Tanaka
M629 .44 Magnum 6.5 inch Review |
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Introduction Well it's about time I set my fingers to this now ever-so-shiny keyboard to rattle off another review, and to pull out my trusty digicam. This time I've pulled the M629 .44 Magnum off the shelf for a gander. Now again, I've always said that everyone should have a new Tanaka revolver, hopefully by the end of this review you should see why... either that or died of starvation (do feel free to take a break for a drink or hot-dog about halfway through). Welcome to the 'El Cid' of my current reviews (for those of you that don't know that Charlton Heston film is erm.. long).
The TM revolvers were nice looking, but woefully underpowered, the same went for the Marushin replicas, Tanaka made some at that point, but we took little interest in them. The only other choices were the Smokey's PPC kit's for the TM M19 revolvers, well short of selling a kidney on eBay these were well out the question. I would like to mention here (to keep Herman happy) that there are Kokusai revolvers out there, that are actually quite good. Sadly I haven't seen a Kokusai in the flesh myself. Now Tanaka? Well up until then the mere word 'Tanaka' sent shivers down my spine. The general feeling I had was that they were 'orrible, having personally seen firsthand an original Tanaka Luger pouring gas out of every available orifice, and also a certain UK retailer 10 failed attempts to make a friend's Tanaka SIG retain gas. So my general consensus was that Tanaka replicas looked good, performed even better when they worked, but leaked gas out of the mags worse than the Falcon leaks oil out the engine. (The Falcon is my car's nickname btw.)
Tanaka call this replica the 'M629 .44 Magnum' on the box, and in the manual refer to it as the 'S&W M29'. Just to resolve any confusion, the M629 is simply the chrome version of the M29. But first.... "I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?" - 'Dirty Harry' 1971 ...sorry I had to say it somewhere. ^_^ |
Then
at the end of 2001 Tanaka launched their new PEGASUS range of revolvers,
again I thought of keeping back, but then it hit me... these Tanaka
revolvers don't have magazines to leak from - problem solved!
Mechanism
The new Tanaka revolvers utilise a system known as PEGASUS, which is the catchy
acronym for the
weird and strangely difficult to remember phrase: Progress, Effective GAS
Universal System. So what does it mean Jim? Sorry I'm a webmaster not
a 'Japlish' instructor, so it means as little to me as it does to you.
In lamen's terms this PEGASUS system is another fiendishly clever but hugely simple idea - the gas and the BBs are stored in the cylinder. The cylinder contains a simple spring loaded low-cap magazine affair and stores the gas. There are actually two cylinders, one that spins around the other - the replica cylinder (looks like the real steel), and a PEGASUS cylinder, that contains all the 'worky bits' inside that.
The PEGASUS cylinder is fixed in place never moving, and the replica cylinder revolves around this. As the external cylinder moves, the PEGASUS cylinder feeds 1 BB into each shell space, as it revolves around with the trigger action. When the BB reaches the top, a gas spurt moves the top loaded BB down the barrel off into the real world for a short but happy life in search of some poor sod on the opposing team. For a clearer view, I would highly recommend checking out the full manual that I have scanned in for this review that you can find here.
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The features So what do you get with this puppy? Well there's more than meets the eye to a simple revolver. No honest, there is!
Safety As with all equipment manufactured by an ASGK member the replica features a functional safety. In this case you simply pull the cylinder release button towards the grip. With the safety engaged it is impossible to move the trigger, and hence release the hammer. To disable the safety, you simply push the release button back. Don't push the button too far forward as you'll release the cylinder - don't worry it's actually simpler than it sounds. Double-action? So what is 'double-action'? Well by definition it is "A handgun mechanism where pulling the trigger retracts and releases the hammer or firing pin to initiate discharge.", as opposed to 'single action' : "A gun mechanism activated by manual operation of a horizontally sliding handle almost always located under the barrel. 'pump-action' and 'trombone' are synonyms for 'slide-action' ". What does it all mean? Well basically you can either pull the trigger back to squeeze off a shot, or you can latch the hammer back, then pull the trigger. The advantages of this are that with you can lock the trigger back, and take a shot - because little pressure/pull is required, your shot will be much more accurate. The alternative is that you can let loose as many shots as you like quickly simply by pulling the trigger repeatedly. Decent trigger Quite a simple point, but the Magnum .44 version features a rather nice and comfy trigger. The trigger is wide, and carefully ribbed, perfect for use with either gloved fingers (like tac gloves). Or, if like me, you just have big hands you'll find it easy to use. The same can be said for the cylinder release button, and the hammer, both are large and easy to use and could happily be used by your average yeti, sadly no yetis were available at the time of this photo shoot. |
How
it works So how does it all come together? Well there
are two main operations that you'll need Airsoft pixie fingers to perfect.
