M14 CQB (Soc 16) - ArniesAirsoft

Author

evansy

Tactial hobo

Registered: February 2006
Location: The United Kingdom. It�s where Great Britain used to be.
Posts: 4,250

Review Date: 14/12/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �269.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Great finish, Nice weight, good accuracy and range
Cons:	mid mounted scope

This is my first full review so be kind :P

Introduction
Following from their success with the M14 TM have now released their CQB version, the M14 Socom. Which is a copy of the real steel Springfield M1A Socom
http://www.springfield-armory.com/prod-rifles-socom.shtml

Ever since trying an M14 I've wanted one but as I play 99% of my games at urban sites the size has always put me off untill now that is.

First Impressions:
The Box: The first thing that greets you when you buy a M14 Socom is a matt black box with
"M14 SOCOM C.Q.B. RIFLE .380"
written on the front in gloss black with additional text
"COMPACT AND POWERFULL, M14 SOCOM
SAND STONE FINISHED BLACK STOCK & HANDGUARD, MICRO PORTED MUZZLEBREAK
XS type FRONT SIGHT, SCOUT STYLE MOUNT"
written in grey. Enough about the box lets get this thing open.
Upon opening the box your greated to the gun in all its glory sat on the now usual TM cloth lined tray which makes the gun look stunning, the cloth is black nylon with a bit of a sheen to it which adds to the look. Along with the gun is a box (same matt black with gloss writng) which contains the manual, catalouge (the newest one), small bag of bbs and a barrel plug. Along the bottom edge of the box is the loading tube & rod and cleaning rod. Now onto the gun its self

The Gun:
The first thing you notice is the weight. I own a few Maruis of old (P90, Spetsnaz) and wasnt expecting it to weight much, boy was I wrong. This bad boy tips the scales at 3.6KG (7.7lb) without scope or battery.
The finish on the gun is what TM call a "sand stone black" which is basically a rough texture all over the stock including the upper reciver cover. Its nicely applyed and matt black how well it stands upto use is yet to be seen. The metal on the gun (which theres alot of) is also nicely finished but has already started to rub a little so it might not stay that way.
The metal parts on the gun are:
butt plate and shoulder rest
trigger and trigger guard
safety
fire select
rear sight and adjusters
upper reciver
cocking handle
scope rail
sling mounts
outer barrel
front sight
flash hider
magazine

The trademarks on the gun are: on the right: the word SOCOM written on the bolt. on the rear: U.S. RIFLE 7.62-MM M14 SPRINGFIELD ARMOURY 111849, on the left: TOKYO MARUI JAPAN and on the bolt cover: 7790186 SA ZB

Performance:
After loading the mag (70 round standard) and grabbing a battery out of my spetnaz (thank goodness I forgot to discharge it) it was time to do a little shooting so out to the back garden I went.
WOW! on semi it pumped out shots as fast as I could pull the trigger I cant see this gun suffering from the problem of locking up when you pull the trigger too quickly like some AEGs. The groupings were nice and tight and the iron sights were pretty much dead on out of the box. The next thing that struck me was how quiet the gun is so I went back in the house to grab a supressor. Fitting a supressor is an easy job, just unscrew the bolt under the flash hider to get to the grip screw and then undo the grub screw and pull off the flash hider to reveal a 14mm- threaded outer barrel. Now the supressors on theres just 2 words that come to mind HOLY COW! with a supressor on I'd be suprised if anyone on the field could pinpoint where this gun is firing from its that quiet.
Enough of semi onto full auto. The ROF is impressive, not too fast that you'll burn thru mags in secconds but not too low that you'll be wanting to run a 9.6v and the grouping stay tight.
Now the shooting was over with it was time to check how the gun handled so back in the house I went.
As this is a CQB gun I gave the house a quick run thru to see if I had any problems getting around corners and thru doors with it and suprisingly I didnt. You may ask why its suprising, well the gun is the same size as an M16 rifle but when your using it it feels more like a tactical carbine.
Finally the range I'd estimate it at about 30-35M I didnt have chance to fine tune the hop due to the wind but I'm impressed that a gun doing around 300fps (just a guess but its about the same as most new TM's) can get so much range so easily

Conclusion:
If your looking for a new CQB gun or even a woodland one take a look at the M14 SOCOM you wont be dissapointed. The only thing I dont like about the M14 SOCOM is the mid mounted scope rail but luckily this gun cant accept all other TM M14 accessorys so fitting an aftermarket scope mount isnt a problem and for that matter neither is fitting a bipod if you want to make it into a shorter sniper/DMR.

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Right place, Right time, Wrong speed!