ECHO1 M28 Sniper's Rifle

[DRAGON64]

This is a work in progress, and will be updated often...

 

Table of Contents:

 

History

Ordering

Basic Information

First Impressions

Included

Rifle Specifications

Externals

Magazines

Performance

Internals

Modifications

Pros/Cons

Overall

 

 

History:

 

Introduced in 1988 as the Army's designated sniper weapon system, the M24 SWS the first bolt action rifle to see dedicated service with the US Army since the .30-06 caliber Springfield Model 1903. Chambered for 7.62mm NATO (.308 Winchester) the M24 is based on the Remington Arms 700 action and is very similar to the civilian 40X target rifle and the Marine Corp's M40 series rifle.

 

As with the M40, the M24 utilizes a custom-built fiberglass stock but with an adjustable cheek pad as well as an adjustable pad on the butt stock to adjust length of pull. Both utilize an internal 5 round magazine, are scoped, and are adaptable to the use of night vision devices and weapon scopes. The greatest difference between the two is the fact that the M40 is a "short" action and the M24 is a "long" action. The reason for this difference is the Army ultimately wanted to adopt a more powerful .30 caliber cartridge (such as the .300 Winchester Magnum) which would require the "long" action to extract the larger cartridges in its re-chambered sniper rifles.

The M24 Sniper Weapon System is a bolt-action rifle chambered to fire 7.62mm NATO. The Kevlar-reinforced fiberglass stock is custom built and incorporates an adjustable cheek pad and as well as an adjustable pad on the butt stock to adjust length of pull. The 24" barrel is bolted to the full-length aluminum bedding block in the stock to reduce vibration and loss of zero. The scope is a Leupold & Stevens Mk. IV M3A day telescope and is mounted on the rifle using Mk. IV rings and base.

Paraphrased from the following source:

http://tech.military.com/equipment/view/89050/m24-sniper-rifle.html

 

 

 

Ordering

 

The rifle in this review was obtained from Airsoft GI, taking advantage of a holiday sale of 15% off total order plus free shipping, Airsoft GI provided acceptable customer service for the sale. The retail price of the ECHO 1 M28 is $175.00. This appears to be right in line as a direct competition with the UTG and WELL L96 rifles, to include the WELL MB04 and MB05 platforms. The ECHO 1 M28 price also comes in far under the price range of well established Tokyo Marui VSR-10 platforms. Although comparing Tokyo Marui to ECHO 1 is like comparing apples to oranges, the platform rifles are similar in size and appearance, and this was deemed appropriate for the comparison.

 

http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?cPath=284_403&products_id=7404

 

Basic Information

 

The ECHO 1 M28 is a bolt action sniper’s rifle. The rifle has adjustable hop-up, accessed by a slide lever on the left side of the barrel. The rifle is equipped with a functioning safety switch, which can be engaged at any point of rifle usage. This rifle can, in NO-WAY, accept real steel components, and therefore cannot be made to fire real rounds. It is a simple spring piston design.

 

First Impressions

 

The M28 is packaged in a half Styrofoam, half cardboard container, with each rifle component having its own separate compartment for storage and shipment. Out of the box, the M28 grabs your attention as the weight is impressive, and the gun feels quite solid. The stock makes up much of the weight and is nicely balanced. The exterior is textured nicely for a comfortable grip. The barrel, trigger group and bolt assembly groups are pre-assembled and also feel quite solid. The barrel assembly and stock assembled with three screws, two of which are socket head cap screws for mounting at the rear and middle of the assembly, and the third is the screw mount for the bipod. There are no creaks shakes or wiggles, and the build quality seems to me to be the best I have seen yet, for the price range. I say this as I only have two other Sniper’s rifle platforms to compare this rifle to; and these are the WELL and TSD VSR-10’s, and the WELL, UTG and Tokyo Marui L96’s. The biggest short-fall of this rifle lies with the two supplied magazines, which I cover in-depth further down in this review. The M28 brings back very nice military styling with this new rifle. This rifle is completely void of trades.

 

 

Included

 

Included in the box is a two 18-round mid capacity magazines, a small speed loader, an Allen wrench, bipod, barrel extension adapter, un-jamming rod which also doubles as a cleaning rod (see picture). There are no manuals supplied with this product.

