Hi-Capa 5.1 - ArniesAirsoft

Author

R22Master

Dionysus

Registered: September 2004
Location: Static in the UK, but wishing I was motorbiking around the world - UK > Europe > Russia > Alaska > USA > UK.
Posts: 3,372

Review Date: 15/8/05

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �84.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Very loud noise, hard and fast blowback, high capacity magazines, accurate, adjustable sights, loads of accessories available.
Cons:	Plastic slide can deform slightly with severely extended use.

I got my Hi-Capa as part of a trade for some motorbike accessories, but I had wanted one of these for a while.

I have always wanted some sort of 1911 style gun but wasn't prepared to part with the large amount of cash necessary to buy a Western Arms model.

I tried one of the TM Hi-Capas out in Airsoft Armoury Midlands and was amazed by its hard crisp recoil and loud bang that punctuated each shot. After this, I just had to get one.

First Impressions

The box is neat and quite snazzy and opening it up reveals a pristine gun with barrel-stopper, magazine, and a few BBs.

I picked the gun up and was impressed with the weight straight away. It also felt very solid - no rattling at all.

The slide is plastic but it has a good finish and looks very nice. The frame however is metal and it adds a nice weight and balance to the pistol. The grips are also plastic and not the most comfortable I have ever used, but nicely shaped and they give great levels of grip to the shooter.

Basic Operation

Basic operation is essentially the same as most other GBB Semi-Auto pistols. You load the mag, pull back the slide and shoot Smile

The first thing I noticed is that the slide-release latch is very short. It requires a little fidgeting to allow your thumb to reach it, but it moves very positively. Plus, extended slide-latches are readily available.

The gun has a working grip safety. This is a lever on the back of the grip that stops the gun from firing unless you have the correct grip. Useful for real-steels but not that useful for Airsoft guns. Still, it is a nice bit of authenticity for replica buffs.

The HOP-UP is located under the barrel and is not accessible unless you remove the slide. This is a bit of a pain, but removing the slide on this gun is so easy that it's not too much of a chore. Plus, once adjusted, the HOP stays where you set it, so you don't need to get at it that often. Plus, its internal location means you stand no chance of accidentally nudging it off its best setting.

The magazine fits in the grip of the gun with a resounding click and sits very snugly.

The gun also takes Green Gas without a problem in pretty much all weathers.

Firing

Now the best bit.

The first thing to notice is the heavy recoil and the loud bang of each shot. This gun is GREAT fun to shoot. I am really glad now I didn't buy a Western Arms gun as nothing they have to offer can compare to the performance of this beast (that I have ever seen anyway, and I have fired most of them). The noise and recoil just brings forth that huge smile you reserve for special occasions.

The gun is accurate too - noticably more accurate than a lot of other GBBs. The BBs hit the target with remarkable consistancy and it really makes you glad you bought one when you're in a skirmish.

The fun just keeps going too as this gun holds more than 30 shots in one standard magazine. This means less time reloading and more time shooting. It also means more opposing players taken out in a skirmish Wink

Gas efficiency seems very good too. One fill of Green Gas in the mag can get at least two full mags worth of BBs out of the barrel with good power. The cool-down too is not that noticable, even when rapid firing.

Note on Cool-Down: The 'Cool-Down Effect' occurs when compressed gas is released from a container quickly. As latent heat of vaporization is taken from the atmosphere to allow the gasses to expand, the container cools down dramatically and ice can even form. As there is less and less heat available for this liquid-to-gas conversion, the gas is released more slowly and with less force. This lowers the power available to the blowback mechanism on the gun and decreases performance. As the TM Hi-Capa is pretty gas efficient though, this phenomenon is hardly noticable.

Upgrades and Accessories

At the time of writing this review, the Hi-Capa is still a relatively new gun on the market, but already there are metal slides, enhanced springs, longer slide and mag-latches and coloured grips available as aftermarket parts for this gun. You can customise it to your heart's content provided you have the money. It is such a good base pistol though, you will find it hard to resist accessorizing. Smile

I have already made a few choice modifications to my gun and will post up pics soon.

Conclusion

This gun is just excellent - I am very pleased with it. It's hard not to like it really.

After about 10,000 shots through mine, I noticed a little warping on the plastic slide where the slide-latch holds it back on the last round. It did not affect the performance or operation of the gun though, but I have since added a metal slide to eliminate this problem. 'Sledge' also has one of these and his slide did deform horribly, stopping the slide-latch from working altogether. I have a feeling though that his was part of a bad batch, as I have put far more shots through mine and the wear I experienced was FAR less.

