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Reviews
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Views
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Date of last review
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2
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50799
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24/7/07
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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£65.00
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8.0
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Description:
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Yet another WE Hi-Capa, this time featuring a new aluminum slide. The 4.3 is a clone of the TM Hi-Capa 4.3, but with metal upgrades (and cheaper, too).
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Keywords:
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WE Hi-capa 4.3 hicapa hi capa 45 1911 2011 metal
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It's on like Donkey Kong
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davedawg123
It's on like Donkey Kong
Registered: June 2005
Location: Southern California
Posts: 3,559
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Review Date: 31/5/06
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £65.00
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Metal, inexpensive, sexy 2011-ness, improved gas efficiency, CO2 capability
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Cons:
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Fitting can be better
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Intro:
It seems the only pistols I've been buying are WE Hi-Capas and KSC Glocks. Well, the time has come for my 3rd WE Hi-Capa, the new 4.3.
History: (if you can call it that)
I've always been a fan of the 1911. There's nothing sexier, IMO, when it comes to pistols. The 2011 is STI's rendition of a modernized 1911. The 2011 has become very popular for competition shooting, but is also used by various law enforcement agencies. More info is available by googling sti 2011.
The WE Hi-Capa 4.3 (or just 4.3 shorthand, for purposes of this review) is a replica of a 2011 pistol. To be more specific, the WE Hi-Capa 4.3 is a clone of the TM Hi-Capa 4.3. WE basically copies TM's Hi-Capas, but features a few upgrades: a metal slide/outer barrel, stiffer recoil springs, and a few other goodies that escape me at the moment. More importantly, with these upgrades, the WE pistol is actually cheaper than the TM.
Ordering, delivery, first impressions:
I ordered the WE Hi-Capa 4.3 from UNCompany. Retail is $90 + $30 shipping. It took 3 business days for the package to arrive. Fast shipping, thanks UNCo! I can't say I was too excited since I wasn't really expecting much. Another WE Hicapa to add to my previous 5.1 and Dragon experience, wooptie doo.
The package arrived in a bland brown box with the markings:
"WE
HI-KICK HI-GROUPING
HI-CAPA 4.3
GOVERNMENT MODEL"
Inside the box is the manual, gun itself, and protective foam:
Unlike when I purchased the 5.1 and Dragon, there was no pack of bb's included.
Closer examination/ externals:
I examined the pistol carefully and noticed there was a small spot of paint worn on the frame above the grip, and some small scuff marks towards the front of the frame. My package was inspected by Customs, so maybe they left me this present. Or maybe the people at UNCo fired off a couple happy rounds before shipping it off to me. Oh well, as long it fires fine, I can live with it.
The gun came with orange paint on the tip of the outer barrel. Not worth taking pictures of. 
The color scheme of the gun is very nice, IMO. Most of the slide and frame are dark grey. The grip is black. The grip safety, hammer, and trigger are silver. There will be a silver version released later on. Also, I was lucky enough to see a prototype of a modified 4.3 slide on a 3.8 frame. Looked absolutely gorgeous. I, of course, had no patience to wait. 
Most of the parts on the 4.3 are metal. The most noticeable plastic part is the grip. Note, the grip panels are not removeable, it's all one peice! There are a few plastic parts on the internals, such as the hop up wheel and stop for disassembling the inner and outer barrels. So be careful not to strip these parts when disassembling the gun! But other than that, everything else is metal. A new feature of the 4.3 compared to previous WE Hi-Capa models is a lightweight aluminum slide, instead of the heavier pot metal (zinc alloy?) slide used in the other models. This supposedly reduces the gas consumption. We shall see...
Thankfully, there are no "Baby Hi-Capa" markings on the 4.3. The only permanent marking on the gun is the ".45 ACP" engraving on top of the outer barrel next to the chamber, common to the other WE Hi-Capas (my digital camera is blurtastic at close up range, time to replace it ASAP!):
Temporary markings are the "WE" stickers on both sides of the grip, and a "Made in Taiwan" sticker below the frame. I got rid of the Taiwan sticker ASAP.
