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Reviews
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Date of last review
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1
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22223
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17/6/08
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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None indicated
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8.0
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Pissin' people off one post at a time
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Ranger_Captain
Pissin' people off one post at a time
Registered: July 2005
Location: West Point, New York
Posts: 1,229
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Review Date: 17/6/08
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Cheap, Great Value, Nice Furniture, Light-weight, solid build
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Cons:
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Light-Weight, toy-feel, my not be strong enough for Vets (it's a beginner gun)
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Classic Army M15A4 Carbine Sportline Edition
Introduction
With Chinese clones abound there has been no real response from the major AEG companies, until now. Classic Army has developed a “sportline” series of their high-end guns; essentially cut down, slightly lower quality, yet much cheaper versions of the high end-guns that newbies and/or full project gun makers need instead of spending $300 on a gun their not likely to keep the way they bought it for long.
This Sportline AEG is based off of the highly successful, although occasionally controversial, Classic Army M15A4 Carbine AEG. Few single airsoft guns have been bought in such sheer numbers as the CA M15A4 (I’ve owned 3 over the years), and while its stock performance often comes into question, it makes an excellent base gun to upgrade and turn into a great gun.
To me these are bounce guns; basically a gun that if its dropped and does/doesn’t bounce, you don’t mind, whereas dropping my beloved Star M4A1 would have me cringe in fear. Ironically though, experience says bounce guns are actually the ones more likely to be damaged by a fall than their more expensive counterparts, but we will see if the Sportline defeats this stereotype.
In this review I’ll mainly be evaluating stock performance, including an update after a large event, for which I purchased the gun due to its lower FPS rating than any of my normal match guns. The only upgrading/disassembly I’ll cover will be a barrel and hop-up bucking replacement as to keep it bellow 350 FPS.
Real Steel History
You’ve read it a thousand times but for those lucky few that haven’t:
*Taken from Modern Firearms a.k.a. world.guns.ru
“The Colt company developed various carbine versions of the basic AR-15 / M16 rifle since 1970s. These carbines were intended for all markets - military, law enforcement, civilian. US Military (and some other armies, most notably - Israeli Self-Defense Forces) had adopted the Colt CAR-15 Commando and XM-177 carbines during the 1970s and 1980s. But early in 1990s the old idea of replacing the pistols in the hands of the troops with some more effective, shoulder fired weapon, rise again in the heads of the US Military. In fact, this idea can be dated back to the US M1 Carbine of 1941, but good ideas never die. So, in the 1994, US Army adopted the Colt Model 720 selective-fire carbine (basically, a shortened M16A2 rifle), as the US M4 Carbine. This weapon was intended to replace in service some M9 pistols, as well as some aged M3A1 submachine guns and some M16A2 rifles. New weapon was much more handy and comfortable to carry, than the long M16A2 rifle, so the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) put its eye on the M4 as a possible universal weapon for all Special Operations community. For this purpose M4 was latter modified with the M16A3-style flat-top receiver with integral Picatinny-type accessory rail instead of the M16A2/M4-type integral carrying handle. The other change in the M4A1, when compared to M4, is that its trigger unit is modified to fire full-auto instead of the three shots bursts.”
First Impressions
I ordered this gun on a Sunday from Hot Spot Airsoft and received it on Tuesday in those great looking, exciting plane brown boxes. I paid $125.00 not including shipping and opted for the version without all the extra equipment like batteries or shooting glasses. For me, this is all extra stuff that I have dozens of but for someone just entering airsoft this is definitely a great idea to avoid being confused by voltages and bb weights.
The packaging used for the M15A4 Sportline is actually quite nice. An improvement over the older, Styrofoam packaging of their old guns, Classic Army has opted for packaging that fits more in line with Echo 1 and Jing Gong. With a colorful outer box, complete with a “carry handle” the normal CA and Armalite trades, along with basic descriptions of the package adorn the box. Inside is a nice heavy cardboard filling with the gun, cleaning rod, magazine, black muzzle, and full English and color manual.
Once in my hands I notice one thing, wow it’s light. I’ve owned TM’s, CA’s, Star’s, G&P’s, and Systema M4A1’s, but none of them are even remotely as light as this. And, in honesty, it feels like a toy, but that’s not entirely fair or adequate description, but we’ll get to that later.
