making some tweaks to their existing J-SERIES (I never

knew why they didn’t call it K-SERIES but there you

go!) models that I looked at first way back in ISSUE

113 to bring even greater performance, along with

providing even better value and making our hardearned

“airsoft buck” go further!

Although the focus for most airsoft brands is firmly

in “AR-territory”, and we can all understand why

this is, some of us, especially those that play OPFOR

regularly, still have an abiding passion for those old

“Eastern Bloc” rifles, carbines, and SMGs, and it’s

great to see that although Specna Arms have invested

heavily in making their AR-styles as good as they can

be, they haven’t forgotten about “us others”.

One area initially that had been missing from their

early-days offering was the not-so-humble-any-more

Kalashnikov, but I was overjoyed when they addressed

this with the launch of their “J-SERIES”; with an initial

eight variants/models that brought a little warm glow

to my otherwise stony old heart, they pulled this back

to a tight series of core models that have continued to

perform well both in-game and in the marketplace.

Now I love firearms of all kinds, and have done

pretty much all my life. When I was 14 or 15 I

wanted to be a gunsmith, and I even looked at

apprenticeships until my family convinced me that

going onto higher education was a better idea; nearly

45 years on, and here I am writing about… firearms,

albeit replicas rather than real! Bottom line, what is

meant to be, will be, but when it comes to playing

airsoft, even with many of the stunning firearm

models around the world, both military and civilian,

now available in airsoft-form my OPFOR-heart belongs

to “Comrade Mikhail”!

Ever since I first laid my hands on a real AK-47

many, many years ago in Africa I’ve been sold, the

“Joy of AK” transcending even my boyhood love for

the SMLE, L1A1, and FN FAL. Of course, I have an

armoury of ARs like we all do, but whenever I see a

new “AK” hit the market I’m super-drooly-keen to get

my OPFOR mitts on it… and thanks to Specna Arms I

now have their all new SA-J02 EDGE ASTER V3 (classic

AK-74 to my fellow gun-bunnies!) to talk about!

MODERN CLASSIC

To this day the AK/AKS-74 is still used by most

countries of the former Soviet Union; licensed copies

were, and are, also produced in Bulgaria (AK-74, AKS-

74 and AKS-74U), and East Germany (MPi-AK-74N,

MPi-AKS-74N, MPi-AKS-74NK), and of course these

have found their way into the hands of soldiers and

fighters worldwide, so it’s a very important replica to

my mind!

Of course, Specna Arms released their “AK-74” a

while ago as the SA-J02 EDGE, and along with the

J04 (AKS-74) and the J08 (AKS 105-style) models

(of which I already own the two “folders”!), they

gave us OPFOR player some very well-priced, solidlyperforming

AEGs to get in-game with.

When I received the first Specna Arms J04 replica

“AKS-74”from my friends at Gunfire, one of the very

first things I noted was the overall “feel” of the rifle,

as it had, at 3,400g, a really good weight to it. All

the parts that should be were metal, and indeed steel

parts included the receiver, top cover, outer barrel,

trigger guard, magazine latch, fire mode selector

plate, gas block, muzzle brake, sling loop and plate

on the stock, rear sight, cleaning rod, stock latch,

stock, and pins and rivets. Even where steel was not

used, all parts were alloy with a special coating used

“IT’S GOT TO BE SAID THAT SPECNA ARMS AEGS ARE JUST GETTING BETTER AND

BETTER, WITH LEVELS OF PERSONALIZATION AND PERFORMANCE THAT EVEN A

COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I WOULDN’T HAVE BELIEVED POSSIBLE IN AN AEG!”

28


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in the finishing process which gave a very realistic

appearance overall.

There was a black polymer pistol grip, and the

wood handguards were a much better colour than

some of the “orange” versions that we still see all

too often on AKs with a keen pricepoint, as on the

J04 they were a very rich brown, almost “chestnut”,

hue. To sum things up externally the finish of the rifle

was very good throughout to be honest, and it is still

absolutely solid as a rock with not a wobble or a creak

apparent anywhere.

Internally, Specna Arms have generally had a great

reputation for using quality parts and the V3 ORION

in the J04 has largely proved to be a sound unit. I had

high hopes for the longevity of the V3, and along

with a reinforced, steel-toothed polymer piston, an

aluminium double air-sealed cylinder head, aluminium

double air-sealed piston head with bearings, 7mm

bearings and steel gears, the internals of both the J04

and J08 have stood the test of time and abuse!

As I said at the time though, “all of these ARE

tried and tested components so you’re on pretty solid

ground with them. One of the things that is absent

from the J-Series is the GATE Mosfet, but could

Specna Arms be holding this back for some reason?

Only time will tell…” - and it appears that I’ve been

proved right as new technology has moved ever

onwards, and Specna Arms have embraced it!

When I met with Trent (who is now looking after

all things “Specna” in the UK these days) just after

Christmas, he presented me with the latest in the

J-SERIES, the SA-J02 EDGE ASTER V3, and this model

(along with the other new J-SERIES) moves things

up a considerable notch! Although the new J02

still benefits from the excellent ESA quick-springreplacement

system, it also comes now with a preinstalled

GATE ASTER V3 system and a reinforced

ORION V3 Gearbox to provide even more options and

reliability!

We’ve already spoken a lot about the GATE ASTER

V3 and what you can achieve with it, but along with

the updated ORION V3 this really is an outstanding

package now!

Marrying up great externals with cutting-edge

internals, in my opinion, puts the J-SERIES right up

there where it should be, and the best news is that

even with the improvements the new J02 is pretty

much the same mid-range price as the original one!

DOWNRANGE

The new J02 comes as usual with a pair of solid

“S-MAG” mid-cap logo’d magazines which are

finished in a nice matt colour rather than the brighter

hue you sometimes find with AK-feeders.

The inclusion of two mags to me suggests, as does

the keen pricepoint, that the J02 is aimed at the

entry-level OPFOR player, or the player who wants a

“second” or OPFOR platform and doesn’t want to

break the bank. I’m pleased to report though, that all

my AK mags from different brands fit and function

well. I often find that, other than steel versions, AK

middies feel a little insubstantial and even “flimsy”,

but the Specna Arms versions are solid and feel

good in the hand, and they fit and feed well. One

associated feature I really like though, is one that you

may easily miss, and that’s the little locating plate in

the magwell that lets you easily rock-in and seat your

magazine… plus points here Specna Arms, as this will

really help new AK users!

The full-butt, 3,545g J02 has standard AK-74 iron

(steel) sights, but if you fancy fitting an optic then one

additional feature that comes as standard is an AK

sight mount on the left hand side of the lower (you’ll

need to buy the correct sight rail to clamp to this

though).

On the range AK-74s have always given me very

respectable performance, and given the 460mm inner

barrel, the J02 shows pretty solid range and accuracy

too.

First I ran the J02 through the chrono on .20g

BBs and recorded a consistent 1.11 Joule/347fps.

Moving up to .28g BBs, easily resetting the sliding

hop adjustment and using just the iron sights (the

rear of which is also easily adjustable), I was able to

hit sandbag targets at the extent of the 30m woods

range and group reasonably on paper too.

A stick LiPo battery fits easily via a DEANS

connector under the top cover of the J02, and if

you’re judicious you can squeeze in an 11.1V pack

which brings up the ROF quite seriously!

My only quibble with the original J-SERIES was

“ALTHOUGH THE NEW J02 STILL BENEFITS FROM THE EXCELLENT ESA QUICK-SPRING-

REPLACEMENT SYSTEM, IT ALSO COMES NOW WITH A PRE-INSTALLED GATE ASTER

V3 SYSTEM AND A REINFORCED ORION V3 GEARBOX TO PROVIDE EVEN MORE

OPTIONS AND RELIABILITY”

30


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“THE SPECNA ARMS J-SERIES AEGS THOUGH HAVE ALWAYS HAD SOLID PERFORMANCE

OUT OF THE BOX, ACCESSORIES YOU NEED ARE MINIMAL AND RELATIVELY CHEAP,

AND AK MAGS ARE A DIME A DOZEN SHOULD YOU NEED MORE. THE NEW JO2 IS STILL

BUILT LIKE A TANK (AS AN AK SHOULD BE!) IS BEAUTIFULLY FINISHED”

32


ARMOURY


the top-cover latch, which seemed a little “short”; I

noted at the time that even though I

was able to lock the top-cover closed,

once I’d fitted a battery it felt like the

catch itself needed

to be a couple

of millimetres

“prouder” to

ensure a solid lock,

and this most

certainly appears to

have been rectified

in the new J02. Top

marks again here

Specna Arms for taking

note, and making the appropriate change!

AN AK FTW!

Many airsofters, especially those just starting out, try

to find a replica model that will work for a variety

of loadouts and themes, and the J-SERIES variants

certainly tick all the boxes in this respect. If you look

at timeframes the AK-74 was used way back in

Afghanistan (the first time round!) so you’re good

for a “Cold War” loadout, and it is still being used

today so that’s “modern/OPFOR” and everything in

between cracked too; if you favour the ever-popular

“contractor” look then the J02 will work for that

perfectly.

My original J04 and J08 are still running soundly,

and if you want to add something to give your “74”

an even cooler look, then the Double Bell “GP-25”

grenade launcher fits superbly onto my J04.

Dating back to the 1970s (introduced into service

around 1978 I believe if my memory serves…), the

“Russian 40 mil” is still seen attached to 74s to this

day, and if you add the recoil butt-pad then it is most

definitely a “statement of intent”!

The GP-25 “Bonfire” replica is a thing of beauty in

itself, and although it uses a different grenade from

the US-version-replicas, to me it really finishes off the

platform… it just looks menacing!

These launchers, along with spare grenades, are

pretty easy to find these days, and mine came by way

of iWHOLESALES here in the

UK… I do warn you though,

as the “Bonfire” comes in at

a hefty, full-metal, 1,100g it

does add significant weight

to the front end of an AK!

The Specna Arms J-SERIES AEGs

have always had solid performance out of the box,

accessories you need are minimal and relatively cheap,

and AK mags are a dime a dozen should you need

more. The new JO2 is still built like a tank (as an AK

should be!) is beautifully finished, and along with the

updates to the “OS” it is a real contender all over

again!

I truly believe that you must have been living, not

only under a rock, but beneath one that has been

located at the back of a very deep, dark cave if you

haven’t seen the airsoft-goodness that Specna Arms

have created in their now-comprehensive AR series

of AEGs, and I have to say that their J-SERIES AKs are

moving very much in the same joyous direction!

Specna Arms have forged some fabulous strategic

alliances, not only within the airsoft industry, but with

real firearms manufacturers too! Add to that the fact

that they are constantly designing and innovating “in

house” as well, and I believe that Specna Arms will be

with us for the foreseeable future, bringing value and

excellence to players worldwide!

With a sensible pricepoint given all that you get,

the latest iteration of the J-SERIES brings it right up

to date, so it’s a great bit of kit and if you’re in the

market for something other than the “M4”, then I’d

really suggest you take a good long look at the latest

“AK” models from Specna Arms; as I said before, I’m

just keen to see exactly where they take “Project J”

next!

Thanks to Trent at Specna Arms UK for supplying

the test/review sample. Please visit https://specnaarms.

com to check out this model and the comprehensive

range of Specna Arms models on offer! AA

“SPECNA ARMS HAVE FORGED SOME FABULOUS STRATEGIC ALLIANCES NOT ONLY

WITHIN THE AIRSOFT INDUSTRY, BUT WITH REAL FIREARMS MANUFACTURERS TOO…

THEY ARE CONSTANTLY DESIGNING AND INNOVATING “IN HOUSE” AS WELL, AND

I BELIEVE THAT SPECNA ARMS WILL BE WITH US FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE,

BRINGING VALUE AND EXCELLENCE TO PLAYERS WORLDWIDE!”


Airsoft Gas Blow Back (GBB) users often struggle with

year-round reliability due to gas power constraints.

“WHAT IF” there was an alternative?

WHAT IF...

You could use your gas blowback system all year round

Winter and Summer, the same way? Imagine consistent performance regardless of the weather, no

more struggling in the cold or worrying about performance dropping in the heat of battle.

You will not have cool down effect and can shoot full auto at the same fire rate?

Sustained fire rates without performance degradation would be a game-changer, especially in

scenarios requiring rapid engagement.

You could shoot at any angle, even upside down?

Shooting at any angle, even upside down, adds a new level of

tactical flexibility and dynamic gameplay possibilities.

Your mags will be lighter weight?

Reduced weight would decrease fatigue and improve handling,

especially during extended games.

You will have multiple ways to fill your mags?

More convenient filling options would increase efficiency,

and reduce cost, making it a more accessible, viable solution.

Temperature will not impact your gun's performance, same output?

This translates to reliable power across all conditions, meaning more accurate shots

and consistent groupings, improving gameplay significantly.

W H A T I F I T D O E S E X I S T . . .

R I G H T N O W !

The future of airsoft, today.

Regulated CO2 system.

Safety of Regulated CO2: Regulated CO2 ensures controlled power, eliminating the risk of overpowered output that

could damage your gun or cause it to exceed field safety regulations. The MaxTact system is regulated and set to

8kg (competition version/Japan standard) or 12kg (combat version/ commonly used green gas) power, and can’t

be adjusted.

TAP/CLICK IMAGES FOR MORE INFORMATION

ARMOURY

PROJECT 132

FULL

BATTLE

MONSTER!

Photo Credit: www.kriosphotography.com

36


ARMOURY

CYBERGUN/BOLT BRSS PROJECT SCAR-SC 132

EVERYONE THAT WRITES FOR AIRSOFT ACTION IS AN AIRSOFTER IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, BUT

ONE OF OUR MOST ACTIVE PLAYER-CONTRIBUTORS IS BEN, AND LIKE MANY OF YOU HE ALWAYS

HAS A “PROJECT” ON THE GO THAT WILL HELP HIM ENJOY HIS AIRSOFT ADVENTURES JUST A

LITTLE MORE! ONE SUCH PROJECT RELATES TO HIS MINIGUN, AND AS THIS

NEARS

COMPLETION HE FINALLY AGREED TO SPILL THE BEANS ON “PROJECT 132”!

Ah, my beloved Classic Army M132 microminigun,

what more can anyone say other

than...”that’s a DAMN minigun!” and I actually

hear that every time I take it out!

To start with I never thought I’d come across one

in-game, let alone own one myself, but once I got

the pleasure to shoot (and be shot!) by one I was

hooked; I told myself there and then I would get one

and I knew from the get-go that I wanted to run it on

HPA-power for consistency, efficiency, reliability and

straight up awesomeness!

Now you can’t really own a minigun until you look

the part as well… c’mon, were airsofters… and only

when you have the right loadout can you truly say... “I

OWN a minigun!”

I knew what I wanted to get out of being in the

small but growing ownership group, and that I

wanted to bring some fun for other players when

running it; it’s very important that not only do I get

my kicks out of running and gunning with it but other

players also feel they are part of the fun that comes

with miniguns.

Getting others involved meant I had to think

about where’s the fun in going against the dreaded

minigun? Well the scare factor obviously, and this

fitted well with the path of “okay, I want to play

a different style to my everyday normal” lightbulb

moment… so JUGGERNAUTS!!!

Now, my friends (being “friends”) decided to come

up with their own nickname for me given my size,

so very soon I became “Juggernugget”… thank you

guys, I know you love me really!

But I thought okay, I would still like to have a typical

“Juggernaut” armoured look, but not overly done

so I could stay agile and flexible to cater for playing

different sites and environments, but I also wanted

to bring something a bit more “themed game” into

the equation...

and you don’t

get more themed

than a Terminator!

Juggernaut with

a minigun?

Honestly the

fun I have

had doing

this takes

my fun

to a

different

level,

hearing

people scream

“Terminator!” or

“Juggernaut!”

Coming round

a corner and

seeing me...

they tuck

tail and run

thinking

“F**k that!”

It has put the

biggest of

smiles and

laughs on

my face, and

if you don’t

mind being

a BB magnet

then I

highly

“COMING ROUND A CORNER AND SEEING ME... THEY TUCK TAIL AND RUN THINKING

“F**K THAT!” IT HAS PUT THE BIGGEST OF SMILES AND LAUGHS ON MY FACE, AND IF

YOU DON’T MIND BEING A BB MAGNET THEN I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU GIVE BEING A

“JUGGERNAUT” A GO AT LEAST ONCE IN YOUR AIRSOFT “LIFE””


ARMOURY

PROJECT 132

recommend you give being a “Juggernaut” a go at

least once in your “airsoft life”!

CREATING A MONSTER

So, getting down to the nitty-gritty of my M132

minigun, what I’ve done so far with it, and what’s left

for me to do later on.

I brought it as it comes, standard out the box, 38

BBs a second (that’s 2,280 RPM.. ) running on an 11.1

LiPo battery and the as-recommended-by-Classic Army

HPA-setup for more efficiency to power your shots. I

then ordered directly from Classic Army the upgraded

motor that bumps the ROF output to 48/50 a second

(3000 RPM!) which by itself is quite a noticeable

difference.

It really is perfectly fine just doing that, and if you

want a budget-friendly way to upgrade your own

minigun this is enough; me, however…. I need that

“MORE than enough”! I really wanted to bring that

sh*t your pants moments to the game, even when

players just hear my minigun go off, so I also treated

it to a bigger 14.8 LiPo battery that’s not really

recommended… but it works, pushing the ROF to

somewhere between 60/70 per second. It’s actually

hard to get an accurate ROF read on the chrono

as sometimes the last few rounds drop out a little

slower whilst the barrels slow down and the air stops

feeding, but it’s roughly 4,000+ RPM (yeah baby!),

which is absolutely mental considering the prop

minigun used in both the Predator and Terminator 2

films was shooting at 1,200 RPM… that’s 20 rounds

a second, and it was deliberately slowed down so you

can see the barrels spin to look good on camera!

I then wanted to be able to run tracer BBs to add to

the effect for videos and fun on the field.

Unfortunately Classic Army didn’t do any

aftermarket stuff regarding the tracer unit side of

things, but with some hard digging I found a 3D print

file of a flash hider that looked similar to the vehicle

kit that Classic Army do for the M132. It was just the

overall look but didn’t have the threads needed for

the tracer units to fit, so deeper down the rabbithole

I went and found a 3D printing company called

SmithsCustomsParts who did exactly what I needed

for the base part with threads.

I got in contact with them and described what my

mind’s eye could see, sent over the file I had of the

outer shroud/flash hider, and together we created a

crucial piece of my monster!

Due to not having a full on workshop and tools

setup myself I handed the project to our everresourceful

Dr Jimmy Frankenstein; I gave him my

monster-puzzle to put together, and thankfully, as

always, he did an absolutely beautiful job of things!

I didn’t even have to tell him how I wanted the end

result to look and work, he just knew and finally... It

was alive, ALIVE I tell you!

However, this was not the end of the shenanigans

I had to tackle; I now faced resetting the hops and

with the M132 that’s not the easiest of tasks as there’s

no way of knowing which barrels hop is set perfectly

or not, unlike the newer M133 electric minigun

where you can individually check each barrel/shot by

manually turning the barrels to fire one BB.

But now that I had the flash-hider tracer adapter I

had the ingenious idea of putting one tracer unit on a

thread and kept test firing until I had that barrel’s hop

set to where I wanted it using the tracer BBs as my

guidance! Another three barrels later and a voilà, it’s

firing on all four cylinders!