The 4.3 comes with a railed frame for attaching taclights, lasers, and other accessories. I don't have a taclight to test it at the moment so I can't tell you how the fit is. I'll probably end up getting an M3 taclight replica just for the hell of it. Unlike the 5.1 and Dragon Hi-Capas, the 3.8 and 4.3 come with grooves cut into the rail for securely attaching those accessories. One really weird thing to note is that the rail isn't cut into the frame flush with the rest of the frame. There's about a 1mm protrusion, unlike the TM Hi-Capas. The protrusion is flush with the width of the slide:
The sights are non-adjustable but are removeable (unlike the 3.8 sights which are fixed, IIRC). Both sights are held by friction, but the rear sight also has a set screw for extra security. The sights are not painted. Adjustable Bomar sights should fit nicely on the 4.3 since the grooves are already cut into the slide.
Picking up the gun and shaking it reveals a slight rattle, mostly due to the magazine. I suspect a strip or two of electrical tape would fix that. The fit of the slide with the frame is very good. No noticeable rattle there. The outer barrel and slide fit is adequate, but it could be better. There is about a 0.5mm gap between the two. I'm not sure how this compares to the other WE Hi-Capa models, but accuracy shouldn't be too affected by this at close range.
There is an adjustable hopup which is accessible via field stripping the slide and adjusting the hopup wheel (see manual):
There are also three sets of safeties on the 4.3, similiar to the other WE Hi-Capa models. There is the grip safety, two ambidextrous thumb safeties, and a half-cock hammer safety. From previous Hi-Capa models, the grip safety has been known to be iffy and the right thumb safety has been known to be a little loose. My 4.3 shares this loose thumb safety issue, but it works nonetheless. Fixes for these little minor annoyances are available through field stripping the frame. More on this later.
Here is a size comparison with my S&W 645 springer:
Enough of the externals, how does it perform?
The included magazine is capable of loading 29 rounds. The magazine is compatible with the TM Hi-capas and all the other WE Hi-Capa models. The 3.8 magazines are another story and will not fit. There is also a CO2 mag available. Recommended gas for the WE Hi-Capas are either green gas/propane or CO2. HFC 134a is weaker and might not cycle the slide properly, especially in colder weather.
I filled the magazine with Coleman brand propane using my AI propane adaptor. The filling process is so quiet. It's really difficult to tell when it's full since it doesn't hiss like KSC Glock mags. This is mainly due to the presence of an O-ring at the inlet, good for not letting gas escape during the filling process. I filled it for about 6 seconds, but in the process of removing the gas needle from the fill valve, I accidentally let much of the gas escape. I filled the magazine up to capacity with generic no-name brand precision 0.2g BB's. Sadly, the magazines do not have a follower lock down option like the KSC Glock mags.
Outside temperature was ~70F (20C). I fired indoors. I aimed at a make-shift paper target from about 16ft (5m) away. Hopup setting was in the middle. I cocked the slide. The 4.3 doesn't have a satisfying ker-chink sound to it when cocking the slide, more of a klick-klack. My metal glocks sounded nicer. With the 4.3, it's just the sound of the hammer cocking back really. Anyways, firing pace was about one round every 5 seconds. After 10 rounds the groupings were about 2in (5cm). Not terrific, but I suspect my own human error played a factor, since the initial shots were all over the place while my last few shots were around 1in of each other. I'll do some better accuracy tests later.
Then, I fired away at a Diet Coke can from the same distance. The first shot didn't pierce the can, but it left a nice 2in dent in it. If my other WE Hi-Capas were any indication, the 4.3 should have no problem penetrating one side of the coke can from a couple inches away. I don't have a chrono, but I'll do some other Coke can tests later. I was however able to consistently hit the Coke can without a problem.