 

 

 

 

[DRAGON64]

External Fit and Finish

 

The gun uses a solid stock, which closely mimics the real m24 in shape size and weight. The stock has a texture to it that can only be described as “Rhino-Liner.” The stock is also ambidextrous and seems to fit comfortably deep into the palm of the shooters hand, as seen by the width in the palm area in the picture below. The barrel assembly is fluted, and appears to be of very nice quality. The paint on the barrel is easily chipped. The barrel assembly mounts solid to the stock, with the afore mentioned screws.

 

The bipod, when mounted seems a little loose, but works as designed. It remains to be decided whether I will run with the bipod attached, as the rifle is hefty without it. It should be noted, that the rifle balanced nicely just in front of the trigger guard, with the bipod attached. This is due in part to the nice adjustable shoulder pad at the rear of the stock. With the bulk of the weight aft, and balance at or near the leading hand, the rifle is not front heavy. This should keep the player from getting fatigued from aiming for long lengths of time, since the rifle is not overly front heavy. With the supplied bipod and without bb’s, the ECHO 1 M28 weighs in at a hefty 9 lbs.

 

The bolt handle seems a little small, but appears to be quality made. It has a much more comfortable feel than the VSR-10 handle. The only wobble noted is in the bolt assembly, as it would seem that the bushings surrounding the bolt are a little loose in tolerance. The bolt also makes noises that I find hard to describe; but the sounds are related to the spring, as it gets bound during the charging operation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are no iron sights on the rifle, but the rifle is outfitted with a small top mount weaver rail that will accept most any rifle scope. The scope and rings selected should allow for use with larger goggles such as Arena Flak Jak’s or a paintball masks.

 

The safety selector lever sits on top of the rifle, at the back of the charging handle, and is activated by the shooters thumb. Although not ambidextrous, as I am a righty who shoots lefty, the selector lever works very crisply into each position.

 

The orange safety tip is removable, with a little force, so that the player can install barrel extensions and mock silencers using the supplied adapter. But once the orange tip is removed, the player also has a very nice ‘bull’ barrel sniper rifle, should the use of a barrel extension or silencer not be employed. It should be noted, that the orange tip appeared to be mounted to the rifle tip while the paint on the barrel was still wet. I mention this because the tip was removed with little or no effort, and the process removed some of the paint exposing some of the raw metal surface underneath. I will also mention here, that when you unscrew the barrel tip from the rifle, you will see that the exposed inner barrel is full length and fits flush with the outer barrel.

 

 

The fit and finish of all components are, are quite acceptable in quality. There are no gaps between any components, and everything is held together very securely. Color wise, all painted parts are a flat black, and the plastic components are a very, very dark black. The finish applied to the metal components does not hold up well, and has so far not resisted scratching.

 

 

Trademarks

 

The ECHO 1 M28 is utterly naked of trademarks or text, save for the small sticker over the hop adjust slide lever on the receiver.

 

 

 

[DRAGON64]

Magazines

 

There are two magazines included in the ECHO 1 M28 package. Sadly, the magazines are by and far the short-fall of the ECHO 1 M28. The magazines are a stark contrast to the rest of the rifle, as they do not share the care and quality that was put into the rifle platform over all. The magazines are made of the cheapest light weight materials, that require some care in handling. The magazine operation appears to jam in the spring release operation, so installation into the rifle is not straight forward, the player will need to take some time when installing so as not to damage the magazine. I have made two videos that can better communicate the issues with these magazines. Should the magazines fail, I will produce a third that will document the fallout. Once installed, the magazines appear to work as designed, but time will tell.

 

 

 

The magazines have are a design that was attempted to merge two well know designs into one; The VSR-10 and the WELL/UTG L96 magazines. See the pics and video below for more detail.

 

UTG mag on the left, and a VSR-10 mag on the right of the M28 magazine

 

The loading nozzle of the UTG magazine

 

The loading nozzle of the VSR-10 magazine

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZOJkDTyzx4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jlwwncN_XU

 

Performance

 

The ECHO 1 M28 is advertised as the hottest shooting rifle out of the box, firing a hot 500+ (plus) fps using .20 bb’s!! I just received a new Chrony, so I will be testing the performance of the rifle over time with various weight bb’s. As I continue to evaluate this rifle, I will update this section with performance results

 

Pics of performance review to follow testing…

 

Internal Build

 

I will not open the rifle until the warranty has expired (30-days). Until then, I can report that the rifle is sporting a measured 6.03 tight bore barrel. Although measuring the internal diameter of the barrel at one end with a digital caliper is not conclusive, it is encouraging.