Slowly but surely my little monster came to life,

and now I just love it when it roars! If you stand in

the right place it does sound somewhat like the A10

Warthog attack plane and, as Mary Poppins would

say, it’s “practically perfect in every way!” As for

what’s left to do with upgrading, there’s still tightbore

barrels and flat or R hopping the hops to do, but

these are of less importance to me as it will only

garner a minor change in overall performance. I’ve

seen a couple of these done and was happy to leave

them as my last, if ever, “to do” to create a truly, fully

upgraded M132 micro minigun!

For now my monster is good to go, and I hope

to keep dishing out the “shooty-funtimes” (as

Stewbacca would say) when the scenario calls for it.

In the right setting, and with careful control,

“PROJECT 132” brings a lot of fun to a game, and I

hope I’ll be able to keep providing a lot of laughs for

my fellow players for some considerable time to come,

whilst enjoying it myself every step of the way! AA

“IT’S ACTUALLY HARD TO GET AN ACCURATE ROF READ ON THE CHRONO AS

SOMETIMES THE LAST FEW ROUNDS DROP OUT A LITTLE SLOWER WHILST THE

BARRELS SLOW DOWN AND THE AIR STOPS FEEDING, BUT IT’S ROUGHLY 4000+ RPM

(YEAH BABY!), WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY MENTAL!”

38


ARMOURY

PROJECT 132

Photo Credit: www.kriosphotography.com

“I HANDED THE PROJECT TO OUR EVER-RESOURCEFUL DR JIMMY FRANKENSTEIN; I

GAVE HIM MY MONSTER-PUZZLE TO PUT TOGETHER, AND THANKFULLY, AS ALWAYS,

HE DID AN ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL JOB OF THINGS! I DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO TELL HIM

HOW I WANTED THE END RESULT TO LOOK AND WORK, HE JUST KNEW AND FINALLY...

IT WAS ALIVE, ALIVE I TELL YOU!”


ARMOURY

TRIL TACTICAL TTI G-SERIES RMR SLIDE KITS

ROSE-

TINTED

GLACIS

42


ARMOURY

TRIL TACTICAL CYBERGUN/BOLT TTI G-SERIES RMR BRSS SLIDE SCAR-SC KITS

FURTIVE PHONE CALLS IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, SECRETIVE MEETINGS IN THE RAFTERS ABOVE THE

HUB-BUB OF MOA 2024, HIGH QUALITY CUTTING EDGE COMPONENTS PROVIDED FOR REVIEW FROM

PEOPLE WHO WANT TO KEEP A LOW PROFILE DESPITE THEIR HIGH QUALITY PRODUCT? WHAT’S BEEN

GOING ON WITH STEWBACCA DURING NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2024?

I

am well aware, my fellow shooters, that I am, very

often it seems, somewhat spoilt out here in Taiwan!

Many seem to envy the somewhat unique niche I

have managed to carve myself into as a standalone

airsoft player, competitive shooter, industrial-designtype-dude

as well as all the work and industry

relationships I’ve developed since arriving here in

2017, both before and since joining the crew here at

Airsoft Action as part of their Legion and Red Cell test

outfits and, in more recent years, taking the reins of

Deputy Editor for this part of the world.

I get to learn about products, often long before

they are publicised (let alone released to market),

as well as test things out. I get free samples, or

discounted products for personal use as well as longer

test and evaluation, which seems to make me the

envy of many of my peers… Not that I haven’t and

don’t continue to work hard to get to this point and

keep up the content creation. That said, my abilities as

a shooter, designer, writer and to keep my mouth shut

when required do make it easy for many people to

approach me with new products.

While I was doing my final preparations for MOA

2024 I was sent a short flurry of messages late at

night, followed by a phone call from a mysterious old

friend in the community - one who wants to stay in

the shadows themselves but has allowed me to shine

a light on their product which is already on the market

in limited volume and available for Action Airsoft in

Taiwan.

Meeting me at MOA (but away from the usual

crowds and prying eyes), I was handed a completed

prototype slide kit fitted to an existing VFC Glock 45

for me to handle and peruse in person, before then

being gifted the G17 variant and being promised a

personalised G34 variant to arrive shortly after by

courier… All very mysterious and cold war era, no?

I was immediately impressed by the Tril Tactical

slide kits. Albeit not being officially licensed, they are

without a doubt the nicest incarnation of the Taran

Tactical Innovations ‘Combat Master’ series of highly

customised pistols, famed in the hands of John Wick

throughout everyone’s favourite shoot-em-up series of

movies.

The G17-compatible kit drops straight onto a

stock VFC Glock 17 Gen 5 with ease, aside from

customisation of the flat competition-style trigger

which does require some fettling, but more on that

later…

It provides a simply stunning appearance, with

a burnt bronze-cum-rose-gold lustre to the CNC

machined then double dip anodised aluminium,

resulting in a two-tone effect to the overall finish that

highlights the machined slide serrations and contours

excellently. This is coupled with the additional funnel

magazine well adaptor, magazine bumper base plate

and adjustable flat trigger, as well as a replacement

outer barrel with cross pin retained compensator

block on the front end, replacement suppressor height

front and rear sights, carbon fibre rear slide plate

and blanking plate for the RMR cut top rear face of

the slide. The Glock 34 kit that arrived shortly after is

also essentially the same, however the outer barrel is

longer (as is the slide itself) and as a result, there is no

separate compensator hanging off the front end of

the outer barrel.

NO TIME FOR REST

I had a lot to get through admin-wise with friends and

visitors in country post-MOA, so it took me a week

or two to actually get around to opening up both kits

properly and going to work on fitting them.

As a note, you will also need to get a replacement

117mm long inner barrel to make use of the G34 kit

when starting with a standard VFC Glock 17 Gen 5,

so I decided to pick up Unicorn Airsoft replacement

tightbore barrels and HOP rubbers for both pistols,

seeing as I want to do some coverage on their

products in the coming year anyway.

“WHILE I WAS DOING MY FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR MOA 2024 I WAS SENT A

SHORT FLURRY OF MESSAGES LATE NIGHT FOLLOWED BY A PHONE CALL FROM

A MYSTERIOUS OLD FRIEND IN THE COMMUNITY, ONE WHO WANTS TO STAY IN

THE SHADOWS THEMSELVES, BUT HAS ALLOWED ME TO SHINE A LIGHT ON THEIR

PRODUCT”


ARMOURY


Also worth noting is that the more recent iterations

of the VFC Glock 17 Gen 5s with the forward slide

serrations added (as with the second one I bought

from KIC Airsoft in Taipei especially for this project)

lack the separate extractor component, as this is now

moulded into the cast slides as a single aesthetic

feature, rather than a discrete component. So

you’ll need to source a replacement if you are

using the later edition releases of the G17 Gen

5s.

The majority of the installation is easy and

utterly painless for anyone with even a

basic toolkit and understanding of their

G-SERIES GBB pistol. Just remove and

transpose the blowback unit of

the standard VFC Glock into

the corresponding bay

inside the slide of the

Tril Tactical CNC

slide, ensuring

the nozzle

returnspring

is intact

and correctly

fitted and the

loose extractor is

also

moved over before

installation when moving it from one to the

other to prevent malfunctions… ask me how I know!

The magazine well simply snaps on over the flared

lip of the standard Gen 5 frame and magazine well,

with the chunky grub screw threading into it through

the hole in the lower backstrap face to lock it in place,

while the bumper baseplate simply slides onto the

magazines in place of the standard version.

They won’t fit on Krytac Glock/Maxim 9 magazines

due to their slightly different bottom lip geometry,

which is unfortunate because they have the added

benefit of top-rear gas fill valves, while the standard

VFC Glock magazines (aside from Glock 19 versions)

still have base fill valves while their SIG replicas

seem to have moved to the much preferable reartop

inlet valves,

as per the

majority of their

rifle mags now

too.

The upshot of this

is

that I didn’t bother reinstalling

the nice machined retainer

pins which slide upward into the back end of the

baseplates and behind the magazine body to keep the

plates from coming off forwards (themselves retained

by a lateral grub screw). Undoing the grub each time

to remove the plates to refill the magazines with

gas is just an additional ballache I can do without,

so I bagged mine up and left them to one side. The

baseplates are quite snug on the magazines anyway,

and the bottom follower/retainer holds them on just

fine in my experience so far as well.

When fitting the blowback retention system you’ll

need to replace the original VFC plastic block with the

two plates provided by Tril Tactical, which interface in

a ‘T’ shape with the replacement rear plate (that has

the carbon fibre finish and TTI logo emblazoned on it),

sliding into the back opening of the top slide with its

corresponding internal retention plate being screwed

onto the replacement rear sight once it has been slid

into the corresponding dovetail slot in the slide.

You’ll also need to remove the barrel components,

not only to replace them but also get access to the

screw retaining the front sight post which also needs

“I WAS IMMEDIATELY IMPRESSED BY THE TRIL TACTICAL SLIDE KITS; ALBEIT

NOT BEING OFFICIALLY LICENSED, THEY ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT THE NICEST

INCARNATION OF THE TARAN TACTICAL INNOVATIONS ‘COMBAT MASTER’ SERIES OF

HIGHLY CUSTOMISED PISTOLS FAMED IN THE HANDS OF JOHN WICK THROUGHOUT

EVERYONE’S FAVOURITE SHOOT-EM-UP SERIES OF MOVIES”

44


ARMOURY


replacing with the supplied tall front post - this will

furthermore require the collimating fibre optic cutting

to length and sliding into place, a spot of strong

adhesive adding to it as well, then the whole assembly

being pressed into the front sight post slot - it’s a tight

fit - and the fastener re-instering.

The outer barrel of the G17 variant kit features

aggressive, slightly spiralled external

fluting on the front

end, as well as the

compensator cut

and related

retainer cross

pin retaining

cutout, plus

indentations in

the face of the

barrel extension that

locks into the ejection

port, and the Tril Tactical

triangular Delta-esque

logo

on the side of the barrel

extension as well as being deep cut into the front

lower face of the compensator block. This block

does, of course, preclude the use of the guide HOP

adjustment feature by virtue of blocking off access

to the front end of the recoil spring assembly, a small

inconvenience in reality to my mind; once I set the

HOP I rarely need to interfere with it much.

The G34 kit has a much more standard, plain-style

outer barrel with the typical proof marks, calibre and

small TTI logos engraved into the top face of the

barrel extension and the serial number on its side

face. The top and side porting cutouts of the slide are

elongated to account for the slightly longer barrel and

slide, and the long chamfer on the lower front face

of the slide does allow you continued access to the

recoil spring guide rod and its guide HOP adjustment

feature at least.

TRIGGER FETTLING!

The main difficulty in installing the kit is definitely the

custom triggers; these are excellent and have a really

crisp break as well as a length of pull/resting reset

position adjustment grub screw and a retaining cross

grub screw which prevents this ‘walking’ under recoil

during use.

As they arrived with me, the reset point was so far

rearward that there was basically no slack between

the sear interaction ‘bent’ on the trigger bar resetting

and trigger’s forward most position. This meant the

trigger was exceptionally crisp, but did mean I had to

file a millimetre off that trigger bar bent to get it to

reliably reset, as the shortened overall trigger throw

meant that the trigger bar was not reliably dropping

and resetting after every shot for the first few

sessions of IPSC I ran it at - resulting in some rushed

disassembly and filing of the Glock 17 kit during

a practice session(!), which I then transposed the

modifications of to the other newer Glock 17 when it

came time to install the G34 slide kit.

These swearing inducing misadventures aside, the

adjustment range in the trigger does allow it to be

reliably positioned, while still allowing for a greatly

reduced overall travel and more rearward reset point

which is closer to the break point or resting right on it

for extremely crisp and responsive trigger control once

you have it tuned until it’s running reliably. It’s not

exactly a difficult operation, just requires some fettling

and patience. I made sure I put plenty of swearing

back into the Glocks as I was working on them!

Removing the slide retention slider and its housing

allows you to just run the trigger and slide stop/

release lever on their cross pin and adjust the trigger

more readily without having to remove the rear fire

control group unit… I found this out *after* pulling

that whole assembly in and out in a hurry during

the training session I was trying to fix it on the fly in,

losing the valve striker reset spring on a few occasions,

and eventually getting a bunch of replacements from

VPSC after I ran out of stand-ins!

Suffice to say, once I had things set up properly the

trigger pull and black flat-faced metal trigger with the

burnt bronze trigger safety bar in its centre looked

and felt outstanding, allowing me to hammer the

hell out of the slide kits on the VFC frames, running

drills quickly and snappily at IPSC, as well as taking on

OpFor during the skirmishes I ran them at.

In every case, the immaculate appearance of them

immediately drew my teammate’s attention and (as

always) people were queuing up to have a look At

“THE MAJORITY OF THE INSTALLATION IS EASY AND UTTERLY PAINLESS FOR ANYONE

WITH EVEN A BASIC TOOLKIT AND UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR G-SERIES GBB PISTOL;

JUST REMOVE AND TRANSPOSE THE BLOWBACK UNIT OF THE STANDARD VFC GLOCK

INTO THE CORRESPONDING BAY INSIDE THE SLIDE OF THE TRIL TACTICAL CNC SLIDE”


ARMOURY


and take some shots with it (as usual) with approving

noises in tow.

RMR READY

The RMR mounting is also a great advantage with the

G-SERIES family being one of the slower airsoft guns

to adopt the ability it seems. VFC still do not have any

stock/OEM options to my knowledge, and many of

the existing examples on the market I’ve encountered

are problematic at times.

The problem with G-SERIES variants is the very

thin cross section of material above the blowback

unit and nozzle, and removing this to place a red dot

mount into that space sometimes causes the nozzle to

fishtail or ride up over the rounds in the magazine and

misfeed, or not feed them at all (in my experience of

designing and testing them in the past). Not so with

the Tril Tactical setup!

The RMR footprint allows the standard version, or

in my case, my preferred SRO clones, to be directly

mounted onto the slide in place of the carbon fibre

blanking plate. But just be aware that you might need

some shorter countersunk screws than usual to fit

them tightly due to the reduced threaded portion of

the top slide over other slide styles, but once installed

everything cycles brilliantly and reliably.

I haven’t had any feed issues as a result of using the

slide kits, and the SROs mounted on each slide haven’t

caused any issues in terms of slide cycling or excess

weight, with the CNC aluminium no doubt reducing

the slide mass over the standard thus mitigating such

concerns anyway.

The tall replacement iron sights also allow you to

low co-witness the red dot with them, which helps

a great deal if you are new to red dot, use or just

need to get used to drawing and presenting with

these particular gun types with a dot fitted. Once I

had mine all tuned-up and dialled-in I was merrily

stacking alphas and running between bays and

windows on IPSC practise stages, as well as getting

a few eliminations with them in skirmishes once I’d

exhausted my primary guns, or closed to shorter

ranges where our team rules insist on the use of

pistols out of courtesy.

They look right, they shoot right, and they turn

heads wherever I have one on my hip, it seems. I’ve

had very few complaints besides the initial setup and

getting the triggers dialled in; these things just handle

as nicely as their stellar appearance would suggest,

and they certainly make you want to get into that

central axis relock grip and stalk through narrow

darkened corridors looking for bad people to drill with

them!

POWER POINTS TO NOTE!

One failure I did have was not the fault of the design

or manufacture of the kits, but rather the use of the

prototype, integrally-regulated CO2 Glock magazines

I’ve been testing from Max TACT.

The recoil impulse and velocity resulting from

these magazines is noticeably higher, as you would

expect, even with the resulting muzzle velocity being

lower than typical CO2 guns, the nature of the gas

compared to green gas just seems to make the guns

run faster and harder! As a result, having beaten the

G17 TTI RMR slide kit for a few weeks exclusively on

the CO2 magazines, I eventually fractured the top

“THE RMR MOUNTING IS ALSO A GREAT ADVANTAGE WITH THE G-SERIES FAMILY

BEING ONE OF THE SLOWER AIRSOFT GUNS TO ADOPT THE ABILITY IT SEEMS; VFC

STILL DO NOT HAVE ANY STOCK/OEM OPTIONS TO MY KNOWLEDGE, AND MANY OF

THE EXISTING EXAMPLES ON THE MARKET I’VE ENCOUNTERED ARE PROBLEMATIC AT

TIMES”

46


ARMOURY


edges of the slide in front of the barrel extension.

This was designed to be as thin and snug fitting as

possible for aesthetic reasons but as a result of this,

coupled with the compensator block retarding the

rearward motion of the barrel and stalling its ability

to drop down due to the flat face of the front of

the slide keeping it parallel until it recoils slightly, as

well as the slide pounding into it on return stroke,

all of these actions ended up hammering the barrel

extension forwards and upwards against the top

section of the slide, to the point where it workhardened

and brittle-fractured after a few weeks,

peeling up the top section slightly.

Again I have to re-iterate, this is NOT a fault in the

product, but the end user and having immediately

sent photos and an explanation to the folks at Tril

Tactical, they were very apologetic for not warning me

about avoiding the use of CO2 magazines, as their

initial products weren’t designed around them, with

them being less prevalent in Taiwan (we, at present,

are not permitted to skirmish with standard CO2

magazines due to power limit concerns). However,

they will be sending me a replacement and look to reengineer

future products with this experience in mind.

Using green gas, and even to some extent the same

CO2 magazines, I haven’t had any issues with the G34

kit, so I imagine the compensator and its interaction

with the barrel and slide, coupled with the much

higher forces of the CO2 operating is what caused the

issues (#IBreakShitSoYouDontHaveTo).

I include this information largely for transparency’s

sake, but again it’s a “me problem”, not a productrelated

issue! The magazines I’ve been testing aren’t

even finalised or released on the market yet, so

there’s no way they could have known about them or

worked around them, but they were nonetheless very

understanding and thankful for the feedback which

they will be acting upon in order to better idiot-proof

future product variants!

Aside from that hiccup, the Tril Tactical TTI G17

and G34 Glock slide kits have been outstanding!

Whether I would shell out for them myself, given the

fact they cost about as much as a VFC rifle per kit, I’m

not sure, but they are clearly worth the price tag to

a decent number of collectors or players as they are

already sold out of some variants on Action Airsoft

and the folks at Tril Tactical are working hard to bring

out further batches and developing other products to

expand their product line.

If you are the kind of player who loves the highest

end kits or components to trick out that ‘one gun’

you always run, it probably makes a lot more sense

to you to invest in something of this quality level. For

me, I have such an array of pistols that I struggle to

justify making them all optic-mounted to begin with,

let alone investing my own money in such high-ticket

items. But again, if I had to do the old pare it down to

‘just one gun’ I’d be sorely tempted to make the VFC

Glock 17 Gen 5 with the Tril Tactical Glock 34 TTI kit

coupled with the Unicorn Airsoft inner barrel I have. I

took out three people with it this weekend just gone,

out to surprising ranges when my FAL and FNC had

been run dry in various game rounds!

