Target Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi

TOP M249 (FN Minimi)
by Darren-Jon Ashmore (aka Nautilus)
edited by Arnie

	Stock Specifications
*Model*	Target Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi
FPS	0.85J
Length:	About 110 cm ish. Maybe (So I forgot measure it so sue me)
Weight:	5200g
Ammo capacity:	60-300 rounds (using Marui M16 magazines) - Box magazine is still in the works.

M249 pre-review | First Impressions & fixing the problems

Target Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi
Model No. 128000
Weight: 5.12 Kilograms
Length: About 110 cm ish. Maybe (So I forgot measure it so sue me)
Ammo Capacity: 60-300 rounds (using Marui M16 magazines) - Box magazine is still in the works.
Battery: 9.6volt 1500mh
Price: 128,000 yen.

At long bloomin last is all I can say. Seems like an eternity ago I had the prototype sat in my lap (bloomin ugly thing it was then - all rough casts and barely fitting machine parts). Still we have the real deal now and I think it has been worth the wait. Even for me this is going to be a short review, as I have promised not to steal AndyR's thunder on this one - he is the UK's number one Minimi fan and has had this beast on order longer than I care to think about (keep yer eyes open on Gremlin Gunworks for his breakdown).

OK so we open her up in Sanko and for an instant we think it will be something of a "some assembly required" job.

This is so because the quick dismount barrel is detached from the gun to save packing space.

The barrel is a wonderfully well thought out one touch thing, with the outer barrel, inner barrel, the hop unit and the magazine feed all coming clean out at the flick of one switch (make sure you have no magazine installed when you do this though).

The hop can be adjusted with the barrel out or in situ easily enough but is perhaps a little under whelming (though that could simply be down to an excess of oil in the new barrel so we will see after a few more hours of use). The battery sits directly under the barrel which has to be removed to fit it - which is not a problem really.

The mechabox I can't say much about as I have not had the guts to get into it, but I can say that it is powerful enough (chronoing at .85 joules), with a good rate of fire (comparable to a Marui SR16) and very stable in operation compared to the old M60 (but this would not be too hard).

Nice touches on the mechbox area include an accurate break action to both access the box and fit a belt of dummy rounds to got with the upcoming box mag (fittings for the belt and the box are actually included with the gun already, and I am told that a real steel box will fit, so you gunsmiths out there should be able to work something up ).

Mr. Ito has been muttering something about a motorized box as one of his next Sanko Original Parts.

There is, as has been said elsewhere a large amount of metal on his beast and despite the rep of TOP for turning out shoddy metal parts in the past, the M249 totally passes muster on this front - even the larger than life Mr. Sakamoto was impressed when comparing his new toy to his old Asahi guns as far as quality of build went.

That's yer lot. I know I don't quite write the most in-depth reviews, but for more info just trot over to AndyR's fine page now and have a look at the real deal (if he has written it yet).

by Darren-Jon Ashmore (aka Nautilus)

Conclusion

Performance	3/5 Much better than the DX M60 for only a few squid more
Value for money	4/5 I would have preferred to see a battery box accessible form the underside, but when it was choice of go in via the bipod or the QR barrel I suppose the right decision was taken
Upgrade potential	2/5 Tripod anyone (though it is a little early to say who will be making what for it)
Build quality	5/5 You could split rocks with this little sod. She's very well built.
Overall Potential	3/5 Still no more powerful than a stock AEG of the bat, but a real collector's item for the LMG fan.

External Links:

NEASG M249 comparision - RK00 of AirsoftDepot wrote this beautiful comparision review of the Asahi and TOP M249 releases.

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