Boyi BI-5281 (SPR)

[GuzziHero]

This will be an ongoing review because Ive only just got it.

 

Part 1: opening the box and initial impressions (pics to follow when my dad wakes up and I can use his good quality camera).

 

Picked the gun up from Parcel Farce (on a motorbike, an adventure in itself!). I was surprised by its light weight.

 

Got it home, and opened the plain brown cardboard box. The gun was well protected by polystyrene blocks holding the barrel and stock end, and held in place by 2 more polystyrene blocks. How much polystyrene this actually saved is minimal at best!

 

On the left side, under the barrel, is the battery and QD bipod. The battery is marked "LJ BATTERY SC 1500mAh 8.4V". I suspect it is of dubious quality but I will charge it and see just how bad it is. The bipod has a RIS-QD adaptor and feels good quality. Only foible with this is that the screw that puts tension on the 'fork' that attaches to the QD stud doesnt line up with its correct position on the bipod meaning that as you tighten it up, it tightens on the thread of the screw. Youll know what I mean if you see it (or when I can get pics). Theres also a 2-pin charger here, a very poor quality foregrip, and a mysterious box that says '6mm BBS AND TOOLS INSIDE'. But it was empty, the tools were in a compartment sealed by the cardboard. A cheap screwdriver and an allen key.

 

Under the stock is the sling. Standard DBoys 3 point design with plastic sliders and a metal endclip. Usable. The cleaning rod was hiding right at the back, slipped between the outer box and polystyrene inner. This will need fettling before use, as there is a nasty sharp sprue mark on the cleany end.

 

Okay, the gun itself. Picked it up and the first thing I noticed was...EVERYTHING is moving. Barrel independant of the body. RIS independant of the gas block. And this suffers pretty badly with the old CA problem...body rock (and I dont mean the type those nice coloured lads perform down the youth club).

 

My heart sank. Is this going to be usable at all? Yes, but with a little work.

 

--- Techy bit. Skip this part if you dont want to be bored to tears ---

The body rock is caused by the upper receiver just being a bit of a poor fit on the lower. It uses the extended tab system that G&P have perfected, but they are very short tabs. This can probably be fixed with some teflon tape inside the lower where the 2 parts meet. The gun splits in the same way that CAs do...remove the front receiver pin and slip the upper off the lower.

 

Barrel wobble and RIS wobble take a little more work. Without going into the gory details, Ill say how it can be fixed easily.

 

Split the gun in 2 as described above, so you just have the upper. Take the barrel/hop out, itll only annoy you.

 

First, take the flash hider off. This is an elusive bugger because there 2 parts to it. Screw the hider counter-clockwise and only the end part comes off, remove the grub screw under the next section and screw it clockwise and it seperates just in front of the PRI-style flash hider.

 

Next, the flash hider needs removing. Ignore the pins on the left side as you hold the gun...theyre fakes. Only undo the ones on the right side. Theyre pretty long and you need to remove them completely. With a little effort, the flash hider will now move, bringing the metal bar that runs through the RIS with it.

 

Now the RIS. To make it easier for the next part, grab the receiver upper with one hand, the RIS with the other and give it some Hulk...pulling and twisting the RIS clockwise (as you look down the barrel) as you do so. The reason is that the barrel is held in place ONLY by the RIS base attachment ring, and if the barrel wobbles, this ring has to be turned clockwise to pull the barrel into the receiver where it belongs. The RIS will slip off the attachment ring as its only held on by 4 metal spikes.

 

---

Now there may be a problem. The attachment ring has holes in it through which the metal rod (on the foresight) run. If these are now out of line, do this:

 

Grab the attachment ring and turn it clockwise (as you look down the barrel). Given enough Hulk, this should loosen...if not, get it in a vice (protecting your attachment ring nut with a rag). When you get inside, you will see that there are 4 parts: the ring itself, the ring nut that you just removed, and 2 pins.

 

Now, put the ring, minus the nut, onto the receiver again and tighten it till theres no barrel wobble. Place the pins in the holes (or mark the holes) so they are at 90 degrees to the magwell (i.e, as you look down with the receiver top upwards, put them in the West and East positions). Remove it again. Now put the ring nut back on to keep the little buggers in place. Tighten it up so theres no barrel wobble, remembering of course that you cant fully tighten it on the ring nut, as youll only loosen that again. Instead, grab the metal prongs that the RIS slips onto and tighten with that.