Many thanks to Tril Tactical for entrusting me to

review their products knowing what a power user and

blunt instrument I am ( especially given the beating

and breakages I imparted as a result!)! I’m looking

forward to seeing what else they’re going to bring us

in future. AA

“THE TRIL TACTICAL TTI G17 AND G34 GLOCK SLIDE KITS HAVE BEEN OUTSTANDING;

WHETHER I WOULD SHELL OUT FOR THEM MYSELF GIVEN THE FACT THEY COST

ABOUT AS MUCH AS A VFC RIFLE PER KIT, I’M NOT SURE, BUT THEY ARE CLEARLY

WORTH THE PRICE TAG TO A DECENT NUMBER OF COLLECTORS OR PLAYERS AS THEY

ARE ALREADY SOLD OUT OF SOME VARIANTS!”



TAP/CLICK IMAGES FOR MORE INFORMATION

RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

RED CELL

G-SERIES

GOODNESS!

50


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

SO, WE’RE INTO THE FINAL YEAR OF THE RED CELL PROGRAM, AND WHAT A TIME WE’VE HAD

TESTING A CORNUCOPIA OF AEGS, GBBS, AND EVEN HUMBLE SPRINGERS OVER THE LAST FOUR

YEARS! BUT IT’S TIME TO START MAKING OUR FINAL CUT TO WHAT WE’VE HAD IN-GAME AND ON

THE RANGE, AND TO GET THIS ROLLING WE’LL COME BACK TO OUR G-SERIES CATEGORY!

Oh my, what a time we’ve had over the last

for years of RED CELL both collectively and

individually, and what a mass of data we’ve

gathered on all types of airsoft platforms during

that time! Whilst we’ve often shot the “pool

guns” individually (especially during the Covid

years, remember those???) there have been regular

gatherings of the UK-based crew to simply

enjoy shooting together, and combined

with much-valued input from our

overseas members we’ve really

got to grips with the operating

systems and intricacies of

what there is out there for

us airsofters to spend our

money on!

That was really the

initial aim of the RED

CELL program, to find out

what works, and most

importantly (with regular

maintenance!) what

KEEPS WORKING! All

of us only have so much

money we can spend

on our personal airsoft

armoury, although over

time, like me (and now

Stewbacca without doubt!)

those armouries can grow

quite considerably!

As I’ve often noted, if you only

bought one airsoft replica a year…

well, I’ve been playing airsoft for just

over thirty years, and I have not been

so disciplined as to only buy one model every

twelve months… You can do the sums for yourself!

We kicked off right at the very beginning with

G-SERIES pistols, and although the number of models

tested since we started is considerably larger than the

fifteen models show here, what we’ve boiled things

down to is the models that we use the most, the ones

that have seen the most action during the testing

period, and the ones that have lasted with consistent

performance.

All of the models listed have now had at least one

full service, along with regular general cleaning and

maintenance, lubing, and where necessary

replacement of seals and o-rings; we

don’t view any of these things as

“failures” in any way whatsoever,

as keeping on top of all the

“working parts” of our AEGS

and GBBs should be baked

into any airsofters regime!

I’m pleased to tell you

though that when it

comes to the G-SERIES

pool we’ve had zero

“catastrophic failures”,

even with some of the

more “budget models”.

Of course things have

loosened up over time,

and it would be remiss

of me not to tell you that

some of the models are

a little more “rattly” than

others now, but the fact is…

THEY ALL STILL SHOOT A BB

when you need them to. With

that in mind I’ll hand things over

to the AA crew to tell us more…

TEAM TALK

Dan: I am most definitely a fan of the Gen 5

VFC Glocks; Whether it’s the 17, 45, or 19, I like

them all and would be a little hard pressed to pick a

specific model out of the lot. VFC has made a marked

“ALL OF THE MODELS LISTED HAVE NOW HAD AT LEAST ONE FULL SERVICE, ALONG

WITH REGULAR GENERAL CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE… WE DON’T VIEW ANY OF

THESE THINGS AS “FAILURES” IN ANY WAY WHATSOEVER, AS KEEPING ON TOP OF

ALL THE “WORKING PARTS” OF OUR AEGS AND GBBS SHOULD BE BAKED INTO ANY

AIRSOFTERS REGIME!”


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

improvement

over the original

GEN 3s that first

released under the

Glock license, and

the current GEN 5

series are much more

refined and reliable;

straight out of the box

you have a solid, wellperforming

sidearm that

will serve you well.

While you can gain a nice boost in accuracy with a

barrel and bucking swap, the stock components are

certainly serviceable at CQB distances. As well, the

recoil is crisper and harder than what I’ve experienced

with the many flavours of Tokyo Marui’s “Glocks”

over the years. In my opinion, the GEN 5’s from VFC

have ‘best in class’ recoil.

But perhaps more importantly, the VFC’s are

eminently more accessible to us here in the USA too,

both with availability of models to select from, and

more crucially, parts support too. For us tuners, there

is also a nice level of aftermarket support that’s only

continuing to grow as time goes on, so tuning these

up and customizing them is truly only limited by your

budget and your imagination!

Stewbacca: I would certainly echo Dan’s assessment

of the intergenerational improvements of the Umarex

licensed VFC OEM Glock GBB pistols; I have the earlier

Gen 3 Glock 18C with the old school finger channels

moulded into the grips (does anyone like those?) and

they seem to be a major point of contention in the

real steel and airsoft world alike! My larger hands

and fingers

don’t seem to

align all that

perfectly as

it happens…

As well as a

Gen 4 Glock

17 and 19

that still retained them, all of these as a result

feel a lot less comfortable in the hand and

the aforementioned finger grooves and more

particularly their lands dig into the inside of

my knuckles making handling and control

(certainly with bare hands at least) all round less

pleasant.

The GEN 4 iterations at least saw the introduction

of the extended magazine release buttons which are

much more comfortable and accessible to operate for

a variety of hand sizes; I use all of my various Glocks

as simple go-to training pistols for our Civil Defence

basic skill at arms awareness classes due to their ease

of use and ubiquity on the world stage in police and

military units.

Of course I have replicas of the domestically used

service arms as well for familiarity purposes, but for

basic skill at arms having a bunch of pistols with

magazine and layout commonality makes it easier

to manage initial training and Glocks have minimal

controls or differences in terms of operation between

models or generations.

The GEN 4 of course introduced the changed

surface with the ‘Rough Textured Frame’ (RTF) which

was carried over into the replicas nicely as well as

finding its way onto my CZ P10C; a very good surface

finish that allows comfortable grip with less inherent

abrasion compared with the GEN 3 skateboard-finish

panels which you could likely strike a match off!

Again using gloves or bare hands seem to work better

with the RTF whereas the older texture seems to work

better with bare hands to my mind.

But as Dan points out, the GEN 5s are really

where the VFC offerings take off; they definitely feel

noticeably punchier out of the box on green gas

even with the same magazines as the older models,

although there are cosmetic differences such as the

baseplate shape to match the integral flared magazine

“VFC HAS MADE A MARKED IMPROVEMENT OVER THE ORIGINAL GEN 3S THAT

FIRST RELEASED UNDER THE GLOCK LICENSE, AND THE CURRENT GEN 5 SERIES

ARE MUCH MORE REFINED AND RELIABLE; STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BOX YOU HAVE

A SOLID, WELL-PERFORMING SIDEARM THAT WILL SERVE YOU WELL”

52


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

wells on the base of the pistol grips, and I know that

VFC have certainly released upgraded fire control

groups as these are common between the PPQ M2/

NPA series and the Glocks.

I had my PPQ and teammate’s Glock 19X FCGs

replaced as they both cracked on the top left of the

unitised system, with the slide rail on the left near the

valve striker reset unit breaking in the same place on

both, which were replaced at VPSC and immediately

resolved the internal hammer light striking issues as

well as improving the recoil performance noticeably.

I imagine stronger hammer springs are being used in

later releases giving you a better gas delivery…

As with his experiences, to my mind the VFCs far

outperform the alternatives; I’ve owned Marui, KSC/

KWA and WE Glocks in myriad sizes and models in the

past, and just default to VFC/Umarex now not just for

range of models available and the officially licenced

reasons.

I’ve avoided, like most of the AA Crew, the

GHK offering although I have one to hand that my

Australian teammate leaves with me when he’s out

of country. The novel, but not necessarily effective,

trigger system still doesn’t seem to have been worked

out fully yet even with him getting a later release

compared to the early release a friend let me try years

back which reminded

me of pulling the

trigger on a Marui with

the under-barrel safety

engaged!

The general

handling and comfort

of the VFCs also feel

improved, especially

for larger hands, as

the flared magazine

well rests nicely just

under your little finger

and channels the

whole hand into the

grip nicely, rather than

trying to put individual

fingers in place badly.

The addition of

forward grip serrations

helps with manipulations especially if you are

using a red dot on a rear sight replacement plate;

unfortunately the one drawback of the VFCs is a lack

of OEM released RMR/SRO/general red dot compatible

slide compared with other vendors, but having CADmodelled

and experimented with making one myself

for another aftermarket organisation as part of my

side gig out here I know how problematic doing so

can be for the stability of the gas nozzle underneath

the exact point you want to put your red dot

footprint.

It takes a lot of fettling and a lot of aftermarket

options appear problematic and rely on the user

swapping out for a reduced height Glock 18C

blowback unit which already had to be redesigned

internally to accommodate the select fire system and

the indents on top of the slide… all of which means

such kits are sometimes not directly interchangeable

anyway and require a whole new blowback unit at the

least!

I have three of the GEN 5 Glock 17s as well as a

G45, two of the former being used as donor guns

for the Tril Tactical TTI Glock 17/34 CNC RMR ready

slide kits mentioned elsewhere in this issue. There are

again some changes even within the same external

generation; with earlier Glock 17 GEN 2s (like two

“AS DAN POINTS OUT, THE GEN 5S ARE REALLY WHERE THE VFC OFFERINGS TAKE

OFF; THEY DEFINITELY FEEL NOTICEABLY PUNCHIER OUT OF THE BOX ON GREEN GAS

EVEN WITH THE SAME MAGAZINES AS THE OLDER MODELS, ALTHOUGH THERE ARE

COSMETIC DIFFERENCES”


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

TOKYO MARUI G17 GEN 4

Price: iro £150.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 709g

Length: 202 mm

Magazine Capacity: 25+1

Cold Chrono:0.83 Joule/300fps

Hot Chrono: 0.89 Joule/310fps

Holster Compatibility: Good

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: No

Available From: www.fire-support.co.uk

RAVEN EU17

Price: iro £85.00

Age: Five Years

Weight: 700g

Length: 200mm


Cold Chrono: 0.75 Joule/285fps




Suppressor Compatibility: Good

Available From: www.rvnairsoft.com

VORSK EU18 VENTED

Price: iro £145.00

Age: Five Years

Weight: 550g

Length: 220mm





Taclite Compatability: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: Good, Adaptor fitted as standard

Available From: www.vorskairsoft.com

WE G19 GEN5 MOS/RMR

Price: iro £145.00

Age: One Year

Weight: 720g

Length: 185mm







Supplied By: www.iwholesales.biz

SPECNA ARMS SAI BLU

Price: iro £220.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 930g

Length: 215mm

Magazine Capacity: 23 + 1






Available From: www.gunfire.com

54


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

of the ones I have) having the extractor as a separate

piece, which again can be important for aftermarket

kit compatibility as I found with the Tril Tactical setups,

while the latest iterations change it to an integral part

of the cast alloy slide’s mould, as well as adding front

slide serrations which weren’t present on the earlier

iteration GEN 5 G17’s, but of course were always

present on the G45s and G19Xs.

The 19X is a favourite among my teammates as a

standard sidearm in its “peanut butter” configuration,

alongside increasing numbers of PPQs and M18s.

The shorter slide but full grip seems to be a winning

combination for many as it does noticeably improve

your unholstering ability despite only being a minor

slide length reduction.

The other difference being on the front edge of the

magazine wells; the G17 GEN 5s have the annoying

crescent cutout that I have personally found causing

issues with reloading under stress, as the feed lips

end up catching on the crescent and causing a jam of

the magazine as you try to funnel it in at times when

inserting from a slightly rearward angle.

Again, this is something real steel shooters have

likewise complained about, and this feature is

removed on the G45, and adding a larger funnel

aftermarket magazine wells as on the Tril Tactical kits

mitigates the issue in my experience.

Trigger-pull-wise the later GEN 4 & 5s average

around the 1.5 - 1.75kg (around 3-4 lbs) pull, while

my older GEN 3 18C has a much weaker break at one

kilo or just over; the experience in general feels more

realistic all-round the later model you acquire, and

personally the GEN 5 G17 and G45 are likely the best

picks in my opinion in terms of handling, reliability,

recoil and accuracy out of the box.

In terms of other ‘NotGlocks’ I have the Double Bell

G34 TTI which I bought a few years back intending

to use it in IPSC Action Air only to find its slide is

too long for production division, and also had some

accidental discharge issues when inserting magazines

during drills, as well as the sears quickly wearing

down and leading to doubling or even full auto bursts

at times, relegating it to a bit of a wall hanger - the

trigger is also extremely light, sometimes I use it for

training classes as it is easier for some to use given

the light trigger, but heavy use for competition or

skirmishing is just off the cards now for it, and now

I have the Tril Tactical TTI G34 I will likely sell it off

cheap to free up room.

One final note would be the full auto functionality,

or ‘full giggle’ as our official vocab guidelines have

now decreed it be called!

My GEN 3 G18C was a second hand swap-out

for a drum magazine with a teammate that’s barely

seen any use, and I originally wanted to use it in my

Archwick B&T USW-G carbine kit; however it always

seemed to go full auto even when I would rather it

didn’t during its use fitted in the kit, and never really

worked that reliably when used installed with it. To be

honest, I wouldn’t bother with the select fire variants,

you rarely get a chance to use them in full chat mode

anyway, and the selector adds complexity, causes

“I HAVE THREE OF THE GEN 5 GLOCK 17S AS WELL AS A G45, TWO OF THE FORMER

BEING USED AS DONOR GUNS FOR THE TRIL TACTICAL TTI GLOCK 17/34 CNC RMR

READY SLIDE KITS MENTIONED ELSEWHERE IN THIS ISSUE. THERE ARE AGAIN SOME

CHANGES EVEN WITHIN THE SAME EXTERNAL GENERATION…”


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

UMAREX GLOCK 17 GEN 4

Price: iro £160.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 659g

Length: 210mm







Available From: www.landwarriorairsoft.com

ARMY ARMAMENT R17 V3

Price: iro £50.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 700g

Length: 200mm







Available From: www.allagesairsoft.com

WE G17 GEN 5 MOS

Price: iro £120.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 770g

Length: 186mm







Available From: www.weairsoft.com

UMAREX GLOCK 19X

Price: iro £185.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 641grams

Length: 185mm








WE G19 X

Price: iro £120.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 690g

Length: 180mm







Available From: www.weairsoft.com

56


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

issues with holstering options and carbine kits etc, and

as mentioned before the G18C innards are different

and have a smaller volume in terms of the blowback

unit and nozzle being undersized by comparison.

Another final note would be the benefit of the

‘guide HOP’ system, which does make it a lot easier

to adjust the HOP setting by inserting an allen key

down the core of the recoil spring guide. This system

does make it a little harder to remove the slide for

other maintenance at times if you don’t adjust it to a

particular minimal setting.

But, of course, now I have to mention again the

VFC Glock 17 Gen 5, but with the Tril Tactical G34

CNC red dot ready slide conversion kit that I’ve

covered off in this issue.

It’s been basically my go to sidearm since I set it

up, with a slightly longer tightbore barrel

from Unicorn builds on the already

solid action of the VFC Glock

system.

Jase: So, during my

time in airsoft I can

count on one hand my

pistol collection, and

by far the longest

serving and mostused

pistol is my

WE G17 GEN 4.

Over the many

years I have had

it, it’s worked

very well; user

error meant a new

bucking and nub

but for nearly TEN

years use, I’d say that

isn’t too bad going.

The WE G17 GEN 4

is a popular airsoft pistol,

and its realistic design and

performance are some of its

strong points. Here are a few more

positive aspects from my view; first up, a

combination of metal and polymer gives it a solid feel

while keeping it lightweight. The weight distribution

mimics that of a real firearm, enhancing the overall

user experience.

The gas blowback system provides realistic recoil

and firing experience, closely mimicking the feel of

a real handgun. The G17 is compatible with a range

of accessories, including holsters, sights, and tactical

lights, allowing for customisation based on personal

preferences. The mag holds a decent amount ammo,

meaning you really only need two mags in a loadout.

Overall, the WE G17 GEN 4 is a solid choice for

airsoft players who value realism, performance,

reliability and last but not least, value; it’s an amazing

pistol, giving bang for buck!

Miguel: I have always admitted I am not a “pistol

guy” like some of the others here, but oh boy, when it

comes to the SPECNA ARMS SAI BLU, what a beauty!

I think around 60% to 70% of the body is

stippled or serrated, giving you not only

a comfortable grip, but it also

makes it easier to rack the slide

without any slips, even with

heavier gloves. I also love

the stippling done in

the finger rest area,

as it gives me some

extra security when

holstering the SAI

BLU, since I really

like to know where

my finger is!

And are you a

fan of trademarks?

Then they have

you covered as this

model comes with

a lot of trademarks

...and I do mean a lot!

You will find SAI

markings in the barrel,

grip, trigger, mag release,

ejection port cover, along the

upper slide, the base of the mag,

the red dot mounts and maybe even

in other hidden spots! I’ve never seen so

many, it’s just crazy!

I really like the paint finish on both the frame and

the slide, although they are made with different

“I HAVE ALWAYS ADMITTED I AM NOT A “PISTOL GUY” LIKE SOME OF THE OTHERS

HERE, BUT OH BOY, WHEN IT COMES TO THE SPECNA ARMS SAI BLU, WHAT A

BEAUTY… ALL IN ALL, THE SAI BLU IS A MODEL THAT WILL CATCH THE EYE OF MANY,

MANY PLAYERS”


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

UMAREX G17 GEN 5

Price: iro £145.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 637g

Length: 200mm

Magazine Capacity: 14 BBs







EVOLUTION EO17 WARRIOR

Price: iro £145.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 776g

Length: 180mm







Supplied By: www.evolutioninternational.it

HUNTSMAN H-17

Price: iro £80.00

Age: Three Years

Weight: 690g

Length: 198m







Available From: www.bespokeairsoft.co.uk

ARMORER WORKS CUSTOM VX9100

Price: iro £110.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 670g

Length: 180mm







Available From: www.bespokeairsoft.co.uk

RWA AGENCY ARMS EXA

Price: iro £160.00

Age: One Year

Weight: 672g

Length: 195mm







Available From: www.redwolfairsoft.com

58


RED CELL

THE FINAL YEAR

materials (the slide is lightweight aluminium and the

frame is polymer), it’s hard to see the difference in

both, unless you touch them, and when you do, it’s

easy to understand why this is called a premium pistol,

or in this case a “Tier One”; it has a rock solid build,

and there are several little touches that show how

much work it was put into it, and the bronze and gold

give it a special touch.

All in all, the SAI BLU is a model that will catch the

eye of many, many players. I’m really curious to see

what Specna Arms has in development for their pistol

program in the future, but they have certainly set the

bar high with this cooperation.