As I got closer to emptying the magazine, I noticed a slight reduction in power. The mag ran out of gas and the last shot did not lock back. Damn. But keeping in mind how much gas I let escape after filling it, I thought I'd give it another go. So, I filled it up, about 10 seconds this time, and I let some gas escape again. Oh well. I'll fix that later. This time however I was able to fire all 29 rounds, have the slide lock back, and fire 14 more rounds on that fill. I then fired off a couple more rounds with different filling times and the slide had no problem locking back after each empty magazine.
After emptying the magazine, I did notice a bit of a cooldown. My magazine felt ice cold. So be aware of that and be careful not to freeze anything.
I noticed the slide cycle speed was good, not Glock-like, but good. Thanks in part to its stiff recoil spring, no doubt. In fact, when pointing the barrel in the air, the recoil spring is strong enough to counteract the force of gravity and prevent the slide from moving down. When manually pulling the slide down a bit in this orientation, the slide quickly returns to its original position.
The kick associated with the 4.3 is also good. A little less than the 5.1 or Dragon, but slightly better than a KSC Glock with metal slide/barrel and recoil spring upgrade.
The aluminum slide has a few benefits and drawbacks. Because of it's light weight, the cycle speed is improved over previous models but the kick is a bit less, not really a significant amount though. I don't have a proper scale to weigh the slide (after stripping the inner bits), but it does feel alot lighter than the 5.1 and Dragon. In fact, the whole gun feels alot lighter.
The guts:
The 4.3 field strips down just like the 5.1. Remove the mag, slide catch, slide, recoil rod and stop, outer barrel, etc. Read the manual folks.
But if you are lazy, here's a few good links (I hope these people don't mind, and if they do, just PM me):
Video guide to disassembling the slide and barrels. (Note that the removal of the small black plastic part on the opposite side of the hopup wheel is not necessary to remove the barrel assembly from the slide, you can just do it via removing the recoil rod stop which is located towards the front of the slide. However, it is necessary to remove the inner barrel from the outer barrel.)
Wege's guide to stripping down the frame/receiver. (This is useful for when changing grips, having problems with the grip safety, full auto Hi-Capa problems, hammer not locking back, thumb safeties not aligned, you name it.)
After field stripping my 4.3, I noticed the majority of the parts were well lubed. I don't recall if this was the case with the 5.1 and Dragon.
Upgrades:
So how can I upgrade this baby? Well, if I had the silver version I would no doubt put the red grips on there. But I don't. So what else?
Guarder, King Arms, and a few other manufacturers make stiffer hammer and recoil springs for the Hi-Capa series. Also, there are Guarder Hi-flow valves for the magazines available. An enhanced loading nozzle is also available by Guarder. Then, there are external upgrades such as Tritium Glow Sights by Freedom Art, threaded outer barrels by Tanio Koba (IIRC), colored grips by WE, a load of custom metal slides by different manufacturers (designed for the TM 4.3, but since the WE is a copy of the TM, I'd presume they'd fit since Snowman states in his WE 5.1 review that the TM and WE slides were interchangeable), and probably alot more.
Conclusion/ratings/closing thoughts: (barring a few more accuracy, power, and gas consumption tests) *Note: Further tests were conducted below*
I like this little gun. Can't replace a full auto glock (yum) but definitely a nice looking, decent performing, and different alternative to all the compact Glocks and USPc's out there. It's full metal and won't cost you an arm and a leg. Also, unlike those other compacts, the 4.3 has a hi-capacity magazine. (Hi-Capa = Hi-capacity? hmm...)
On to the subjective ratings:
Appearance: 9, compact 2011 = beautiful, color scheme is nice, but that protrustion on the rail, why??? *Update: upon inspection of a KSC STI 4.3 model, they have the protrusion also so at least it's not a WE specific design.*
Build: 7, slight rattle and fitting of some parts could be better (probably easily fixed with some electrical tape), but overall seems very durable.
Power: 8, nothing to cry home about, but not too shabby, CO2 capability in stock form is a plus.
Accuracy: 8, barrel fitting could be better, but would probably require CNC so I can live with it.