 

---

Now, you have no barrel wobble, the ring in place, and the ring nut keeping your pins in place. Simply slip the RIS on (though you may want to secure it with some glue of some kind) and make sure it is well seated back onto the ring. If needed, place the back of the upper receiver on something that is firm but wont scratch the paint, and push it down by hand. Replace the foresight and its rod into the receiver, then the flashhider and its grub screw. Ta-da!

 

--- Techy bit ends ---

 

Right, that done...whats the rest of the gun like? Well, painted pretty well, actually! The receiver is a nice matt grey colour and the barrel is a little more glossy but not shiny. Only problem I can see is that the paint is thin and chips off easily leaving BRIGHT shiny metal underneath. I dont mind this, as I like a well worn look, but bear in mind that you may have to repaint at some time.

 

The paint quality as it stands is better than my CA M15a1 (which was terrible).

 

The RIS is die cast metal, to the point that there are horrendous casting marks between the rails at the receiver end. Its of pretty poor spec, so much so that I had to scratch it to make sure it wasnt plastic. If you wondered how a full RIS gun can weigh the same as a CA M15a2 which has no RIS, wonder no further. Even with the mods described above, the RIS wobbles some, so much that I will probably be modding mine so that is held at the front by three screw/nut devices. And Im not betting on it staying in place if I put a lot of weight on it either, I feel that it will slip off its attachment at some point.

 

The flip up foresight does what it says on the tin. Positive movement, no unnecessary wobble.

 

Moving back to the receiver, the fake bolt catch is attached differently to CAs in that it is retained by a pin and not just slipped into place when you assemble the body. This will be a godsend to those of us that have had the old 'not enough hands!' problem when assembling our guns!

 

There are no receiver markings except the safe/semi/auto mode selector ones which are a nice subdued grey, the normal cast 'C' and 'AF' on the upper receiver (what the hell do they mean?!) and a sticker on the magwell's right side. One of the warnings on there says...

 

"don't peek into the muzzle in case of injury and cause ablepsia"

 

I have no idea what ablepsia is, but if the symptoms are running around in pain screaming "MY EYEBALL EXPLODED!", then I think I know what theyre getting at.

 

Now here's quirky. This gun has a working cocking handle/flip-down dust cover...but NO fake bolt inside! The little hook is there, but there is no fake bolt. I have one from my G&P Zombie Killer body, so Ill probably fit that and see if it works.

 

The grip is odd also. Its very wide and looks like this:

 

. Its a hard, pretty ikky plastic. As is the stock which is a shade too shiny for my tastes and has a black plastic end plate. My particular stock is splitting at the base, probably overtightened. If I have problems, Ill glie it together.

 

The rear sight is of this design:

 

 

It is functional and gets the job done.

 

---

Accessories:

 

Foregrip: feels VERY cheap and any real attempt at tightening it will strip the thread. It is loose and wobbly on the RIS.

Bipod: feels solid, legs locks into place nicely, held by springs and the leg extension locks are positive, if a little hard to move until worn in. Feet are of the rubber 'checker piece' variety.

Charger: dunno. I wont be using it as its a 2-pin.

Battery: to be confirmed

Sling: functional. Probably wont last long. Bear in mind that there are no fore-barrel attachments for the sling, but as that end of the sling comes with a fabric loop, it is probably intended to be slipped through under the foresight. Id confirm your barrel doesnt wobble before attaching it.

Cleaning rod: Ok, as long as you file the sprue marks off.

Tools: as youd expect

RIS covers: dont lock positively into place and feel cheap, but they do the job

Magazine: 190rd hicap VN design

 

I cant fire it yet, nowhere at home to test it. Ill do a rough guesstimate on its ROF when I can.

 

---

Summary

 

So overall, what would I say to anyone planning to buy one? If you want a quality SPR replica that you dont want to work on, buy another model. But for a £70 gun, providing you have the ability/tools to do a little bit of work, this seems pretty darn good so far, pending testing.