Bill: I have to say that I’m not a huge fan of

G-SERIES-based fanciness, leaving that more to the

Hi Capa world, although I know and understand why

some of you out there are! Fact is that models such

as the SPECNA ARMS SAI BLU, VORSK EU18 Vented,

Evolution EO17 Warrior, Armorer Works Custom

VX9100, and the RWA AGENCY ARMS EXA have all

performed brilliantly and impeccably during testing, so

if this is your direction then none of the models listed

are going to disappoint you!

But I’m going to draw things to a close now with

my thoughts on some of the “glock-alikes”, although

I will tell you that my “go-to-glocks” are an older

Tokyo Marui G17 GEN 4 and my trusted Umarex 17

GEN 4…

Yeah, I know, all the guys tell me that I should

really update to a GEN 5, but the fact is that I know

the GEN 4s so very well now, know exactly how they

perform, know how well they fit into my holsters even

with a taclite, and ultimately KNOW that they will not

let me down when I most need them!

However, we’ve seen some serious budget models

enter the “G-fray” over recent years and I have to say

that for under UK£100 these are fine in-game pistols

if you’re on a limited budget. Not only that though, as

models like the Raven EU17, Army Armament R17 V3,

and especially the HUNTSMAN H-17 are actually very

good, durable, and most importantly reliable airsoft

secondaries if you keep on top the maintenance!

Okay, I’m not going to be competing at a high level

with any of these, but if you just want a good, soild

“fightin’ iron” then they will most certainly do the

job, and this impresses me a lot!

Bottom line is that there’s a G-SERIES model for

you out there, and more to come undoubtedly, as I’m

looking forward to seeing the DELTA ARMORY “PO”

models at IWA! However, whatever style of airsoft you

enjoy, there’s a “Glock” for YOU!

We’ll be drawing everything to a close at the end

of this year with a full round-up of ALL the G-SERIES

models we’ve had under evaluation, along with

everything else… exciting times indeed! AA

Red Cell is supported by:


TAP/CLICK IMAGES TO FIND OUT MORE

KIT & GEAR

VICTOPTICS

CLEAR

VISION

62


KIT & GEAR

VICTOPTICS

WE ALL LIKE TO ACCESSORISE OUR AEGS AND GBBS DON’T WE, AND INCREASINGLY THERE ARE A

WIDE RANGE OF “BOLT-ONS” THAT MAKE OUR PLATFORMS LOOK COOL… BUT ONE THING THAT WE

ADD CAN ACTUALLY INCREASE THE IN-GAME EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR PRIMARY OR SECONDARY

SIGNIFICANTLY, AND THAT’S A GOOD OPTIC. MIGUEL TELLS ALL ABOUT WHAT HE’S BEEN USING

RECENTLY TO GOOD EFFECT!

If we think about an accessory that we see on

almost every replica, what is the first thing that

comes to mind? Well, for me, it’s sights, particularly

red dots and scopes. There are models for every taste,

from T1s to ACOGs, 552 to LPVO and everything in

between. And it’s easy to understand why they are so

commonly used; I remember when I started playing,

almost 17 years ago, and even then sights were

already used everywhere.

We can all agree that having a well-adjusted red

dot or a scope with a good clear lens makes an

absolute difference in any game; I know we can just

see the BBs flying and adjust it on the fly, but there’s

nothing like hitting with that first shot, even before

the enemy has a chance to react.

I’m sure many of you have heard, tested or even

have sights from Vector Optics or Victoptics, as the

brands have been around for a few years, and now

they are almost everywhere! But today I’m going to

focus on two specific sights from Victoptics; I know

that the main brand, Vector Optics, has some top tier

sights, but the prices are also a bit out of reach of

many players, so I want to stay a bit budget friendly.

The two sights in question are the S6 LPVO 1-6×24

and the SRD 1×20 Red Dot, which I’ve been using for

a few months now. My goal was to test out their pros

and cons in different game settings, and to get a feel

as to what they are best suited for.

REACHING

OUT

Let’s start the

LPVO... This

style of scope

rose to popularity

really fast, it doesn’t matter if you are a

fan of military movies/series or if you like

to play FPS games, the LPVO is everywhere.

A low profile, low magnification scope, which is

easy to use and with a modern design which, in my

opinion, looks superb. In my case, I’m a fan of Arma

3 and Escape from Tarkov (among other more tactical

FPS), and a lot of times, the LPVO is my go-to sight!

Unfortunately, the prices for these models are not for

everyone, that’s why Victopics launched this S6 model

with a more friendly price. It’s still a bit pricey, but

now it’s available to more players.

The second that I had it in my hands, even before

testing it out, my first impression was how well built

it is, and the weight. It’s surprisingly light for its size,

which is a positive point for me, because in bigger

games, having a heavier replica will won’t help at all.

But now, on to the field-testing.

First, having a 1x zoom enables you to use the S6

almost as a red dot. I say “almost” because, even

while it does offer a faster target acquisition, it’s not

as instinctive as a normal red dot. This means that it

will take a bit of getting used to, but, it’s quite easy,

even for someone like me who has been using red

dots for over a decade and a half!

The zoom then goes up to 6x, with an amazing

crystal clear image, but for me, I’ll go up to 4x when

shooting, I think it’s the best zoom for the ranges that

we reach in airsoft. Above that, I’ll use it mostly for

recon and identifying contacts, especially if it’s friend

or foe!

One thing that caught my attention was the

dioptric adjustment, something that I had no idea

what it was, which I stumbled while

“WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT HAVING A WELL-ADJUSTED RED DOT OR A SCOPE WITH A GOOD

CLEAR LENS MAKES AN ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCE IN ANY GAME; I KNOW WE CAN JUST SEE

THE BBS FLYING AND ADJUST IT ON THE FLY, BUT THERE’S NOTHING LIKE HITTING WITH

THAT FIRST SHOT, EVEN BEFORE THE ENEMY HAS A CHANCE TO REACT”


KIT & GEAR

VICTOPTICS

getting some details on the S6. It’s an adjustment

meant for people with myopia or hyperopia, where

you only need to turn the wheel close to where we

place our eye. Offering a +2 to -2 focus level. Pretty

neat, and something that always evaded my attention.

Like many scopes of the same family, the S6 also

comes with an illuminated dot, with five levels of

green and red, but to be honest, I never really use it.

I know that with the 1x it’s possible to use it like

red dot, but the original reticle works

perfectly. I know there are some

valid points to use it, but I

never really felt the need.

But, if you like it, it’s

there!

One point that

was a minus for me

are the delta rings

that come in the

box. While they are

certainly good quality,

these are not the best

suited mounts for an

LPVO, it’s much better

to use an integrated

dovetail mount, like

the one I’ve been

using. Having a higher

mount will help aim, especially if you

are using ear-pro headsets.

Another positive aspect, and maybe

the best one, of the S6, is the eye relief;

with a 101mm ocular lens, aiming is simple

and instinctive. But, the position of the mount in the

replica rail is important, it needs to be in the right

spot.

To finish, the system to calibrate the reticle was

also well thought out; there is no need for tools, you

only need to pull the cap and rotate it to adjust. Then,

when you are set, just push the cap in and it will lock,

and while adjusting you will hear the classic click for

each mil dot.

Overall it’s a superb scope, not only in functionality

but in design as well. It’s easier to use than most

classic scopes, and it’s more appropriate for Airsoft.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

Moving on to the SRD red dot review then!

The SRD is a small and compact red dot, with a

light but quite sturdy build. It has a coating which

will not only protect it from scratches, but it also

eliminates reflection, a good thing when you want to

stay stealthy!

Adjustments can be done with no tools; the cap

covering the turrets can be perfectly used to turn

the windage or elevation

adjustments. It’s a

nice little detail,

and it helps

not to lose the

damn caps!

It’s just a little

rant, since

every time

one falls... It’s

a headache to

find it…

Like many red dots,

the SRD, comes with some

brightness intensity levels,

eight in this case, which is

enough. And it’s all powered

by the usual CR 2032 batteries.

The QD mount, one of my

favourite points, also has a

negative side. While it does

help to assemble the sight with

no tools, it’s important to have it tight; if

it’s too loose it will easily mess up any zeroing. So be

sure to tighten the screw located on the other side

of the QD lock. Something that I used to ignore a bit

when it came to red dots were the lens covers, but

since the SRD comes with a couple that are easy to

use, I kinda left them on while testing. And, at least,

during transportation, I always close the cover, adding

some extra protection to the lens.

So, for all who are looking for a more “modern” T1

style red dot, with a low profile and that doesn’t add

too much weight to a replica, the SRD from Victoptics

is a good option with a good price. I’m interested to

see what Victoptics do next for the airsoft market,

and I’ll keep things updated as they do! AA

“THE SRD IS A SMALL AND COMPACT RED DOT, WITH A LIGHT BUT QUITE STURDY BUILD.

IT HAS A COATING WHICH WILL NOT ONLY PROTECT IT FROM SCRATCHES, BUT IT ALSO

ELIMINATES REFLECTION, A GOOD THING WHEN YOU WANT TO STAY STEALTHY!”

64


KIT & GEAR

VICTOPTICS

“I’M INTERESTED TO SEE WHAT VICTOPTICS DO NEXT FOR THE AIRSOFT MARKET, AND I’LL

KEEP THINGS UPDATED AS THEY DO!”


KIT & GEAR

UPDATING YOUR LOADOUT!

NEW YEAR,

NEW GEAR!

“NEW YEAR, NEW GEAR”… WE HEAR THIS PHRASE RIGHT ABOUT NOW EACH AND EVERY YEAR AT

AAHQ AS WE START TO PREPARE OURSELVES FOR GAMES, EVENTS, AND TRAINING DAYS AHEAD,

BUT IT DOES SET THE SCENE FOR THE FACT THAT YOU SHOULD KEEP ON TOP OF YOUR CLOTHING

AND GEAR AS YOU FACE ANOTHER TWELVE MONTHS OF AIRSOFT-LIFE! BILL LOOKS TO HIS OWN

SETUP, AND DECIDES IT’S TIME FOR HIM TO INVEST IN SOMETHING NEW…

Yup, it’s THAT time of year again that we need

to be checking our gear and making sure

everything is ready for another year

of airsoft adventures, and I’ve been

doing a little shopping myself at

www.military1st.co.uk.

As fellow award-winners

and stockists of many of

my go-to brands (plus

the fact they offer

free shipping in the

UK!) they’re my first

stop when I go to

look for something,

and sadly this year I

need to replace and

update a few key items

of gear… kit takes a

proper bashing with the

AA Crew and I, that’s for

certain!

I’ll preface my look at gear

this month though by looking at

things in a wider context, and as we’ve

all started to head out to the first games

of 2025 whether or not you believe that there is a

benefit for “airsoft training” the fact of the matter

is that many of us should attend a training day, or

indeed a multi-day training course, and your gear

needs to be not only “game ready” but training

ready” too!

As I’ve said before, as good as

we may think we are one thing

that a thankfully long life

has taught me is to never

stop learning! We can

become entrenched

in doctrine (right or

wrong, but is there

actually a “wrong” if

it’s safe practice?), and

fall into habits (good

or bad) that actually

end up restricting our

development as players.

If we only ever play on

one team, or only play

one style of airsoft at a

handful of sites, then frankly I

believe that we’re missing out.

In my opinion if you have the

opportunity to attend a good training

course or try a different airsoft discipline then

grasp it eagerly with both hands, not once, but often!

You’ll learn new wrinkles on tactics and gear from

the Instructors/DS, but you’ll also learn from the other

“IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO BE OUT ON A TRAINING EVENT OR JUST “IN-GAME” AS USUAL, THEN

ANOTHER THING YOU NEED TO BE IS 100% ON TOP OF YOUR GEAR! OVER TIME EVEN THE

VERY BEST KIT WILL SUFFER “FAIR WEAR AND TEAR”, AND THE SAD FACT IS THAT THINGS

DO WEAR OUT… EVEN THE BITS THAT YOU LOVE WITH A VENGEANCE…”

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KIT & GEAR


guys that are shooting with you.

Before I even get into gear and “prep for ‘25” the

one single thing that I would advise you take to an

airsoft training course is open ears and an open mind,

as there will always be something that you can learn!

UPDATES, REPLACEMENTS, AND

UPGRADES!

Whether you’re looking to be out on a training event

or just “in-game” as usual, then another thing you

need to be is 100% on top of your gear! Over time

even the very best kit will suffer “fair wear and tear”,

and the sad fact is that things do wear out… even the

bits that you love with a vengeance…

Most of us are eternally searching for the perfect

combination of clothing and kit, and it has become

a bit of an obsession for me (and not just for me!)

over the years. I know what I like and what I need,

and I know how I like to carry my gear, but another

thing I have learnt from my “airsoft career” is that

things change, they move on, and just like the

way we shoot and play it’s all too easy

to fall back on that “entrenched

doctrine” in relation to gear too

and just keep using the same

thing game-in and gameout!

Also as I’ve got older

I find that my in-game

enjoyment can be

adversely affected if I

don’t have the right

clothing for the climate

and environment, or

indeed I carry too much

kit for a simple skirmish

day! I got stuck going

down the plate carrier

route a long time ago, and

it’s taken me a long time to

work my way back to running

much lighter… and faster, even

as an old boi! In a MilSim environment

there are times when you do need to get a shift

on without doubt, but your role there is far different

to zapping about on a skirmish day, and your gearchoice

should reflect this.

For a while I forgot my own rule, that of using kit

appropriate for the specific game I was playing, and

just rolled out in much the same loadout for any day

of airsoft… which often meant that although I felt I

looked cool, my effectiveness in-game was actually

hampered by my choice of gear in certain situations.

As you’ll have seen in our article about going back

to basics Ben and I recently ran out in just what we

REALLY needed to play a skirmish day, and the lighter

nature of my loadout really helped me to enjoy the

day thoroughly without being overloaded… with this

in mind I’ve revisited a couple of specific items of gear

for my MC/MTP/V-CAM loadout.

Although my VIPER V-CAM clothing is still going

strong, my “multicam” equipment has given great

service now for many moons so I thought it was time

to replace a couple of bits to fit more with a “fast and

light” ethos! I upgraded my belt kit late last year with

a multicam-wrapped Ooni Universal Kydex Holster

from Kydex Customs on one of their Laser Cut

Mid Ride Mounts which I love (and allows

me to easily run different models

of secondary, a real bonus for a

reviewer!), but my Chest Rig

and Small Patrol/Sustainment

Pack were “well used and

well abused” to say the

least, so I did as bit of

searching around on the

Military 1st website and

made my choices for

new 2025 models!

HELIKON TRAINING

MINI RIG – Everyone

needs a Chest Rig and

this excellent “one size

fits most” minimalist

model, designed specifically

to work along with just a

small backpack and belt kit,

offers the most effective way of

carrying your in-game essentials; it

comes with PALS webbing straps around

the rig for additional MOLLE attachments, multiple

loop patches for ID, morale patches or tags, and four

flapped single pistol and four easily accessible-from-

“I GOT STUCK GOING DOWN THE PLATE CARRIER ROUTE A LONG TIME AGO, AND IT’S TAKEN

ME A LONG TIME TO WORK MY WAY BACK TO RUNNING MUCH LIGHTER… AND FASTER, EVEN

AS AN OLD BOI! IN A MILSIM ENVIRONMENT THERE ARE TIMES WHEN YOU DO NEED TO GET

A SHIFT ON WITHOUT DOUBT, BUT YOUR ROLE THERE IS FAR DIFFERENT TO ZAPPING ABOUT

ON A SKIRMISH DAY”


KIT & GEAR


the-top rifle ammo

pouches. The pistol

ammo pockets include

adjustable hook-andloop

openings with

pull tabs and position

markers, while the

standard rifle pouches

for AK/AR are

equipped with quick

release bungee

retainers for added

safety.

The whole rig

is fully adjustable and

adaptable to any height

and chest size; it features

a waist strap and crossback

shoulder straps,

both with quick release

buckles and multiple loops

for wiring, antennas, krabs or hydration tubes. Also,

there is one sizeable built-in utility pouch at the front

equipped with a two-way YKK zipper opening, and

multiple loops, slots and a zippered mesh pocket;

there’s also a second MOLLE detachable pouch at the

bottom with a two-way zipper opening and inner loop

patches for hook-and-loop inserts.

This comfortable and sturdy rig from Helikon

will accommodate a basic load of magazines, some

additional ammunition, a multi-tool, flashlight, and

other essential game-day items, which makes it an

ideal choice for people who spend a lot of time at the

shooting range or in-game.

DIRECT ACTION DUST MKII – Regular readers

of AA will know that in a “past life” I worked within

the outdoor pursuits industry, indeed with one of the

very best pack makers in the world at the time, so

I’m VERY particular about what I choose for a “gear

lugger”, even a small sustainment pack! Weighing in

at just 1300g and giving 20L overall of load space, this

upgraded version of Dust Backpack from Direct Action

is undoubtedly an answer to the load carrying needs

of airsofters and has all features expected from new

generation EDC hydration packs.

The main compartment of Dust Mk2 features an

internal padded sleeve secured with a hook-andloop

elasticated tab that can be used for a hydration

bladder (or it can be used to carry a laptop up

to 13” in size safely), with an external port for a

hydration tube. The smaller front compartment has

a clear vinyl pocket for maps and documents, and

an internal organiser for notepads, GPS, writing

utensils and other essentials. The pack also has a

nifty paracord carrying handle, adjustable in length

and ergonomically designed padded shoulder straps,

as well as a removable waist system, which helps

to distribute weight evenly throughout the upper

body and ensures comfortable carry even for longer

periods.

An innovative Combat Vent System (CVS), made of

contoured foam profiles with multiple air channels,

ensures comfort and keeps the pack off the back

which enhances air circulation preventing heat

build-up and sweating, ideal if you’re wearing a

waterproof jacket or it’s belting hot! Multiple quickrelease

buckles allow the pack to be quickly dropped

when required, and compression straps allow it to

be adapted to the size of carried kit and prevent it

from shifting inside. The pack design also means

you can attach additional equipment through robust

D-Rings and numerous PALS points all-round. A

laser-cut MOLLE system, which absorbs less water

than traditional webbing, makes the pack not only

fully modular but also helps it

maintain a low-profile; to

save weight; the pack is

made of the 500D

Cordura fabric,

which allows for

a lighter weight,

and thanks to

the shape, the

pack has

an overall

lower height

and width than

other packs with

similar capacity.

All the features

of Direct Action

Dust Mk2 Backpack

allow

for high level of flexibility, quick adjustment

and provide maximum comfort, fit and ventilation for

“REGULAR READERS OF AA WILL KNOW THAT IN A “PAST LIFE” I WORKED WITHIN THE

OUTDOOR PURSUITS INDUSTRY, INDEED WITH ONE OF THE VERY BEST PACK MAKERS IN

THE WORLD AT THE TIME, SO I’M VERY PARTICULAR ABOUT WHAT I CHOOSE FOR A “GEAR

LUGGER”, EVEN A SMALL SUSTAINMENT PACK!”

70


KIT & GEAR


the user, which makes this lightweight and durable

backpack perfect for EDC or must-have equipment for

players.

GO LITE, LO-DRAG!

Moving onto clothing in more detail my old tan

waterproof has been a standby for many games (and

got worn daily too when needed!) but it’s reached

a stage where the time has come to replace it… I

wanted something super-light and packable, perhaps

with a lightweight insulated layer as a backup, and I

ended up looking at PENTAGON again! These guys

have really impressed me with their design and choice

of fabrics in recent years, and both the quality and the

utility of their garments is first rate… I’m really looking

forward to seeing what they have new at IWA!