BB loading You will have to get used to both charging the cylinder with gas, and loading BBs with the speed-loader tool. Now I don't know how funny the manufacturer thought it was coming up with a catchy name such as 'speedloader', but the tool is anything but speedy to use.
Gas
Loading Sadly because of the placing of the gas inlet valve
there isn't quite enough room to get a standard gas cylinder near it. Tanaka
have therefore included a gas nozzle adapter, which you can see in the inset
photo. Now again, this thing requires great dexterity not to use, that's the
easy part - he difficult thing is not to loose the tiny thing, this can be
cured by attaching the brass adapter to some sort of lanyard. Trust me, it's
round small and you're sure to loose it if you don't keep it in the box all
the time, and as it's the only one you get, you'll need to look after it,
as your gorgeous M629 revolver is useless without it.
Movie files It really seemed only fair to make a couple of movies, to show you this piece in action, I mean video speaks louder than both words and pictures doesn't it? The first video is a demonstration of the trigger mechanism and the first part of the 'double action', and the second movie shows the functioning of the safety mechanism and the second part of the 'double action'.
 Video's are in WindowsMedia .avi format |
  Action movie (to the left) and safety demonstration (to the right) |
Performance Sadly my chrono is out on loan as I write this review, but then again my Chrombro chrono really doesn't like timing gas replicas (the gas discharge seems to adversely affect the IR timing circuit). With a lack of technical equipment to hand I had a look to see what I could find to hand. Handily a housemate of mine is heavily into recycling, so there are plenty of spare drink cans lying around. For this test I have chosen a can of 'RedRooster' - some sort of weird energy drink I gather... erm all I can say is that it's not mine.
Welcome
to the improvised cokecan test. :) Placing the barrel of the 629 up
against the can, with a fresh 0.2gBB and loaded with HFC22 gas I let off a
round. You can see what was left of the can in the image here. For the record
a shotgun of the TM variety at point blank range will not break the can. The
M629 went clean through one side, and just through the other, but in a separate
test was unable to pierce the bottom of the can (which is a good thing).
We can therefore put the power of the 6.5 inch M629 down to around 450fps with a 0.2g BB with HFC22 gas at room temperature (20degC). I have found that I can get about 2-3 BB loads shot off without having to top up the gas. Please do note that the more tweaked the performance, the less shots you'll get per refill.
So why is it so powerful? Well it's simple, being of a simple non blowback design, with the gas feed right behind the BB, all of the energy from the expanding gas is diverted to moving the BB out the barrel. There is no obvious cool down, even when testing the M629 in the British winter the performance is more than admirable.
Holy flying bungs Batman! Another somewhat unintentional additional test of performance was that when testing the M629 for review, I accidentally managed to shoot the red 'safety bung' out of the end of the barrel. Now that's quite impressive, for any replica. (NOTE you're now half way through, time for that aforementioned hot-dog and drink. Just make sure no-one's parked outside the bank opposite first.)
Maintenance The 629 is a doddle to service, simply make sure you spray the O-rings in the cylinder with plenty of silicon spray, as well as the rubber that meshes between the cylinder and the barrel. I would highly recommend stripping the 629 down to it's component parts about once or twice a year for a thorough clean (more if you skirmish lots with it). I only say this as with the use of HFC22 gas, better servicing leads to a longer service lifetime, it is by no means a criticism of the replica itself.
Skirmish use The Tanaka revolvers are designed to be used with a fixed hop-up and 134a gas with 0.2g BBs. Here in the UK HFC134a is somewhat rare, and because of low temperatures most people forfeit the disadvantages and go for HFC22. Now this is where things get interesting. If you decide to use HFC22, please do bear in mind that the added power of 22 means that you will have to use a heavier BB. I would recommend anything from 0.2g-0.45g in weight, without this added weight your shots will hook wildly with the excess hop spin.
