D-boys M4A1 (BI-3681)

[The S.C.A.R.]

Since I am a starter to airsoft reviewing, the standards of the review might be lower than others so please try to be gentle on me (and don't mind pointing out the mistakes I have made as well). By the way, this is just the first part of the review.

 

BOYI/D BOYS M4A1 Full Metal Version (Bi 3681)

 

Content Table

Real Steel History

Introduction

First Impression

The Box

The gun (Externals and internals)

Disassembly

Upgrades

Additional Informations

My own weapon upgrade

Future Upgardes

Shooting Report (Range and accuracy test, power test)

Skirmish Report

Evaluation

Additional Information

Pros and Cons Evaluation

Conclusion

Weapons Gallery

 

Real Steel History

First off, before the review, let’s start off with the real steel history.

Now here’s the part which I think most people will find boring on or even skip it, but it is essential in a review.

 

The Colt company developed various carbine versions of the basic AR-15/M16 rifle since 1970s. These carbines were intended for all markets - military, law enforcement, civilian. US Military (and some other armies, most notably - Israeli Self-Defense Forces) had adopted the Colt CAR-15 Commando and XM-177 carbines during the 1970s and 1980s. But early in 1990s the old idea of replacing the pistols in the hands of the troops with some more effective, shoulder fired weapon, rise again in the heads of the US Military. In fact, this idea can be dated back to the US M1 Carbine of 1941, but good ideas never die. So, in the 1994, US Army adopted the Colt Model 720 selective-fire carbine (basically, a shortened M16A2 rifle), as the US M4 Carbine. This weapon was intended to replace in service some M9 pistols, as well as some aged M3A1 Submachine guns and some M16A2 rifles. New weapon was much more handy and comfortable to carry, than the long M16A2 rifle, so the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) put its eye on the M4 as a possible universal weapon for all Special Operations community. For this purpose M4 was latter modified with the M16A3-style flat-top receiver with integral Picatinny-type accessory rail instead of the M16A2/M4-type integral carrying handle. This modificatin retained the M4 index. The only difference between the M4A1 and M4 is that its trigger unit of M4A1 is modified to fire full-auto instead of the three shots bursts in M4. Specially for the SOCOM M4A1s US Naval Surface Warfare Center developed a M4 SOPMOD kit, that consisted of the M4A1 carbine equipped with Rail Interface System (RIS) instead of the standard handguards. The kit also includes a variety of the add-on goodies, such as various sights (ACOG 4X telescopic, ACOG Reflex red-dot, detachable back-up open sights), laser pointers (visible and infra-red), detachable sound suppressor (silencer), modified M203 40mm grenade launcher (with shortened barrel and improved sights). The kit also included a detachable front grip and tactical light.

Technical description

The M4 carbine differs from the M16A2 rifle only by having a shorter barrel and a telescoped, 4-position buttstock. The M4A1 is a similar modification of the M16A3 rifle, so for general technical description please refer to the M16 article on this site. Source from http://world.guns.ru/assault/as17-e.htm

Introduction

I decided to buy a rifle that shoots well at automatic and semi as well. Before I bought this AEG my only ‘all-rounder’ was a Classic Army MP5A2, and it was just a submachine gun. I decided to buy an assault rifle that is still an ‘all-rounder’ and capable of shooting well over 120 ft. At first I started up with several choices but in the end I came on the D-boys M4A1 Full Metal. After reading two reviews about it I decided to buy into the American dream, exactly the time when an airsoft gun shop knocked off 10% of its price.

First Impression

When I got the package home, I decided to open the package immediately. At first, you would not be expecting its package to be beautiful, as the cover doesn’t have any colors on it except black and brown. After opening the package I set upon my eyes on the little workhorse from China.

The first thing I noticed about this MPEG is the heft. The gun clocked at 3.2 kg unloaded, and nearly 4 kg loaded! This is really a nice bonus to this company and the gun as well.

First Impressions: 10/10

The box

The box isn’t the most beautiful package of all. However, it does its job, and I’ve seen from other reviews that the box package is better than the previous D-boys MPEGs’ packages before, so this company is really moving forward in packaging. Still I wasn’t buying the box, so I continued to take a look at all the toys inside this box.

It comes with a small pack of BBs, a cleaning rod, a sling mount, a tactical three-point sling (very good quality), an allen wrench, a phillip screw, a manual, and the gun (of course). In this photo the box content are all missing except the gun and a magazine.

The box: 7/10 (The box is just black and brown, compared to what boxes from Jing Gong/Echo 1 are like)

Edited May 4, 2009 by The S.C.A.R.

[crackisbad]

Well, I can point out a huge mistake that you made: you posted this in the Gear Forum instead of the Review Forum.

 

 

 

 

moved

[The S.C.A.R.]

The gun

Externals

Barrel



The barrel is one-piece. The inner barrel is made out of brass.

Handguard

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The handguard does its job as well. There is nothing very distinctive inside.

Receiver

The receiver is also good as the photos you see on the web. However, there is a 1mm gap between the lower and the upper receiver.

(Btw, the receiver is blank, so you can carve out whatever company trademarks you like on it).

Charging Handle

The charging handle is moveable. Pull it back and the dust cover will pop out, to reveal the hop-up adjustment.

Magwell

The magwell is the only bad part on this gun at this stage. The magwell is loose and my magazines wobble in it. You can use some small pads to remedy this problem. It is also fussy on magazines.