Upgrades: 9, anything you can do (tm) I (WE) can do better (er, cheaper)...
Value: 8, metal goodness for around $120, not too shabby.
Overall: 8, best WE Hi-Capa to date IMO, with room for improvement (like that annoying rattle) and still seems to use a fair bit of gas. Eh, not really a problem if you use propane. *Actually, my initial timing was a bit off, see updates below*
UPDATES:
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I did a bit of firing today, so here are a few updates:
Firing conditions:
- Fired indoors
- Propane again
- Same 0.2g bb's as before (I noticed these were pretty crappy, had some sizing discrepancies, and some molding flaws, I tried to filter out the bad ones as best I could)
- Same distance as before (~5m)
- Hopup set to 3/4
- Temp was ~80F (26C) outside, inside slightly cooler since I had fans running prior to shooting
Accuracy:
At a firing pace (FP) of about 1 round every 5 seconds (1r/5s), I fired off 10 rounds at a target and the groupings were about 1in. I do believe I hit the same holes a couple of times. B)
Power:
It was able to penetrate one side of a Diet Coke can. Didn't do much to the other side.
Gas consumption:
I conducted a few trials at different times of filling. I also noticed my internal chronometer is a little faster than an actual clock. So the times in my Dragon review were probably a little off too.
FP = 1r/5s, Gas fill = 3 seconds => 1 mag
FP = 1r/5s, Gas fill = 5 seconds => 2 mags
FP = 1r/3s, Gas fill = 5 seconds => 1.5 mags
Not as bad as initially suspected.
Cooldown:
FP = 1r/0.5s, Gas fill = 5 seconds => 1 mag, very cold, lot of power loss towards the end.
In regards to the cooldown, the 4.3 is also designed to handle CO2. I haven't tried the CO2 mags personally, but from the reviews I've read, the cooldown seems to disappear entirely when using CO2.
Miscellaneous:
The sound of racking the slide has grown on me. I like it. Sounds a lot better when doing it quickly.
The screw in the rear sight is not a set screw, but actually screws into the slide. Be careful not to strip it!
Kick is very good. Shakes in my hands nicely. A little less subtle when firing at faster paces though. I'd say the kick is a fair bit heavier feeling than a KSC G23F w/ metal slide/barrel and enhanced recoil spring upgrades.
Considering the lack of adjustable sights, I was surprised how close the stock sights were to the bullseye. My first shot during the accuracy test was the closest, at about 1cm off the bullseye. I got about 3-4 shots in that vicinity.
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So there you have it, not really a fly-by review like my Dragon review (in which I was far less critical and slightly generous with the ratings), but if you are still awake, I hope you found it to be somewhat informative. I tried to cover most questions frequently asked, and while I don't have precision equipment for measuring certain data, I tried to cover most of the tracks.
And if you read up to this long, then surely you deserve the following:
Questions or comments? Go here.
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My airsoft gallery (some past, some present)
For sale:
Viper Mk18 Gbbr - $400, Dytac PWS Piston Gas Block - $40, ACM UBR Stock - $50,
Empire E-vents Facemask - $20,
Other...
Stuff...
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crimsonfalcon07
Registered: October 2006
Location: Boulder, CO, USA
Posts: 178
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Review Date: 24/7/07
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Well made, adjustable hopup, nice finish, good accuracy, Caspian trades, full metal
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Cons:
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Lack of Bomar sights, gas consumption is lower than most decent gas pistols, cast metal internals in the slide don't look great, on-frame safety can only be effectively engaged from the left
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TSD/WE 1911 Baby Hi-Capa 3.8 Gas Blowback Pistol Review
--By The Crimson Falcon
The 1911 .45 ACP pistol is one of the most popular US issued heavy caliber sidearms in airsoft, and the Hi-Capa versions are typically among the more popular variants. The older version WE 1911's never gained much popularity because of their reputation as "gas-hogs." The heavy slides were hard for the gas to operate properly, requiring much more gas than other GBB's to operate. It was rare for a WE 1911 to actually fire off an entire magazine, so most buyers typically went elsewhere for their 1911 needs. Additionally, the slide had a very loose fit around the barrel, which affected the accuracy of the pistol somewhat. TSD (Team Specialized Distribution), a popular distributor of airsoft guns, worked with WE to change this problem. WE has now released a special version for TSD of their 1911's, with Caspian trademarked lighter slides, which will hopefully address this problem. Henry, from TSD, was again generous enough to send me one of the older versions of the WE Baby Hi-Capa 3.8 with the new slide to review. I've been putting it through its paces for the past week or two, and now bring another review to the airsoft community. So, how does the new slide affect this product?
