Archive for September, 2004

KTW have some new bits listed on their new arrivals page. Listed first is a Springfield M1903A3 with a listed price of 118,000Yen , the action is the same as the one found in KTW’s previous L96 rifle and it uses a custom KM inner barrel. Whilst production of the piece started in July 2004 no release date is listed.

Next up is a full metal Winchester M1873 (‘Mare’s Leg’) coming in at 17,800Yen and due out on the 1st of October this year.

The real pride of the upcoming works for me is this lovely Winchester M70 rifle. The M70 was the precursor to the well known M700 (aka M40) and saw service until roughly 1964 in Vietnam with the USMC when it was replaced by the M700 mainly because the M70 was too heavy and the sighting mechanism was difficult to zero.

From what I can see (and translate) the 25 shot magazine system used is actually one made by the Don Sang corporation. The mag is positioned in the same way that the real rifle works. The trigger is lightly tuned and the rifle features an American wood stock, a variable click adjustment hopup mechanism and sports an authentic blued metal finish barrel and reciever. According to KTW there will be two different versions of the M70 sold, one cheaper than the other. At the moment prices and release date have yet to be announced. The power system used in these replicas isn’t listed, and from the shots you know as much as me.

Catchv22 in our forums posted to let everyone know that the new GuayGuay GR16 range of rifles are now listed on GuayGuay’s own website.

Upgraded to an M100 spring out of the box, designed to run at 12v (1700mAh capacity with handgrip batteries) and featuring a thermold mag (450 rnds capacity) out the box these sure will prove to be popular. That’s if the rifles hold up to their reputation (which we hope they do) after all we’ve heard this before from ClassicArmy when the M4s came out from them, and well all know how the first few batchs we’re exactly top notch. Price wise you’re looking at somewhere in the region of 350USD a piece.

BR Pineapple are another place based in Japan that I’ve not visited for ages. BR Pineapple specialise in high quality mouldings and small custom metal parts. There are some interesting shots of new gear that they’ve been making on there, including a custom cut down M37 (based on a KTW), MFU pistol and a nice Leon Beretta (hey I like em.. so sue me). If you can’t guess all their custom guns are based on movie props – my personal favourite inspiration.

The M37 is from Miami-Vice, the Leon is..well from Leon "The Professional", and the P38 is from ‘Man From UNCLE’ (there’s also a PPk and Vietnam shotty there too). The M37 comes in two versions, one simpler than the other, you’re looking at around 25,000Yen for one. The "MFU spy-gun" pistol pre-built costs 28,000 Yen, at the moment they are out of stock, but will have more made shortly. The MFU is based on the Maruzen P38, using their own resin cast grips and front muzzle.

For anyone that missed it (the news a couple of weeks old) here’s a nice high resolution shot of the upcoming major releases from TOP before year end (we hope). This image is coutesy of Cybershop Target in Japan.

The new 249 will cost 168,000Yen, and there’s no price on the MP40 at the moment. Neither of the releases are to my taste, as there’s no more room on my coffee table for expensive ornaments really, but as ever WW2 gear is always popular with some, and the M249 still remains a popular project piece (yes the original guts really do need to be thrown in the bin the second you get them).

Oh, mustn’t forget there’s a new issue of Gun out (well yeah.. there’s a new one every month I know). If you’re after a copy, ask your local retailer, as most Airsoft shops can get hold of these magazines now.

New in the current issue are details of the special edition AK47, news from GPEC 2004, a review of the new MkIV series 70 Colt Government from WA, review of the X200 SureFire lamp, Tatsuya & Junko review of WW2 small arms, Hudson AK47 SE, Tanaka M40 rifle and S&W M19HW, KSC G34HW, WA MEU and more.

Well the as new Maruzen CA870 seems to be going down well as a value spring shotty (LH image source LAGunshop) I thought I’d do some digging into what you can get for it of late, and what’s new in some of the obscure shops in Japan. ANGs have now made replacement long and short barrels for the 870, and a replacement magazine tube. You can find some rather "interesting" looking CA870 productions from ANGs on their website. Sadly I’ve not seen any metal bodies for them yet:

These kinds of projects are certainly not for all, as they lack realism (silenced shotguns?), but equally make bargain basement sniping platforms with all the upgrade parts available (ANGs make Hop sets and spring guide upgrades for it). Oh if you’re after fitting an M4 stock to your CA870 like that as shown below you need to grab a FactoryBrain adapter. The VLTOR stocks are most likely real not copies, as FactoryBrain have been out to see VLTOR themselves recently.

Whilst we’re on the subject of ANGs they have the new Trigger Happy scopes on their pages, which may have been overlooked with the many other scopes released of late. Trigger Happy have a new replica Eclan unit out (23,800Yen), this comes from the same people that make the popular new AimPoint. Looking at the shots, the Trigger Happy scope doesn’t look anywhere near as good as the Samurai replica that we will shortly see from AirsoftSupplier.

It’s well known that Western Arms produce official licensed copies of Beretta pistols, and in an interesting turn of events Western Arms pistols are now featured on Beretta’s own webpages (see here). Whilst this may not be of huge significance to many, it does show larger firearms manufacturers taking Airsoft copies more seriously publically, especially in a firearm training role. This can only be a good thing in my opinion. You can see the full announcement on WA’s own pages.