One advantage is that with the fixed hop, your shots are more accurate, and more reliable. With the use of 0.35-0.4g BBs and the fact that this replica comes with a 6.5inch barrel and you have a very reliable and accurate backup pistol.
Looks
Well what can I say? I should think that the pictures speak for themselves,
in this matter. In terms of looks this is one of the best silver/inox replicas
I have seen that isn't actually 100% metal.
Build quality: What's it built of? Well parts of the frame are metal, as is the trigger, and other working parts, the cylinder and the backsight is metal too. So what's left? The outer barrel, and parts of the receiver are made of an ABS composite material.
Decals/Stamping (barrel/grip/receiver) The grip itself has the gold S&W logo inset into it on both sides, and the right hand side of the body has the S&W engraved into it, with 'Tanaka works' marked below it. On the frame itself just in front of the trigger you will also notice 'Made in Japan, Marcas Registradas, Smith & Wesson, Tanaka ASGK'. On the left hand side of the barrel plain an simply marked on it you'll find 'Smith and Wesson'.
The quality of all the marking is very good, and the Tanaka specific marks are barely noticeable. Sadly I don't have a real M29 to compare this replica to, but I think I wouldn't be out of order saying that this replica is almost indistinguishable from the real steel. The only dead give away that it's an Airsoft pistol is when you look in the muzzle and find a 6mm barrel inset into it.
Dirty Halley? I can't do a M29 review without mentioning "Dirty Halley" (FYI for phonetic reasons in the translation from English to Japanese Harry always seems to come out as 'Halley'). I'm rather hoping that most people have seen this film, as this 1971 Clint Eastwood classic is often revered as a turning point in Clint's career marking a 'chasmic leap' from such WW2 films as "Kelly's Heroes", and spaghetti westerns like "Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il". For 1001 reasons this film went down a hit in Japan, and for that reason there has always been a huge demand for M29 revolvers, I suppose for much the same reasons that MP5's and Stargate SG-1 do here in the west. Anyway, enough banter from me, here's a few screen caps for you from my copy of the film.
Erm just to nitpick a bit here, the barrel length
of Harry's M29 changes several times in the film for 'effect' purposes. In
some shot's he has a 6.5 inch, in some it's longer.
The 'Good the Bad and the Ugly' features
Fixed hop Now there are good and bad parts to this, and it depends entirely on which ethos you believe in (or which interpretation of the 'Holy BB Book' you read). With a 'fixed hop', you have a fixed hopup rubber. This means that you need to adjust your BB weights to gain the range that you want. Now as mentioned Tanaka designed this for use with HFC 134a and 0.2g BBs. If you increase the power using HFC22 you will need to increase the BB weight or your shots will hook wildly.
Now not all of this is bad news, the advantage of this fixed rubber though, is that your shots are much more consistent simply because there's less play in the system. Now to be honest I much prefer upping the gas and the BB weight than messing with tiny little hopup keys. Tanaka have put in a fixed hopup, most probably for ease of design and to keep the price down, whatever their reasons I think it was a wise choice. Don't just buy a Tanaka and go skirmishing with it, give it some loving care and practice with the weights so that you know what to expect. Or to put it another way "...mans got to know his limitations" (why thank you Harry!).
Grip
Now
this is the ONLY disappointment with this replica. Now first a small
explanation - you have to remember that Tanaka are a lot like TOP
in a lot of respects, in that up until recently they didn't intentionally
design their replicas for skirmishing and were mainly aimed for the collector's
market. With the release of the new PEGASUS range, and specifically the M629
NATO, Tanaka would seem to have spotted a very obvious niche producing the
best Airsoft revolvers in town.
This is where the grip harks back to the earlier days of Tanaka. The grip looks great, and holds well, but the problem is that it's hollow plastic, so feels a little weird and makes an awful creak in my hands when held tightly that my TM SG1 foregrip would be proud of.