So, Coyote Tan… what did I go for?

PENTAGON MONLITE SHELL JACKET - The

Monlite Shell Jacket has already been with me most

of this winter and has proved to be exceptional in

use, with just the right amount of features and no

more! It has a fully waterproof, breathable outer

layer made with 94% Polyester and 6% Spandex for

durability and flexibility, featuring TPU laminated

waterproof fabric (8,000mm), three-layer

taped seams, and a DWR coating, so it

provides excellent protection against the

elements. With a three-point adjustable

hood (this could do with a little more

volume for use with a helmet), underarm

ventilation, and large hand pockets, it

offers comfort and functionality. YKK

zips and wrist adjusters ensure a secure

fit and really snug things down….

this awesome, minimalist, well-priced

outer layer comes with my highest

recommendation!

PENTAGON GERAKI JACKET –

Although my VIPER Frontier is doing

very well, one area where I want to

up the ante a little is insulation, and

having been so impressed with the Monlite Jacket

also have to tell you that I recommend another jacket

in the Pentagon range in this respect… lightweight

and practical, the Geraki Jacket is a model that’s been

in Pentagon’s line and that I have owned for a while

now, and I have to say that it is one of my favourites,

but the old one after many moons is looking pretty

tired! The Geraki is a warm and ultra-lightweight

down liner jacket with 550 fill duck down insulation,

super-soft Nylon Taslon Rip-Stop patches and genuine

YKK zipper hardware. The jacket keeps warmth inside

and offers superb protection against really cold and

windy weather. With multiple YKK zipped pockets,

elasticated cuffs and adjustable bottom hem, the

Geraki Jacket is ideal to carry in your DUST pack for

those chilly moments in the Safe Zone Zone or for

extra, immediate warmth if you’re stuck on a cold,

windswept range; a “little industry bird” tells me that

we may well see a new Geraki Gen II coming in the

foreseeable future, so if like me you have a Gen I and

love it, then now may well be the time to pick a new

one up!

So, that’s me pretty much set up for a game day

again, and for a whole new year of airsoft! As I said

at the outset, you may not believe in the efficacy of

formal training for airsoft, but from my experience

you WILL learn something and take away

perhaps the very skill that you need

when it comes to being effective on

your next game-day.

If you add to that

open mind to choose

the “right gear for the

job”, and don’t get

stuck as I did going

down one particular

gear-path because

“it looks cool”, the

combination of good

gear and a mind open

to new techniques

and tactics will stand

you in good stead,

not just for 2025,

but for many, MANY

years to come!

My thanks as always go to Lukas and the guys at

www.military1st.co.uk for answering all my questions

and for their continued help, and you can find all of

the items listed in this article on their website… along

with much, MUCH more! AA

“I WANTED SOMETHING SUPER-LIGHT AND PACKABLE, PERHAPS WITH A LIGHTWEIGHT

INSULATED LAYER AS A BACKUP, AND I ENDED UP LOOKING AT PENTAGON AGAIN! THESE

GUYS HAVE REALLY IMPRESSED ME WITH THEIR DESIGN AND CHOICE OF FABRICS IN RECENT

YEARS, AND BOTH THE QUALITY AND THE UTILITY OF THEIR GARMENTS IS FIRST RATE”


INSIDE AIRSOFT

4UAD SMART AIRSOFT

S4UAD

GOALS!

WHILE HE WAS ALREADY IN THE TAICHUNG AREA COVERING THE TAIWAN SPEEDQB FINALE IN MID-

DECEMBER LAST YEAR (WE’LL HAVE A REPORT ON THIS NEXT MONTH!) OUR MAN IN TAIWAN FINALLY MADE

GOOD ON A LONG HELD PROMISE (OR THREAT!) TO VISIT AN INCREASINGLY PROMINENT GROUP OF LIKE

MINDS WHO ARE BUILDING A NICHE FOR THEMSELVES IN THE AIRSOFT AND WIDER SHOOTING RELATED

HOBBY SPACE! THE FOLKS OF 4UAD SMART AIRSOFT HAVE RECENTLY MOVED INTO A NEW OFFICE SPACE

AND CONTINUE THEIR EXPANSION EFFORTS. STEWBACCA FOUND OUT WHAT’S GOING DOWN!

More years ago than I care to mention, not

long after I arrived in Taiwan, I was hanging

around KUI Zhubei one evening (as I was

wont to do, typically heading there after every

Wednesday’s final lesson to dump ammunition and

my work related stresses downrange on their in-store

practise electronic range) when I happened

upon a fellow anglophone player who had

just popped in to the shop to pick up some

supplies and eye up the latest kit on sale.

That early 2018 happenstance saw my first

introduction to Andrew Lai, a longer term

player like myself who had returned to Taiwan

after studying in the US and moved from the

bicycle design industry into working in R&D

for one of the better known names on the

island for airsoft.

In the intervening years Andrew has

assembled a solid core group of compatriots

into a team that many of you will now be

aware of as they have not only taken on the

mantle of in-depth-nerdery and ‘gun science’

in the airsoft space, dispelling myths and

misconceptions and explaining to the typical

player how systems work and how best to

leverage their advantages, but more recently

begun fielding an ever growing range of their

own specialist products all in the guise of 4UAD Smart

Airsoft.

So, where did it all begin, and how did Andrew

go about building the S4UAD to what it is today?

Casting his mind back to his earlier years, Andrew

recounted how during his elementary school years

“IN THE INTERVENING YEARS ANDREW HAS ASSEMBLED A SOLID CORE GROUP OF

COMPATRIOTS INTO A TEAM THAT MANY OF YOU WILL NOW BE AWARE OF AS THEY

HAVE NOT ONLY TAKEN ON THE MANTLE OF IN-DEPTH-NERDERY AND ‘GUN SCIENCE’

IN THE AIRSOFT SPACE, DISPELLING MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS”

74


INSIDE AIRSOFT

4UAD SMART AIRSOFT

replica guns were actually sold in book shops and he

got interested in the usual low intensity ‘BB wars’ I’m

sure many of us old salts recklessly engaged in. Much

like that hilarious South Park-esque meme video doing

the rounds recounting one American guy’s first forays

into eye-protectionless unsanctioned street battles

and subsequent run in with the law that browntrousered

him and all his friends, suffice to say, despite

a somewhat protracted hiatus, he returned to the fold

on a more serious (and no doubt safety conscious

note!) in his second year of studying at college in

Arizona, becoming aware of the early Evike website

and ordering a G&G Combat machine AR AEG and a

WE Glock GBB and getting to work playing within the

US community as it was in the late 2000s.

His early experiences in the US saw him somewhat

confounded by the range and reach of the more

senior players; constantly finding himself out-gunned

by their more highly-tuned platforms, he threw his

engineering mindset into studying the underlying

principles and available upgrade components and how

they worked, playing most weekends and developing

his knowledge base significantly during his time in

country.

had the time and ability to really get into the nuts

and bolts of what makes airsoft guns tick (or rather

clack) and how to design and manufacture products

to last and deliver consistent performance, working

on their own nascent HiCapa derivative program

and getting to set up and test banks of existing

market leader products, cut them up and see their

insides, experiment at length and help to push ICS’

gas blowback pistol technology ahead, while still

maintaining compatibility with Marui’s components

to suit the demands of the after-market-upgrade-user

crowd.

Despite remembering his time there fondly and

being genuinely thankful for the opportunities

afforded him, the nature of commercial sensitivity to

a lot of his work made it harder to share some of the

ideas more openly at times, and he began working

alongside his kindergarten friend, Brendan, who

is a similarly adept technical mind working in the

electronics industry Taiwan is so famous for. However,

BRINGING IT HOME

As 2009 rolled around and graduation came, Andrew

returned to his native land to fulfil his national service

requirement in the Republic of China armed forces,

developing an awareness of ‘real steel’ firearms and

tactics, as well as building his skills. Following this he

decided to embark on a career in design, working

with a household name here in Taiwan (if not the

world!) for bicycles, Giant, for over three years before

eventually tiring of the somewhat limited and generic

nature of such efforts given the limitations on what

can be made different with bikes.

Thus he pivoted towards the airsoft scene once

again, this time spending a further three years in a

household name for airsoft gun manufacture, our

friends down in the north of Taichung, I Chih Shivan,

better known to you all no doubt as ICS Airsoft.

As a project specialist sitting at the nexus of various

departments and their requirements, and given the

space and resources to grow and develop products

and technologies under their R&D umbrella, Andrew

“HIS EARLY EXPERIENCES IN THE US SAW HIM SOMEWHAT CONFOUNDED BY

THE RANGE AND REACH OF THE MORE SENIOR PLAYERS; CONSTANTLY FINDING

HIMSELF OUT-GUNNED BY THEIR MORE HIGHLY-TUNED PLATFORMS, HE THREW HIS

ENGINEERING MINDSET INTO STUDYING THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES”


INSIDE AIRSOFT

4UAD SMART AIRSOFT

he

had no real

interest in airsoft himself

per se, but together they co-founded

4UAD Smart Airsoft and leveraged their combined

talents and differing skills and perspectives to deliver

scientific content and assessments of existing products

and technologies in the market, working with their

‘grading system’ to assess the consistency and

performance of an array of airsoft guns in their own

collections, or sent their way for consideration by a

host of manufacturers interested to see how their

products stack up and showcase their performance to

a more technically-minded audience.

After a time of developing these efforts it became

clear that Andrew could no longer effectively balance

working full-time for ICS and trying to plan and

produce 4UAD’s content to bring his knowledge and

insights to the wider community. Leading a double

life can really take it out of you and his stress levels

ended up nearly costing him his left eye which put

him out of action while he dealt with the condition,

but also gave him the necessary reality check and time

to consider his path and what was most important to

him.

As a result, in early 2022 he decided to take the

plunge and make 4UAD Smart Airsoft his full time

career focus and source of income. No small feat,

especially when you have other people in your life

to consider! But, 4UAD and Andrew were on a new

more intense path now, and it’s a lot harder for him to

quit when it’s his own company as such.

DOING IT RIGHT

With the release of simple but effective smaller

scale product solutions, like their growing range of

4UANTUM pens (which I’ve made extensive use of

personally in my own maintenance efforts in their

various guises), different lubricants, gas magazine

sealants and adhesives or thread lockers of various

intensities, 4UAD managed to keep the lights

on and the revenue coming in long enough to

set about developing a wider range of more

intentful, innovative and useful products for

the end user as well as focusing more of their

time on product reviews, technical content and

supporting the industry and player

“THE POSITIVE WORKING CULTURE ALSO HELPS ENSURE MOTIVATION AMONG

THE WIDER TEAM, ALLOWING MORE FLEXIBILITY TO FIT AROUND FAMILY LIFE AND

ACTIVITIES THAN MANY EMPLOYERS WOULD IN TAIWAN; THE FOCUS IS ON ACHIEVING

DELIVERABLES AND GETTING THE JOB DONE”

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INSIDE AIRSOFT

4UAD SMART AIRSOFT

base alike.

Throughout the early year or so of going full

time Andrew was also going it alone, having

to maintain the discipline to keep churning

through content planning, filming, editing and

curating while also focusing on gameplay and

outdoor testing or review and event efforts

alongside growing the range of aforementioned

maintenance products! It soon became clear

he would need to have someone else working

full time to share the load and be a ‘man in the

chair’ when Andrew had to be in front of the

camera or focused elsewhere.

Thus, his ICS colleague Jess also decided

to take the big step of trusting in the brand

and its efforts, and joined full time as a

cameraman and working on editing and

other aspects of filming alongside Andrew,

with the pair of them having worked the

floor at various trade and industry shows

since, including a visit to SHOT SHOW

in Vegas, alongside more local efforts in

Taiwan and Japan since.

The next major step was the 4UANTUM industries

HOP bucking (something which was no small feat in

itself!) requiring at least a year of intensive research

and development and leaning on Brendon’s technical

and quality control background. As well as his nonairsofter

point of view providing a litmus test for

explaining its benefits to the potential lay person or

less technically minded airsofters, extensive practical

tests were performed at ranges between 10-50 metres

and a variety of BB weights with numerous iterations

of the internal friction imparting geometry of the

bucking until a consistent solution was arrived at and

developed further to a mass-producible result.

As a result of this product focus, the first year

or so meant the focus had to shift away from the

very production intensive grading system videos

which have had to take a back seat, while product

development in the background as well as less

intensive product reviews and introduction videos

have helped maintain the output of content, without

keeping the demand on the team’s time so high.

Andrew is also quick to point out that it is very

much a team effort and everyone’s support and input

not only

what keeps the team themselves

and 4UAD as a company alive, but also the

perspectives from the likes of Brendan and the wives

and girlfriends of the team help to maintain and

outsider’s perspective that ensures they don’t overlook

explaining aspects of the products and technologies

they might see as obvious given their expertise.

The positive working culture also helps ensure

motivation among the wider team, allowing more

flexibility to fit around family life and activities than

many employers would in Taiwan; the focus is on

achieving deliverables and getting the job done,

rather than being in the office for a fixed amount of

hours, something I find extremely appealing given

my own experiences on-island and the work culture

here thus far! This approach helps to maintain the

direction of 4UAD and their 4UANTUM product line’s

development.

FUTURE PLANS

What of the future? Andrew told me that ideally

they’d like to secure their own testing facility and

indoor range aside from the decent warehouse space

is

“FURTHER DOWN THE LINE THEIR RANGE IS INTENDED TO EXPAND INTO VARIOUS

APFG MODELS SUCH AS THE VFC INTERNALS-COMPATIBLE SIG LINE OF MCX TYPE

SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS PISTOL VERSIONS OF THE SYSTEM TO SIMILARLY ALLEVIATE

THE NEED FOR DISASSEMBLY”


INSIDE AIRSOFT

4UAD SMART AIRSOFT

they

have already

been allowed to use thanks to

Luis’ and his family’s involvement with it and

the team to give a more controlled space where things

can be left setup and ready for use on a longer term

basis to ease content creation and experimentation.

In terms of products themselves, the next step is

producing HOP buckings specifically aimed at lighterweight

BB use for the wider market, and in particular

Japan, which has much lower BB weight restrictions

and power levels as a product of their regulations and

laws, so a sub 1 joule setup running 0.2g or 0.25g BBs

in essence will be their focus.

Their Magnus Pro HOP UP Chamber is now making

its way to the market; they were good enough to

furnish me with a sample for my own testing and

review purposes, so keep an eye out for that content

coming from me, along with other usage of their

products.

This initial release is compatible with both VFC

and GHK Armalite pattern GBBRs and offering much

greater consistency and convenience of adjustment

with its air seal promoting structure and whole

rear face adjustment outer wheel making it much

simpler to access and turn the arms on face of the

HOP with a variety of tools just by holding open the

bolt, instead of needing to get inside handguards

or having to dismantle them or other parts of the

gun… Which, from personal experience can be a

pain, especially in the field!

Further down the line their range is intended

to expand into various APFG models such as the

VFC internals-compatible SIG line of MCX-type

systems, as well as pistol versions of the system

to similarly alleviate the need for disassembly or other

work around solutions to ease HOP adjustment and

improve consistency, while the more distant future will

see them looking to develop their own performance

inner barrels with a lot of research and development

towards materials used and production techniques as

before they release anything they want to ensure it’s

as optimised as it can be for the end user.

So, lots to look forward to from the guys and

girls behind 4UAD Smart Airsoft and their line of

4UANTUM industries product!

With the popularity and positivity they’re garnering

from the end users and industry, they’re looking to

continue expanding and bring more of the group on

as full time employees!

Luis was a somewhat happenstance addition having

met the guys at a shoot in Taichung and getting

interested in co-operating and helping out their

efforts, opening up the opportunity for their current

testing space in the warehouse which made things

a lot more convenient, as well as looking to be on

camera and take on a more customer and industryfacing

role in their video content, while Kevin, their IT

support guy, keeps working away behind the spotlight

to ensure everything works smoothly.

So watch this space, fellow shooters… and many

thanks to Andrew and Jess, plus the wider team, for

their time! AA

“SO, LOTS TO LOOK FORWARD TO FROM THE GUYS AND GIRLS BEHIND 4UAD

SMART AIRSOFT AND THEIR LINE OF 4UANTUM INDUSTRIES PRODUCT; WITH THE

POPULARITY AND POSITIVITY THEY’RE GARNERING FROM THE END USERS AND

INDUSTRY THEY’RE LOOKING TO CONTINUE EXPANDING”

78


TAP/CLICK ANYWHERE TO

VISIT OUR WEBSITE!

AA LEGION

JAPAN: EVENT REPORT BAKURETSU-SAI

EXPLOSIVE

FESTIVAL

VIBES

AS WELL AS FLITTING AROUND MARUIFEST 2024 IN AKIHABARA OUR MAN IN JAPAN, TAMA, WAS ONCE

AGAIN PULLING DOUBLE-DUTY LIKE LAST YEAR TO ENSURE HE ALSO CAPTURED THE HAPPENINGS AT THE

BAKURETSU-SAI; THE ‘EXPLOSIVE FESTIVAL’ OVER IN IKEBUKURO, TOKYO!

Hey, it’s your man Tama back again with news

from the land of the Rising Sun, the Mecca of

Airsoft, Japan!

I’m back with this year’s Bakuretsu-Sai report, or if

you translate it to English, the ‘Explosive Festival’. This

year was their 16th event, and I couldn’t wait to see

what this year has for us and you, our readers!

To remind you of what Bakuretsu-Sai is; the

Bakuretsu-sai airsoft expo is a prominent annual event

in Japan dedicated to airsoft enthusiasts and military

hobbyists. It provides a platform for showcasing the

latest advancements in airsoft guns, tactical gear, and

accessories, attracting major exhibitors such as LayLax,

Novritsch, G&G Japan, and many others.

Carbon8 is also like Baton; a retailer for CO2 guns,

but unlike BATON, they specifically only deal with

Pistol GBB replicas;- last year they had the Steyr L9A2,

which is in my opinion not really a good gun, and they

we’re not really popular even within the Otaku world

Hosted in the Ikebukuro Sunshine City Exhibition

Hall C ( 池袋・サンシャインシティ・文化会館ホールC),

located on the 3rd floor of the Sunshine City mall (サ

ンシャインシティ池袋 ) in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, the mall itself

is a 15 minute walk from Ikebukuro station, one of

the hub stations in Tokyo; there’s also an underground

walkway from the station straight to the mall, so it’s

very easy to get to the venue.

The event features custom equipment, unique

patches, and other military-themed items, blending

commerce with culture; while the expo encourages

cosplay as part of the community engagement,

strict guidelines ensure appropriateness, prohibiting

outfits like World War II uniforms or overly realistic

replicas. Admission is ¥1,000, and minors must be

accompanied by a guardian.

This gathering fosters connections among airsoft

players and hobbyists, offering not only product

exhibitions but also a chance to immerse in Japan’s

vibrant airsoft culture, especially this year as there

were 117 stands from both Japan and overseas, with

the event being hosted on the 24th of November and

starting at 10:30 and continuing through until 17:00.

So, what was new for this year’s Bakuretsu-Sai?