Table of Contents
First Impressions
Real Steel Description
Feel/Appearance
Build Quality/Disassembly
Performance
Accessories and Modifications
Pros and Cons
The Final Word
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First Impressions
Everything about this experience was good. The package arrived before I thought it had been shipped. If nothing else, I have to give credit to TSD for really good service. As usual, they demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction. They also sent me a couple bags of bb's, which tend to be very good. Anyways, the box is a generic 1911 box, and the slot for the pistol is much larger than the actual pistol. It came with only the manual and the gun. However, the gun is beautiful, and the new Caspian trades are very nice, and an excellent touch for TSD. Remember, the only WE 1911's that will have these new slides are the TSD versions, so be careful what you buy! Here's the box:
Real Steel Description
The Colt 1911 is one of the first semi-automatic pistols developed by Colt, and entered in the early 1900's. They were adopted in 1911 by the US military as M1911 (gaining their model name from the year they entered service). The design was improved in 1926 with the M1911A1, which was the main sidearm for the US Army until the 1980's, when the Beretta M9 replaced it as the standard sidearm of the US military. There were Government models in .45 ACP, and commercial models in .38 caliber, (the Colt .38 Super). Both were very popular, and the Colt .38 Super is still used as a competition pistol because it is a very accurate pistol. For those of you who are fans of the new Shooter movie, or just like Stephen Hunter novels, this pistol is the sidearm of choice of both Bob Lee Swagger and his father, Earl.
According to world.guns.ru, "the M1911 is a recoil operated, locked breech semi-auto pistol. It has single action trigger with frame mounted safety that locks the hammer and the slide. Hammer could be locked either in cocked or in lowered position, allowing the gun to be carried in "cocked and locked" state, with safety on, hammer cocked and round chambered. Additional automated safety incorporated into rear of the grip and locks the action when gun not held in the hand properly.
Barrel and slide are interlocked via massive lugs on the upper part of the barrel, just ahead of the chamber. After the shot is fired, the barrel and the slide go back for the short distance, then rear part of the barrel is lowered by tilting link, and barrel unlocks the slide. The slide goes all the way back, extracting and ejecting spent case and chambering the new round on the way back. When magazine is empty, the magazine follower activates slide stop that locks the slide in the open (rear) position. The gun is fed from the single stack, seven round magazine. The magazine release button is located on the left side of the frame, just behind the trigger guard... The Colt Gov't / M1911 is probably the most popular pistol in the world. It is known for its reliability, serviceability, simplicity. Custom made M1911s capable of outstanding accuracy, and many of M1911-patterned guns are still in service with different military and law enforcement agencies in the USA."
Now, if you're looking at the pictures, you have seen that this is also a lot smaller than the usual 1911's. There were also a couple smaller versions made, the Commander and Defender. I speculate that this Baby Hi-Capa is a Defender on an STI frame, or something similar. Here's a size comparison between the Baby Hi-Capa and an HFC M190 M9.
Anyway, let's see how close TSD/WE came with this gun to the real deal.
