Home Reviews M249 Target Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi

Target Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi

by Arnie

TOP
M249 (FN Minimi)
by
Darren-Jon
Ashmore

(aka Nautilus)
edited by Arnie

Stock
Specifications
Model Target
Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi
FPS
0.85J
Length: About
110 cm ish. Maybe (So I forgot measure it so sue
me)
Weight: 5200g

Ammo
capacity:

60-300 rounds
(using Marui M16 magazines) – Box magazine is still in the works.

M249 pre-review |
First Impressions & fixing the problems


Target
Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi

Model No. 128000
Weight: 5.12 Kilograms
Length: About 110 cm ish. Maybe (So I forgot measure it so sue me)
Ammo Capacity: 60-300 rounds (using Marui M16 magazines) – Box magazine
is still in the works.
Battery: 9.6volt 1500mh
Price: 128,000 yen.

At
long bloomin last is all I can say.
Seems like an eternity
ago I had the prototype sat in my lap (bloomin ugly thing it was then
– all rough casts and barely fitting machine parts). Still we have
the real deal now and I think it has been worth the wait. Even for
me this is going to be a short review, as I have promised not to steal
AndyR‘s thunder on this one – he is the UK’s number one Minimi
fan and has had this beast on order longer than I care to think about
(keep yer eyes open on Gremlin Gunworks for his breakdown).

OK
so we open her up in Sanko and for an instant we think it will be
something of a “some assembly required” job.

This is so because
the quick dismount barrel is detached from the gun to save packing
space.

The
barrel is a wonderfully well thought out one touch thing, with the
outer barrel, inner barrel, the hop unit and the magazine feed all
coming clean out at the flick of one switch (make sure you have no
magazine installed when you do this though).

The
hop
can be adjusted with the barrel out or in situ
easily enough but is perhaps a little under whelming (though that
could simply be down to an excess of oil in the new barrel so we will
see after a few more hours of use). The battery sits directly under
the barrel which has to be removed to fit it – which is not a problem
really.

The
mechabox
I can’t say much about as I have not had the
guts to get into it, but I can say that it is powerful enough (chronoing
at .85 joules), with a good rate of fire (comparable to a Marui SR16)
and very stable in operation compared to the old M60 (but this would
not be too hard).

Nice touches on
the mechbox area include an accurate break action to both access the
box and fit a belt of dummy rounds to got with the upcoming box mag
(fittings for the belt and the box are actually included with the
gun already, and I am told that a real steel box will fit, so you
gunsmiths out there should be able to work something up ).

Mr. Ito has been
muttering something about a motorized box as one of his next Sanko
Original Parts.

There is, as has been
said elsewhere a large amount of metal on his beast and despite the rep
of TOP for turning out shoddy metal parts in the past, the M249 totally
passes muster on this front – even the larger than life Mr.
Sakamoto
was impressed when comparing his new toy to his old Asahi
guns as far as quality of build went.

That’s yer lot. I know
I don’t quite write the most in-depth reviews, but for more info just trot
over to AndyR‘s fine page now and have a look at the real deal (if
he has written it yet).

by
Darren-Jon
Ashmore

(aka Nautilus)

Conclusion

Performance

3/5
Much
better than the DX M60 for only a few squid more

Value
for money

4/5

I would have preferred to see a battery box accessible form
the underside, but when it was choice of go in via the bipod
or the QR barrel I suppose the right decision was taken

Upgrade
potential

2/5
Tripod
anyone (though it is a little early to say who will be making
what for it)

Build
quality

5/5
You
could split rocks with this little sod. She’s very well built.

Overall
Potential

3/5
Still no more powerful than a stock AEG of the bat,
but a real collector’s item for the LMG fan.

External
Links:

NEASG
M249 comparision
RK00 of AirsoftDepot
wrote this beautiful comparision review of the Asahi and TOP M249 releases.

Comment
on this review in the forums


Last modified:
Wednesday, May 9, 2001 9:37 AM copyright 2001 ArniesAirsoft




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