Jump to content

More ICS Exclusive from ICS L86 announced!


FarEast

Recommended Posts

As you say these weapons are a niche market and most potential buyers would want a L86 because they used them in the army or simply because they are fans of Brit weapons - so I agree they're probably not going to sell like hot cakes like the M4 range.

 

ICS have asked for airsofter's opinions to help with the R&D and to find out what they want to see on these guns, not necessarily aimed at just the potential buyers.

 

Most of the guys I shoot with are over 18 make their own purchasing decisions, and including myself (30 next week nooooooo!) I know 2 or 3 who are interested in the ICS L85. Some have far too much money to spend annoyingly lol

 

I think it's good that ICS are expanding their range, some will obviously sell better than others but it gives ICS more weight in the marketplace.

 

To make good my promises I'll be picking my new ICS L85 at groundzero in August. It will be my primary weapon because I've fiddled with my ICS M4 too much to the point where it's breaking every skirmish. I'm not going to do anything to it other than stick a tightbore in!

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 76
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I agree with the sentiment that unless this really is reliable (+great AEG overall) and not too expensive, it won't sell hugely...

 

If it is? Ill get one even though I have the AA R85, so will my brother, and Im telling the truth there, and in which case the sales might be not bad, if it's really awesome we might see almost as many as m4/m16 and AKs over here! (Or, maybe not :P )

Basically yeah though people who are serious about having a good one paid out already for a toned up G&G or STAR most likely so it'll be mainly new people to airsoft or people switching to british...

 

 

Oh yeah before I finish, L86 that doesn't hopefully cost so much and is actually reliable! Woo! Even though most of the real ones are being renovated into standard A2s as far as I hear.

 

Any news at all on price fareast/ anyone else? "Low" or something compared to G&G and STAR at least would be a good thing to hear around now.

 

And yeah, bring on a SUSAT! ICS have an "L85 series accessories" section so just maybe...

Link to post
Share on other sites

My contacts deep inside the ICS mothership tell me that it will be priced around the same as thier current range, so between $290 and $400 USD. But remember this is going on rumour not fact.... I might be able to find out the complete price structure as the L85/86 team has moved on to a new product and this might be out before the shot show!!!

Link to post
Share on other sites
My contacts deep inside the ICS mothership tell me that it will be priced around the same as thier current range, so between $290 and $400 USD. But remember this is going on rumour not fact.... I might be able to find out the complete price structure as the L85/86 team has moved on to a new product and this might be out before the shot show!!!

Have the ICS crew even mentioned things like SUSATs?Do you think you might be able to suggest the market may be ready for a cheaper version of the airsoft SUSAT,i think it would be a seller!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Proof that ICS do actually listen to the consumer, a post from August :P

 

As a bit of a note for the future, many people out there would probably be very interested in an LSW kit.

 

The different parts needed would be:

*Replacement foregrip

*Barrel extension

*Bipod with related supports

*Rear hand grip

*Replacement butt plate with metal extension

Link to post
Share on other sites

ICS still need to sort out the trigger..

 

 

They have every other detail correct for an A2, as far as i can tell, but not the trigger..

 

 

Why, when they have spent so much time researching it and creating a good replica would they skimp on something as obvious as the trigger?

 

 

http://world.guns.ru/assault/sa80-l22a2.jpg

 

is what the trigger should look like.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Have the ICS crew even mentioned things like SUSATs?Do you think you might be able to suggest the market may be ready for a cheaper version of the airsoft SUSAT,i think it would be a seller!

 

 

I can't say sorry mate.... some of the things are very under wraps. My contact there keeps getting kicked out of the R&D department. If we can all club together and by him one of those cameras mounted in some eye glasses we might get more pics!!!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Eh? What? :unsure:

 

The G&G/AA rail is simply a fraction of a mm too wide to allow the Star SUSAT to fit.

All you need to do is file the edges of the rail slightly and it goes on perfectly.

 

On topic, I hope ICS aren't disappointed by sales of these items.