Magazine

The magazine is a high capacity one. D-BOYS decided to inscribe their name and logos on the bottom of the magazine. It holds 300 rounds. However it wobbles in the magwell as mentioned earlier. Newer D-BOYS magazine have Heckler & Koch Law Enforcement trademarks on the side of the magazine (as shown above).

Pistol grip

The pistol grip on this gun is quite well made. It also has a nice texture to it, and is quite comfortable to hold. Here you can see one of the curses of the D-boys’: visible seam lines and moulding marks

Stock

The stock on the m4a1 carbine is a nice, 6 position L.E style retractable stock.

It is one of the most complex externals of this rifle. It is slightly reflective. Only the outer stock is made of ABS, because the buffer tube, and the adjustment button are made of metal. Note: If you are wondering what that black thing is around the stock, it is a sling mount that is more comfortable than the stock rear sling mount.

Sling mounts

The forward sling mount is very annoying, it is very noisy and rattles whenever I move. The front sling mount is removed from my gun already. The rear sling mount is much better. It sits well, and doesn’t rattle. My forward sling mount has been replaced by a new unit, but it still remains in my package just in case I lose the new unit.

(Metal)

Sights

(Sorry for poor photo quality)

The sights of this gun is good, but not great. The first aperture has a wide hole, so when aiming, you put the front sight post somewhere in the middle by guesswork. The second aperture is a small hole which is very hard to focus properly. This is not a fault of D-boys (even Systema has this fault). Anybody who uses a real AR-15 series would know why. Sights on an H&K gun is of course a different story.

Trademarks

There are no trademarks on this gun. No “Made in China” and no “D-boys/BOYI” on the gun, but there is one CA (The A is modeled strangely) trademark on this gun. The “CA” trademark doesn’t mean anything on this gun, but from my guesswork I think it might probably be that this model is a clone of Classic Army M15 models. There is BOYI warning sticker, if that counts as a trademark. But the internals seemed more of a G&P clone instead of a Classic Army clone. More on that later.

Overall

Overall, the external of this gun is excellent for the clones made by Chinses MPEGs. In fact, I am very impressed by the externals of this gun. I have messed around with Tokyo Marui FAMAS SV and Classic Army MP5A2 and noticed their exceptional external qualities, but D-boys had already blew them out of the water on this.

Externals: 8/10 (The built quality is very good, but seam lines and mould marks are very visible)

Internals

Inner barrel

Let’s start with the inner barrel. The inner barrel is a 363mm +/- 5mm in length, and is the standard 6.08mm inner barrel. The barrel sends the bullets out decently, but not as good as some after-market ones.

Gearbox shell

7mm plastic bushings could be seen instantly when stripping the gun down to the gearbox. This is a ‘reinforced gearbox’(especially at the front of the gearbox), so technically it can withstand the pressure of a M130 spring, although you might consider the idea of replacing the bushings with bearing or steel ones.

Motor

The motor is a Chaoli type or something like that. It has good torque, but auto fire sounds strained and is fairly whiney.

Gears

The gears are standard XYT gears, which stuck up all the way to the D-boys SCAR. The gears spin fairly well. The gears are praised for being non-monkey metal (monkey metal stands for cheap quality and brittle metal) and can stand up to about 420 fps, so when I opened up the gearbox, I found out it was true, so it was indeed an excellent job done on the gears.

Shimmings

I’ve got to get this thing straight. The shimmings are utterly ######. D-boys thought that almost .7mm of slack on both the bevel and spur gears would be excellent. It is the worst shimming I’ve ever seen on all the other guns I have taken down before. A re-shim job is definitely needed if you want to upgrade this gun.

Spring

The spring was equivalent to an M110. The spring was short and very stiff. It was not one of the best part of the internals of this gun, so if you want to modify your gun into a more accurate weapon, change it to an M120 spring.

Cylinder

The cylinder of this gun is one of the good parts in the gearbox compared to other parts in this gearbox. The compression was another story. It is horrible. The cylinder head is okay, but if you want it to be better, swap for an after-market one.

Piston

The piston is fairly decent but not the best. There are no teeth breakages, so let’s hope this record keeps up. The o-ring lets it down in this category. I started leaking air after nine months of use.

Air Nozzle

The air nozzle was a clear grey. I have detected no air leaks on it so it‘s pretty tightly sealed. Let’s hope that it lasts a long time!

Tappet Plate

The tappet plate was made out of very hard ABS. It sounds convincing that it won’t break easily.

Spring Guide

The spring guide is another nice feature in the gearbox. D-boys placed two slick washers on top of each other instead of spending more cash on a ball-bearing version which really works efficiently. The shaft is plastic while the base is metal.

Hop up

Finally, the hop-up. The hop up adjustment is utterly ###### as well. As soon as the pellet went over 120 feet, it either turns left or right, sometimes it even takes a dive-bomb before 60 feet.

Battery

The battery is a 8.4v 1100maH one. It is an average battery, which does its work but you’re not going to expect the rate of fire of this gun to go over 14 RPS with this battery. This battery is already a back-up one by now, as I have bought the Intellect 8.4v 1600maH battery for my primary use.

Internals: 7/10 (Shimmings are horrible, motor is slow, the wiring is thin and the hop-up is utterly ######, but the other parts are very good)