L85A2 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

gunlady

Registered: November 2005
Posts: 698

Review Date: 12/2/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �410.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Well made rifle
Cons:	Battery fiddly to fit

Star L85A2 rifle:-

The first impression is the size of the case, it's big and heavy. It is also strong and will take a fair bit of maltreatment in the field, not that anybody would want to carry it about with the rifle in it, in the field!
There are four snap catches along the front edge and these are moderately stiff to release, but they are at least also robust. There is a name tag in the centre of the carry handle.

On opening the box (memories of Hugie Green!) there lies the gun in all its splendour ready fitted with an iron sight. This gun will shoot (almost) straight from the box exceedingly well. The proviso is the need for a battery @ 8.4V.

The battery that is designed for the gun is a two-parter, three and four 1.2V sub C's wired together, the gap is so it will sit inside the foregrip correctly due to there being a bar inside it over which the wires pass. To get the battery in it is necessary to dismantle the said foregrip casing, a feat easily achieved with the multi-tool provided, this in turn being located in the pistol grip bottom and held fast by a plug. Fitting the battery is a fiddle, but with a 3300mAh job it should last a fair while, but will need removing again to recharge. This is the main fault I found with the rifle. And if only they had put a green sleeve over the sub C's instead of a red one!!

The rifle version boxed weights in at a little over 10kg with the Susat fitted (I'll come back to that later), so it's a chunky monkey. I admit to not being that envious of our troops having to cart this about all day.

There aren't many plastic parts, these include the foregrip, the pistol grip, the cheek pad and the butt plate (mainly, there are a few more odd bits). The remainder is metal, hence the weight.

Release the magazine by pushing in the small plastic lever just above the mag on the left side, and watch out, the mag's fairly heavy and may drop. To load use the loading tube provided or a fast loader (or whatever they're called, the little clear plastic spring things). The mag takes about 74 rounds. A sharp pat on its bottom will effectively replace it correctly and lock it in.

Getting ready to fire is easy, the safety is a little above the trigger and needs pushing left through the frame for Fire mode. But more in a minute.

To change the sights it is necessary to open the top flap of the foregrip to allow the iron sight to slide forward and off the rail. The reverse is needed to mount the Star Susat. There are two retaining wing nuts on the left side to fasten it. However, I found the Susat fired both high and well left even when the adjustments were full on. Is has been necessary to file metal out of the inside right side of the top moving section and to pack the rear of the sight itself above the back grub screw. Not something one would expect from a �100 sight. This has cured the problem and allows both central horizontal aim and elevation at the top of the sight point. The provided tool fits all nuts and Allan keys/grubs screws.

The foresight in this case become redundant, but if used with the iron sights would be in use. It is a very solid metal piece with the usual pole centre mark and two wing sides.

Hop Up adjustment is fairly easy. You need to look at the right side of the receiver and pull back the cocking lever fully which must be held back to remain open. The adjusting wheel is at the front end of this slot. On pulling the cocking lever back the spring-loaded flap will shoot open too. There is a small plastic swing lever behind this, but it is apparently only cosmetic. The lettering on this side if the gun is clear and precise, well executed in other words.

Looking back onto the left side the fire mode lever can be located between the magazine release and the butt plate. There are three positions, right down I think is a safe mode to back up the safety (I forgot to try this), next up is A and Full Auto and at the top hard against the stop is R for single shot.

There are (I am told) two points to watch for on this gun, they are the two round discs, one immediately above the trigger and the other by the magazine release. They are apparently pins that tend to work loose and can fall out and get lost, a disaster if they do, so keep an eye on them. And keep an eye on the grip plug too, that's where the invaluable tool is kept.

After adjusting the Susat I found the gun a pleasure to shoot. The trigger is firm but smooth and easily squeezed without effecting aim. There's nothing worse than a stiff trigger to muck up a shot! It goes off with a loud whizzy sort of thwack and propels the round at a goodly rate and anything up to about 50+ yards. I wouldn't like to be hit by too many rounds from this baby. On full auto it's phenomenal, a really good rate of fire (ROF) and pretty accurate at medium range.

