SPAS 12 shorty - ArniesAirsoft

Author

rhino

FRAN-TICK-TICK-TOCK!!!

Registered: September 2004
Posts: 306,966

Review Date: 28/3/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �29.99 | Rating: 7

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	select shot (1 or 3 BB's), compact, budget
Cons:	moderate power, shiny in places, tube magazine

Before i invested in my 1st Marui SPAS 12 shotgun back in '99 (when i could actually afford it *Ahem*) the range of affordable airsoft shotguns was rather limited to (at the time) 3 budget shotguns. They were the Remington Wingmaster (never had it in stock), the Ithaca M37 (bought when it became available) and the SPAS 12 short model (plenty in stock and besides, i'd had my heart set on one).

This model by Dongsan is the shorty version, coming in at just under 26" in length and weighing around a kilo or so. There's quite a bit of metal on this (safety, trigger, shell ejection port, sling holder, flash-hider and front sight) although the "shinyness" can be a little off-putting.

The magazine is a tubular affair and is removed by depressing the big silver button just under the front sling loop. The tube magazine can hold around 40 or so rounds (0.12g are the best). Putting the magazine back in can be a little tricky. If you don't push the mag in quickly, the mechanism that stops the BB's from being ejected can sometimes be tripped by accident (emptying the whole mag into the SPAS' guts.)
One annoying thing about this and similar tube magazine shotguns, is that there's always 6 shots left in the gun (something to do with the selector i think), so when you've emptied the magazine and removed it, it is still possible to fire a few "straggler" rounds so BE CAREFUL!

Once the magazine is inserted, you're ready to go. The rear sight acts as a selector switch that allows you to fire 1 shot (quite powerful) or burst (3 shot, less power.) This is because the 3 rounds go down one barrel (unlike Marui's triple barrel affairs) reducing the amount of power to fire the BB's. Pumping is very easy, but makes a strange "Schplok-Clonk". A rather neat part on this model is that when the pump is pulled back, the ejection port opens up like a real shotgun (unfortunately it's only cosmetic and does nothing, but it does allow the internals to be accessed to be un-jammed should a BB get trapped.) Power is around 220fps (approx) but it depends on the mode that it's in.

The safety is a large lever located on the right hand side of the trigger assembly. Rotating it towards you causes a small lever on the opposite side to move a large metal catch and effectively stops the gun from firing. To undo the safety, the lever on the right must be rotated away from you and the metal catch on the left is disengaged by moving it away with your finger. At the front and to the right of the trigger assembly is a small silver button which when depressed, opens a small hatch on the underbelly of the shotgun (what would be the shell feed on the real version) As far as i'm aware, this has no use at all apart from making the shell feeder pop open (you can't fit a shell or anything in there...)

The sling hooks can accommodate a sling, but because the metal isn't that great, i wouldn't reccommend putting too much pressure on them.

One amusing thing which i found when i was fiddling about with this and my Marui folding stock version, is that the folding stock actually fits this model! The stock release button is a little chunky to accomodate the stock in the open position, but nothing a little filing on the button wouldn't cure and the selector switch (rear sight) has to be put in the forward position to close it on top, but it is compatible (although, if you've got a Marui shotgun with a folding stock you're hardly going to want to swap it over and keep it on this version....

Are you?)

Ian "Rhino" Leonard

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Quote:

Darklite: Actually, I was using my AK - the shottie I had lent to Tink at that point.

*suitcase*, I best go and check it still works.

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