Now again this problem has a couple of easy solutions. You can either get hold of a Tanaka Hogue Monogrip (as found on the M629 NATO), or you can fit a real-steel grip. Handily Tanaka have kept the actual metal frame, and hence the handle itself almost identical in construction to the original, so real steel grips will fit (slight modifications may need to be made though.. but that's why you own a Dremel don't you?). This is great for anyone in the US, but sadly for us bods in the UK we have to hunt high and low for grips, as pistol firearms have been banned here since 1997. If anyone in the UK finds a retailer with a hidden stash of M29 grips please do let me know.
Update 01/03/02: Scott has sent in some information that MasterChief's in the UK now sell the grips for the M629! Here's what they have and can get (including RRP):
Amerian Legend (for round
butt) - SNR 00412 - £38.10
contoured wood grip with fingermould rubber insert (one piece - front and
sides)
Presentation - SN-L 03294 - £28.50
Rubber grip in classic shape (same shape as the 'wood' grips on Marui 6"
python)
Gripper - SN-G 03292 - £33.90
Rubber fingermould grip (like on the Marui 4" python)
Gripper Professional - SN-GP 03265 - £33.90
As above but bigger and chunkier
Compac (for round but) - SN-C 03297 - £31.50
little grips for concealment
You can find photos of their catalog here and here . If you are in the US, or are looking for another supplier, there's one in the US by the name of Gun Accessory Supply, Inc. can also supply real Hogue grips, and will ship internationally.
A cheap remedy that I may try is to fill the insides of the hollow grips with some sort of hardening putty. I haven't tried it myself (yet), but it's cheaper than buying a new grip. The list weight of this replica is around 800grams, now I seem to remember that the real item weighs in at around one and a half kilos with a 6.5 inch barrel, so adding mass to the grip will definitely bring bring it closer to the weight of the real steel.
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Adjustable power It is actually possible to manually adjust the power of your Tanaka. As with similarly functioning replicas such as the Digicon Contender, the bulk of the power can be tweaked by adjusting the trigger spring. To do this, remove the grips there is a bolt (part numbers 2,3,4) through both halves of the wood grip that you undo to remove them, and you'll then find a leaf spring (part number 10) with a screw (part number 27) around about where your little finger normally goes on the grip. You can find all these parts listed in the parts diagram on the right. Tightening this screw up (i.e. moving it clockwise) will increase the power of the hammer action, and release more gas per shot, and hence produce more power. The reverse is also true, such that if you are on a power limited skirmish site, you may tweak the fps to below the set limits. It's worth noting that the more you increase the power the less shots you'll get per refill. |
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Accessories So what can you get to perfect the perfect revolver? Not a great deal really, but here's what's on offer:
Metal parts ZEKE offer a a selection of replacement full-metal frames for the M29 range. Beware though, metal frames will cost as much as the revolver itself (~200USD), and do take a bit of work to fit, but that's why God invented the Dremel.
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Wood
and hogue grips An mentioned you can get wood grips for
the Tanaka range, I believe that even Tanaka themselves make some. You
can also fit real-steel and Hogue 'MonoGrips'. The M29 is based
on the S&W 'N' frame, so you will want Hogue's grip model number
H29000 (S&W N, Square Butt w/finger grooves). (Image to the
right courtesy of Hogue)
Conclusion Well if you hadn't guessed already I lurve this pistol. There's very little wrong with it, and these small faults mentioned through this review have easy remedies. Some worthy points of note though. You are effectively unable to unload this pistol easily to 'make it safe' for a safe zone at a skirmish site (you can't just drop the magazine out), although the safety is almost foolproof. I believe that the Tanaka M29 isn't as heavy as it's real steel counterpart, not a huge issue, but one for collectors to take note of. Cloven mit's ahoy - With the big cylinder release button, huge hammer, and large trigger and trigger guard you can use this pistol no matter how poor your dexterity, it's also hugely easy to use whilst wearing gloves. The only two main issues I would say is that in a future release Tanaka might wish to consider setting the gas valve at an angle away from the frame so that we don't have to use the rather silly gas adapter. The BB loading tool also appears to be a bit of an afterthought, I personally prefer to use a standard TM lo-cap filler - just be careful not to damage the rubber O-rings that hold the BBs in (turn the feed tube round if you like).
The M629 in this review was kindly donated to me for review by Henry Tse of WarGamer'sShop (WGC), who I would highly recommend purchasing from if the Tanaka range tempts you. At the time of writing this review the Tanaka M629 .44 Magnum retails for around 200USD. |