Airsofters are often (to be blunt) full of sh*t about what they will and won't buy. They flap their jaws about wanting a reliable, high-quality gun with lots of clever innovations but, when it comes right down to it, they tend to go for the cheaper option or, more likely, simply not actually BUY anything at all.

I continually read of people saying how they're definitely going to but this or that but, when it comes down to it, most airsofters can't or don't buy half the things they say they will.

If you look at a community such as Arnies there's a couple of thousand active accounts. Of these members I'd say, in all honesty, less than a hundred of us are adults who make our own spending decisions.

What's the point in 500 14 year olds raving about how cool an L86 is?

At best they're representative of a demographic who're going to ask their parents to buy them one for xmas. ICS then have to hope their parents buy the item AND hope that nothing cooler comes out between now and then, given that children can be rather fickle about what they want.

 

ICS missed the boat on the L85 by over a year.

IMO, their L85 doesn't need to simply be the best L85 out there. It needs to be a truly outstanding AEG in every respect. Ideally it needs to do something that will cause people to buy it and begin to use it as their number-one gun.

In my experience, EVERYBODY who owns an L85 has it as a "niche" gun. They bought one (Star, G&G, AA) simply because they liked the idea of owning an L85.

I don't think I've ever met anybody who plays with an L85 all day every day.

Because of this "niche" market for the L85, most people are probably going to be happy buying an AA gun and hoping they can sort out the faults.

 

For the ICS L85 to do well it's going to have to be good enough that people who don't want an L85, people who just want a damned good primary AEG, are going to buy it instead of the latest VFC, G&P or whatever else.

 

I hope they understand what they're doing because, as I said, much as I've seen numerous people saying they want an L86, I can see ICS selling less than a handful of these in the UK.

It's not ICS's fault, or the guns fault. The problem is simply that airsofters aren't honest about their buying intentions.

 

Finally, from a practical POV, what's the attraction of a support weapon that can only fire from a hicap?

It's not like it has any of the DMR advantages that the real L86 offers.

 

i love ICS guns and will purchase all the new stuff that comes out. i am not a 14 year old kid flapping his gums in praise of these guns. if truth be told, i have a tremendous attitude towards anything not ICS simply because ICS has competitive prices, the guns are user serviceable and personally speaking, after nearly two years of skirmishing with every variant in their product line (i own one of each gun type AK/M4/MP5), i consider their guns the absolute best money can buy (well, except for the awesome new KWA M4 and G36 guns which i have test fired and used and will try to own soon).

 

now...i don't evangelize ICS when i'm out on the field -- to each his/her own i say -- however, as a way to support the product, i freely lend my ICS rifles to anyone whose gun has come apart and i must say that each time, they performed well for the user and have always come back in the same condition as i have lent them. more often than not, these people wouldn't buy an ICS and prefer to stick to their own brand even after they've used mine. but i can report that after one has experienced an ICS, a new level of respect is formed for this gun -- no haters here.

 

i, for one, will continue to expand my arsenal of ICS by purchasing nearly all of the new ones (i already have their AK74) because these guns will last a LONG time of hardcore skirmishing (upwards of 10,000 rounds per month with a very aggressive airsoft club in northern california, usa). i plan to show them off proudly and throw positive energy towards ICS and all of the innovation they have done in recent years and now in 2008. i consider myself an ICS collector but one who actively uses these guns at every opportunity and with challenging conditions (rain/mud/all-day ops).

 

many experienced airsofters (including shop-owners, magazine publishers and website operators) see that airsoft will continue to expand and 2008 will prove to be a very important year what with ACM guns becoming better and cheaper and companies like ICS and CA expanding their lines to include unique gun types and new plastic gun lines. this is a FANTASTIC time for ICS to assert their presence as innovators in the airsoft world. these new guns come at the right time and hopefully at the right price.