 

 

The trigger box is very familiar, as it is the 45 degree trigger borrowed from the VSR-10 family. The trigger box and components are all metal, and lends itself to all kinds of trigger tuning. Although not necessary, the trigger could really benefit from a two stage configuration. This would have been a nice compliment to the all metal construction.

 

 

 

Firing the gun is a nominal!! The pull on the bolt is quite strong, and the pull on the trigger is extremely light. I like that; no resistance on the trigger will allow the player to make more consistent shots on target.

 

 

[DRAGON64]

Modifications

 

Currently I have no modifications planned for this rifle. Not to mention, that the platform is so new, that non exist for much of the rifle, although Airsoft GI reports that their upgraded trigger components will fit with little or no modifications. Any do it yourself (DIY) mods that I perform will be added here, but other than a thorough cleaning, there is little DIY mods to do. I will point out that the ECHO 1 M28 comes with barrel spacers pre-installed, so there will be no need for DIY electrical tape spacers to be added.

 

Pros/Cons

Pros

 

Strong external build

Solid design

The rifle is well balanced

Adjustable stock

Spare magazine

Addition of barrel extension adapter

Cocking handle is strong

Hits hard at 500+ stock fps (not yet chrono’d)

Lower MSRP than established bolt action rifles with expensive upgrades

Comes with rail mount

Can take abuse and keep rock’n

 

 

Cons

 

Magazines are sub-standard

No manual supplied with the rifle

No trades (does not really matter to me that much…)

500 fps stock velocity is a bit high for stock components. There is a concern of part durability with the strong spring

Possibly no replacement parts available so early in the release

The rifle is heavy at 9 lbs

 

Overall

 

The ECHO 1M28 is a solid choice for anyone in the market for a hard hitting sniper’s rifle! The build quality is very nice, although quite plain, and the rifles performance is quite exceptional. The M28 also looks to be a solid upgrading platform, especially as the rifle gains in popularity. Hopefully, someone will pick up on the platform and start pumping out some nice durability upgrades. I personally feel that this platform would be a better choice for upgrading, as it is such a solid and sharp looking design. Future purchasers of this rifle will not be disappointed in their investment.

 

My Platform

 

Pictured below are some of the external modifications, if you can all it that; they included the inclusion of a Madbull “Blackside” mock silencer, and a UTG 4X40 illuminated reticule scope. For the near future I will add a nice M700 style sling, and that will be all that this rifle needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will update the thread as I get additional helpful information, my goal is to shoot this rifle in stock form until it breaks, however long that may be. With any luck, when and if I do need a replacement part, the rifle will have lasted long enough that replacement components will be available… thus the dark side of Beta testing a virgin product.

 

 

[mimesis]

Very very thorough!!

 

I'll just add a couple of personal observations/experiences.

 

Removing the orange tip took the barrel plug with it. The two parts are still firmly glued together. But that's fine, as I planned on putting in the adaptor tip. The larger thread size is conventional (not CCW) and the adaptor gives you a standard 14mm ccw thread to screw on to. I used teflon tape on the larger threads to get the adaptor to stay put when installing a flash hider.

 

Bolt action. Raising and lowering the bolt into its slot is quite stiff. Pulling back the bolt takes a reasonable but not excessive amount of force. My cylinder/spring is completely quiet on both cocking and firing.

 

The inside of the inner barrel was filthy and required many swabs to go from grey to white. At relatively short range (snow outside) and with .30g bbs, it's the most accurate rifle I own. Groupings are amazing.

 

I agree 100% on the magazines. They're like an afterthought. If this model takes off, perhaps someone will make a better one. Is that too much to hope? At least more of them are available, as they are identical to the ACM M24 spare magazines being sold for what I presume is the model that Echo 1 has rebranded. I've seen them on UNCompany, RSOV and elsewhere.

 

I've read elsewhere that most of the internals are VSR compatible except for the cylinder and piston.

[Isamu]

Thanks for the review, bit jealous i cant get the fluted barrel version from HK

 

 

[DRAGON64]

Very very thorough!!

 

I'll just add a couple of personal observations/experiences.

 

Removing the orange tip took the barrel plug with it. The two parts are still firmly glued together. But that's fine, as I planned on putting in the adaptor tip. The larger thread size is conventional (not CCW) and the adaptor gives you a standard 14mm ccw thread to screw on to. I used teflon tape on the larger threads to get the adaptor to stay put when installing a flash hider.

