So
you are basically getting a hugely expensive rifle for a rather
low price, this is something that a lot of people don’t seem
to have picked up on yet. After looking around on the internet
at the various UK Airsoft shops, Airsoft
Armoury (http://www.airsoftarmoury.com)
had the best price at £224 not including shipping. You
do the maths, £224 for an upgraded, metal M16A3 or £200
for a standard TM M16A2….humm…to me, the choice is quite clear.
My
research did, however, uncover a couple of immediate problems
with the CA M16 rifles. Firstly, the gearbox’s do tend to be
bone dry when it comes to lubrication. This is obviously not
a good thing as lack of lube = exploding gear box. The second
is the range of FPS that the rifles fire at out of the box.
They appear to range from anywhere between 330 and 400FPS. The
site limit for my regular haunt (Combat
South – http://www.combatsouth.co.uk)
is 350FPS, therefore I had to ensure that I am not breaking
this rule. After speaking to Airsoft
Armoury, they ensured me that the gearbox would be lubricated
and the FPS would be checked to make sure that I would not receive
an Airsoft cannon prior to shipping!
I
ordered a CA M16A3 on a Friday from Airsoft
Armoury and received it on the following Monday morning,
despite a slight mix up with the courier trying to deliver it
to the wrong house. Airsoft Armoury’s sales people were helpful
throughout the purchase and should be commended.
First
Impressions Well, it comes in a box, which is generic to
accept all of the CA M16’s/M4’s and has a nice picture of a
rifle on the front. Open the box, and what have you got? Well,
shockingly, there is a CA M16A3 in the usual polystyrene casing,
a CA high cap magazine (yuk, wrong colour!), a clearing/cleaning
rod, manual and promotional gubbins. All looking good so far.
When
you first pull the M16A3 out of the box, the first impression
is of sturdiness. The metal body combined with a one piece outer
barrel appears to make the rifle rather solid. No barrel wobble
at all (something that plagues TM M16A2’s/M4’s); it does feel
like it will be able to easily withstand skirmish use.
The
detail on the body is consistent with the new version CA bodies,
with no Colt logos and is marked with “Classic Army AR-15A3”
(see picture) in white writing, which appears to be simply painted
onto the body itself. The writing is a little ugly, so I might
attack it with some nail polish remover; it feels like it will
come off easily enough. Why AR-15A3? Well, I am 99% sure that
goes back to the trademark issues with Colt. The AR-15 is (in
real steel versions) the civilian version of the M16. The stock
is good and solid and actually quite close in appearance to
the real thing (I have fired the M16A2 real steel extensively)
and feels good and solid. The front end looks ok, although I
am not too pleased with the quality of the fore grips, they
have a rough texture which is, again, not consistent with the
real steel version. However, this is easily remedied if I can
hold of some TM ones.
The
only comment I would make about the metal body is the working
part release catch wobbles slightly more than I would like.
However, this is a minor point. The forward assist knob (also
metal) is slightly odd. On the real steel, the knob has a round
end, but the CA M16A3 one has one side (next to the body) chopped
off. Another deviation from the real steel design. Since the
M16A3 basically has an M4A1 receiver, the two can be compared
in the following picture.
Upon
opening the stock via the usual pull down catch, the wiring
is exposed. I have a CA MP5 SD2 and the quality of the wiring
is awful. Not the case in the A3, they have obviously put in
some much better quality wire which is pleasing to see. The
fuse is there (which is good to see!) and is in a slim line
case. I have, so far, only tried putting an 8.4v 2000mah battery
in, I will try a 9.6 as soon as possible. It should fit without
too many hassles, indeed CA seem to think that you can get a
12v in there! After I had a peer down the stock with a torch,
it is possible to see a strengthening bracket which also acts
as a back stop for the battery. They did something similar with
the MP5 solid stock and this is quite easily removed to accept
a larger battery, which I will do if getting the 9.6 in is problematic.
The
magazine is, well, a Classic Army high-capacity magazine holding
the usual 300+ rounds. The colour is a really odd greeny-gray
colour (I am colour blind so I might be wrong!), which is certainly
not consistent with the real steel magazines. Quite why the
designers at CA painted the magazine this colour I am not sure.
The CA M16 magazines are not renowned for their outstanding
quality; to be honest I will probably not even bother to use
it and stick to the superior TM magazines.
Firing
Out to the garden for some plinking with a magazine and
battery in. There appears to be a bit of a problem with the
magazine release catch, I changed it out for a TM one, and it
didn’t fix the problem. I have a sneaky feeling that there is
something in the magazine well that needs to be ground down
to make the magazines fit and lock in more effectively. They
come out fine; just putting them in is a bit of a pain.
Anyway,
magazine in, fire selector to semi automatic. A nice pleasing
action in the fire control switch, makes a good solid click.
On the real thing, it’s a fair old click when you chance fire
modes, I am yet to find an Airsoft Armalite that comes close
to the real thing, but then we can’t have everything. With the
battery and magazine locked and loaded, the A3 is well balanced
and certainly not front heavy. Weight wise, it is not all that
far off the real deal.
First
round out without hop and the range is fine. Access to the hop
on the CA rifles is different to the TM ones. You don’t pull
the charging handle back to access the Hop-Up mechanism. The
dustcover is secured in place by a small, yet quite strong,
magnet. Once released with a finger nail, the dust cover flips
down on the usual spring mechanism. A couple more rounds and
some Hop-Up adjustment later, the rounds sail right up to the
end of the garden with ease (the garden is probably about 35M
long). My only fault with the hop adjustment is the colour of
the piece of metal covering the gear box (bolt cover), which
(for some weird reason) is bright chrome. Hummm, never seen
that on the real thing unless the person cleaning the rifle
has gone into over-kill with the oil and rag, in which case
it wouldn’t fire very well! However, if and when I get the rifle
serviced, I will get this piece sprayed black (as that is what
is on the real deal).
To
my eye, which could be completely wrong, the FPS appears to
be around 340FPS which is what I am after. This will be confirmed
at my site. Accuracy wise, it appears to be easily comparable
with my M4A1 with a TN barrel installed. Once I get into a big
open space, I will be able to test it more effectively. If accuracy
proves to be a problem, then a TN barrel and possibly a Systema
metal Hop-Up could be installed. I have a feeling that this
might not be strictly necessary, but we’ll see.
Switching
to fully automatic, the RoF (Rate of Fire) is pretty good (bearing
in mind that one BB = one kill, in theory at least) on an 8.4v
battery. I grab my U shaped 9.6/wire converter and the RoF becomes
rather insane begging the question of the necessity of a higher
voltage battery. As a fire support weapon, a bigger battery
may be necessary. A 2000mah 8.4v should last a fair amount of
time, and it certainly does not have a problem turning the gear
box over. Accuracy on fully automatic is pleasing and can be
compared to any other relatively long AEG. The gear box is louder
than I was expecting, no bad noises or anything, just louder.
I am going to say that this is because of the metal body; a
plastic one absorbs a lot more sound than a metal one (see your
GCSE physics book as to why). Certainly not a cause for concern.
Releasing
the magazine is smooth and easy. However, reloading it is a
little sticky and can be a pain. I am 99% sure this can be fixed
through some filing inside the magazine well.
Compare
and Contrast Comega wrote a
first impressions review of the CA M4A1 a while back. Due
to the similarities of the Armalite range, the points raised
in his review are highly relevant to this one. For those who
have not read it, the major points brought up in Comega’s review
include:
