Opinion on CA P90 proline (CA90)

[Stealthbomber]

I wouldn't say it's ignorant (Just my view stealth, go easy on me bud), but yes depending on your view point it could definitely been seen as cr*p.

Sorry,

 

I wasn't talking about anything specifically related to this thread.

I just meant the forums in general.

If Yee245 wants to put nonsense in the spotlight he's going to have a full-time job following some of our more, erm, "colourful" members around and exposing the tripe they post.

 

Far better for a persons sanity to just ignore stuff that they don't agree with, unless the nonsense might risk putting somebody's life, liberty or property in danger.

[Habakure]

Well said stealth, the age old saying of "Life's too short", would definitly back up your view.

[yee245]

Necropost time!

 

I figured since it is actually relevant to this thread. Previously, anything I had written in here was just speculation and assumption (or general flaming, sorry about that), but now that I actually have one in my hands, I can give my actual opinions. One disclaimer is that I did buy it used from a seller that was having issues with it feeding, but otherwise basically new, to my knowledge. I haven't had a chance to test the range and see if the problem the previous owner was having (shooting only about 30ft), but after opening up the gearbox, I think I may have fixed the issue. When I got it, it appeared as if the air nozzle wasn't moving at all, and it wasn't firing anything, but after taking apart the gearbox to check out to see if the tappet plate had snapped, I found it was just kind of bent and not in the right place. Its spring may have also not been positioned right causing other issues. After reassembling everything, it appeared to be shooting 355-360fps with the hop up at its lowest setting. Anyway, with that out of the way, here goes with some potentially useful information.

 

 

 

Starting with some of the concerns from the OP, I have to say that I'm really not sure about long term issues and durability, given the length of time I've had mine. I can't say if it will be double feeding a lot, but from the minor bit of testing I did right after reassembling the gearbox, it didn't double feed or have any terrible feeding issues.

 

The gears seem like they are fine, but then again, I haven't done all that much gearbox work, so I can't just look at them at say whether I think they can hold up to a given amount of "punishment." The do appear to be some sort of magnetic material, presumably steel, as I did use a magnet to hold the ARL in place as I was reassembling the gearbox, and all the gears stuck in place as well, even though the gearbox was at an angle at the time. Maybe someone else with experience with CA internals could help with the durability of the gears. Other internals in the CA gearbox include 7mm bearings (no blue plastic bushings) as well as a yellow piston. There is also a brass cylinder instead of that blue one in the sportline, a silver colored motor instead of black, and some sort of bearing spring guide . So, again, other CA users might be able to help with the durability of those parts from CA (I'm assuming the previous owner didn't go out and replace a bunch of gearbox components just to sell it at the price he did). The gearbox shell itself did look pretty nice, and it looks very different from the sportline's gearbox, unless it's just some sort of coating on both the outside and inside. Basically, it's a completely different gearbox internally.

 

The motor seems to be fine. I was testing on an 8.4v mini battery and was getting something like 13rps, which is about on par with what my TM P90 gets with the same battery, where both guns are shooting around the same velocity. As EmptyChambers mentioned earlier in the thread, CA motors are whiny, and I did notice that, even when I was testing the motor completely separate from the gearbox. Maybe it's just that I didn't test side-by-side, but it did seem noisier than I recall the motor in my JG SIG being when just being run on its own. I'm sure that if the gun is going to get upgraded significantly, you're probably going to be replacing the motor anyway, but for the stock gun, it seems to be fine.

 

The metal hop up chamber seems to be decently made, but from my experience with TM plastic hop up chambers, metal isn't really necessary. I did notice that the CA hop up chamber had the same o-ring under the adjustment wheel to keep it snug in position better than the Echo 1 spare hop up chamber I have. I don't know if it's just that the spare that I got didn't have the o-ring, or if the Echo 1 and ACM P90s don't have it in general. I did notice when taking apart the hop up chamber, the nub seems like it's a pretty bad nub. I didn't grab a picture at the time, but it wasn't very good. It had some extra bits of rubber coming out from the side and overall, it doesn't push down evenly or level on the bucking. That should be a pretty easy replacement though.

 

As for midcaps, I can't tell you the compatibility, since I don't have any. At some point, I'll probably be picking up some MAG midcaps, which I don't think were available or even announced at the time of this thread. It seems to feed fine so far from my TM standard mags, so hopefully, it should be fine with anything that works in a TM. That's just speculation though.