Feel/Appearance
The new TSD/WE 1911 comes with Caspian trademarks, and a new lighter slide. Unlike the old version of the WE 1911, which had a reputation for being a gas hog, the new TSD/WE 1911's, exclusive to TSD, have very good gas efficiency (enough for at least two magazines), and a clean trademarked slide. The older version of the slide didn't fit the barrel very well, so there was a lot of slide wobble around the barrel, which created lots of issues. The new version fits snugly around the barrel (which has a .45 ACP marking for realism). The one major flaw that I've noticed so far is that it lacks the Bomar rear sight, in favor of a more subdued sight. Okay, so let's look at some pictures here. First, it has a textured grip that is clean, except for a holographic WE marking:
It also boasts a nice slide, with no seam lines or anything. It looks to be anodized aluminum, especially based on it's weight, and has Caspian trademarks, unlike the usual WE 1911's. Here's what you get if you get the TSD version:
Another nice touch is that the silver barrel has a .45 ACP marking that is visible through the top of the open ejection port. This adds a lot to the realism, in my opinion.
Here's a shot of the gun with the slide locked back:
Now I also want to mention that the original version had a nicely cloned Bomar adjustable sight and good sized front sight. The same is not true of this version. The sights are much smaller, more like an M9, and are not a clear winner in my book. I'd like to see newer versions have lighter versions of the Bomar sight again, which was one of my favorite parts of the old WE 1911's. Here's a shot of the sights:
The magazine is double stacked, and holds 28 rounds, and has a nice seal to the magazine fill valve. Unlike most of the other gas guns that I have owned, it does not leak much at all when you fill, and you can hear when the magazine is full. Gas efficiency at first was no better than the older versions, getting 22 rounds on the first fill, but after that it evened out, and I can usually get about 2 magazines per fill. Here's some pictures of the magazines.
Finally, it also has a nice accessory rail for installation of tactical flashlights and the like. I will not be doing so, since I lack a holster that can accommodate accessories, and they would not be useful on a sniper's sidearm anyways. Okay, on to disassembly.
Build Quality/Disassembly Guide
As usual, we should begin by noting where the magazine release is. Like on the M9, the magazine release is a small button on the left side of the gun when the muzzle is pointing away from you. Here's a shot of the magazine release:
I also want to note that this gun has four separate safety features. First, although you can engage the hammer by cocking it back, the gun will not fire until it has been cocked by racking the slide to chamber a round (although it also works by racking the slide on an empty magazine). Second, the trigger cannot be pulled when the hammer is at half-cock. It can only fire by thumbing the hammer back all the way.
Third, there's an on-frame safety that can be engaged, although it only can really be engaged from the left side:
The reason that the on-frame safety only works from the left is that the left side and the right side mesh with a little triangular connection that isn't glued together or anything. Finally, there is a grip safety that automatically depresses when you hold the gun properly, without which the trigger will not pull.
Okay, so now for a quick disassembly of the slide. Like any other 1911, you have to pull the slide back partway so that the disassembly lever (which also doubles as the slide lock) lines up with the disassembly notch as so:
Then you can push the release lever out by pushing in on the button on the other side:
Then the lever will pop neatly out. Since you've already removed the magazine from the gun, the slide will now slide off nice and smoothly:
One thing to note: this gun has an adjustable hopup, which can be adjusted by turning a little wheel on the underside of the slide. This is a very nice touch. I'm not too impressed with the internals of the slide, since they appear to be made out of cast metal and have visible seam lines. Still, they do their job, so I'm not complaining. Here's the inside of the slide:
Here's the adjustable hopup:
Finally, I want to make note of the barrel. It's got a plastic orange muzzle, which can be removed with some pliers to reveal a threaded barrel, which will likely accept silencer adaptors for aftermarket silencers. Here's some shots:
Performance
So, the burning question that we're all waiting to find the answer to is how good the performance is with the new Caspian slides. I find I'm missing the adjustable sights, since the kick is harder on this gun than on my HFC M190, which makes me miss down and to the right (shooter error). Also, the accuracy on my first set of shots was terrible--it was in a vertical line about 7" long at 40 feet. As it turns out, the hopup just needed to be broken and the barrel needed to be cleaned. Also, like the VP70M, it is double-action, and you must rack the slide in order to fire it. After cleaning the barrel, I fired off a couple series of 10 rounds of .2g ammunition apiece from 40 feet and 100 feet. Both targets were about the size of a CD, and I used a stabilization rest to get ideal accuracy. Here's what we're looking at:
40 Foot target:
100 Foot target:
Here's both targets on the same sheet of paper. You may notice I've refined my testing procedure a bit to compensate for my less than stellar pistol technique, since I'm sure many of you are much better with a pistol than I am.
