M16A3 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

Rudeskette

Registered: May 2006
Posts: 24

Review Date: 30/7/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �229.99 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Sturdy, Feels like a weapon, Very good FPS and ROF.
Cons:	Motor noise is somewhat loud.

ICS M16A3
I ordered this gun from Zeroone, and being excited, decided to pay the �18.50 for next day shipping. The service from Zeroone was excellent, i'd recommend it to anyone.

Packaging
The gun comes in a plain(ish) cardboard box, with a picture of an M16 on the front, and details of the product printed on it.

Opening the Box
I opened the box and found myself looking at my new baby. The guns receiver is a nice grey colour, not too light. Of course, i'd prefer it to be black, but functionality before looks.

The Gun
When i picked it up i noticed the wait, it has a slight bit of barrel wobble, but you don't notice it unless you physically move the barrel yourself. I find it just the right size for me to shoulder. Despite being 14, i am tall (5'10) so it might be a bit large for smaller people. The battery fitting was easy enough, and the battery compartment is roomy.

Performance
The gun so far has proven to be reliable and sturdy. It sends the BB's out fast, and they pack a punch. It will get its first test soon though, as i'm going to my first skirimish (Operation really, 48 hour game) next week.

[b]Overall[b]
I'd recommend this gun to anyone who wanted an Armalite, the Weaver rail underneath the carrying handle is a nice bonus too.
It is weighty, feels robust, and has good performance on Semi and Automatic.

Axar

Registered: April 2005
Posts: 15

Review Date: 31/7/06

Would you recommend the product? No | Price you paid?: �250.00 | Rating: 4

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Internal design (gear box split in upper and lower part); no barrel wobble
Cons:	unrealistic dimension of lower receiver; unrealistic carry handle; very inaccurate

I've purchased the ICS M16 A3 from Teutenberg & Sohn in Germany and hoped to get one of the best M16 softair rifles on the market. I was really disappointed by the gun. First impression was positive, because it's really sturdy and has a realistic weight. But when shooting at some targets (in-house, 12 m / 40 feet) I had a huge grouping. I've tried everything, different hop-up settings, silicon spray, different mags, finally took the whole gun apart and so on. It just has less power and is less accurate then my CA G36 C is.

In the meantime it got a new inner barrel (6,04 mm, teflon coated) because the original barrel was really curved. Absolutely disappointing IMO. New hop-up, stronger spring, steel bushings, new motor because the original motor couldn't handle the new spring, new piston, piston head, cylinder head. The precision inner barrel helped to improve the accuracy. Now it's pretty good. Still my CA G36 C(!) is more accurate...

The other big minus is that the design is unrealistic. The receiver is ~ 1 cm too long at the end, where the stock begins. Also the carry handle is looking terrible. Just compare it to pictures of the real steel carry handle. And the magazines are too long. They do have the original size of real magazines, but since they don't slide into the weapon as far as real magazines do, they just seem to be much too long. Looks almost like an AK 47 IMO Wink

After doing some work on the gun as alluded above, the next problem seems to be upcoming. The upper reciever is connected to the lower receiver by two pins. The lower receiver around the front pin seems to be weak. I'm always careful when opening the gun, but nevertheless there is more "wobble" around the pin now when the gun is open as there has been when the gun was new.

Sorry, but I would not buy the ICS M16 again, just because there are better alternatives on the market.

(Sorry for my bad english)

kwiky

Registered: February 2007
Posts: 33

Review Date: 15/2/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �270.00 | Rating: 10

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	build quality/ looks/ performance
Cons:	none

ive just bought this gun to replace a TM M16A2 that i destroyed when i tripped whilst skirmishing, i wanted a higher quality replacement and it was between the G&P M16A3 and this one, i went for this one becuase i'd heard it was the more reliable of the two.
i ordered it from zero-one with the 1 joule upgrade and a 6.04 tn barrel already fitted, it took 3 days to arrive,
the box itself is pretty posh, it has pictures of other ICS armilites on one corner and then a huge picture of the M16A3 above, upon opening the box i was expecting the lighter grey body but to my suprise its all jet black and looks so much better for it, the one thing that put me off the ICS was the colour of the body but this one looks just like the G&P version which i prefered the looks of, it has the colt logo's instead of the usual olympic arms one and came with 2 450 round hi-caps which are also black, in the box was also a bottle of ics bb's and a cataloue aswell as the instruction manual and my standard barrel, the polystyrene in the box is coated with red felt which gives the appearence of velvet and lets you know instantly that you have bought one great peice of kit.

looking around the gun i was impressed by the quality of everything, the cocking handle is stiffer than the TM one and feels much more realistic becuase of this, the mag release button is a little stiff but im sure it'll ease off with use, the finish of the plastic stock looks alot better than the TM version as it has a rougher less shiney appearence, weight wise it feels heavier (which it is) but not so heavy that carrying it around all day will be a chore, overall it feels alot more robust with definatly no barrel wobble here.

fitting the battery is easier on this gun becuase somehow ICS have managed to give you more room to manouver the fuse box and wiring down the side of the battery, the catch on the butt feels alot more secure but is easier to opperate as the lip on the catch itself is longer,
i loaded up one of my TM mags and fitted it to the rifle for a chrono test, the mag fitted perfect and thanks to the metal magwell felt more positive to lock home with a loud click being heard,

actual firing of the gun sounds slightly different than the TM but i cant quite put my finger on why, it certainly sounds no worse and has a lovely smooth tone, through the chrono the rifle made 324fps with its first shot and although it was quite erractic for the first 10 shots or so it settled on a perfect 330fps for a full 7 shot string, very consistant indeed,
after that i played around with it outside and it became clear immediatly that the extra power had a profound effect on range, i could see the bb's flying out to ranges i wouldnt of even tried with my bog standard TM, the accuracy was outstanding mainly due to the 6.04 tn barrel that ive had fitted, i havent done any proper grouping tests but so far i'd say it was grouping around halft the size of my TM,
after about 300 rounds i went back into the house and ran another couple of shots through the chrono this time the velocity had risen to 335 with a +/- variatin of 1fps over 10 shots (one shot was 336)
the rate of fire seemed abit higher than my TM M16A2 aswell
obviously i cant comment reliability as ive only had it a few hours.

overall it has surpassed my expectations by miles, i must admit i wondered how ICS could improve on TM but still be so reasonably priced, well they have and i would recommend this gun to anyone!!!

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