Unlike last year, where there were more Taiwanese

or European manufacturers and airsoft influencers

joining the Japanese creators, this year in terms of

the overall size it was a little smaller, with fewer

manufacturers or participants from outside of the

country.

There were some retailers that introduced products

from outside of Japan, like Novritsch, VFC, and EMG

but it still wasn’t as much as last year, with a focus

“THERE WERE SOME RETAILERS THAT INTRODUCED PRODUCTS FROM OUTSIDE OF JAPAN,

LIKE NOVRITSCH, VFC, AND EMG BUT IT STILL WASN’T AS MUCH AS LAST YEAR, WITH A

FOCUS ON LOCAL PRODUCERS MORE, ESPECIALLY “MADE IN THE BACKYARD” SMALL SCALE

CUSTOM OUTFITS”

82


AA LEGION


on local producers more, especially “Made in the

Backyard” small scale custom outfits.

We are seeing a lot of household makers, with

a lot of 3D printed guns being introduced in the

festival, where last year it was usually only parts

of replicas being made and sold in the show, at

most a conversion kit. Whereas this year they

stepped up their 3D printing game, with outof-this-world

conversion kits and straight up

replicas being made from scratch; this year is

where Japanese amateur replica makers are

on the rise in the Bakuretsu-Sai, and they’re

making a statement that the Japanese airsoft

industry is moving towards the new way of

industry.

And as your friendly neighborhood Japanese

(Indonesian) man, I’m going to report to you from

top to bottom on what’s happening in the airsoft

Mecca! However, this year I wasn’t alone, joined

by my good friend and your neighbourhood

Captain America (Filipino), Carlos! I call him

Captain America because he always dresses

like Cap, but he is from the Philippines, and he

has a Latino name. But before we get to the

backyard gunslingers, let’s start from the big

boys.

LAYLAX - Let’s start with the homegrown

big bois, Laylax; as usual they were pairing

up with Krytac, but not only them as this

year they also cooperated with two gear

companies, Danner and Mechanix.

But let’s start with Krytac... Last year they

announced their first GBB replicas like the Vector,

but this year they announced the resurgence of their

classic Vector AEG, with the very creatively named

Kriss Vector SMG GEN 2 AEG replica!

So what’s new from the Kriss Vector SMG GEN 2?

Well the upper receiver now lacks a collapsible stock

unlike the OG Vector, they now use an AR buffer

tube, allowing you to fit any AR stock you prefer,

even though you can’t fold the stock which defeats

the whole truck gun aspect, it does help with the

comfort of shooting and compatibility with AR parts.

Also it makes it much easier to change the spring of

the gun, because of the buffer tube now you can

access it from the back of the gun. Internally they

added

a micro switch

trigger and ECU for the gun to make

the performance much better than the OG Vector

replica.

Krytac also refurbished their AR lineup, the Trident

family. Out with the weird handguards, now they

focus on practicality and versatility with M-LOK

handguards for their new Trident AR lineups. And

they now come as standard with micro switch

triggers, ECU, and Krytac’s Neodymium motors. Also

if you want more performance for your brand-new

Trident replicas, they come in standard with Krytac’s

Ver.2 Nautilus mech box that is made to fit with GATE

TITANs, which make it much easier to level up your

guns.

“KRYTAC ALSO REFURBISHED THEIR AR LINEUP, THE TRIDENT FAMILY; OUT WITH THE

WEIRD HANDGUARDS, NOW THEY FOCUS ON PRACTICALITY AND VERSATILITY WITH M-LOK

HANDGUARDS FOR THEIR NEW TRIDENT AR LINEUPS”


AA LEGION


Now away

with the guns

and to looking

sigma in airsoft

games; with

Laylax working

together with

Danner and

Mechanix, they

are making

some Japanonly

models!

Starting with

Mechanix, the

king of Mil-Spec

gloves, loved by

the military as

well as civilians,

now

not

only

airsofters

would buy Mechanix’s glove but also

Anime lovers because they’re doing a

collaboration with Evangelion, based off

their best-selling multipurpose model.

They spice it up with the Evangelion’s

Unit 01 (Test-Type Unit) theme onto

their glove. They will only be selling it in

limited numbers and for Japan, so if you

guys are looking for brand new gloves

and are a fan of the Evangelion series,

this might be the glove for you.

Meanwhile, Danner introduced their

lightweight ATA-MIL shoes; made for

light hiking, where it’s designed to be

very light, easy to use, and durable, it’s

a perfect shoe for the very competitive

Japanese UAB players, and because

it’s Danner, it’s famous for durability and quality,

proven by the US Military. This might be the perfect fit

for people who live life in the fast lane!

Airsoft 97 (CAT) - Next up is the homegrown

unicorn, the CAT AEG replica.

Airsoft 97 (Combat Artisan) is the designer of the

one and only mechanical pre-cocking AEG! They’re

made to be very easy to modify, versatile, easy to

use, and capable of being used at any game that

players be facing. But a lot of CAT users will know

that the CAT doesn’t look like any of their real steel

counterparts, it’s because they’re made specifically

for players who prefer their gun’s performance over

aesthetics. But don’t worry, in Bakuretsu-Sai this year,

they introduced a brand new CAT Mk18 Mod. 1 AEG

airsoft replica; it’s made out of aluminium and unlike

the original CAT replicas that have interchangeable

stocks and magwells, this one uses the original AR

lower receiver and upper receivers, and because it’s

made out of aluminium it’s a very robust and cool

looking replica. Very good news for MilSim players

who want the performance of the kind a mechanical

pre-cocking sector gear CAT replica provides, but also

want the AR aesthetic to be used in Milsim games.

They’re selling it for \63,800 Yen (417.77

USD or 398.35

EUR)

but they’re making it in limited

numbers. During the festival they were selling what’s

left of their stock, so for Milsimmers who wants the

CAT, be quick or you’ll miss out the opportunity for

one of a kind guns.

“A LOT OF CAT USERS WILL KNOW THAT THE CAT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE ANY OF THEIR REAL

STEEL COUNTERPARTS, IT’S BECAUSE THEY’RE MADE SPECIFICALLY FOR PLAYERS WHO

PREFER THEIR GUN’S PERFORMANCE OVER AESTHETICS. ”

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AA LEGION


Also, Airsoft 97 showed us their prototype of the

CAT Versatile-8 SMG AEG replica. So what’s different

from their already existing CAT versatile family? The

soon to be released Versatile-8 now houses a 9mm

magwell for MP5 magazines, and on the back it uses

an arm brace to make it much more compact. Not just

that, but the internals of the gun have also made sure

that the performance is much better, as it’s going to

be fitted with their custom INAZUMA motors, which

are designed for quick response and high cycle rate.

They haven’t announced the release date and the

price, but expect it to be in the range of 40,000 to

60,000 yen (around 261 USD to 350 USD or 249 to

300 EUR) so also for small 9mm SBR lovers, CAT have

you covered.

HOLOSUN - Holosun, just like last year, never stops

surprising us!

Last year they revealed the magical DRS lineup to

Japan straight after they revealed it in the US SHOT

SHOW. Even though there were no new things from

Holosun, they surprised the Japanese market with

their whole lineup of red dot sights in Bakuretsu-sai,

from the top of the line DRS lineup to their bestselling

HS403B.

This year they were in Bakuretsu-Sai in full force

and making a statement that they’re

going to

be the King of the Hill of the Japanese red dot sight

market, and oddly because their main competitors in

Japan are Novel Arms and Sightron (also the owner

of Sightmark) were nowhere to be seen. Holosun

is capturing all of the spotlight especially when last

year they didn’t have the DRS-NV in Japan; this year

they finally have it for sale and they’re in the spotlight

of this year Bakuretsu-Sai. They also displayed their

brand new FDE lineup, which is basically their normal

models presented in FDE colors which looks cool for

people who like FDE guns; other than that you could

call Holosun as the king of red dot sights in this year’s

Bakuretsu-Sai.

E&L and Arcturus - E&L surprised us with

their friendliness in last year’s V-Show, with them

announcing a lot of stuff they’re bringing to Japan.

But this year I guess they weren’t so lucky, because

there wasn’t a lot of stuff they’re bringing to Japan

this year, except one replica, the infamous GBB

unicorn, the E&L QBZ-191/T191 GBB rifle replica

Finally they’re bringing the Japanese version to our

shores; I guess I don’t need to review it cause others

have already done a couple of reviews before, the only

difference is that the Japanese variant is concentrated

on the CO2 model, because Japan doesn’t allow

Green-Gas-charged replica GBBs in games,

they only allow CO2.

But the T191 is a bit of a grey area,

because its labelled as an HPA GBB gun,

and in some places they don’t allow CO2

HPA guns, and because it hasn’t yet

gotten the green light from the Japanese

regulators (the JASG) so for us who live

in Japan, we won’t be seeing the T191

in fields anytime soon. Oh yeah, they

also brought a CO2 Nerf gun; yep,

you heard me right, a CO2 powered

Nerf gun! I had a dryfire test with it,

even for a guy whose doing airsoft for

years and normally being shot at with

BBs weekly, I don’t want to be on the

receiving end!

Toxicant - Now for some big

news! You’ll be 100% mistaken that

APFG had a booth at Bakuretsu-

Sai; but you’d be completely wrong

because it’s from Toxicant, APFG’s

“EVEN THOUGH THERE WERE NO NEW THINGS FROM HOLOSUN, THEY SURPRISED THE

JAPANESE MARKET WITH THEIR WHOLE LINEUP OF RED DOT SIGHTS IN BAKURETSU-SAI,

FROM THE TOP OF THE LINE DRS LINEUP TO THEIR BEST-SELLING HS403B”


AA LEGION


rival in terms of next-gen SIG Sauer GBB replica

manufacturers. And they kept the competition at bay

with the biggest reveal of this year’s Bakuretsu-Sai.

THE BRAND NEW TOXICANT SIG SAUER MCX-SPEAR

6.8x51 GBB REPLICA. Yep you heard it right, Toxicant

is entering the next-generation calibre race!

Toxicant was displaying their prototype MCX-

SPEAR, and the thing is freaking awesome; just like

any other of their GBB replicas, they’ll be using the

MWS based system, but with some modification to

house it in the MCX-SPEAR system, especially with

the hop-up system. They changed from the old MWS

chamber hop-up system to the front, they moved it to

the gas block, so you can change the hop-up with the

gas regulator, to make it slightly more realistic. They

also not only redesigned, but made the magazine

straight from scratch, and they’re planning on making

not only gas magazines, but also CO2 mags at the

same time.

The MCX-SPEAR is going to be CO2 compatible

straight out of the box, and they’ll be using a mix of

steel and aluminium parts for the inside and outside,

so you won’t need to worry about durability and

performance. This is big ...especially when the new

VFC based MCX-SPEAR was announced

earlier in the MOA Taiwan and Toxicant

picked the Japanese Bakuretsu-Sai because

they know where the MWS based market

is, especially with the Japanese regulations

are strict. They wanted the their MCX-

SPEAR to be used in the Mecca of airsoft

so they announced it in Japan.

They haven’t announced the release

date and price, but because it’s Toxicant

they do put a super-premium price on

their stuff; the prototype replica they put

in the festival was an almost working

replica, the only thing they haven’t

finished is the magazines. They do plan

on selling the MCX-SPEAR to be fully

ready for games. You’re not only going

to be buying a replica GBB and one

mag, but they’ll sell it with four mags

straight from factory, and you can

choose, either normal gas magazines

or CO2 magazines, so if you want a

supreme CO2 MCX-SPEAR GBB replica, you need to

keep a good eye on Toxicant.

But they’re not stopping there!

Toxicant is releasing a lot more stuff, not only are

they making more for their MCX lineup, like the

SPEAR LT, they are also reaching out to the OG AR

replicas, they’re selling the replica for Daniel Defense

Mk18 RIS MOD III, basically the good old Mk18 with

a brand new Daniel Defense M-LOK handguard.

And every single gun they’re making will be CO2

compatible, heck they’re going to restart their

production on their MWS based CO2 magazines,

NEXT MONTH. Yes you won’t need to wait that long

for CO2 magazines, anymore because Toxicant have

got you covered - they’re the saviour for MWS users

all over the world.

BATON - The CO2 news doesn’t stop here, there’s

also our good old friend BATON, the retailers for

Taiwanese made CO2 guns in Japan. Last year we had

the opportunity to see their first CO2 rifle, the BG-

PCC CO2 GBB replica, which is their variant of an AR

CO2 GBB replica rifle that uses their already existing

CO2 Glock magazines. And Baton never ceases to

impresses the airsofting world, this year of Bakuretsu-

Sai they announced two replicas, the brand new

Glock 19 Gen 5

“NOW FOR SOME BIG NEWS! YOU’LL BE 100% MISTAKEN THAT APFG HAD A BOOTH AT

BAKURETSU-SAI; BUT YOU’D BE COMPLETELY WRONG BECAUSE IT’S FROM TOXICANT,

APFG’S RIVAL IN TERMS OF NEXT-GEN SIG SAUER GBB REPLICA MANUFACTURERS…

TOXICANT WAS DISPLAYING THEIR PROTOTYPE MCX-SPEAR, AND THE THING IS FREAKING

AWESOME!”

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AA LEGION


MOS CO2 GBB pistol replica and the new AR-based

CO2 GBB, the BG-PCC LITE CO2 GBB replica rifle.

They’re all based on their earlier models, just made

much more compact. So for the Glock 19,

it’s based

on their

Glock 17 replica which is basically smaller

version of the Glock 17 with a smaller magazine,

and the BG-PCC LITE, as the name it’s lite, and like

the Glock 19, they made it smaller, or rather shorter

which makes it looks much more fitting, knowing that

it uses a Glock mags.

Not only were Baton showing their other new rifle,

earlier this year Baton surprised the Japanese market

that they can make a rifle replica that is not based

on a 9mm magazine, the Baton G36 CO2 GBB rifle

replica! This was revolutionary, because it shows that

Japanese market can have a CO2 GBB rifle permitted

by the Japanese regulators. Not only that it also uses

a very unique magazine system, it uses a double CO2

canister magazine, which ensures more gas capacity

and much more power for the gun. But Baton let us

dry fire the gun, and woo wee it was a pleasure to

shoot. The gun was super light and easy to handle

because the Germans made it out of plastic, and the

double canister made the blowback super strong and

firm. It’s an amazing gun to shoot, I would love to try

it on the field!

Carbon8 - Carbon8 is also like Baton; a retailer for

CO2 guns, but unlike BATON, they specifically only

deal with Pistol GBB replicas.

Last year they had the Steyr L9A2,

which is in my opinion not really a good

gun, and they we’re not really popular

even within the Otaku world. But this

year they finally brought the long

awaited pistol made by ASG. Lo and

behold, the CZ Shadow 2 CO2 GBB

pistol replica, finally not another Glock

or a 1911 replica, we finally get a

unicorn gun from Eastern Europe.

Carbon8 will be bringing it to Japan

with CO2 compatibility, which is very

helpful during winter. They will also

sell the modification parts from ASG,

like the magwell, custom grips and the

custom trigger… finally we can have

nice things in Japan!

Jagd und Leder - Jagd und Leder

(or, in English, hunting and leather),

is a pretty new retailer in Japan that

is mainly selling hunting scopes and

sights that are from Europe and the USA, even though

they mainly do real steel business for hunting in

Japan. But they decided to introduce the stuff they’re

bringing to Japan, especially for sniper airsofters.

Meet the DoRaSight, nope it’s not a Latino girl with

a talking monkey and a talking map (that thing still

haunts me to this day), but this thing is a work of art!

It’s a red dot sight with a built-in rangefinder that

can range out to 800 meters. 800 METERS! That’s

not a range for airsoft replicas, heck not even some

real steel guns can reach that range, but this thing

is magic, because this thing is made for real steel

firearms, 800Gs to be exact, you don’t need to worry

about your GBB replica blurring the zero.

The DoRa can be used either as a standalone red

dot sight or you can attach it to your scope to be a

mobile range finder/short to mid-range sight. They’re

being sold for \59,800 Yen, (195.57 USD or 374.49

EUR) for it, so either you are a hunter or an airsoft

player. This might be a good new attachment for your

toys.

Other than the aforementioned manufacturers,

“BATON NEVER CEASES TO IMPRESSES THE AIRSOFTING WORLD, THIS YEAR OF BAKURETSU-

SAI THEY ANNOUNCED TWO REPLICAS, THE BRAND NEW GLOCK 19 GEN 5 MOS CO2 GBB

PISTOL REPLICA AND THE NEW AR-BASED CO2 GBB, THE BG-PCC LITE CO2 GBB REPLICA

RIFLE”


AA LEGION


like Novritsch, G&G, and such were displaying their

newest collections, although they’re the collections

that we have already seen most of, we’ll get to the

backyard gun-makers.

The Backyard Gunslingers - As I was saying about

the backyard gun-makers, they were really out in force

for this year’s Bakuretsu-Sai, and that is very surprising

for me.

I’ve been playing airsoft for almost half a decade

in Japan, so DIY airsofting wasn’t really a new thing. I

saw NGRS being made into a HPA replicas and Saigas

made into SMGs before the Saiga SBS was even a

thing, and gas-cocking replicas are very popular. But

they can’t get it into the commercial market, some

parts did, but not a whole replica or even a conversion

kit. Because Japanese regulators don’t like people

messing with stuff already in existence, and making

something in your garage and selling it is especially a

no-go. Japanese regulators either want a Tokyo Marui

replica, or an outside replica, but made specifically

for Japan only markets. That’s why in Japan we have

outside replicas being termed as JDMs, like cars. But

this year they’re making a statement that you can’t

stop a Youtube-educated engineer from making their

dream gun from WW2 stop!

KM Sekkei 3DP - A small-time company started

by a pair that wants some of the unique firearms of

this world - and they sure have amazing taste! I’m

talking about AR-18 AEG replicas, Jericho 941

pistols, Bren Ten pistols, and the Glock 17L!

These are wonderful, yet very rare piece of arts,

you can’t even find a Bren Ten replica anywhere

in the market, heck even the real steel it’s a

rarity. Because of their passion for making things

that are either rare or don’t even exist, they

are making them. They’re also using the latest

technology to make this happen; in the form of

3D printing, they’re making it out of hardened

plastics but using the platforms of KSC or Tokyo

Marui to realise their dreams.

They are also not just selling only conversion

kits, they sell already working, modified, and

ready for battle replicas, which is revolutionary

and helpful for people who don’t know how

to convert a frame that is technically not for

the original purpose. The owner also has a big

sense of humour; when I say “big” it’s literally “big

and long”.

Meet the Glock G17XXXXXXL, a name I made up

for it! Because this thing is super long, it’s even very

hard to get it into the frame of the picture, and yet

this thing is operational, it does blowback. I don’t

know if a BB would come out the other end of it, but

who cares if it shoots BBs or not when you have a

replica GBB with a slide longer than your whole body!

Barry’s Custom Pew Pew Gun Shop - That name

is pretty long and mouthful, but I’ll call them Barry’s

Gun Shop.

From the name you might think that they make

custom ARs for tactical dudes, but you’d be very

wrong, because they make some of the weirdest and

rarest replicas out there. Their most famous creation is

the SKS AEG replica. Yup, finally someone is making

the SKS for the market, and they’re doing it properly!