 

 

 

To respond to some other things from the rest of the thread, I will say that the red dot in the proline is probably the same one as in the sportline, and it is pretty crappy. It's bright (almost too bright, even on the lower setting), and it's not focused properly. It seems that if you focus your eyes on the dot and whatever it's reflecting off of, you can get the dot to be somewhat focused, but you're not able to really look at whatever your target is, but if you're focusing on your target, the dot is a big giant red blob which makes it much less useful. Maybe over time as the batteries weaken, the dot will be a more reasonable brightness. Also, if you're looking at the sight from the muzzle end of the gun, you can see the red light reflecting off the insides of the tube in the sight. With the TM, you can only see the faint dot of red if you have a direct line of sight at the diode inside the sight, and even then, it's not bright. The CA's red dot will probably give away your position in the dark. It actually almost acts like a dim little red flashlight out to about 8". Also, it's a little hard to explain, but when looking through the sight, you can see sort of a reflection of your eye, except tinted red, likely the reflecting lens or something.

 

Regarding the externals of the gun, I'll start first with the upper receiver. The metal upper is pretty good quality, and it seems much better quality than the Pro-Arms upper receiver I have. The finish is nice, and it seems like a much more durable layer of paint than that of the PA one. One thing about the CA90's metal upper is that it is HEAVY! It's heavy enough that I actually think it throws off the balance of the gun. It might actually be better balanced, but I prefer the way my TM P90 feels with its plastic receiver. The heavy front makes it so that if you were to quickly change your aiming direction, the rear of the gun will swing around, just due to the weight "imbalance." Just the upper receiver (with all its components like the hop up, barrel, springs, red dot, etc) of the CA90 weighs 3lb 4oz. For reference, the same bits from a TM weigh 1lb 6oz, my TM upper with a Systema tri-rail attachment with a TM silencer only weighs 1lb 10oz, and a complete stock TM without battery is about 4lb. I think I've read somewhere that the G&P metal upper is really heavy as well, so maybe this isn't too unreasonable. From a quick test, it looks like the receivers are compatible, but I can't tell how well they'll feed yet when switched. They do seem to have slightly different tolerances at first glance, mainly with the gearbox positioning, but it might just be my imagination.

 

One of the potential selling points I saw in the CA over the TM is that the body was supposed to be made of better materials than just the basic plastic of the TM. I will say that the texture is a little bit nicer on the CA, since the plastic on the TM is kind of smooth, but there is no super difference in the feel. It could be nylon fiber or just a slightly better plastic, but it really doesn't feel like some amazingly better material, or at least I was not instantly wowed by it, especially since my first reaction was "this thing feels front heavy."

 

The other thing about the body is the quality of appearances, if that makes sense. The texture looks nice, but when you look at the hex screw things (both the real ones and the fake ones), you'll notice something's amiss. With the TM, you don't really notice the difference between the real and the fake hex screws. The 3mm hex key fits in all of them, real and fake, basically the same. With the CA, there is an obvious difference between the real and fake ones. The fake ones don't look like they are actually screws in the holes, but the real ones that actually have screws in them are rather inset. Also, the edges of the screws are rounded, not "sharp" like the fake ones would look like, so you can see the obvious difference. The CA uses the same 3mm hex screws, but the 3mm hex key doesn't actually fit into the fake ones.

 

Other bits of the externals that I noticed are that the selector switch seems a bit easier to switch than the TM. It's almost too light a switch for my preferences, and I could imagine that if it were bumped by something, it could possibly get switched, where the TM is not. While it might not matter to some people I don't like the smooth plastic butt plate on the CA. I prefer the rubberized finish on the TM. It probably won't make much of a difference out on the field, but when chairsofting, it does make a difference. Maybe it seems like I'm just trying to find faults with the CA compared to the TM, but I still like my TM more.

 

Last bit of info for now is that the trademarks don't say P90 or Project 90, but only say 90. The trademarks on the side of the stock aren't as deep or defined as the ones in the TM, but they are fine. It also has the Classic Army Made in Hong Kong in the same place on the receiver that the ASGK Tokyo Marui Co Ltd Made in Japan is on the TM.

 

 

I'll get the pictures that I took (I only really took one of the outside and one of the inside) up later, and maybe I'll take a couple more.

[Jon L]

Just throwing it out there, but Jung Gong are supposedly going to be making a p90, dont expect it anytime soon though. At least christmas 2010, and based on their other products I would expect it to be better in all ways compared to the TM. Much better than the KS and at a similar price. Just gotta wait for the thing to be released

[yee245]

Quick update to the fact that the red dot on the CA90 is terrible:

 

Also, some pictures comparing a couple aspects of the CA with the TM.

