And this apparently is going to be the boxart’s art… very nice!

Thanx to Wikipedia, I can found out what else has happened on September 4:

476 – The end of the Western Roman Empire
1870 – Establishment of the Third Republic in France
1884 – The British stop sending convicts to Australia
1886 – Geronimo surrenders after fighting for 30 years
1888 – The brand Kodak is registered by George Eastman
1950 – The first Beetle Bailey comic strip is puclished
1972 – Mark Spitz becomes the first athlete to win 7 gold medals in one Olympic Games
1988 – Google is founded

The following fine folks also share my birthdate:

1563 – Emperor Wanli of the Ming Dynasty
1973 – Jason David Frank, possibly the most well known of the Power Rangers actors
1981 – Beyonce Knowles

35 years old. Where the heck did all the time go?

The M16A4 is the latest variant in the US military and is standard issue in the US Marine Corps and in some US Army units. It differs from the previous standard issue M16A2 only in the replacement of the plastic handguard with the full length Knight’s Armament Company M5 RAS handguard, allowing for modular accessories like flashlights, grips and lasers to be fitted easily. The US military’s M16s are currently supplied by Fabrique Nationale which produces these rifles under license from Colt Defense via a U.S. Government contract since 1991.

My Gun
I call my airsoft gun an M16A4 Commando because it has an M16A4 receiver but unlike the original’s 20 inch barrel, my gun only has an 11.5 inch barrel. Traditionally, short barreled M16s are nicknamed ‘Commando’.

This airsoft gun was originally the first generation Tokyo-Marui Colt M4A1. Like the real rifle, the airsoft version lends itself to a ton of external modifications and since 2004, my rifle has gone through at least a dozen ‘look’. Internally, much has also been upgraded and I dare say, only the gears, bolt release (non-functioning), safety, trigger, trigger guard, magazine release, gearbox, charging handle, nozzle, gears, tappet plate, motor and pistol grip are still Tokyo-Marui.

A list of internal upgrades:

• Guarder spring guide
• Guarder SP130 spring
• Guarder Polycarbonate piston
• Guarder Aluminum piston head
• Systema metal bushings
• G&P metal hop-up chamber
• Prometheus hop-up (purple) bucking
• KM 6.04mm TN 300mm inner barrel
• Replaced the standard Tamiya connectors with T-connectors

Externally, it’s currently sporting a civilian practical shooting look:

• G&P KAC-style TTB muzzle brake
• King Arms 11.5inch outer barrel
• A&K front sight
• Just barrel mounted flashlight mount
• Surefire G2 Nitrolon with CREE 80 lumen LED bulb
• Magpul PTS MOE handguard
• G&P ladder rail covers
• Magpul PTS AFG
• King Arms gas tube
• King Arms delta ring
• G&P M16A4 metal receiver
• Dytac Aimpoint T1-style Red Dot Sight
• Dytac AD-style SOCOM QD Mount
• Magpul PTS EMAG
• Magpul PTS PMAG ranger floorplate
• G&P Troy-style flip-up rear sight
• G&G Side Receiver Sling Swivel
• Dboys buffer tube
• Element Magpul-style CTR stock

Like I said, it has gone through a lot of modifications . It’s currently wired for a lithium polymer battery that fits into the buffer tube and fires at a healthy 20 rounds per second. Clearly unrealistic compared to the real gun but I only use middle capacity magazines which hold between 100-120 rounds only so it actually runs out of BBs very quickly.

I’m still on the fence on switching the pistol grip (I really like the Magpul MIAD) only because I think I might one day switch this gun back to the traditional old school look.

The reason why I mount the flashlight so far ahead instead of on the handguard itself is because of the AFG. The way I grip it, it’s not comfortable (or easy) to reach the flashlight if it were attached to the handguard. In its current position, my reaction-side thumb can easily toggle the pressure button at the back of the flashlight. The current rail panel on the handguard serves as an indexing point for my thumb.

Magpul PTS is the company officially sanctioned by Magpul to make airsoft copies of their products. Needless to say, Magpul products are also one of the most copied products by the China factories.

I decided to try out the Chinese copy of the AFG before plonking down the money for the Magpul PTS version (which cost twice as much) and while it took some getting used to, I kinda ‘got’ what Magpul was trying to do with this grip. I haven’t used it enough to actually make a decision either way on whether to stick with it but I agree with most reviewers who say that the AFG is better suited for longer rail systems. It just feels more comfortable to grip it the further it is away from me. It works in the standard 7 inch rail, just not as well as with something longer.

I found out the Magpul PTS AFG allows you to remove the finger bump which I find got in the way of a proper grip so I decided to order one. And when it came, it was a big surprise. The Chinese copy wasn’t 100% accurate.

As you can see, there is quite a difference. The grip surface of the Magpul PTS AFG is rounder and my hand felt more ‘at ease’ gripping it than the Chinese copy. Build quality is also much better than the Chinese copy but this is a given.

Can’t wait to test out in the field with this more comfortable grip.

Keep Tennessee free from Zombies. Nice.

Bring on series 2!