At a glance though, it looks great and all said and done, between the packaging the gun sure seems to be presenting a serious, legit gun.
Appearance
Well, it looks like an M4A1.That said it actually looks pretty great for a $125.00 gun. In some ways it actually looks better than the “top line” CA M15A4’s. First of all it has the same Armalite trades, which if you shoot real-steels you can definitely appreciate. On the M15A4 Sportline though, they’re not whitened which, to me, is a plus and much more realistic.
The entire body is plastic but despite this it looks very close to metal, and, unlike other MPEG’s, Classic Army managed to keep both the upper and lower receiver the same color (why that’s hard for other companies I don’t know).
The outer barrel, one of the few metal parts of the gun, has a nice matte black color to it that, as an improvement over older CA guns, does not seem to scratch off that easily (knife test approved), although it is of the older version Marui, three part type.
The plastic is very nice and is made of similar materials of the high end models but still have the same matte black look that’s non-reflective.
For those that have never seen Armalite trades though, they read:
(Armalite Lion Logo)
Carbine 5.56MM
M15A4
SER.1001338
I don’t know if the sportlines get individual serial numbers but knowing that CA tends to do so on all of their other lines, it does stand to reason that this holds true for the Sportline as well.
Just behind the bolt catch it reads:
ArmaLite Inc.
Geneseo. IL
U.S.A.
On the opposite side it reads:
ArmaLite. Inc.
GENESEO. IL
U.S.A.
And behind the magazine release button the gun has the only trade that can link it as an airsoft gun, “Classic Army.”
Other than that it is a fairly realistic M4A1 replica. So far everything looks good, until you get to the sheet metal parts, such as the bolt cover, ejection port cover, charging handle, bolt catch, carry handle sight and screws, and just about any screw on the gun other than the pins. The metal used is beyond sub par, which seems to be the general reaction by other reviewers of the sportlines so this is clearly a trend with these guns.
The metal appears worn and water damaged, although not rusted. To say like other reviewers that it looks used is going far, but it definitely looks like the cheapest possible metal that they could use for these parts. Even Echo 1’s have far better looking and feeling metal parts.
All said and done though, the fairest way to describe the looks of this gun is a Marui. The contrasts are the same, as are the shinny vs. matte parts, and other than the cruddy looking metals everything on it, down to the three piece outer barrel, remind one of the Marui M4A1.
When compared in looks to other M4’s in my collection, as said, it has a lot of the Marui symptoms. The body, because of the plastic, is clearly much lighter than the darker bodies of the high end CA’s and Star M4A1’s.
(Top to bottom) CA M15A4 Sportline Carbine, CA M15A4 Carbine, CA M15A4 RIS Carbine, Star M4A1
As you can see it fits in just fine visually with other M4’s (ignore the orange tip for now) and at a glance you’d be hard pressed to tell that the Sportline was of any great difference in quality.
Comparison Pics between high end and sportline M15A4
This is a comparison pic between the Star M4A1 and Sportline.
In the past I’ve been a huge CA Fanboy but after using the Star and seeing more and more Star Guns, I’ve had a slight shift in interests. In comparison on looks the sportline definitely holds water compared to the nearly triple the price Star M4A1.
In the end, I’d give the CA M15A4 Sportline Carbine a 7 out of 10, losing two points for the sad “metal” parts and a point for the too light body.
Look Grade: 8/10
Feel/Aesthetic
Here’s where the sportline gets interesting. As I said, it feels like a toy. While that is true this doesn’t mean it’s automatically bad. In fact it’s actually pretty fun to hold and I’m sure that in some ways this will be preferable to heavier all metal bodied guns during a full day’s skirmish.
The printed weights for CA guns are the Sportline weighing in at light 2.35Kg’s or about 5 pounds. In contrast a “high end” M15A4 weighs in at 2.737 Kg’s or about 6 pounds. In reality, unloaded with no battery, I found that the Sportline weighs 3.5 pounds, the high end weighs about 5 pounds even and, for additional comparison, the Star weighs in at the perfect weight of 5.7 pounds, .2 pounds under weight when compared to the real steel, which is 5.9.
In short, the Sportline is light, but what else could you expect from a full plastic gun?