 

Gearboxes:

 

Insides of the CA90 gearbox, compare it with pictures (elsewhere) of the sportline:

 

Externals, minor mismatching of the two halves on the CA:

CA (left), TM (right)

 

Screws:

CA (bottom), TM (top)

 

Trademarks:

CA (right), TM (left)

[Zombie00]

Hahaha, this is rather funny. I ordered my CA90 RD version about 4 or 5 days ago, it should arrive around may 4th.

 

Anyway, thanks a lot for sharing your (positive) experience, now the waiting will be much more bearable.

 

Regarding the Red-dot, I was thinking this might be a solution.

 

http://www.m1bullpup.com/index.php?q=remt3

 

Basically is and added T bar illuminated sight, designed to fit into the white ring real-steel version. Maybe it won't be a drop-in upgrade, but in theory (I'm yet to read more about it) it should work with a bit of custom fitting. It has 11 illumination settings and comes in 3 colors (blue, red and green), the price seems more than reasonable.

 

However, there must be a way to reduce the intensity of the original red-dot, I'll see what I can do once my P90 arrives.

 

 

[yee245]

The white ring sight does not fit stock into airsoft receivers. It appears to just be a matter of filing off a little "nub" from the side of the sight and it should fit. There's someone around on the forums that has one in their P90. I was also looking at the REM T3 for mine.

 

If the you can't get a hold of one of the white ring sights and the red dot is not working out for you, the First Factory upper rail and the Systema/DTP triple rail mount both work in the CA90 upper receiver, so you can mount whatever optics you want.

[Zombie00]

The white ring sight does not fit stock into airsoft receivers. It appears to just be a matter of filing off a little "nub" from the side of the sight and it should fit. There's someone around on the forums that has one in their P90. I was also looking at the REM T3 for mine.

 

If the you can't get a hold of one of the white ring sights and the red dot is not working out for you, the First Factory upper rail and the Systema/DTP triple rail mount both work in the CA90 upper receiver, so you can mount whatever optics you want.

 

Any idea if it's possible to use the REM T3 in an Airsoft P90 Red-dot sight? It doesn't seem to make any use of the tritium, so (in theory) all that would be necessary is the lent where the T-bar sight projects (and of course fix it to the receiver, which will probably require some modding).

 

I doubt I can afford a RS sight, the price tag is ridiculous (around 600$ the last time I checked) and I rather keep the looks of the RD version.

 

Another option would be to remove the RD unit and fit a C-more in there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PS: Have you notice any property part inside the gearbox?

[Zombie00]

Double post, sorry.

[yee245]

The REM T3 would not be useful with an airsoft P90 red dot sight. The airsoft sight is basically just a red dot housed in a body the shape of the real sight. The real optic (the white version) has two areas of light collection that somehow illuminate the rings in the sight and the T cross. It looks like some solid bits of glass with whatever etching and maybe some prisms or something in there. The front collector seems to mainly illuminate the rings and the rear, which is where the tritium bar sits, illuminates the T. The REM basically shines an LED into the rear light collector, which makes the T glow whatever color it is illuminated with. I suppose it might be possible to make a custom light set up such that you could illuminate the rings to whatever color you wanted. The airsoft red dot has no such areas.

 

As for the price, used white sights seem to go for around $100-150, where the black sights are closer to the $500-600 range.

[Zombie00]

The REM T3 would not be useful with an airsoft P90 red dot sight. The airsoft sight is basically just a red dot housed in a body the shape of the real sight. The real optic (the white version) has two areas of light collection that somehow illuminate the rings in the sight and the T cross. It looks like some solid bits of glass with whatever etching and maybe some prisms or something in there. The front collector seems to mainly illuminate the rings and the rear, which is where the tritium bar sits, illuminates the T. The REM basically shines an LED into the rear light collector, which makes the T glow whatever color it is illuminated with. I suppose it might be possible to make a custom light set up such that you could illuminate the rings to whatever color you wanted. The airsoft red dot has no such areas.

 

As for the price, used white sights seem to go for around $100-150, where the black sights are closer to the $500-600 range.

I see, It's a bit more complicated than I thought, manufacturers site didn't provide much information.