 

the L85 currently has 3 companies that make it and none of them will match the quality of the ICS. there is room in the airsoft market for the ICS L85 because, frankly, the other guns are just not that good. i own an AA R85 and yes...it is not a great gun and i have learned a lot about gun repair in recent months because of this. but the ICS will be a gun that i plan to use A LOT this year because i like the bullpup design and the range that i get because of the long inner barrel length AND they take regular M16 magazines and i have a LOT of those.

 

finally, ICS is right to listen to the forums for advice on their guns. this is what led them to change the designs of the new guns. this comes at the heels of KWA's M4 and G36 variants where development was apparently influenced by paying close attention to the forums and designing a gun based on what the forum members are saying. KWA guns in some people's minds (some of whom are very important in the worldwide airsoft community) are considered the best guns in the market right now at any price range. this is because when the guns finally were shipped, people found that KWA got the designs right. i think the same thing will happen to ICS because of the forums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm interested if its the perfect version of the L86 LSW and it has the 30round built in stoppage that was there the last time I used one, 30 rounds and it locks the bolt back like a Semi Auto Pistol.

 

And I am one of these people who lugs around my L85 all day... aside from in pure CQC when I'll use my MP5SD5 and my Firearm coveralls... I even use my L85 with the CCE Camo I got... but I'm primarily a PLCE player.

Link to post
Share on other sites
have you tried to use a boxmag on an SA80 Line weapon? its hideous... once treid one on the last 86 I played with... ewww...

Sure I've used boxmags on L85s.

How else are you supposed to get the BBs into it? Poke em into the hop-up one at a time?

 

I'm not sure what's going on here.

You said you wanted the L86 to stop shooting after 30 shots. The other guy said to just use 30rd mags.

I asked if it was a good idea to have a support weapon that can only fire 30 shots at a time.

 

Unless I'm mistaken, that's where we're at.

 

Are you saying you want to feed the L86 from locaps simply cos a C-mag (not a boxmag :waggle:) is clumsy?

Well, there are 400 round hicaps available and that still doesn't justify why you seem to want a support weapon that stops shooting after 30 rounds.

 

The MOD obviously didn't want one cos they bought in the minimi.

Link to post
Share on other sites

It depends how you want to use said Support weapon I think the origional Idea was to give the Squad inter-operability in magazines and training (I only got familiarisation with this weapon not the full trianing) and modify the role of support slightly (bringing back platoon level and above MG formations? I don't know).

 

Personally I'm not going in for sustained fire at x rounds per second OR needing a whole c mag / drum mag whatever...

 

Now I've had a think about it I'd like to see the bolt and cocking handle lock back (a la Gas blow back but in electric) to simulate after 30 rnds the mag is empty... on the L86 I'd use 30 round lo caps (I'm that nuts) but I'd not be using it as a LSW... I'd use it in a DMR role.

 

Who knows what the MoD origionally wanted... I gave up after being issued a huge *albatross* maglite on bolts to do Boarding training with... when the LLM was being issued to other places.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I kind of guessed that... I'm just not used to seeing real L86's fire over 30 rounds without changing a mag...

 

has anyone ascertained if the SA80 line will be easy to modify from ICS? I'm thinking of building a DMR version for use at my regular ground. even if I have to rip the guts out and turn it into a project gun...

Link to post
Share on other sites
I kind of guessed that... I'm just not used to seeing real L86's fire over 30 rounds without changing a mag...

To be honest why would any one want an airsoft gun that shot the same amount of BBs as the real deal shoots bullets?I've tried real cap mags & they are ok for CQB but for distance of any sort a midcap is best.30 rounds from a real L86 is going to have far more effect in keeping heads down than 30 rounds from a BB gun.If you can afford to splash out with your BBs then a midcap does the job.

The whole idea of using 30 round mags in the real deal is silly unless you consider it's done so that magazines from the rest of the squad can be used in it.Yes it means changing mags more often but that stops the support weapon from melting from over use!In airsoft it means your L86 is a differant looking AEG but it's full auto instead of having semi & full auto.If you buy an L86 for looks there's nothing wrong with that!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and the use of session cookies.