I’ve been to Area 81 for a few times and I’m pretty sure they have changed the layout. It feels more open now, with less corners. Good that they’re keeping it fresh. 2 hours of gaming later, I have some thoughts:

• The goggles get in the way of properly cheek welding with the rifle. So much so that sometimes I can’t even see the red dot.
• 0.25g BBs does not seem to work with the G&P WOC. All of them seem to arc up after leaving the barrel. Think I’ll try 0.3g BBs next time.
• Have to check the valves on the magazines properly before filling. A few times when I tried to put in gas, everything just sprayed back out of the gas valve.
• I brought 2 magazines, both G&P branded. The one that originally came with the gun leaked some gas at every fill. It seals up fine after that though.
• The blowback is hard on green gas. After 2 hours of gaming, my strong side arm is sore from the recoil.
• The Sentry itself is a bit front heavy but that can’t be helped.
• I’m starting to get used to instinctively slap the magazine, then pulling the charging handle to clear misfires.
• The weaponlight I used this time (the King Arms replica of the Insight M3) was mounting slightly too aft for me to comfortable manipulate, although I liked how I can just switch it over to the P226 as and when without needing any tools. The Cree LED lamp replacement is very nice and bright.
• The P226 is nice to wield, but trigger pull is longer (even on single action) than my MEU(SOC) pistol (it’s a modern 1911A1 variant), and I don’t like it. It feels like I always don’t let the trigger move forward enough for it to reset every time I shoot. Maybe I’m too used to the MEU(SOC). Shoots well otherwise.
• Shoes. Need to wear proper shoes. I wore a pair of casual walking shoes because I left my normal gaming pair of hiking shoes at home. Sore feet. Bah.

I used the negative pressure standard bolt for this game. If the next game is an outdoor one, I’ll switch to the positive pressure + Airsoft Surgeon power-up upgrade bolt. That ought to up the power to beyond 400 fps. With 0.3g BB, it’ll shoot right about 400 fps.

Here’s hoping it’s more consistent than the WE M4.

More pics can be found here.

So what’s unique about the real KAC rifle? Well, it has ambidextrous controls (bolt release, safety and mag release), a full length (11.5 inch) free-floating RIS, is very light (compared to other AR-15s) and is overall a very high quality rifle.

So what about the King Arms (KA)? It basically replicates all the external features of the real deal. The only thing different is the muzzle brake. The real deal comes with a KAC TTB (Triple Tap Brake) while the KA comes with the standard AR-15 birdcage flash hider.

I really like this design. It has the ‘weekend warrior’ look I prefer. KA has also made a sort of working bolt catch feature. It’s not to slam the bolt forward though, it’s just for adjusting the hop-up. KA’s AEGs have also been receiving decent reviews so this shouldn’t be any different. I can also share magazines with my other AR-15s.

Now for the minuses. It’s an AEG ie no recoil of any sort. It will sound like a sewing machine at full auto-fire. It also probably only fires 350fps out of the box (I prefer 400fps). And lastly, I already have 4 other AR-15 style rifles in my collection. That’s right. I have the Tokyo-Marui Colt M4A1 (heavily modified into a Colt M16A4 Commando), a G&P M4 VLTOR Commando gas rifle, a WE Colt M4A1 Commando gas rifle and a JG H&K 416.

Plus and most importantly, I will probably pay a premium for this AEG. Pity. Very tempting. Very tempting indeed.

KSC Colt M4A1 gas blowback rifle
First up, I found a video of the upcoming gas blowback rifle:

It seems like it’s not very loud (unlike their MP7A1) and recoil seems decent even on HFC134a (which is the only legal gas in Japan). Traditionally, KSC doesn’t use metal for their products. The MP7A1 PDW though, did have quite a bit of metal in it, so the M4A1 might get the same treatment.

G&P Magpul PTS PMAG for WA M4 gas blowback rifle series
G&P has partnered up with Magpul to come up with the gas version of the Magpul PMAG. These will have a 39 BB capacity.

Unfortunately, G&P couldn’t replicate the material used to make the real PMAG, that is, impact-modified, long fiber reinforced polymer. In this case, it’s made of metal. Which also means, unlike the real PMAG, it can’t be dropped and generally abused till kingdom come and still be able to shoot well. Which would have been the whole point for me to get these, besides the unique look. Still… 39 BBs might mean there’ll be less cooldown compared to the standard’s 50 BB rounds.

Upcoming Tokyo-Marui gas blowback pistols
Seems like Tokyo-Marui has all of these gas blowback pistols in development: Beretta Px4 Storm, Smith and Wesson M&P, Springfield Armory XDm and Heckler & Koch HK45.

These are all very interesting in their own way and being Tokyo-Marui, they will be very skirmishable right out of the box.

Tokyo-Marui Colt 45 extended magazine
Now THIS I am very much looking forward to. It’s based on the real steel version which ups the magazine capacity to (if memory serves) 10 rounds (vs. 7).

Definitely getting one once it’s on the market. My Tokyo-Marui MEU(SOC) pistol is my default sidearm. The standard magazine takes 26 BBs. This extended one will take 40! There’s no need to carry additional magazines anymore and it just looks bad ass! I hope it’s more efficient than the standard magazine though.

GHK Heckler & Koch G36K gas blowback rifle
Finally, a non-M4 gas blowback rifle is in the works from GHK. Looks very good:

Just hope it’s better than their previous offerings. As I’ve learned, when it comes to gas blowback automatic weapons, it pays to do a ton of research before plonking your money in one.

Only the clown left and series 1 is complete!