Included in the latest updates at WA is news of two new pistols from them. The first is a two-tone version of their SCW Colt Government, due out on the 15th of October, with an RRP of 24,000Yen.

Also out on the 15th are two Beretta M84FS Cheetah models, one silenced and one without. You’re looking at 18.900 Yen for the model with the silencer and 17,640 for the other. Whilst not strictly a new pistol, this model has been out of production at WA for quite some time.

William over at AirsoftSupplier has sent over some shots that he’s just taken of the new Eclan scope that they are selling. He wanted everyone to see the shots, as they are very proud of the design (certainly looks good from what I see). Here’s the latest shots, I’ll see if I can get hold of some higher resolution shots later on:

The guys over at AirsoftHandGrenades have sent out the latest news from them. To be honest the designs look better than I thought they would be, although there’s sadly still no real hints as to how they actually work or on the release date:

The AG-01 is very close to be available, we are finishing the commercial models and we want show you a sample of which our grenade will be.

The size in this final prototypes is not real, the commercial AG-01 size will be 1/3 bigger than the photos, exactly as the real thing. You can see the images in our “Last News” Section. A video will be available soon. Airsoft Hand Grenades

The guys at PJR Custom now have their own forum section and at the same time asked for some news to be added online from them.

Until the end of September we at PJR are going mad. All pistol prices listed below will also include:

A free can of gas
A free bag of 4000rds of high quality 0.25g ammo
And free courier delivery

These are all factory standard guns, we can provide a level 1 tune on any of these pistols for just £20. We have the new SCW/SV Infinities with a full selection of green,red or purple coloured grips. Cost for the 6 inch is just £170, and the 5 inch for just £160.

We also have some hard to find items such as the rare WA Para Doberman for only £196 and the SV Infinity 5 inch Railed for just £161. For our full range take a look at our section of the forums. Slayer, (PJR Custom)

Whilst I’m on the truly random updates from Japan it’s worth noting the latest issue of ARMS magazine, which you should be able to pick up from your local Airsoft retailer.

The new issue covers all of the Colt Government releases to date celebrating the fact that the pistol has been around for almost 100 years.

There’s also a special pinup section of
Mizutani
Sakura. The current issue also covers ASCS 2004 (Arms Survival Camp in Summer) in great detail. ASCS is the largest skirmish event held in Japan every year, which ARMS happen to sponsor.

For comparison sake, Darren wrote up a report of the 2001 ASCS event for us, which we host on site here. Crumbs.. where has the time gone since then?

Having a dig around some of my favourite links in Japan this evening, I came across a few interesting odds andends over at Asobiya Japan. On their front page are some shots of some custom pieces that they have made. Now you’ll have to excuse me if a few of the details are off here, as I have to do my best translating Japanese (which isn’t easy at the best of times).

Now from the outside they just look like gas/bv conversions, but from what I can make out these are gas driven, but the valve mechs are operated by solenoid and hence electricity. The SL9 conversion that they have made is nice, it’s just a real shame that the gas unit isn’t inside the stock rather than bolted on the outside.

Included on this page are some shots of some projects that they have made, inculding some shots of an M14 custom AEG gearbox, electro-gas custom match pistol (by GAMI), prototype lightweight APS conversions and a Ruger “Black Panther” 10/22 conversion (by GAMI) that I’m fairly is based on a replica originally made by the old MGC (features the ramline folder and pistol grip).

GAMI are a group that have made custom Airsoft pieces since 1991, including plenty of APS/VSR kits. Coming soon from GAMI are a couple of new custom stocks one wood and one more match grade style, including the new AA200G. The wood stock is a kit for the Maruzen L96, whilst the AA200G is for the OR.

I’ve never seen any of the GAMI products available through the mainstream exporters so it’s sadly unlikely that these custom parts will be available to the public in the UK and the US. Sorry to tempt you if you like such things…

The guys at Close Action dropped us a line with details of their new skirmish site near Corby (as seen in the previous UKAirsoftMap update):

Close Action is a 20 acre woodland site ideal for fast close skirmishing around thick coniferous trees and bunker systems.

We are in the process of developing a range of bunkers, trenches and firing positions which will add to the variety of the games we plan to organise.

We have the advantage of hard parking at Corby Rugby Club, which is only across the road from our site entrance.

Opening offer: Gun,ammo and a days skirmishing all for £25 Saving a tenner. Regular airsofters £15 walk on fee includes all day tea and coffee, bar and hard parking facilities. Details our website. Tony Segalini, (Close Action)

I’ve just added a huge newbie guide and useful set of articles to the main articles page thanks to Will (aka R22Master). The articles include documents that will be of use to any newcomer to the scene.

Also the editorial section has been brought back online, including some older articles that were previously unlinked, presumed missing – but now found . Again all of these are now listed on the articles page.

HobbyAsia are a retailer that I’ve not heard from before, so it was nice to have an email from them today to say hello. Based in HongKong, HobbyAsia sell more than just Airsoft, including RC cars and other model kits.

I’ve added their link to the weblinks directory, and they asked if we could mention their lastest offer over on their website which is a special on the TM M4A1 for 199USD until the 1st of October. If your website isn’t listed in the directory, be sure to pop in and add it yourself (or drop me a line).