 

Bolt action. Raising and lowering the bolt into its slot is quite stiff. Pulling back the bolt takes a reasonable but not excessive amount of force. My cylinder/spring is completely quiet on both cocking and firing.

 

The inside of the inner barrel was filthy and required many swabs to go from grey to white. At relatively short range (snow outside) and with .30g bbs, it's the most accurate rifle I own. Groupings are amazing.

 

I agree 100% on the magazines. They're like an afterthought. If this model takes off, perhaps someone will make a better one. Is that too much to hope? At least more of them are available, as they are identical to the ACM M24 spare magazines being sold for what I presume is the model that Echo 1 has rebranded. I've seen them on UNCompany, RSOV and elsewhere.

 

I've read elsewhere that most of the internals are VSR compatible except for the cylinder and piston.

 

The orange tip and front barrel cap both came off of mine like you said, but I screwed mine back on and was able to pry the orange tip off of the barrel cap. This M28 looks pretty good with the short barrel. At least it looks pretty short once the silencer is removed.

 

I have shot mine a few times, but only to check the operation of the magazine. I will clean the barrel out tomorrow, and maybe set up the chrony for some testing. I will have more videos in the coming days.

[spence52490]

Anyone have a solid idea of this rifles effective range, not really concerned about its max range.

[DRAGON64]

Anyone have a solid idea of this rifles effective range, not really concerned about its max range.

 

I have not confirmed any of the data that you are asking, but I did run across this post on the Airsoft Foum that may satisfy your question:

 

The Grenadier ZeroWolf; Here are some results from the Chrony ... Dec 6 2010, 04:35 PM

[Special K]

Time to punch some paper and post results. I own two very much modified VSR's that are putting out 500+ FPS and shoot like laser beams up to 275 feet. I'd love to start another project, If this bolt gun is as good as you say, it might be my next project. Good review but FPS and looks are not my high water mark on a "sniper stick" accuracy to me is the pudding.

[DRAGON64]

Time to punch some paper and post results. I own two very much modified VSR's that are putting out 500+ FPS and shoot like laser beams up to 275 feet. I'd love to start another project, If this bolt gun is as good as you say, it might be my next project. Good review but FPS and looks are not my high water mark on a "sniper stick" accuracy to me is the pudding.

 

Agreed, accuracy is what makes a rifle. The snow is nearly gone here, so I hope to get out and sight in the scope and begin testing.

[DRAGON64]

Since I now own a chrony machine, I thought it would be appropriate to test the advertised power of the ECHO1 M28, which is advertised at 500+ (plus) fps. In this test, I used the advertised weight bb, which is .2 grams, and I used a BB that I plan to run, which is .3 grams. Truth in advertising, this rifle shot right at the advertised fps of 500+ as seen in this video that my daughter shot for me today:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z5bxuQu0yc

 

 

[DELTA]

Good review, got me looking for one that would ship to NZ. Just ordered this from RSOV which im pretty sure is the same rifle.

 

Only down side is not getting the thread adapter!

[3vi1-D4n]

Are the pistol sears and trigger bars steel? VSR 10 ones are pot metal and deforms with a 450fps spring, I hope the M24 is better than that.

 

Keen to take a look. I wasn't impressed with the M99, but this I can dig

[Isamu]

In theory, the sears in the M28(ECHO1) are reinforced, dont know about the M24(Snow Wolf)

[DELTA]

Im also keeping an eye on this thread here , He is comparing all parts to the VSR and most seem to fit except the piston and cylinder so far.

 

This Echo1 M28 is the same as the snow wolf rifles, and also the "ACM M24" listed on RSOV. But it is not the same as the M24 people are calling the "Javlin" version. Echo1 managed to get the fluted barrel first so thats how they gained the most interest. If you look at all the photos and packaging its all the same. Same mags too.

 

Looks like a good platform for a basic sniper rifle which is what im after.

[DELTA]

Bit of a double post but have been trying to find a way to prove the weapons are the same.

 

This video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzF7JS1msuQ&feature=player_embedded#!

 

 

This shows the details on the echo1 M28, if you compare that to ones listed as snow wolf and ACM on RSOV it looks to be the same with the same power output.