You're also probably wondering how powerful this gun is. First, the recoil spring is much more effective with the lighter slide than it used to be, although it's still much lighter than on a .45 ACP. Big surprise. Anyways, it's pretty powerful, and can put a pretty massive hole in one side of a coke can, but doesn't penetrate the other. It chronoes in at about 311 fps over 20 shots, for those of you who are interested in exact numbers. It helps a lot if you clean the barrel by the way. Mine started out shooting at only 299 fps, and gained 12 fps from a good clean and lube. Here's a shot of the coke can:
Accessories and Modifications
There's an underside accessory rail for those tac light and laser lovers. You could even pop on a grip, although it looks really stupid... It also has a threaded barrel for easy suppressor installation. Tightbore installation doesn't look difficult either, and it takes the usual upgrade parts that will fit any other WE, so there's a reasonable amount of upgrading that can be done. I personally like the finish a lot, although naturally you can always paint your gun.
Another really nice touch is that it can also take CO2 magazines as well for more power. Henry from TSD also sent me one of those, and it's very nice. Having never used CO2 guns before, I had a little bit of difficulty figuring out how they work. But it turns out to be simple. First you lift up the bottom of the spring guide, as so:
And then the whole bottom part will slide off quite nicely:
URL=http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=6425764] [/URL]
This reveals a little metal piece that you can screw out, revealing the space for the CO2 cartridge:
Here's a few more shots:
The magazine fits in quite nicely, and looks identical to the other, except a bit longer on the bottom part. CO2, incidentally, is more powerful than green gas or propane, so it hits a bit harder, although I can't say as how accuracy is really better. But this is a very versatile pistol, and can take both gas and CO2, which is really very cool.
Pros
Well-made out of durable materials
Adjustable hopup
Very crisp blowback
Detail, including the Caspian trademarks, is very good
Clean slide movement
Fairly powerful and accurate
Comfortable to hold and fire
Nice finish
Gas consumption is better than before
All moving parts fit together much better than the original
Lots of safety features
Can use C02 magazines also!
TSD Limited Warranty (if you get the TSD rebrand)
Cons
No Bomar adjustable rear sight any more
Still not the best at gas consumption
Cast metal internals in the slide don't look too durable
On-Frame Safety is only useable on the left side
The Final Word
This gun is pretty decent, especially considering that it's a pretty affordable gun. It has an MSRP of 140 USD, but I'd expect to see it selling more around 90 USD from places like www.airsplat.com and www.evike.com. I'm not displeased with anything on this gun, but it's not clearly outstanding. I like the way it feels and shoots, but there's something about it that gets to me, and I'm not really sure what it is. Gas consumption is irregular, and accuracy is good, but not great. I'd definitely recommend a tightbore for sure. This stacks up pretty well against the other brands of Hi-Capas, but there's nothing besides the Caspian slide to really recommend it besides price. That being said, it's a good reliable pistol, and would be a good choice for anyone looking for a sidearm. If I were to suggest any changes, it would be to bring back the Bomar sights, and perhaps the diamond grips, which I personally prefer to the stippled grips on this one. At any rate, I'd give this gun a 7/10 overall. Nothing really bad about it, but nothing truly outstanding either.
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Average rounds per kill with the M16 in Vietnam=50,000. Snipers averaged 1.3 rounds. The cost difference was $2300 v. 27 cents.
The ASGAR Project: http://groups.google.com/group/asgar?hl=en
Armory:
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Registered: June 2005
Location: Southern California