CA870 Range - ArniesAirsoft

Author

snowman

Look out - He's got a toy gun and might write about it!

Registered: September 2004
Location: UK
Posts: 6,190

Review Date: 30/8/05

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �130.00 | Rating: 8

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	Good value, simple, reliable (generally), great performance.
Cons:	Magazine not realistic, some look a bit plasticky.

Maruzen CA870 Range
The Range
The Maruzen CA870 has quite quickly developed a reputation as an affordable, reliable and upgradeable CQB weapon.
The initial release, using the same moulds as the M870 gas shotguns, was a sawn-off version, which features a fake wood �pistol grip� and forward pump action grip.
This foregrip cocks the spring (for it is a springer) and chambers BBs from a very un-Shotgun looking magazine (although some reports suggest than some Remington 870s were fitted with box magazines in Vietnam, I have never seen any reliable evidence to support this).
When launched the Sawn-Off was quick cheap and people were soon attracted by reports of its power and accuracy and its robustness. The downsides were the rather nasty looking fake wood finish and the total lack of sights or anyway to mount them, making the range and accuracy of almost academic value.
In Japan (especially), people quickly adapted the Sawn Off with real steel stocks and red dot sights (I was inspired to do the same to mine) and Maruzen quite quickly seized the opportunity by releasing the limited edition CQB.

This countered most of the criticisms of the Sawn Off. The CQB featured black furniture, a proper pistol grip (lifted, less the gas reservoir, from another M870 variant) and a substantial scope mount atop which was fitted the frequently seen Walther branded open-Red dot sight.
Such was the popularity of the CQB that Maruzen swiftly followed it up with a variant that addressed the only remaining shortcoming. This version of the CQB featured a full, rifle-style stock, again in black.

The Full stock CQB became a regular model quite quickly and continues in production alongside the, still popular, Sawn Off. The pistol grip CQB seems to have remained a limited production run.
Closer Look
All CA870s are basically the same.
In photos the receiver and barrel of the gun always looks grey and grainy. Certainly, it does, but up close it looked better than the photos I'd seen suggested.
Lifting any CA870 from the box for the first time, proves that the weight wasn't wasted in packaging, it's all there in the gun.
The stock and foregrip of the Sawn Off look a bit cheap (plastic trying, badly, to like wood), but they are nicely finished (as is the whole gun), whilst the body of the gun looks like grey coloured fibreglass (which it is), but it feels smooth and the, few, markings are nicely done.

The breech doesn't open when you cock the gun and there's a flimsy (but very cheap to buy) 40 round box magazine to hold your BBs in the slot where you'd normally expect to load shells. Reports suggest the box magazine was used in Vietnam, but I couldn't find any references to this anywhere on the web.
The gun is designed to be fired from the hip, so there are no sights at all.
Firing the gun is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face. It's easy to cock, although I can't do that one handed flick of the gun whilst holding the pump action foregrip that you always see in the films and it's powerful and (given it has no sights!) accurate, at least at close range.

Personally, I didn't like the sawn off stock. It really looks NOTHING like a wood stock, but it removes easily, revealing a stub tube with a thread inside. This opens up a couple of alternatives. Firstly, M16 or other Armalite owners might want to saw that tube off (it doesn't seem to serve any functional purpose, other than holding the stock on.) and attach the gun "Masterkey" style under the front barrel of their AEG. I wanted to fit a stock and found a nice side folding one (there are top folding stocks, too, or you could fit a solid wood or fibreglass stock), which suited my requirements well as I also wanted to fit a red-dot sight to the top, which I achieved by fitting a short piece of Weaver rail direct to the top of the receiver casing.

My CQB wasn't boxed, but you get the sight separately, along with the flimsy tube and hopper loading tool, a small bag of BBs and the usual collection of manuals and other paperwork.
To my eyes, the black furniture (pistol grip and pump action fore-grip) improve the overall look considerably. Although there's nothing wrong with quality of the fake wood units on the sawn off, their appearance is far from realistic.
As well as the black furniture the CQB benefits from a solid metal rail unit, very similar in design to real steel Remington scope mounts, which looks great, provides a secure mount for any scope type and adds a little weight to an already hefty gun. There's also a perfectly good, Walther logo'd (presumably the same as provided with the P99 packages) open red dot sight, to complete the generous package.

The barrel on my gun had been painted (I assume, as it looks very evenly applied) a flat black, although the receiver is still the grey finished GRP of the Sawn Off.
I liked the CA870 Sawn Off and the CQB adds a tactical look and feel to the basic gun, whilst adding the useful scope mount (the standard Sawn Off having no sights at all).
Although not much of the outside of the gun is metal, there's a very solid mechbox under the GRP receiver, making the gun feel solid and well balanced.
The basic gun is totally unchanged from the Sawn Off CA870, but you get a lot more for the higher price.

The criticism of the sawn off, that it lacks sights of any kind, has been addressed on the CQB by fitting a very neat, all metal scope mount (very similar in design to real Remington scope mounts) atop which is fitted a Walther logoed (as seen on the Maruzen P99 full set and, more recently, the M11 CQB) open red dot sight.
The sight features 11 different brightness settings, about half of which were quite visible on a bright October morning.
The scope mount bears the wording "CQB"/"CLOSE QUARTERS"/"BATTLE", with "INTEGRATED MOUNT SYSTEM"/"FOR MARUZEN"/"SHOTGUN 870 SERIES" alongside it.
The pistol grip has "MARUZEN"/"MADE IN JAPAN"/"170192" stamped into the top right hand side and "USE FOR"/"LAW ENFORCEMENT"/"ONLY" on the left.
There are fittings for a top folding stock here, but no sling swivel, oddly, despite holes at the base of the grip for one.
There is a serial number and the same CA870 logo on the receiver of the gun, under the scope mount, along with "MARUZEN SHOTGUN"/"MADE IN JAPAN JASG"/"6mm BB CALIBER", as seen on the Sawn Off.