Although this rifle cost me over �500 with the Susat I feel I have a good piece of kit. It won't get beaten to death because I don't skirmish, so if you're wanting advice about using the gun in the field then ask a skirmisher. Neither have I a chrono, so I am unable to quote a fps rate, but it's high I bet.

I don't regret the purchase (at the moment!) and think I have gained a nice addition to my collection of about 90 replica weapons. Unfortunately no Union flag on the butt.

Gunlady

dragonandy1

Registered: February 2006
Location: Worthing, West Sussex. UK
Posts: 13

Review Date: 22/6/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �499.00 | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Very robust feeling bit of kit.
Cons:	Where do I start?

I've owned one of these for about 4 months now. It's spent more time back with the - excellent - retailer than with me.
It started with feed problems, I'd been using TM M16 Hicaps, I switched to Star Hicaps with no joy. I've since got hold of a couple of very old and battered TM Hicaps and it's settled down a bit.
This has been a bit on-going and when I thought all was super - I skirmish most Sundays - the power dropped off; I'd had to replace the original spring, 410(ish)fps out of the box, with something a bit more target friendly at about 330fps.
As I type this my SA80 is back 'in the shop' having the power problem sorted.
Oh and on single shot it started firing 3 or 4 rounds at once. That's being looked at too.
Just a quick word about the weight, it weights a hell of a lot - with SUSAT - and even though I'm I reasonably fit 6 footer I find it gets to my neck and back if I use it for a whole day, so be aware.
I would recomend buying a pucka SA80 sling - no metal clips - for this weapon, made my life a lot easier.
Happy to say that all problems have now been sorted:
Power drop-off was due to a faulty piston washer which has been replaced with a TM one and the 'muti-shot' has been cured as some sort of baffle-plate had moved.
Back into the woods...

Torak

Registered: September 2004
Location: Scotland/Sweden
Posts: 83

Review Date: 9/8/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �307.00 | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Heavy. Solid construction. Spring release. Very powerful. Sneaky battery solution. Good sights.
Cons:	Heavy. Plastic gearbox. Heavy. Uncertain safety. Did I mention heavy?

A wonderful gun. But if you're playing somewhere that permits guns above one joule - like Sweden, where I play - expect to be restricted to semi-sniper with a fairly long safety distance.

The construction is solid - it feels just like the real thing, and I have little doubt that it'll hold (externally at least) for years and years. The internals... well, I'm no expert on internals, but the plastic gearbox makes me slightly nervous. I haven't had any trouble with it yet, but I'm keeping an eye on it.

The battery is cleverly located so it doesn't need to be removed for charging - just open the flap and plug the charger in. A 3300 mAh battery should last (in MilSim circles, at least) for a full multiple-day game unless you're particularly trigger-happy.

The fire selector has a nice feature whereby pressing it all the way to the bottom will ease the springs, which is useful. It should be noted, though, that this is <em>not</em> a backup for the safety, as a previous reviewer suggested, and it should always be returned to one of the two standard settings as soon as the springs have relaxed.

The SUSAT is lovely. A thing of beauty. The iron sights are solid and useful (although if you've been away from the SA80 family for a while they can give you a split lip if you raise the gun in a hurry... no, didn't happen to me at all, honest...). The multi-tool is ingeniously copied from the real thing with an airsoft-specific modification or two.

A word about magazines: The included RG-style magazine is great and feeds well, but if you're after low-caps that look right, Star makes their classic 30-round mags in an L85 version. They look the part, and so far I have yet to have a single feed malfunction with them. Optimally, however, I find that standard TM low-caps work fine.

Raptor

Shout at the Devil!

Registered: April 2005
Location: Tunbridge Wells
Posts: 687

Review Date: 15/2/07

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

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Feals like its indestructable!
Cons:	Has jamed on me a couple of times

There is little to add to the above realy asid from the 2 jams I have had (in around 10000rnds thats not bad going) I have found this gun to be accurate and with good power (Mine has a downgrade to M100)All in all I'm glad I have a STAR not a G&G L85 A1.