Most of the parts are like other backyard gunmakers

in the market using a 3D printer are

producing, but they want it far better, because they’re

doing their own metal moulding and wood carving;

they’re doing stuff that even some established

manufacturers aren’t even doing! They also made

their replicas to be functional, with magazines

produced from ground up, mock charging handles,

especially making a quality SKS AEG replica.

Not only the SKS, they made some of the stuff that

not even half of the world

“THE OWNER ALSO HAS A BIG SENSE OF HUMOUR; WHEN I SAY BIG IT’S LITERALLY BIG AND

LONG. MEET THE GLOCK G17XXXXXXL, A NAME I MADE UP FOR IT! I DON’T KNOW IF A BB

WOULD COME OUT THE OTHER END OF IT, BUT WHO CARES IF IT SHOOTS BB’S OR NOT WHEN

YOU HAVE A REPLICA GBB WITH A SLIDE LONGER THAN YOUR WHOLE BODY!”

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knows its existence, they made two GBB SMG

replica that is based off the Maruzen Vz. 61,

and they turned it into a Japanese Imperial

army Experimental Model 2 Submachine

gun ( 試製二型機関銃 ) and the Chinese Type

64 Submachine gun (1964 年式衝鋒槍 ).

Honestly speaking, as a gun-head I never

even knew this gun existed, heck it’s because

of Barry’s Gun Shop that I now know the

existence of these two SMGs!

Custom Shop - And of course it’s not

Bakuretsu-Sai if you’re not talking about the

many custom shops, where they modify store

bought replicas or your own replica to your

liking.

One of the impressive ones is a company

called Good Island; they specialise in high-end

modifications, DSG, pre-cocking, high-torque

motors, you name it. But they also have a

very interesting tool, the ToolkitRC, it’s a tool

that indicates the FPS, battery life, shooting rate,

and all the information of the replica involving the

performance of it; it’s basically a speedometer but for

your replica!

You do have to modify your replica to make the

thing work, but if you did the modification you just

need to attach it and you can tune your replica on

the fly. Not only that, they displayed a very interesting

replica, an old Tokyo Marui CAR-15 AEG replica; it

did look like an innocent little grandpa, but looks

are really deceiving, because this thing is modified to

kingdom come!

It’s got a CNC EON V2 Gearbox rev.2, GATE ASTER

II, SHS’s DSG gears, and Warhead BASE 35K motor

inside it. This thing is properly what you call a “sleeper

gun”, because it’s based on an AEG made two

decades ago, and made to silence the new speedy

bois!

And if you want your replica to look bling bling on

the field, we also had from Saoreane Airsoft (who’s a

big influencer and a model), a Kriss Vector AEG replica

with leather on it, very classy and cool looking.

Not only AEG replicas were being modified to

kingdom come, you also get the good old GBB

replicas. Especially when you’re in Japan, everybody

uses an MWS, where you get conversion kits for

anything you want, especially as you can turn your

M4

into either a CAR-15

or an AR-18. Now that’s what I want, an AR-18 GBB

replica! Nobody has made one yet, and now you can

have it with a very proven system.

Not only some serious stuff, but meme stuff as well,

so in Japan we call airsoft ‘Sa-ba-ge’ a shortening for

Survival game, but its name is very close to a name

of a fish called saba which is Japanese for mackerel,

so that why don’t you have a saba for your sa-ba-ge,

you get it. No? I’m sorry it’s harder to do it word to

word… but with 3D printing and the passion of the

Akhiabara hearts, anything could happen.

And MUCH More - And there was much more

backyard or just plain outlandish new stuff in

Bakuretsu-Sai, but there is too much to cover! You get

homemade plate carriers, gun-bags that can turn into

a high-school bag, a fully carbon frame that is lighter

than a smartphone, hybrid hop-up buckings, and

MUCH more.

But to summarise, this year Bakuretsu-Sai also left

a bit to be desired, especially from the big companies,

especially the homegrown makers like KSC, SYSTEMA,

Sightron, Novel Arms, and the like.

This year, instead, the community itself showed

to everyone that they can be the next Tokyo Marui,

and it was super fun and a very good experience…

Now please excuse me, I’m gonna have fun with

the G17XXXXXL! This is Tama reporting from Japan

signing out! AA

“TO SUMMARISE, THIS YEAR BAKURETSU-SAI ALSO LEFT A BIT TO BE DESIRED, ESPECIALLY

FROM THE BIG COMPANIES, ESPECIALLY THE HOMEGROWN MAKERS LIKE KSC, SYSTEMA,

SIGHTRON, NOVEL ARMS, AND THE LIKE. THIS YEAR INSTEAD THE COMMUNITY ITSELF

SHOWED TO EVERYONE THAT THEY CAN BE THE NEXT TOKYO MARUI, AND IT WAS SUPER

FUN AND A VERY GOOD EXPERIENCE!”


TOKYO MARUI

L119A2 CUSTOM BUILD

NEXT GEN RECOIL SHOCK CONTACT US FOR DETAILS

THE L119A2 IS JUST ONE POPULAR

EXAMPLE OF OUR CURRENT RECOIL

MODELS, BASED ON TOKYO MARUI’S

FANTASTIC SYSTEM - FITTED WITH

THE ANGRY GUN RAIL SYSTEM AND

REAL STEEL MAGPUL FURNITURE

AA LEGION

EVENT REPORT: SHOT 2025

WHAT

HAPPENS IN

VEGAS…

SHOW SEASON IS FULLY UPON US FOR ANOTHER YEAR, AND AFTER STEWBACCA’S SUPERB COVERAGE FROM

MOA THE GAUNTLET HAD BEEN WELL AND TRULY LAID DOWN AS BOYCIE, LI’L STU AND STEVE BOARDED

THE “BIG FREEDOM BIRD” ACROSS THE POND TO LAS VEGAS TO REPORT ON SHOT SHOW 2025… AND TO

FIND OUT EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS, READ ON…

Here we go again! At 05:45 the alarm sounded

at Casa Boycie, signalling it was time to get

up and complete preparations for the long trip

over to Las Vegas, Nevada for Shot Show ‘25.

If you’ve not heard of Shot Show before this

is about the largest show in the US for firearms,

hunting, manufacturing and accessories. Having been

to the British Shooting Show and IWA in Germany,

the scale of Shot Show would just blow your mind;

for a rough guide, a single F-18 Hornet fighter is

approximately 17 metres long and has a wingspan

of 12.3 metres… now what does this have to do

with Shot Show you may ask? Well, on the entire

floor area of Shot Show you could fit a huge 547

“ON THE ENTIRE FLOOR AREA OF SHOT SHOW YOU COULD FIT A HUGE 547 F-18S! IT’S ALSO

SAID THAT IF YOU WALKED TO EVERY BOOTH/STAND AND SPENT 30 SECS AT EACH IT

WOULD TAKE AROUND SEVEN DAYS TO COMPLETE!”

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F-18s! It’s also said that if you walked to every booth/

stand and spent 30 secs at each it would take around

SEVEN days to complete!

Steve got to my house at around 06:45 and we

then set off to meet up with L’il Stu in Worcestershire,

where we would park up and then hop on the train

to take us to Paddington Station. We arrived at

Paddington and we had around 10 minutes to get

across the station and to the Heathrow Express to

take us to the airport. We got to Heathrow T3 at

12:30 and went straight to check in our bags and

head through security.

I almost expected that one of us would be selected

for ‘extra checks’ and as is becoming a regular thing

when we fly together, L’il Stu was selected! I knew

there would be nothing to worry about and Stu soon

came back over to meet Steve and I. We headed over

to the Number 1 Lounge where Steve had booked

us in so we could relax before heading to our gate to

board the plane at around 15:30 with a planned take

off at 16:40; we had a slight delay before take-off

but then we got wheels up and began the almost 11

hour flight to Harry Reid International in Las Vegas.

We arrived into our hotel at around 19:00 (PST),

some eight hours behind GMT and got our rooms

sorted, dropped off our bags and headed downstairs

for some food and a beverage. Not long after we

hit the sack as we’d been awake for a little over 24

hours and the plane seats didn’t allow for much

sleep!

DAY 1 – WHEELS DOWN!

On the morning of Day 1, we had a lazy morning

before getting sorted and heading down to the

“Coffee Shop” in the hotel for breakfast and, as is

now the tradition on the first morning, we had an

8oz New York Steak, Eggs and Hash Brown (nothing

like a UK hash brown)! After brunch we awaited the

arrival of our good friends John “The King of Kydex”

Phillips and Trampas Swanson, the man behind the

Armed Lifestyle magazine, and an old friend to all of

us at AA.

We spent some of the day planning what we would

do over the course of the week; Trampas and John

arrived, squared away their admin and in the evening

we adjourned to the Sports Bar for beer & Burgers.

DAY 2 – FAMILY ASSEMBLE!

Day 2 brought a bright and shiny, albeit chilly

morning. We again had a leisurely morning before

breakfast with the group. With L’il Stu feeling a L’il

under the weather, Steve, John and I headed over to

Discount Firearms for a meeting with Josh and took

the opportunity to try out a number of firearms whilst

we were there, “Well, it’s rude not to...!” Steve said,

something we all totally agreed with, so we ended up

trying out S&W M&P 2.0, M4, MP5, AK, 1911, Ruger

GP100 and the mighty Barrett Light 50.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the

Venetian Exhibition Centre to collect our press passes

“ON THE MORNING OF DAY 1, WE HAD A LAZY MORNING BEFORE GETTING SORTED AND

HEADING DOWN TO THE “COFFEE SHOP” IN THE HOTEL FOR BREAKFAST; AS IS NOW THE

TRADITION ON THE FIRST MORNING WE HAD AN 8OZ NEW YORK STEAK, EGGS AND HASH

BROWN (NOTHING LIKE A UK HASH BROWN)!”


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for the week. As is the norm for Shot Show, we all

then met up for the “Family Dinner” in the evening

before the fun really starts. This is where the whole

reporting team for both Airsoft Action and Armed

Lifestyle Magazine, along with other friends meet

up and have a fun evening and catch up with each

other. A relatively early night was had as we prepared

head out on the big “Industry Day at The Range”.

DAY 3 – INDUSTRY DAY AT THE RANGE

We RV’d in the lobby at 07:30 to then call in at

Starbucks just outside the hotel where we got our

morning coffee; there wasn’t time to go for breakfast

so the coffee was a good start to the day!

We met up with our Armed Lifestyle Magazine

colleagues, then fuelled by caffeine and enthusiasm

we had a brisk walk over to the Venetian Exhibition

Centre and to the RV point for the coach that would

take us to Boulder City Rifle and Pistol Club, the hosts

for Industry Day at the Range.

The trip to the range, about 30 miles away, took

around 45 minutes; as we got off the coach we were

greeted by a chilly morning, which was made to

feel even colder by a strong wind of about 25 mph

blowing straight into our faces! With the four of us

now being veteran Shot Show attendees we were

dressed appropriately, and as we passed through

the entry gate we collected a complimentary set of

Razor ear defenders and safety glasses sponsored by

Walkers.

The group got prepared and we decided to start

at the top of the range, just by the entry gate. Our

first stand was Sim-X Ammunition. This was of great

interest to Steve and I given the range of lead free

ammunition on offer… more to come on this in a

future issue. The group then spilt up to enable the

team to cover more ground. Our friend John Phillips

from Survivor Creek Tactical had chosen to stick with

myself, L’il Stu and Steve and joined our team for the

duration of the show.

Next we headed to the joint Bushmaster and

Franklin Armory stand; whilst waiting in the queue to

experience the Bushmaster Firearms we got chatting

to one of the team called Skye, whom we’d met last

year and who had given me a Bushmaster Poker Chip.

Skye was mainly at the stand to load the

magazines, a task which was hampered by the biting

wind and as she wasn’t able to

wear gloves her fingers were

numb. I showed her that I still

had the Bushmaster Poker Chip

from the previous year which she

thought was really cool. We first

went on to the Franklin Armory

table, and here we got our hands

on the SCAR 15S. The rifle itself

was universally liked, however

the jury is out on the binary

trigger that was fitted. We then

crossed over the Bushmaster

side of the range and tried out

their .300 AAC Blk suppressed

M4 which we rocked on “full

giggle”. This term seems now to

be adopted as how we refer to

“full auto”.

After this we decided to head down to the coffee

stand as we felt the need to top up the caffeine levels

and warm our hands on a cup of coffee. Whilst here

we saw the LWRC stand and subsequently spent quite

some time discussing and testing almost every firearm

they had, as well as some long chats about the

“FUELLED BY CAFFEINE AND ENTHUSIASM WE HAD A BRISK WALK OVER TO THE VENETIAN

EXHIBITION CENTRE AND TO THE RV POINT FOR THE COACH THAT WOULD TAKE US TO

BOULDER CITY RIFLE AND PISTOL CLUB, THE HOSTS FOR INDUSTRY DAY AT THE RANGE”

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firearms and their future plans.

We all liked the .350 Legend rifle and I

mentioned to the guys on the stand that

this is quite rare round in the UK at the

minute, but I am seeing more rifles in that

calibre appearing.

Our next stop was at the Traditions

Firearms where we were taken aback at

the .50 cal muzzle loading rifle. This used

a plastic skirted projectile at 290 grains

in weight, but a quite unique powder

charge system which Steve said resembled

a 20 bore shotgun cartridge. This

cartridge was a plastic case, pre-filled with

black powder and initiated by a shotgun

primer. We all found it a pleasure to shoot

and liked how simple it was to clean after

use.

The lure of the pistol range then became too

strong, but before we headed down there John P

had a look at Zenith who had a roller locked .300

AAC Blk fitted with a Boss Chairman suppressor. He

commented on how smooooth it felt to fire and how

quiet the report was, akin to that of a PCP air rifle.

Next on to the lower range where there were a lot

of pistols which we were looking forward to testing,

along with some other rifles. We had the opportunity

to fire around 30 pistols ranging from 9mm up to .45

ACP along with some 20 rifles!

After boarding the coach back to the hotel, we

grabbed a quick drink and headed back to the room

to sit, chat and write the daily report so that we

could send it to Bill. The reason we jump on this

straight away at the end of the day is that with the

time difference, we can send our report in at around

10:00 (PST) and then soon after Bill gets it published

on the website and in the early morning here in Las

Vegas the news is already around the world. Today

we had each covered around 7,500 steps covering

6km; we couldn’t believe how dusty we all were so

after writing the report, we headed to our rooms for

a shower before going down to find our dinner and

partake in an adult beverage ...or two!

DAY 4 – SHOT SHOW

PROPER!

Today began a long four days of walking

the halls and aisles of Shot Show. As is

the norm when we get to this point, we

met up with our colleagues from Armed

Lifestyle Magazine and then headed over

to the Venetian Exhibition Centre and up

to our breakfast in the Press Room. This

is where all the media who are reporting

on the show can meet and partake in a

breakfast of hot drinks, fruit juice, fruit,

muffins and pastries which is a great

start to the day and fuels us up until

lunchtime.

“NEXT ON TO THE LOWER RANGE WHERE THERE WERE A LOT OF PISTOLS WHICH WE

WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO TESTING ALONG WITH SOME OTHER RIFLES. WE HAD THE

OPPORTUNITY TO FIRE AROUND 30 PISTOLS RANGING FROM 9MM UP TO .45 ACP ALONG

WITH SOME 20 RIFLES!”


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There is so much we can write about, but to keep

things simple we decided to go with our favourite

item of the day. John P lead off with “I have to say

that the O Sight booth really grabbed my attention.

Holosun had lead the market with reasonably priced

optics, until recently it seems that Holosun have

started to climb into the higher dollar bracket. O Sight

promises a new perspective with cutting edge features

and a price point that you can’t ignore.”

Steve followed with the Brik (Bleed Resource

Individual Kit) Micro from Sunshine Safety First Aid.

“This little ouch pouch measures a meagre 3.5 * 3 *

1.8” and weighs in at not much more than a thought.

However, this “Brik” is so well thought out, packing

everything you could ever need on the range or even

out and about such as hiking. Carried on a belt, it

would hardly be noticeable - even with a TQ - and

priced at $70 for the Essentials version and $160 for

the Pro, its great value.”

L’il Stu, ever on the lookout for interesting things

picked the ASG CZ TS 2. “I was really impressed

with the fit, finish and balance of the TS2. The blade

trigger is a joy to use, the take up was really smooth

and had a clean break. It runs both CO2 or Green

Gas mags without problem. With all the aftermarket

upgrades which are appearing for the CZ Shadow

range by Airsoft Action’s good friend, Clarence Lai,

this can only get even better.” The TS 2 is due to land

in the UK around late March 25.

I rounded off Day One’s picks with the Arcturus

Vanguard 4.3. Based around the ubiquitous Hi Capa it

was just the look of the pistol which immediately drew

me to the booth. The whole look of this GBB is just

fantastic, with the 4.3 slide married to a compensator

and topped with a red dot sight, I was really amazed

by the estimated resale price as well.

If you want to know more about it then you

have to wait a little while as we were going back to

Arcturus on Thursday for a meeting where we’d be

taken through SIX new products coming to market in

the first half of 2025!

We covered over 10 km each with about 12,900

steps so it was time for our aching bones to recover

but first we took the time for dinner with the team

before retiring to our rooms for a restful sleep, as

we’d do it all again tomorrow.

DAY 5 – SHOT SHOW DAY 2

Well what an exhausting day! The usual 0800 RV for

breakfast prior to hitting the floor for day 2 of Shot

Show, and we spent a good part of the day over in

the Caesar’s part of the show.

As with yesterday we spent most of our time

travelling the halls looking for people to go back and

see again. Someone once told me (probably fellow

show-veteran Bill), that “time spent in recce is seldom

wasted” and this is why we spend time walking

round to find the new innovations and also to arrange

extra meetings so we can get more information on

products.

This morning started with a trip to Fedex! Strange

you may think but I went to ship out a package to

our good friend ‘Bingo’ who couldn’t make the trip

this year. We usually bring some small gifts for our US

team members and as Bingo couldn’t be here I wasn’t

going to let him miss out on his care package. Just as

we were heading out of Fedex our first meeting of the

day, Sarah from Amarok messaged me to ask if we

could shift our meeting to 09:00 instead of the 11:00

slot. This wasn’t a problem for us and so we headed

off to meet up with her. The meeting was really good

and we discussed several <REDACTED> products. Yes

guys, sorry to say we cannot give any info on those

products yet but keep an eye out in a future issue of

Airsoft Action where we’ll talk in more detail about

Amarok and all will become clear!

As we were walking over to the Sky Bridge

between the Venetian and Ceasars we visited Timber

Creek who were giving out free AR pistol grips. These

are designed for real steel but will also fit airsoft

GBBR, so it was well worth getting and is likely to be

fitted to a future build. I left the guys at the Timber

Creek booth and headed over to see Mani at Tacticon

Armament. Mani, last year, gave both Steve and

myself a fully equipped trauma med pack and mine

has proved very useful a couple of times already.