 

 

The price for a white ring is more reasonable, however they are still hard to come by, I rarely see them in stock. If I can, I'll get my hands in one (eventually, I already expend about 400 bucks in the replica, my wallet needs some time to heal).

 

Now all that lays ahead is the dreadful wait. Thanks again for everything, you have been of great help.

 

 

[nighthawkuk]

Just thought I would add my own experience to this thread.

 

I had a look around at the end of last year and as everyone else seems to have found I could not find very much information on the proline. But as I had always wanted a P90 I decided to go for it.

 

 

 

It was the Tri-Rail version I got and it did come with the extended tight bore barrel and silencer. Was shooting rather hot out of the box at 380 but I have since cut the spring down to a more useable 328.

 

 

 

What I would say in reference to the post above I am getting 17RPS with an 8.4 battery, but some of this gain will have come from the shortened spring. I have tested it with a 9.6 and this gives 21RPS but I will stick with the 8.4 so as not to affect the 18month warranty that came with the gun.

 

 

 

I have been using this AEG for 3 months now and I have not had many issues with it. It did fail on the first skirmish, this was caused by the rubber seal on the air nozzle coming lose, but this was fixed with some super glue and it has been fine ever since.

 

 

 

What I have bought though is a second hop-up chamber that stays permanently attached to the second barrel, this makes swapping it over a simple 2-3min job.

 

 

 

The only other thing I am planning on changing is the shorter barrel as this is a standard 6.08, but that can wait until later. The one thing that has impressed me the most are the CA magazines, I have not had any of the jamming issues people talk about and after three months of use (6-8 skirmishes) I can still empty a full mag on a single wind.

 

 

[The Vainguard]

Just throwing it out there, but Jung Gong are supposedly going to be making a p90 - based on their other products I would expect it to be better in all ways compared to the TM.

 

Sorry but I just have to say, is this guy serious?

[LordElpus]

Considering the number of guns "on the way" from JG, i would expect it to be a while.

[cool-breeze87]

I almost got the CA P90 but I decided to get an ICS M4 as I had heard more positive feedback on the ICS models and I wanted an M4 more than a P90. I do want a P90 still so I'm thinking about getting the CA P90 but I'm not sure about changing pistons and what not. Is it an easy thing to do?

[Zombie00]

Sorry but I just have to say, is this guy serious?

Kind of remind to the guy in my sign.

 

 

 

I almost got the CA P90 but I decided to get an ICS M4 as I had heard more positive feedback on the ICS models and I wanted an M4 more than a P90. I do want a P90 still so I'm thinking about getting the CA P90 but I'm not sure about changing pistons and what not. Is it an easy thing to do?

Changing a piston isn't a hard thing to do. All-in-all, I'd dare to say that once you get use to cracking open your GB, taking it apart completely and reassemble it again, most of those upgrades are simple things to do, as long as the parts that your are installing are compatible with the rest of the gearbox.

 

 

[cool-breeze87]

Ah right. I'm just afraid of breaking my lovely new gun once I've got it by opening it up and tinkering lol.

[Zombie00]

 Well, I finally got my hand on the CA P90 RD Pro-line and, so far, I'm more than pleased.

 

External wise: Best P90, the marking still sucks though. The lower receiver isn't simple ABS plastic, it's a bit glossy but it tends to be really cold to the touch, so it definitely has some additives (nylon and glass most likely). The upper receiver feels like a tank, very solid; both the paint job and the termination are also very good. Putting the batteries in the Red-dot is a bit of a pain in the *a big seabirds*, but it doesn't open by it self once properly closed (at least mine doesn't). It's heavy, but we aren't talking about womans here, so that's a plus. Balance is great IMO, I can hold it with one hand easily, it doesn't till to front nor to the back.

 

Haven't had the chance to properly test it as the battery hasn't arrived yet, but I shot a couple of bbs using my father's AK battery and It performed pretty well. Can't specify (don't have a chrono and I'm to lazy to do and audio analysis), but ROF do seems to be a bit hi for my taste. According to retailers chrono test, it came shooting at 375-380 FPS, which is great, the limit here for the Assault role is 400FPS and that was what I was aiming for. The mag performed ok, but I don't like Hi-caps, I have my Mag Mid-caps on the way, I'll let you guys know how they work.

 

I'll surely end up doing a review of it (don't expect much, it would be my first review ever ), so I'll translate it eventually and post it here.

 

 

[cool-breeze87]

Cool. I heard silverbacks were the best P90 mags, still not heard any sort of confirmation if they fit it.