 

Only odd thing i can find is the one listed as Version 2 on RSOV here has some kind of magazine housing attached to the barrel. But its not the same as the one listed as the "Javlin". It also has all the give aways an echo one does, no front sling attachment but has a solid one on the rear.

 

Interesting to find though is the RSOV ACM M24 listed as Version 1 with smooth outer barrel matches the echo1 perfectly except the barrel. (no mag housing like the "ver 2"). So im unsure if these are listed as ver1/ver2 for difference in barrel or something has actually been improved (ie the mag housing).

 

Will see when it turns up!

[Extraordinaire]

The stock on this thing looks like a lava rock.

[DRAGON64]

The stock definitely has a nice textured appeal to it. It is much more comfortable than the VSR-10 which has that plastic feel. This is not a dig at the VSR-10 rifle, as the VSR-10 platform has definitely asserted itself as the leader as an airsoft sniper's rifle. I own the TSD clone of the VSR-10 (M700) and I like it alot.

 

If I had any complaint about the stock, it would with the bulge in the grip that is supposed to fit inside the plam of your hand... the issue I have is this; the bulge does not fit my palm of my hand when I am holding the rifle to fire it. It should fit as though you were shaking hands with the rifle... it would seem that the stalk was designed for a small hand.

 

[Extraordinaire]

Yeah, I remember handling a Classic Army M24 and didn't like the way my hand wrapped around the stock grip. Felt...wonky.

 

Since then, I've always enjoyed the feel of the VSR-10, but I definitely feel that smooth plastic.

 

Is there some type of paint or something I could do to the VSR-10 stock to give it more texture and feel?

[DRAGON64]

Yeah, I remember handling a Classic Army M24 and didn't like the way my hand wrapped around the stock grip. Felt...wonky.

 

Since then, I've always enjoyed the feel of the VSR-10, but I definitely feel that smooth plastic.

 

Is there some type of paint or something I could do to the VSR-10 stock to give it more texture and feel?

 

 

In the rattle-can series, you have Krylon Fusion Textured spray paint for plastic:

 

http://www.krylon.com/products/fusion_for_plastic_textured_shimmer/

 

...and Rustoleum Multicolor Textured spray paint:

 

http://www.rustoleum.com/cbgproduct.asp?pid=31

 

I just finished sanding the stock on my TSD SD700, getting it ready to take on a light coat of primer and paint. Maybe something close to Olive drab, or something close to plain black with a flat clear coat.

 

There is also bed liner paint:

 

http://www.plastikote.com/products/Truck%20Bed%20Liner/Truck-Bed-Liner-Spray.html

[DELTA]

Mine still has not arrived... but just some more info i have noticed on the web about renaming and rebranding.

 

Seems that EhobbyAsia is now listing a rifle under the name "KS" HERE

So now it seems the listing they orginally had under the name Snow Wolf with the smooth outer barrel is the same as the Javlin model.

Differences can be seen HERE

 

Also UnCompany is listing a rifle under Asia Electric Guns that looks like the Echo1 rifle HERE

 

So seems like there are about 6 different names/brands for 2 different rifles, trouble is working out what is what.

[DRAGON64]

Interesting that both the Snow Wolf and KS versions of the M24 show the mag well mounted straight to the action side of the assembly. The ECHO1 M28 mag well is mounted inside of the stock:

 

 

Although there are many more differences noted from a quick glance, the mag well differences seemed to standout more to me.

[DRAGON64]

I have been wanting to make a visual change to the over-all sniper's platform surrounding the M24 (M28). The change I am referring to has to do with the scope; I am unhappy with the scope I currently have mounted, and I want something that looks more like a sniper's scope instead of a hunter's scope. So here is what I am considering:

 

http://www.airsoftpost.com/product_info.php?cPath=32_180&products_id=29201

 

I know that some airsoft sniper's have mounted Action M3 replicas on their rifles, but I have not researched it much to know if these are still available. I did not want to spend a huge amount of money on a new scope, is the reason why I linked to the EVIKE product.

 

Any thoughts from you snipers out there?

 

For future reference, I will be referring to the ECHO1 M28 as the M24, as this is what the rifle is supposed to represent after-all...

[DELTA]

Thats interesting about the mag well being in the stock. So yet another version?

 

Well i guess i will have to wait to see if one of the other branded models have the barrel spacers etc. The FPS seems right on some of the other versions.

 

Time will tell.

 

Thank you for that photo DRAGON64, helps alot.