Whilst there I spotted a couple of guys creating some

video content and as the presenter turned round I

realised that it was Doug Marcaida of “Forged in Fire”

fame. I bided my time until they had finished and

asked Doug if he minded having a picture with me

which he graciously granted. Before we went our own

ways I gave Doug a small bag of the chocolate and

‘candy’ that we’d brought to give away. He seemed

“I ROUNDED OFF DAY ONE’S PICKS WITH THE ARCTURUS VANGUARD 4.3. BASED AROUND

THE UBIQUITOUS HI CAPA IT WAS JUST THE LOOK OF THE PISTOL WHICH IMMEDIATELY DREW

ME TO THE BOOTH. THE WHOLE LOOK OF THIS GBB IS JUST FANTASTIC”


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really pleased to receive it and I walked away to enjoy

my fanboi moment.

Next was the trip over to the Caesar’s Forum and a

lot of walking the aisles to find the booths we wanted

to visit in more detail tomorrow and on Friday.

We found a few booths we will be heading back

to, including KWA. As we walked around I took the

opportunity to talk with the guys at Axon who make

the Taser products and was really pleased to be invited

to deploy a Taser using their training cartridges. Now

this wouldn’t be legal in the UK but I jumped at the

offer as in the US Tasers are available to civilians in

many states and I could enjoy that freedom here in

the US.

It was not long after this that I had to break off

from the team and go to meet with Charlie Cook,

of “Riding Shotgun with Charlie”, for an interview...

bit strange for me as I was the interviewee not the

interviewer. Around two hours later I got back to the

Venetian Centre having been for a drive up and down

the Las Vegas Strip and we also stopped at the world

famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign for a photo

opportunity. Then I again linked up with the guys for

a final half hour ending up at the Hogue booth where

we had a long chat with Josh about airsoft.

On to our picks of the day... I chose , not a product

but my meeting with Doug Marcaida. Being a huge

fan of the Forged in Fire TV show, I really hadn’t

expected to bump into Doug. Getting to shake his

hand and get a selfie with him was great and is a

highlight of my trip to Shot Show 25.

For Steve’s pick he picked a real steel product.

“After having had the pleasure of running their K11

on the range at Industry day, I was keen to visit the

Kimber stand. Today was that day and I was not

disappointed: the Rapide Dawn LCI really caught

my eye! My kind of pistol - classic with that little bit

of something else, but not ostentatious. The gold

match grade barrel is a beautiful contrast against the

stainless frame and slide, finished with a grey/black

laminate grip. If only they would make a 6mm...”

John P’s choice today was the Spyderco booth.

“It’s always been incredible to me that there are so

many knives around that look the same but David

from Spyderco took some considerable time to tell

me about the various corrosion protection levels and

materials in their range. Those which looked like

the same knife but with different metallurgy and

treatment could have a price point ranging from

$75 up to $400. He also explained to me why some

materials are used to give better edge retention, or

durability when the end user may sometimes use the

knife for something other than its normal intended

use, i.e. for prying open a box or tin.”

L’il Stu rounds off the day with his pick and when I

asked him what it was he just said “The Kimber stand,

the whole Kimber stand and nothing but the Kimber

stand”. Quite understandable as he really enjoyed

firing the Kimber 2K11 on the Industry Day at the

Range…

Today we achieved a step count of around 14,000

each and we’re still nowhere near seeing it all… Oh

well, let’s see what DAY 3 brings!

DAY 6 – SHOT SHOW DAY 3

Another long day of travelling the aisles of Shot

Show; our legs and feet are crying out for mercy now

so we’re sitting with our feet up whilst writing this

report. For some reason the halls felt a lot warmer

today so we made it a priority to remain hydrated

which also gave us chance to have a seat for 10

minutes to rest here and there… again to quote Bill,

“Shows are a marathon, not a sprint!”

Today’s walking the floors began with us in one

of the side halls for a visit to EoTech. I was interested

to see some of their ‘short dot’ scopes and also had

been asked to gather some info for our friend Rob.

As we left EoTech we collected a special Poker Chip

and decal which I’ll send to Rob this week. We then

moved further round the hall where we met up again

with Skye from Bushmaster Firearms. Skye was the

lady loading all the mags in bitter wind chill during the

Industry Day at The Range. Myself and L’il Stu asked if

her hands had thawed out and she said “Thankfully,

they have!” Stu and I then received a special

Bushmaster Firearms cap each and we gave Skye

some of the British chocolate we had brought over

from home. Bidding her farewell, we then made our

way downstairs to the Level 1 hall, where we rejoined

Steve and John.

We had been asked by our Deputy Editor USA, Dan,

to see if we had time to go and seek out Stingray

Airsoft. Dan had said that they had some quite unique

“THE MEETING WAS REALLY GOOD AND WE DISCUSSED SEVERAL <REDACTED> PRODUCTS.

YES GUYS, SORRY TO SAY WE CANNOT GIVE ANY INFO ON THOSE PRODUCTS YET BUT KEEP

AN EYE OUT IN A FUTURE ISSUE OF AIRSOFT ACTION WHERE WE’LL TALK IN MORE DETAIL

ABOUT AMAROK AND ALL WILL BECOME CLEAR!”


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innovations on show. We located the stand and were

greeted by the staff, who then introduced us to the

CEO of Stingray Airsoft, who showed us around their

Airsoft AT-4 launcher system.

The unit is a replica of the military AT-4 anti-tank

weapon which fires a pre-packaged foam projectile

via a compressed air charge. It loads a complete

round through the back and once fired you take out

the empty cartridge and reload prior to firing again.

There’s a lot of components to the system which will

be covered in a later issue of Airsoft Action, which

include an airsoft claymore and sensor units. By the

time we said thank you to the team we had been at

the booth for around half an hour. Keep an eye out

for a feature on this in the coming months, it really

looks like a cool and fun piece of equipment to use!

We then made our way to the upper hall, which is

located on the second main floor of the show where

companies like Smith & Wesson, Mossberg, Glock,

Staccato and other major manufacturers have their

booths. We were on the lookout for more booths to

return to and look at products in more depth. By just

before midday we were all getting ready for lunch and

Steve suggested that we try the BBQ area, sponsored

by Daniel Defense, located outside of Hall 2 and near

the bridge to Ceasar’s. It was a great call as we all had

a burger and drink which refuelled us ready for the

afternoon session!

We walked back in to Hall 2 and spent some time

looking first at the new Mantis training pistol. This is a

full-sized replica of, at the minute, Glocks but soon to

be SIGs and other pistols.

Inside the body of the pistol is the same Mantis 10

unit and allied to a weighted Glock style magazine

it makes a really good training aid. Moving further

round the hall we reached the Umarex booth and had

a look around. Some of the products we were hoping

to look at were behind people having meetings with

Umarex staff so we decided to carry on walking the

aisles as we made our way to the Evike stand where

we were meeting Ronald Meeuwissen and Derick

Moose from Titan.

Derick took us through the new innovations from

Titan, one of which was the improved 7.4v stick

battery. The current version has a 3000mAh capacity

but in the new version they have managed to not only

cram in another 1000mAh of capacity, but also made

the wiring connections much tougher than the older

models; all this and for exactly the same price as the

3000mAh unit!

The second new product was the charger. This now

sports a new display window and also the ability to

use a USB-C cable to provide the power rather than a

cumbersome big cable, easy to charge from a power

bank if your field/site has limited power facilities.

Lastly there was the new 18650 cell which is ideal

for those who use real steel illuminators etc. The

Titan 18650 not only is rechargeable but provides on

average double the duration of use over that of other

cells, thanks mainly to it’s 4000mAh capacity. I know

Bill and Jase are looking forward to linking up with

Ronald and the Titan EU team when they attend IWA

in Germany in March and see the products we had

first eyes on.

I lead off with my top choice of the day and for

the second day running I chose not one but two

major fanboi moments! I’d already bumped into Jerry

Miculek yesterday and today I met with his daughter

Lena on the Mossberg stand, where I received an

autographed photo and had the opportunity for a

photo with Lena. Then, whilst waiting at the Staccato

stand I found I was standing next to none other than

Chris Costa, so I waited until he was finished looking

at the pistols and asked if he’d mind a quick photo.

He agreed and we had a quick photo before I shook

his hand and thanked him for his time.

John P told me, “A friend from back home asked

me to look up a company named Miller Precision

Firearms while I was here. It turns out the company is

right in my own backyard... just a couple hours away

in Sarasota, Florida. He said they were supposed to

be releasing a new pew, so I looked them up this

morning and went to see what they had to offer.

To many people, what they showed us - The Ranger

9 - would’ve just seemed like just another 2011.

However, after taking a closer look and being given

a tour of the pistol by the guys at Miller, it became

evident that they’ve really solved many of the issues

shooters run into with that platform. In fact, they have

3 patents pending for the design of different features

of the firearm. They spoke of how they really wanted

to be able to offer custom builds without having

to charge more than some of the mainstream high

volume offerings (Staccato). Looking at the different

“WE HAD BEEN ASKED BY OUR DEPUTY EDITOR USA, DAN, TO SEE IF WE HAD TIME TO GO

AND SEEK OUT STINGRAY AIRSOFT. DAN HAD SAID THAT THEY HAD SOME QUITE UNIQUE

INNOVATIONS ON SHOW. WE LOCATED THE STAND AND WERE GREETED BY THE STAFF, WHO

THEN INTRODUCED US TO THE CEO OF STINGRAY AIRSOFT, WHO SHOWED US AROUND THEIR

AIRSOFT AT-4 LAUNCHER SYSTEM”


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grip, barrel and slide options it looks like they’re

poised to put smiles on the faces of a lot of shooters!

Bravo Miller Precision Firearms!”

On to Steve’s choice... “The call out for me today

was the new Titan X training pistol from Mantis. The

model used today is based on Glock 45 and felt every

bit the same as the real steel version. The magazine

are weighted and can be adjusted to fit the user’s

specification. The pistol is linked to a free app that

allows you to run multiple different drills to improve

your skills and then provides feedback to further

perfect them. The best bit, the retail is $200. Such a

great bit of kit for the money that has applications

across multiple disciplines, with other models of pistol

to come later this year.”

Rounding off the day L’il Stu chose his bed! “I can’t

really think of anything other than the Stingray Airsoft

AT-4 and that’s already been covered so I’ll choose my

bed as it’s been another long day.” I hoped that we

hadn’t broken L’il Stu as there was still one more day

of Shot Show to go and we still have a few booths

visit...

Today’s average step count was just over 12,000

each so around 45,000 so far from Monday to today!

DAY 7 – THE FINAL COUNTDOWN!

Today we had the usual start in the Media Room and

after 20 minutes our friend Franz, the owner of PTS

Barricade, messaged me to say he had arrived and

was in the lobby.

As Trampas was in a meeting, I decided to head

down to greet Franz and bring him up to the Media

Room. Franz had made it to Shot Show for the first

time in three years and he was only able to join us for

the final day. What was really impressive, was that he

had flown in from his home in Jamaica just to attend

Shot Show and was flying home on Saturday!

After breakfast, Trampas, Nora and Tyler headed

off to a morning of meetings and myself, Steve, L’il

Stu and John P took Franz under our wing and said

that we’d show him around the booths and halls. We

first headed for Altama’s booth so that he could try

on their slip on boots. Franz was really impressed with

the feel of the boots and is looking to purchase his

own pair soon after the show. Heather, the lady on

the stand handed us the patch of the day and thus we

completed the set.

We then walked to the Arcturus booth where we

had a meeting with Daniel. Steve spent around half an

hour being shown around the new products (more to

come in a future issue!) whilst Franz and I had a look

at the neighbouring booth being that of Operator XR.

This is a VR training unit which features a VR headset

and modified gas blow back replica firearm.

Each member of the team who had been taken

through scenarios commented that it was really

good as a training tool. When we asked for a cost of

the unit they told us that for a set up including two

replicas, VR headsets, laptop, tablet and operating

system would cost around $50,000 over three years!

The system can support up to twelve users at one

time and would allow someone in law enforcement

to be able to carry replica items from their duty belt

to enable them to cuff a suspect in the virtual world.

Also it can be set up to allow the user to ‘deploy’

either a Taser or non-lethal spray on the virtual

suspect. When you consider the cost or running the

system it worked out at 0.05 cents per shot.

We then sat and had a coffee break and discussed

the plan for the next few hours; Steve, L’il Stu and

John P split off and I took Franz through the upper

main hall, with the initial plan to go to visit Mossberg

and see if Lena Miculek was there. Unfortunately

she was not around, so we decided to head round

the corner to look at the Glocks. We were looking

at the pistols when we recognised Katherine Glock

and asked booth staff if we could say hello. Within a

few minutes Katherine greeted us and we had a few

minutes chat before being given one of the Glock

patches and having some photos. As we said thank

you and prepared to leave the stand, Katherine gave

us a hug! We then picked up our bags and waved

goodbye.

We crossed over to the Staccato booth in the

hope to meet Michelle Viscusi but she was not at the

stand. We asked Xenia, who was at the counter, if she

knew when Michelle may be back on the stand, but

unfortunately she didn’t know at the time so Franz

and myself had a good chat and explained some of

the differences in firearms before collecting some

stickers and having photos. Then we walked over to

the Sky Bridge where we were met Steve, L’il Stu and

John P for lunch at the Daniel Defense BBQ again.

“DERICK TOOK US THROUGH THE NEW INNOVATIONS FROM TITAN, ONE OF WHICH WAS THE

IMPROVED 7.4V STICK BATTERY. THE CURRENT VERSION HAS A 3000MAH CAPACITY BUT

IN THE NEW VERSION THEY HAVE MANAGED TO NOT ONLY CRAM IN ANOTHER 1000MAH OF

CAPACITY BUT ALSO MADE THE WIRING CONNECTIONS MUCH TOUGHER THAN THE OLDER

MODELS”


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After lunch we made our way over to the Ceasars

Centre and headed first for the KWA booth where we

introduced Franz to the world of airsoft/6mm training

replicas. Needless to say he was impressed with the

recoil impulse on both the gas blow back and ERG

platforms. We also got to see and dry fire the new

TAC-9 GBB SMG (expected to be out in retailer’s stores

somewhere around the middle of 2025), this looks like

it will be a popular item in the KWA stable. Just before

we left the KWA booth I spotted friends Callum and

Connors from Magload in the UK. Magload produce

a large range of competition accessories in the UK

for shotgun and firearms, so I grabbed a quick photo

before letting them get on their way for another load

of meetings.

After KWA we went back to the Axon booth

where we looked at the various options of Taser that

they offered. The Taser Master Instructor explained

about the latest options in the Taser range. It was

after leaving the Axon booth that Franz and I broke

off from the main group and we headed off on a

whistle stop tour of the Ceasars Halls, collecting a few

patches, stickers and other cool swag as we made our

way around.

We got the opportunity to sit in the door gunner’s

seat on the fuselage of a UH-1 Huey on the Ohio

Gunworks booth and have a few photos taken. At the

other side of the OGW booth was a stripped down

vehicle which bristled with machine guns, so of course

we had to have photos in that too! I went up to stand

in the top gunner/cover position and Franz took the

drivers seat.

By now it was almost 14:30 and only having around

90 minutes left of Shot Show we made our way back

to Hall 2 where we saw Rebecca on the main Mantis

booth. Franz was really taken with the new and soon

to be released Mantis Titan X training pistol, as we

mentioned on day 6. This really is a great bit of kit.

We then went over to the Evike booth in the hopes

of linking up with Alek and Piotr from Specna Arms,

who were very busy boys it seems! Unfortunately

I couldn’t find them to have a chat about new

products. I’d been trying to link up with them for a

couple of days but always seemed to manage to have

missed them. Not to worry as I know Bill and Jase will

be seeing them at IWA… Maybe next year gents…

Rounding off the day, we made our way down to

the Lower Hall in the Venetian Centre where I wanted

to show Franz a couple of booths, namely the O

Light and O Sight ones. I showed Franz the innovative

way that O Light and O Sight charge their products,

along with the performance from such small units.

As we headed back to the hotel, we stopped off at

Walgreens store for a few needed supplies, and it

was as we approached the tills that Franz realised his

wallet was missing!

Not panicking, we decided to retrace our steps

back to the last couple of places we knew that he had

had the wallet in his possession. Just as we got to an

escalator to head back to the Venetian Centre, Franz

received a text saying that someone had handed in his

wallet and that it was at the Security desk. Relieved,

Franz and I made our way back to the Venetian and

re-claimed it! As it was now past 16:00 and Shot

Show was closed we walked back to the hotel and

met up again with L’il Stu, Steve and John P to enjoy a

much needed and well-earned adult beverage before

heading back to our room to write the daily report.

DAY 8 – HOMEWARD BOUND

After a good night’s sleep, we had a leisurely morning

before going down to “The Coffee Shop” for our

usual “Adios” breakfast with those members of the

team who hadn’t already departed for their home

locations.

This morning we had Steve, L’il Stu, Boycie, John

P and Franz at the table. We sat around, enjoying a

good breakfast and chatting about our week. Soon

after breakfast both John P and Franz said their

goodbyes and made their way off to the airport.

The AA team made their way up to our room and

after getting the first draft of this report written, we

grabbed a nap as our flight wasn’t until 22:30 that

night.

Mid-afternoon we decided to go for a walk

down “The Strip” and get a snack before finally

collecting our bags and making our way to Harry Reid

International Airport and leg one of our return to

our homes. After almost flying through security we

made our way to the Lounge that Steve had managed

to arrange for us whilst we waited for our boarding

call. Whilst we were in the lounge we met up with

Andy Norris, Sales Manager for Viking Arms; I know

“FRANZ HAD MADE IT TO SHOT SHOW FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THREE YEARS AND HE WAS

ONLY ABLE TO JOIN US FOR THE FINAL DAY; WHAT WAS IMPRESSIVE IS THAT HE HAD FLOWN

IN FROM HIS HOME IN JAMAICA JUST TO ATTEND SHOT SHOW AND WAS FLYING HOME ON

SATURDAY”


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Andy through my day job and we discussed what we

thought about Shot Show this year.

We boarded the flight home and with a large

tail wind we made it to Heathrow around an hour

ahead of when we had planned to be back. Again,

a quick trip through security and then the Heathrow

Express to Paddington and then from there back into

Pershore, where I had parked my car. After bidding

L’il Stu adieu, Steve and I got back on the road for the

final leg back up to Yorkshire and our homes.

The AA Team would like to thank everyone we met

and spent time with, for the explanations of their

products, the giveaways (swag) and their interest in

Airsoft Action Magazine.

A special mention to Shot Show Official as they

had asked if they could use our photos in their social

media feeds, which we later found out they had done

when L’il Stu popped up in one of the End of Shot

Show montages!

Next, a huge thank you to the guys on the Altama

booth as they had found Franz’s wallet and got it to

the Security Desk; hopefully we’re back again next

year to say thank you in person.

Thank you once again to Trampas for allowing us

to be part of the family of writers covering Shot Show

for both Armed Lifestyle Magazine and especially to

Bill for allowing us to represent Airsoft Action at this

prestigious event all those miles away from home.

My thanks as well must go to Steve and L’il Stu; this

was Steve’s second Shot Show and L’il Stu’s third with

me. Without their support and hard work I would find

it a lot harder to provide as much coverage as we do.

The team covered around 78,000 steps or about 30

plus miles around the show to bring the coverage this

year, and this report is the largest one ever written

from Shot Show and even though it’s around 6,500

words, we could easily double or triple it and still have

things to tell you!

Thank you Las Vegas and Shot Show for another

awesome experience… we hope to see you next

year… and oh yeah, I did bring the hat home! AA


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Airsoft Action - March 2025

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