Sure it cost a bit more but its full steel and feel great on the magazine issue I have used CA, ICS G&G and TM all hav fead fine. As far as the SUSAT goes whils its not brilliant it is usable and up to the job in hand.

sr16guy

Registered: May 2006
Posts: 3

Review Date: 31/5/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �500.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Great build, Good detail, Nice weight
Cons:	Plasic gearbox and a bit of a battery problem

Well I had been waiting to buy this one for along time and when I got it I was quite pleased with it but there are a few problems but not as many as the G&G L85 A1.

Body- Well its the best build airsoft body I have seen in a while it will take a lot of rough and tumble to break this but the paint does scratch easy but some scratches does make it look more real.

Inner Build- Well its not a good as the outer build but in the 6 months I have owned mine there has not been any problems so far, the plastic gear box is a bit of a worry but its really cheap to replace if needed which is a plus.

Power- Great lot of power in this but a little to much to be used on uk airsoft sites but can be downgraded easy and cheaply (wolf armouries does down grade for free) but even after the down grade it fires at 328fps which is more then enough.

Realistic- Its quite realistic in look and weight but the sound it makes sounds really plastic which is a bit of a down point but when a lot of people are firing its not to noticeable.

Upgrades/accessories- Well there�s not the big selection in accessories or upgrades but there are a few like the Susat and the grenade launcher but in my view that�s more then enough as to many accessories on a gun takes away the realism of it.

Conclusion- It a good gun over all but there are a few problems like most guns but if Star ever bring out a metal gear box for it in my view it will be perfect.

Well hope this review has helped you.

guts

Registered: February 2008
Posts: 25

Review Date: 12/2/08

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �200.00 | Rating: 10

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	As above.
Cons:	Too powerful and needs to be down grade, which is a pian. Too heavy, even heavier with grenade launcher. The cap under the hand grip is too loose.

No mistaken, it is the price I paid for a brand new one in Hong Kong. The L86A2 cost 300 pound and the PDW version cost 240 pound. This proves that things in Britain are actually expensive. (Thank god I didn't buy it when I was working in Britain)

The gun looks great, greater when put on the SUSAT, even greater with the grenade launcher! The SUSAT cost me 60 pound and the grenade launcher 120 pound.

http://www.wargameyau.net/attachments/20080213_bd5891af46ba3b804797JkJgM3ACXkqY.jpg

Now, for pros, it is by far the best looking L85 even today, and only with star you can have all the things you need for a real L85. It is powerful and accurate in 150 ft. The gear box is very solid, even though it is a plastic one, and very cheap to be replaced (Compared to G&G L85, all the accessories is easier to find and cheaper to buy ). Very easy to be upgrade and downgrade even in the field (which is pointless).

Cons, several problems. First the Hop is not the best, when use 0.2g BBs, the gun just too powerful and the Hop up need to be set to the loose end. It's alright though when use 0.25g BBs. And as I said above you can change the whole chamber if you want, cos the accessories are compatible with all major brands. Second, the cap and tools in the grip, well, I had lost a pair so far, and I've took the tools out since and sticked the cap. Third, the battery space is actually quite big (bigger with the UGL), but really needs a lot effort to put a bigger battery in cos the design of the barrel and fake gas sys. Fourth, well, it is very heavy (although the real thing is like that.....steel... ). With SUSAT on it, weights 12 pound. And with the UGL, you don't want to know.......I can barely hold it up straight with single hand (I was 18 stone once, rugby fan). The last thing, the slight longer barrel comes with the UGL is incompatible with the original flash-hider, which will need a bit of work to put them together (if you use the original barrel, it will look very odd).

Finally, it is a great AEG, with slight problems which can be fixed easily (you can even leave them). I gave it 10/10 not because this baby was perfect, it was only because that if you were a passionate British weapon fan, you'd add that one little point to it like I did. And there is no other option in the market so far any way.