

Once I was
sure the HOP would fit comfortably I inserted the barrel into
the receiver. Do this by sliding the outer barrel into the receiver
then slide the handguard ring assembly over it and start turning
so it screws onto the thread onto the receiver.




It fitted
perfectly to my Systema M4A1 metal body, and once attached it
was rock solid, although required a bit of force to get the barrel
flush with the front of the receiver. I then simply inserted the
inner barrel (it requires a 300mm inner barrel KM MC51 long
or Thompson barrel does the trick) and built up the receiver.
Testing
Once I completed the AEG, it was solid. I ordered the Guarder
Hand guard set as well, which came with the metal handguard retaining
ring, this added extra rigidity to the front end of the gun. I
carefully examined the front end and could find no barrel wobble
mainly due to the one-piece barrel and the threadlock holding
the handguard nut on the receiver.




An important
benefit of the barrel unit is that it the inner bore of the barrel
is designed to be as close to the outer diameter of the Inner
barrel (??). This means that there is no movement if the inner
barrel when firing, meaning less vibration and more accuracy
a massive bonus.
The only drawback
I have found with the barrel assembly has been the problem with
U-shaped battery packs and the higher capacity Twin battery packs!
This did affect me personally as I invested in 1700mAh Twin type
packs, and the problem I found was that they did not fit with
the Guarder One piece barrel AND the Guarder Handguards, since
they are 1-2mm thicker than the TM ones. So I have had to order
new battery packs!
Conclusion
I
only have good things to say about the Guarder
M933 one-piece barrel, its a very high quality accessory thats
easy to fit. The build quality and finish are top quality, the
elimination of barrel wobble is excellent and rectifies on of
the few flaws with the M16 series. The increase in accuracy as
a result of the elimination of inner barrel vibration is an un-expected
bonus.
I have no
hesitation in recommending this product, if your planning a to
build a custom M4 I would put this part high on your priority
list.
The only two
issues with the barrel are the fact you would need a new inner
barrel (300mm) and that you might need to replace your battery
packs.
Overall compared
to the money I would have spent on a FIRST HOB and the G&G
Short outer barrel I have easily bought the Guarder M933 one-piece
barrel, a better quality and simpler solution.
But do take
not in that if you are looking for batteries that are compatible
with both the M933 barrel and Guarder Handguards then only fork
out for the 9.6V 1100mAh packs as only they will fit!
by
Permian
Update
11/03/03: Richard
Chou of Intrudershop
asked me to mention a few things that have changed in the latest
(current) release barrel release – Arnie
“…First,
the ‘Vari-Length’ mechanism is designed to be fine-tuned. Why?
Because we found the real steel M4 handguard system is slightly
longer than TM handguard. So, people can’t install the real steel
handguard or real Knight’s RAS system on the TM M4 AEGs. That’s
why we designed the ‘Vari-Length’ mechanism. With this mechanism,
you can install the original TM handguard as well as the real
steel M4 handguard. =)
In out RD dept., we have built some sample AEGs with real steel
delta ring, barrel nut, front triangular sight post, gas tube,
steel flash hider and M4 handguard / M733 commando handguard /
Knight’s RAS / RAS-II / ARMS SIR system. They all look very very
very very very real. =)
Here are some sample pics:
http://shop.intrudershop.com/index.php?toPage=kmc_accessories
http://shop.intrudershop.com/index.php?toPage=armalite_accessories
Second, we have improved the surface finish since one and half
year ago. Like DumboRAT said, our first generation steel outer
barrel will surface oxidize if exposed to rain or salt water.
However, the new genaration steel outer barrel (those with P-Process
logo) is complied with MIL-Spec surface finish standard. It will
not rust even exposed continuously to salt spray for over 72 hours.
=)…”