Otherwise, everything is pretty much as on the Sawn Off, with a smooth and not too stiff cocking action, a light trigger and good performance.

Oddly, the CA870 features a removable, rifle style, magazine, which feels very flimsy, but does the job of holding 40 or so BBs (some report filling it with all 40 can call the loading nozzle to be stressed to breaking point, so restrict the load to 35 or so for safety). Coupled with the smooth cocking action, this allows the CA870 CQB to put out a very impressive rate of fire.

There is an impressive range of accessories and upgrade parts for the CA870, which fits all versions. As well as upgraded power springs and tightbore inner barrels, there are now a range of metal outer barrels and magazine/cocking tubes, which will add greatly to the weight and solidity of the gun, not that this is an area where the CA870 is currently lacking.
Shooting Impressions

Click on image for bigger version in separate window.
Carrying out my standard 5m/6 round, off hand test seemed a little pointless. At that range, the CA870 CQB is quite capable of putting BBs, time after time, into a 4 inch across diamond, so I decided to take the CA870 CQB outside and fire off 10 shots at the same style of target at the end of my garden, which is about 18m (60 ft) away.
I used the red dot sight, placing the dot at the centre of the target. It is actually quite hard to place the gun on target for each shot without a stock of any sort and having to pump between shots.
However, as you can see, 9 of the 10 shots hit the target (the 10th hit the polystyrene backing). The target is only A4 sized (8.25" x 11.75" for those of you unfamiliar with A4 sizes), so they would easily have hit a person at this range, probably typical of CQB ranges.
With the full stock version, you can expect much tighter groupings.
Over 10 shots, my CA870 CQB averaged 301 fps. I do not believe it has had any upgrades and other report similar performance.
Shot FPS
1 299.3
2 301.1
3 302.3
4 303.3
5 301.8
6 305.8
7 301.9
8 299.2
9 299.2
10 298.5
The trigger pull requires a 30 Ounce (850 Gram) pull, which is a medium pull for a GBB.
Conclusions
Overall, the CQB versions bring lots of useful features to the CA870 series and manages to look better at the same time (It�s a pity no aftermarket suppliers have developed real wood parts for the Sawn Off, as it would make an unusual replica then).
Performance is impressive and (aside from some reports of breaking loading nozzles - due to magazines being filled to capacity - leave 4 or 5 out) the gun has a good reputation for reliabilty, power and accuracy. There are also a fair number of performance upgrade parts as well as metal outer barrels and, of course, the option of a full stocked version.
Some 'shottie' fans still favour the TM system that fires 3 rounds, but for woodland skirmishing, the greater power, solidity and upgradability of the CA870 CQB outweigh the extra rounds, which are not accurate at range and the triple barrel system is often cited as the cause of the TM shotguns' heavy cocking action.
Of the Sawn Off, I said "it offers reliable performance and good accuracy in a compact, but sturdy package". This remains true of the CQB, but with a more usable and convincing packaging, although if you want the pistol grip version, you will probably have to hunt long and hard, get lucky or resort to a used gun.
Any would be a great choice as an unconventional sidearm or stealthy primary skirmish weapon. They also are great fun to just rack!
Weight : 1300g (Sawn Off standard form)/1900g (with folding stock)
Weight : 1,600g (CQB form)
Weight : 2,050g (CQB Stock form)
Realism : ***
Quality : ****
Power : *****
Accuracy : ***

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marek

Registered: June 2006
Posts: 6

Review Date: 15/6/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):
Cons:

I've been using my CA870 for 1,5 year now and Im extremely pleased with its performance. Shooting from a hip is great fun after some practice. One is getting used to the pellet trajectory and it gives tons of satisfaction to get an enemy hit without aiming a whole lot.

Out of the box its allready very powerfull and accurate and based on my findings it's among the best spring guns, if not the best, for this price.
However after some time I decided to install some upgrades.
First was KM 6.04 inner barrel (keep in mind that stock barrel is 6.05 thus no big difference here) cos original one got bent somewhat. Dont ask me how - I just noticed that once I dismantled the gun - raplacing the barrel was a must.
Then I went for ANGS M140 spring and steel spring guide. I found it very hard to squeeze the spring mounting it but after half an hour of sweating I was able to put it in place. Power of a shotgun dramaticaly increased of course - I started to feel bad about my mates Im usually shooting with after I saw what it did to beer can ;-) - but so did the effort I had to put to cock the gun.
One have to know that hopup system in this gun is not adjustable therefore having such a big boost of power does not actually give anything significat when it comes to range without modifying the hopup. There are some variatons of springs that can be bought to get it done however its not easy to set the hop up of this piece one way or another... So I quickly decide to get rid of M140 spring.
One of the cons of this gun is the sound which is distinct and shooter is always quickly found by it. Its not very common to mount a silencer on a shotgun but on this one it gives a whole lot of a difference. Simple Kings Arms product and small amount of grease on the inner parts provided important advantage of not being heard while firing.
After feeling one more time the need of some additional range especially playing more and more often against AEGs I purchased ANGS M120 spring and it quickly proved being a perfect choice for me.
Going along with an advice of another aisofter on managing the hopup of CA870 I drilled a hole in outer barrel and threaded the slot in the hopup chamber in which I put a screw pushing down the rubber so one can easily access it without taking outer barrel away. This way I got adjustable hopup with a little help from my friends at a workshop.

Overall CA870 is a great gun to have, gives a lot of fun to shoot with and many opportunities to experiment with upgrade parts and accessories.