 

Good points:

Cheap as chips

Metal body

Good bipod

Heavy enough, but not TOO heavy

Looks pukka

 

Bad points:

Needs a little attention to solve barrel wobble

Stock cheap and splitting open

Untrustworthy RIS attachment (most likely solvable)

 

Pics and test review to follow.

[DarkLite]

I was thinking of picking one of these up - but then I did actually pick it up, in the shop, and realised that it was so goddamn cheap, wobbly, nasty looking and badly finished that I knew I'd be spending more than twice the price of the gun to get it nice.

 

So I didn't get it. Yay.

 

In all honestly, it can be made nice - but DBOYS rushed it.

 

Follow the advice by the OP and tighten and threadlock EVERYTHING.

[GuzziHero]

Never thought of threadlock. I have some anti-sieze brake rotor bolt fixer in my garage.

 

[GuzziHero]

RIS is still moving on the attachment ring. Ill need to drill holes through and put screws in it. Its superglued for now, but I doubt itll hold. VERY disappointing.

[ghost_x3]

=(, got my hopes up Guzzi. The BUIS is the ARMS #40, not the #40L according to gunners pics.

 

Here's a picture of what it replicates:

Edited July 16, 2007 by ghost_x3

[GuzziHero]

Pedantics!

 

Its fine...if you have the equipment and ability to just sort out those few niggles. Ill probably be slapping a ZK body on it at some time anyway

 

Edit:

ROF is pretty low. The stock battery was no worse, really, than my Sanyo 1900mAh Ni-CD. Doesnt sound overshimmed, but then again the wiring is really thin. Might rewire it.

Edited July 16, 2007 by GuzziHero

[Fizzy]

Yeah, I'm pretty gutted too. I don't mind a bit off fiddling, but having to drill it and screw it together? I would have hoped it would have been sturdy enough.

[GuzziHero]

Believe me, you should have seen the wobble when I first took it out. I cant believe they had the gall to put a QC sticker on it (on the bottom of the gearbox, up the magwell, yet!).

[bangus]

can you post pictures of the gun? i'm saving up to buy this.. or i might just wait for the one with the S-system rails on it.

Edited July 17, 2007 by bangus

[GuzziHero]

Trying to get a camera arranged. Only decent camera in the house has no batteries

[GuzziHero]

Part 2. Piccies.

 

Bear in mind that Ive added a scope and a folding foregrip. Couldnt be bothered to take them off for the pics. Looking over the gun again, I am struck with utter ambiguity. Nothing really stands out on the gun as interesting, which is why Im planning to put a different body on it. The good news is that other than the horrible plastics, the materials used seem pretty solid. But if you like to keep your guns looking pristine, youd be disappointed with this gun. The paint seems to wear off if you look at it to harshly!

 

Full gun. The only really original thing is the flash hider. Bear in mind that you CANNOT fit a barrel longer than the one supplied. Because of the way the barrel thread works, the inside of the outer barrel will not allow anything past the foresight. Just past the foresight is the first thread which is -14mm. Theres another where the large grip nut is up the front which is +14mm. You cannot, of course, fit a silencer then run a barrel through it. With the scope I have chosen, I cannot fit a rear backup sight because it goes back too far.

 

RIS delta ring. Where all the looseness is. Ive tightened the delta ring up, it just slips loose again. Threadlock time! Also notice that the receiver rail does not match the foregrip RIS - theyre different heights.

 

Bipod. Sturdy as a brick outhouse. You can see how the mounting screw runs on the thread against what I guess it should be pushing on.

 

Left side of grip. Lefties need not apply. You can see the subdued mode markings.

 

Right side of grip. Check out that manky quality plastic!

 

Hop cover. Charging handle flips down the dust cover, but there is no imitation bolt inside.

 

Split in stock. Unlike CA models, the bolt doesnt go all the way from the buttplate to the back of the gearbox, meaning that you have to take the endplate off and then there is another screw inside to remove the stock. This leaves the stocks 2 halves held together with 2 pins.

