M40a1 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

The Bushman

6mm HUNTER

Registered: June 2005
Location: in your shadow
Posts: 2,169

Review Date: 10/3/07

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �300.00 | Rating: 10

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Performance, range, build quality, weight, price
Cons:	magazine prices, 1000 pellets to wear it in fully.

Well, I sold my KJW M700P and my APS2 MK2 SPORTER and decided to buy a long ranged rifle to complement my practical low powered VSR10 G-SPEC.

The KJW copy of a Tanaka had really made me acknowledge the shear range you can acheive from these guns without having to wrestle with the bolt (like on a suped up springer).

Hearing the KJW was not as good a performer as the originals I decided to take a plunge before the VCR bill came in (to secure the future, should we not get an exemption.)

But which Tanaka rifle should I buy. being a skinflint I looked at the range of M700 and K98 rifles. Deciding I needed a scoped gun, i discarded the Mausers and concentrated on the M700 range.

Many players were raving on about the AICS that had just been released. I however, looked at it from a practical point of view. The AICS is over 4kg and has pistol grip rather than thumb over layout. Not my scene.

I like short and lightweight due to playing multi day games. The LTR was tempting and even though I discovered it was no longer produced yet still available. I was dubious of the shorter barrel for a rifle I was buying to to try and achieve maximum range with.

Reading up many reviews and websites I found that many said the tanaka rifles all perform the same. So i looked at the different costs. The m40a1 is teh cheapest tanaka rifle out there. Some forums had rumours the m40a1 has a tighter barel as standard (6.04mm) than other designs.

Plenty of people slammed the m40a1 as having a cheapo stock and too light/narrow and plastic. Well i personally like the VSR stock so had no problem with that.

I'm not one for looks so what it "looked like" didn't matter to me as long as it was practical. I noticed it was the lightest rifle too (2745g) and only a fraction heavier than the LTR model (2700g).

My mind was made up M40a1 it was.

Well I bought at exactly the right time from Redwolf and got great exchange rate and turns out I got the gun a couple of weeks before the restricors were fitted and PCS removed.

Yes my rifle is full power and capable of over forum limits out of the box on green gas (chronographed it at 577fps max with 0.20g). Power only varied by 10fps through a full mag on the m40. The KJW could vary by upto 100fps!!!

Tanaka rifles get their HOP bashed in many reviews but i stuck with the advice i was given; wear it in with around 1000 pellets to get it firing right. Indeed the rifle was way over lubed/oiled and despite numerous cleanings the mechanism kept leaking out more oil, until several hundred mags had been fired.

Once that had been done i had it on the range numerous times and found 0.30g SIIS pellets to be really good. However at the moment I favour G+P 0.28g ammo for general purpose.

Range is excellent although the HOP is best set to have a long lob shot rather than the flatter VSR hop settings you can get away with. With higher HOP the m40a1 is less accurate.

The stock is great and the sculpted cheek piece is far more comfortable than the M700P layout in my experiance. The grips is narrower and to me that just feels more natural.

Overall the gun is more manouevreable than a M700P due to shorter barrel and lighter furniture.

I have fitted a bipod and my favourite 1.5-5X20 super wide angle scope to it and can take on targets to 80m with confidence I may get a hit.

All in all the rifle is one of the most practical bolt actions I have seen out of the box. The VSR only beats it on being silent and super consistant. The tanaka has great range and pellets go very straight (after I stripped the hop to get rif of right hand spin).

Magazines are expensive for these rifles but you don't need many (I have 2). They hold enough gas for upto 20 shots each. They do not mark the pellets like KJW magazine certainly do.

I cannot report if the barrel is 6.04mm (yet) but must say the groupings are excellent (jaw dropping infact) for a standard gun. Blows the KJW away when it comes to accuracy but is double the price.

This gun is excellent for the money and only beaten by VSR with far more money chucked at them to get them upto this kind of power.

Rememver though, these days the Japanese Tanaka rifles only fire a fraction of the power mine does without replacing the nozzle. Also they lack the excellent PCS system that allowed power to be easily adjusted.

If you want a high end rifle but are on a budget, then this gun could well be for you. You don't need to throw loads of money into parts for it to get it working how you want.

Bargain.

Good Hunting

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