I have since bought a full-metal Hi-Capa too and am thinking of getting another TM version - that will be three of these in my collection. That's how good they are Wink

I give this gun a very well deserved 9 out of 10 and I'd recommend it to anyone. Smile

ADDITIONAL: 1 year on...

Okay, I have now owned this pistol for more than a year so I thought you might all appreciate an update.

The gun has had about 15,000 shots put through it and it's still firing as well as it did the day I first got it - that's impressive.

Also, the number of cosmetic add-ons now available have tempted me and it now has a funky metal slide, a Strike-kit, an extended slide-lock lever and a stronger recoil spring (to give the metal slide a bit more 'snap'). It's still firing brilliantly, even though I haven't fitted any new parts that affect performance or reliability.

I do still love this gun. It's performance, reliability, 'feel', accuracy, recoil, and noise are stedy reasons why I can't leave it in the rack for more than a week without putting a few magazines through it Wink

In my opinion it's still the excellent pistol I always knew it would be. Highly recommended! Smile

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New and inspiring signature coming to an R22 post near you SOON...

FrontSideBus

Registered: November 2004
Posts: 15

Review Date: 15/9/05

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �56.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Blowback performace. Power. Build quality and details.
Cons:	O-ring prone to failure. some ugly seams.

Review above sums the pistol up nicely.
This is a fine gun from Marui, the blowback is not really hard as the box sugests but it does cycle extreamly fast. Cool down doesnt really happen unless you use 134a gas. The gun chrono'd at 220fps on 134a but it was cold-ish weather. Chrono'd at 289 fps using Ultra gas. Using this gas is a lot better then 134a: the recoil is faster, the noise is louder and it shoots further:P This gun outranges my MP5.
The only negative point I can find is that the O ring in the blowback unit has a tendancy to come off now and again causeing the gun to either have a sticky blowback or to not cycle at all.
I have tried this gun on green gas but I dont know how it would stand up to constant use on green.

badkarma1354

Registered: March 2005
Location: Conroe which is about an hour from Houston which is about 2 hours from Galveston which is pretty far from the UK, but I still love you guys. Your funny accents and all.
Posts: 369

Review Date: 6/11/05

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Accurate,
Cons:	Green performance.

The above reviews sum it up well. I just want to add my own personal experience. After using the gun on green for a while I noticed that the slide lock notch was becoming worn out. After a while it became so compromised that the slide will not lock back when empty. It still locks when the slide is racked by hand. Other than this the gun performs great on green and the oring problem has not happened to me yet, but can supposedly be fixed with a different size oring or a new piston head. Teh gun has a nice balanced feel when the magazine is inserted and is a good choice for those that want a double stack .45 type gun with out paying for a WA.

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Gregory Peck am your GOD.

EMUBritish

Registered: October 2005
Posts: 29

Review Date: 8/5/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 10

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	beautiful gun, very solid, excellent power and accuracy, great blowback
Cons:	not sure if it can run of green...

this is a great gun, i got in the mail this afternoon and it is amazing. Even compared to my freinds kwa m1911 this blows it away, the finish is a perfect matte black and it is heavy, almost two pounds. the noise this gun makes when its fired is the loudest i've heard from anything but a DE, the bb's just keep going, where even when the bbs from my CA36k would start to drop off, these just keep going. tried it on hfc134a but i only had a small trail can from an old nbb, so i only got a dozen shots off with it, but on green the noise is twice that of 134a and you can get a whole mag (31rnds) without any noticible cool-down. Only gripe is that the outer barrel is plastic and does not make the nice metallic clack of some other guns. Also instructions are unfathomable because of being in japanese, but you cant really hold that against the gun now, can you?

oliverttt

Registered: October 2006
Posts: 132

Review Date: 3/5/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �95.00 | Rating: 10

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	blowback, gas usage
Cons:	erm...nothing!

ok, for quick - had my pistol less than a day and would reccomed it to anyonee - great blowback but not to strong to put your shot off target - it is very very accurate.

loading, filling etc is really easy and operating is...

this is a great gun

thats about it.

sp1k3

Registered: April 2008
Location: north wales
Posts: 8

Review Date: 27/4/08

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �79.99 | Rating: 10

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	look of the thing, blowback
Cons:	bugger all really

stupidly brilliant skirmish tool, would recommend to anyone looking to buy a gbb.
amazing accuracy, power, and also outranges MY mp5..... amazing gun. buy it now :P

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Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.

If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.

The enemy diversion you're ignoring is their main attack.

When you have secured the area, make sure the enemy knows it too.

Incoming fire has the right of way.

murphys laws of combat