 

Compared with the rest of my collection. Left to right: M15a2 (slight mods), M15a1, M15a4 CQB SEAL, BI-5281, MP-16 at the bottom

 

Edit:

I just took the stock off. This gun has no fuse. It does have really manky thin wiring which mak explain the pants ROF. Rewire is on the cards. The wire goes right from the battery into the gearbox, with no connector at the GB.

 

There is a sling point on the stock tube but I would not in ANY way consider hanging this off a stock mounted sling point. The stock will most likely break.

Edited July 18, 2007 by GuzziHero

[GuzziHero]

Name that barrel:

 

 

Above is a Prometheus 6.01 bore 509mm from my A2 C.A.R. Below is the DBoys BI-5281. It is of 419mm length and 6.03 bore.

[Rusty65]

Are you sure the ris is too short? On mine one of the rails sits higher than the others so I figured that was the one on top and it's pretty much the same height as the rail on the body.

[GuzziHero]

Ill try turning it over then Im most likely putting it on a CA body anyway.

 

Edit:

Low ROF investigation...

 

Well, despite my criticism of the thin wiring, it seems to do OK.

 

Got a battery rated at 8.4, actual voltage 8.95. Grip baseplate off, connected a multimeter to the motor terminals, pressed the trigger. 8.93. Does seem theres much wrong with the wiring.

 

Connected the multimeter on resistance across the motor terminals. Full deflection, so no resistance there.

 

Unless anyone can advise any more/better tests, I presume the low ROF is one of 2 things:

 

1. Too powerful spring, not powerful enough motor

2. Poor shimming

 

More investigation later!

Edited July 19, 2007 by GuzziHero

[GuzziHero]

Shims checked. First gear seemed a little slack, but I left it. All I had to change was the middle gear... changed a .5 to a .3. ROF slightly improved.

 

Next thing to try is to slap a CA motor in and see what shakes down.

[lineman66]

do you know what motor this gun is using?

 

does it say Chaoli/superpower motor on it? many ChiMan guns seem to be using this type of motor and it's actually decent.

[GuzziHero]

It says 'ONCETOP' on it. If they were Once Top, what are they now?

 

It could always be a mass power spring. Ive not seen any estimates anywhere of this things power...

[DarkLite]

Bushings may be too tight. Check motor height. Check gear axles. Regrease. Check trigger contacts. Check the inside of the GB for sprue that could be causing friction on parts.

[Fizzy]

Land Warrior listed theirs as 340fps and someone else chrono'd theirs at 330ish FPS

[GuzziHero]

Bushings seem OK. Theyre nylon. I did the piston-out spin test. Theyre fine.

Motor height adjusted. Was OK.

 

Everything else seems fine, although the box is a wierd amalgam of colours suggesting its poor grade metal.

 

Normal XYK (or whatever they are) gears. Grease is an off-yellow, mostly transparent type.

 

Edit:

odd thing. Apart from the bolt release being a type where it bolts into the body, the mag release button has no screw to remove it. You have to push it right in and spin it off the other side.

Edited July 19, 2007 by GuzziHero

[GuzziHero]

Its the motor. Its a total ****pile. Put it in my MP-16 and the gun barely turns over. Put the MP-16s 9.6 mini in the SPR with a CA motor, its like a laser gun.

Edited July 19, 2007 by GuzziHero

[bangus]

thanx for the great review GuzziHero!!

 

Edit:

odd thing. Apart from the bolt release being a type where it bolts into the body, the mag release button has no screw to remove it. You have to push it right in and spin it off the other side. <- wtf?! really? that is odd...

[GuzziHero]

Yessir. The mag release centre, where there is usually a screw to remove the button, the lever arm side of the release has a pin that goes into that. I tried to remove this, thinking it was a disguise cover for the screw, and simple fingernail pressure took the paint off.

 

I forgot...Rusty wins a cookie. Id put the Ris on upside down

Edited July 19, 2007 by GuzziHero

[Rusty65]

Yay cookie! Also I do think you're right and there is a blanking plate over the screw on the mag release. I'm planning on dropping in a CA gearbox into it so I will have to confirm it by then.

 

Or replace it with a nice ambi-mag catch.

[vbtb110]

Guess I may have to pick one up as a project gun

 

 

ACM M3 here I come!