That being said the Sportline is solid as a rock. Say what you will about abilities of CA M-Series, their always solid guns (lemons aside) and the sportline feels just as solid as it’s metal counterparts. If you were to tape down the forward sling post the gun has absolutely no shakes, creaks, or rattles. Even the handguards, a common weak point on Armalite replicas are solid and hold strong.
Feel wise it’s clear that this gun is a plastic toy though. While the plastic feels just as good as Marui, I personally dislike their plastics as well. But again, price comes into the picture and considering how cheap it is, it is quite nice.
Feel Grade: 7/10
Aesthetics: 8/10
Shooting
Here’s the important part right? Well I bought this gun SPECIFICALLY for the Ai:500 Operation Blackjack due to their FPS restrictions (all of my guns, outside of my sidearms, shoot 380+) so where better than to get a real serious shooting impression from the gun.
Using .20 bio bb’s from G&G it chrono’d an even 340 FPS consistently in it’s stock form but for the match I used .25’s to get the full benefit from hopup.
Our first matches were out in the fields so getting some good woodland experience with the gun I can say wow. For a stock, MPEG (more or less) it got incredible range, not anywhere near the higher upgraded full-sized rifles, but definitely able to keep up with 70% of the guns on the field. Rate of fire with a 9.6v Intellect was amazing.
One thing worthy of note, due to the guns VERY light frame, there is, of sorts, a “felt recoil” when you fire. My best comparison can be those guns you see in toy stores (well not anymore) that light up and vibrate when you pull the trigger.
Back to the shooting, the gun’s accuracy was more than acceptable at normal engagement ranges (which I know is an argued subject but for me that is about 75-125 feet) and in the Florida heat the light, three-and-a-half pound Sportline was a God-send (we had at least 100 people require a rest from dehydration and overheating). I was able to run, duck, drop and do everything I’m used to in more temperate climates with this gun with no huffing and puffing from a weighty gun.
As a testament to the gun, it should be noted, by the end of the match I had two offers for the gun, which I turned around and sold for $50 (I didn’t need it for the CQB portions of the game) and the person who bought it was in love with the gun by the end of the match.
Shooting Grade 7.5/10
Accuracy Grade: 7/10
Range Grade: 8/10
Power Grade: 7/10
Use Grade: 8/10
Conclusion
At the end of the day I give the CA Sportline M15A4 a thumbs up. It does exactly what it’s supposed to, provide a cheap, manageable, medium FPS gun that WILL work and definitely competes better than it’s other MPEG counterparts (I’m talking about you Jing-Gong).
Two final things worthy of note. Maybe it’s just me, but I found this Armalite the easiest to open (baring a PTW) and I dare say that you “could” if you wanted to, switch out the gearbox/barrel/hopup in under a minute right there on the battlefield (all you need is a punch or something to knock out the pins).
Second, I need to emphasize that while this gun did sit well with a Vet, it is still a beginner’s gun. I did feel short handed in the match at times where targets were above 120 feet away and the few times I did bang it, I was worried it would crack in half (metal guns DO have a serious advantage there). I won’t say this is the best beginner’s gun, but it’s definitely one of the better ones.
Pros:
Cheap
Great value for price
Pro-Line Furniture
Light-weight
Non-highlighted trades
Solid Build (Despite Build Materials)
Marui-like Range stock
Cons:
Light-Weight (to some)
Plastic feel (toylike)
Might be too weak for Vets (it is a beginner gun though)
Overall I give the Classic Army M15A4 Sportline Carbine an 8/10. It feels good, shoots well, and does what you would expect it to do, something that some high end guns can’t claim, and is definitely a perfect starter gun for those looking to get into airsoft, and likewise good for when someone wants an effective, cheap M4 that doesn’t need to be a $400 G&P.
I was always a CA fanboy, and although I’ve switched to Star, Classic Army still manages to impress me and, right now, I feel that this answer to UTG, JG, and Echo 1 is an effective, preferable response.
*Thanks too Hotspot for their quick service as usual
Credits:
http://www.classicarmy.com/news.jsp
http://world.guns.ru/assault/as17-e.htm
------------------------------
Never argue with a gun, it may argue back...
United States Corps of Cadets, USMA
Cadet, United States Army
2012 "For More Than Ourselves"
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Registered: July 2005
Location: West Point, New York