M249 MK2 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

shotgun_ned

Registered: July 2005
Location: Warwickshire UK
Posts: 7

Review Date: 6/6/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �370.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Good accuracy, range and RoF, cheap, quickswap springs
Cons:	Boxmag is fairly weak, lots of plastic

The Star M249 MK2

Some real steel history

The 5.56mm Minimi light machine gun was developed by the famous Belgian company FN Herstal, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Mass production began in 1982 in Belgium, and at about the same time it has been adopted by the US Armed forces as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). Since its introduction Minimi has seen widespread service, and numerous variations have been developed. First, the Para (Paratroop) version came out, with shorter barrel and tubular telescoped butt. This gun traded off some of the range and firepower for compactness and maneuverability. Quite recently, an SPW version was developed, which featured a Para-type buttstock, a barrel of intermediate length (between standard and Para models), and a Picatinny-type rail mount, which allows a wide variety of sights and scopes to be mounted. To save weight, the magazine feed option of the standard and para models has been discarded. This version, in a slightly modified form, was adopted by the US Special Forces Command (US SOCOM) as the Mk.46 model 0 light machine gun.

The FN Minimi has an excellent reputation on reliability and firepower, and the latest reports on failures of M249 SAW weapons in Iraq are attributed to the age of the weapons used - most of the current issue M249 in US Army are more than 10 years old and quite worn out.
(copied/stolen from world.guns.ru)

First impressions

I had always wanted some form of support weapon but had been put off by the price and reliabilty issues of the TOP range, so when Star announced they were developing a cheaper M249 I knew I would have to buy one. I purchased mine from http://www.fire-support.co.uk/, who are an excellent retailer, for �370.

Moving on, whats in the box?
Star have packaged the 249 in a rather nice hard carry case, which takes the 249 (disassembled) with a bit of a squeeze (you need to kneel on it to get it to close..). It also comes with a 2500 round boxmag, which is nice considering all the other 249 varients out requires it to be pruchased seperately.

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/249b.jpg

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/packed.jpg

The 1st thing you notice about this gun when you pull it out the case is the weight. As it is mostly plastic it only weighs in at about 3.5kg loaded. Some people may consider this a downside but I personally think its a good thing. I know we may well be doing milsim and the added weight would be more realistic, but when I go to work the next day I don't want my shoulders killing because I was lugging a 6-7kg gun around all day. The plastic itself is of good quality and isn't shiny which is always a good thing. The only parts that are metal are; barrel, bipod and carry handle, plus a few other smaller pieces.

Features

The main features which were advertised with this gun were the included carry case, included boxmag and the plastic quickswap gearbox. Seeing as I've already said just about all there is to say about the carry case I'll start with the boxmag.

The included boxmag is made out of an OD plastic. It seems to be of fairly good quality, though I've read that some people have snapped the mag catch off after falling over onto it. The boxmag holds approximatly 2500 rounds of plastic death and the battery, which is different to the other 249 varients where its usually housed in the stock. Also unlike the other varients, the boxmag electric winding is automatic whenever you pull the trigger which is handy as its one less thing to worry about when firing. The battery fits snugly in a seperate compartment, and word is you could easily fit upto a large 9.6v battery in there. A word of warning though, Star in their infinite wisdom only included a small battery connector, so if you want to use a large battery with this gun as its been designed to you'll need an adaptor. The winding mechanism, as with all the other varients, reqires 2xAA batteries to operate.

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/boxmag2.jpg

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/boxmag1.jpg

Next up is the gearbox. Star have made 3 different types of gearbox for their 249. First there is a yellow one, with plastic bushes and gears and a 75% spring designed for urban and CQB. Next there is the clear type, as is included with the gun. This has metal gears and bushes and a 100% spring. Finally there is a red type, which is designed for long range support. This one has the same as the clear, but has a 150% spring and can easily take a 9.6v battery. There has been much discussion regarding the strength of the polycarbonate gearbox, but I have yet to see anyone have any problems. The added bonus with this gearbox is the ability to change the spring out in about 20 seconds. The stock spring pushes out approximatly 300-310 FPS, so I replaced mine with an M100 spring.

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/gearbox2.jpg

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/gearbox1.jpg

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/springrelease.jpg

The spring release

The hopup adjustment on this gun is a small bolt located in front of the gearbox and is adjusted using a small allen key. Something to bear in mind about this hop, it requires quite a bit of adjustment for it to start working. At 1st I thought it was broken but it turned out I just wasn't tightening it enough. Once its set, its very effective and won't unwind.

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/hop.jpg

Performance

The general performance of this gun is very impressive Smile

.

The accuracy is almost perfect. You do get the odd shot which goes off somewhere random, but mostly you just get a solid white line heading towards whoever you're firing at 8).
The rate of fire is also very good, even when using an 8.4v battery and the M100 spring.
The range is excellent as well. With the M100 spring in I was outranging most people even with upgraded guns. The hopup really works well keeping the BB's going straight and level for ages. Its perfect for keeping people's heads down just like it was designed for.

Conclusions

I am very impressed with this gun overall and I would recommend it to anyone looking for an affordable support weapon.

Pros

- Impressive accuracy, range and rate of fire
- Lightweight
- Cheap
- Comes with the boxmag and carrycase as standard
- The spring can be changed in a matter of seconds

Cons

- Possible strength problems with the plastic gearbox
- Boxmag is fairly weak
- Its mostly plastic

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/249.jpg

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/249a.jpg

http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/249/bipod.jpg

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http://www.shotgun-ned.34sp.com/glocksig.jpg

maximus

Registered: December 2005
Location: London
Posts: 145

Review Date: 26/6/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �365.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	v fast rate of fire, good range, scares people, light
Cons:	hard to shoulder, bipod extends by itself, eats batterys,the connector tubes can fall out resulting in alot of dry firing , not many upgrades as yet (26/6/06)

I am just going to review how it performs in the field as all the tech stuff is reviewed above.

I had wanted an m249 since Star brought them out.
when I finally opened the package I was greeted by a huge(and heavy) black plastic carry case with handle, I can fit the 249(with stock taken off)
the box mag , the stock , my hi-capa 5.1 and 3 mags for the pistol in the case but as mentioned above it is a hell of a squeeze.

it cronoes at 320 with .2g ammo, the hop is hard to get at and has to be adjusted useing tools but otherwise it stays in place giving amazing range.

now for the field test, when I squeze the trigger a beautiful stream of white pain goes in a stright line towards the enemy, it is very accurate and has an extremly fast rate of fire about 15-20 rounds per second which is easily enough for this gun to do it's job :heavy fire
for example I was defending the bank(urban assault) and the enemy were coming from the west wing, I had positioned myself do I could see there re-spawn point and had a very good filed of fire nearit , They would just keep coming to re-spwan and after they had done if they came my way they got within 40 meters I aimed a bit high and a stream of white pain landed on there heads and I am laughing like a mainic all through this. another time I was assaulting the wst wing and they where very well dug in in a contret trench, I was told to strafe them to keep there heads down and about 500rds wnet there way eliminating 2 of them and letting the reds get in and take them out from close range.

this is were it all went a bit iffy , the feed and eleftic tubed from the box mag to the gun had come out so I was dry fireing heavily , I had to go back to the car untill the airsoft armoires m249 tech saw what was wrong and pushed it back in, this gun also eats batterys and I mean large batterys, I would advice getting at least 3 large batterys to last you though the day., The nut for the larger bolt that holds the stock fell out resulting in te stock almost falling of in the middle of a firefight, I would seriosly advice getting some aftermarket loking ones

all in all it is a very good gun but there are some niggles that you have to watch out for.