Home Reviews Tmp KSC Steyr Tactical Pistol (TMP) Review

KSC Steyr Tactical Pistol (TMP) Review

by Arnie

 

(click
for a larger image)

Stock
Specifications
FPS
310-330fps
Length: 32.5cm
(53cm with
silencer)
Weight: 1500g
/ (2000g with silencer)

Ammo
capacity:

41 rounds

 

KSC
Steyr Tactical Pistol (TMP) Review

by
JamesWilson (aka Jimmy) images/edited
by Arnie


KSC
Steyr Tactical Machine Pistol (TMP)
 
Hmm…where
to start? Well the TMP is widely renowned as one of the best GBBs in existence,
by anyone who knows anything, and so naturally I had to buy one sooner or
later, if just to see what all the fuss was about. I, of course, opted for
the “full set”, I couldn’t resist the look of that huge suppressor and scope
mount.

Looks
Well as you can see from the pictures the TMP follows the Steyr
tradition of odd looking weapons, in this case I think it looks far
better than the AUG, which was a tad skinny looking for my liking.
Unlike the huge majority of airsoft guns this is one which would be
worse if it looked as if it was made of metal, seeing as the real
steel is made of polymer for the most part.

The
receiver of the airsoft version is very nicely finished, with a nice
texture on it and ribbed parts on the pistol grip, the foregrip and
the front of the receiver.

The
Steyr logo is present on the rear left hand side of the upper receiver,
along with the words “Steyr Mannlicher” and “Made in Austria” on the
opposite side.

The
ejector port cover, which is a nice chunky block of metal, has TMP
9×19 molded onto it as well as a serial number and some of those odd
little pictures of eagles and other letters which surely only an armourer
would understand. All the parts which are metal on the real thing
are also metal on this one too, apart from the cocking handle, which
I presume isn’t plastic on the real one.

The
suppressor is also lovely piece of work, and weighs a fair bit as well.
It has a blued steel finish with Steyr Mannlicher 9mm para in white lettering
at the end, and it screws very firmly onto the barrel once you have unscrewed
the standard metal flash-hider. Inside the suppressor you’ll find that a
brass inner barrel extension which goes about halfway along it and a set
of baffles very much like those you would find on a real one in the last
half.

How
it feels
The TMP is surprisingly comfortable to hold,
especially compared to other weapons of its type such as the Uzi series
and Mac11, whose vertical pistol grips I find very un-ergonomic.

However,
the pistol grip on this gun is shaped at the front as well as the
back, unlike the others, making it far better suited to the average
persons hands. The foregrip is also very comfortable, being a cross
of the Beretta 93rs foregrip and that of the MP5k.

It is
similar to the 93rs in that it is angled forwards slightly, which I find is
an improvement on the MP5k style vertical one. There is also a handy “lip”
in front of the grip just in case your hand slips, you wouldn’t want to shoot
yourself in the finger a dozen times from that kind of range, would you?

There
are a few slight niggles I have about the way this gun feels. The
first and most serious is the cocking handle, which is both very wobbly
and very plasticcy.

It
also seems to stick rather a lot, which isn’t terribly handy if you’ve
just got the TMP out to shoot someone with in the middle of a game.

The
second of the little “faults” is the bolt release catch. It may be
exactly the same as the one on the real steel, I don’t know, but it
just doesn’t look or feel right in my opinion.

Its rather
hard to explain but rather than being nice and chunky like everything else
on the TMP it’s a curved thin piece of metal, and its also decidedly wobbly.
If you shake the gun around it’s the only part that makes any noise at all.
The last problem with the feel of the gun that I’ve managed to identify is
the selector/safety switch. When moving it off the Safe setting it’s extremely
hard to put it straight into Semi, as there’s no positive click when it gets
there. Having said that, why you would ever want to use semi on this gun is
beyond me.

The
magazines the TMP hold about 41 BBs and is close enough to the size
of an MP5 magazine that it will fit in the same pouches, which is
a bonus. Smaller magazines which don’t stick out the bottom of the
gun, designed for the SPP, are also available, just in case you need
to make the gun as small as possible for the purposes of being a sneaky
beggar.

One
problem the TMP has, simply due to its shape and the fact that its
just in between a pistol and an SMG, sizewise, is that its awkward
to carry, if it’s not being used as a primary weapon.

It will
almost certainly not fit in any holsters you might already have, due to the
front grip, so a special kind of sling is needed to attach to the one sling
mount on the back of the gun. The shoulder harness designed for the MP5k also
works for the TMP, if you need an extra secure way of carrying it.

Performance
The look and feel of the TMP are very good, but performance is where this
piece comes into its own. From 10 metres I was easily able to put 10 shots
on semi-auto within an inch grouping. With the selector on fully automatic
mode the 10 shot group widened to 3.5 inches. The suppressor did seem to
have an affect on the accuracy, some shots would be exactly on target and
others seem to fly off in random directions. This is presumably due to the
transition of the BB from the inner barrel of the TMP to the inner barrel
of the silencer. Either the BB travels through fine, and so the shot is
more accurate due to the doubled barrel length, or the BB is deflected as
it hits the side of the second barrel, and so it leaves the barrel at an
odd angle.

Without
having a proper chronometer I can’t accurately measure the power of the
TMP, but I do believe, from shooting various cans and boxes and comparing
the results to guns which I do know the FPS of, that with Green Gas it shoots
at between 310-330 fps, which is not at all bad for a stock gun.

Conclusion
The
rate of fire of this gun is well above just about any AEG you care to
mention, although it does vary rather a lot, depending on what type
of gas you use and how long your full auto bursts are. With Marui (134a)
gas the cyclic rate is about 850 rpm by my calculations, which admittedly
aren’t the most accurate in the world. Now 850 rpm is impressive, but
when you load the TMP up with Green gas I defy you to not be amazed
by both the rate of fire and the noise it makes. Somewhere above 1000
rpm and the loudest of any airsoft gun I have ever used, it’s definitely
the most intimidating gun you could  possibly have for urban games.

Appearance

4/5

Build
Quality

4/5

Performance

3/5

Value
for Money

5/5

Overall
Potential

5/5

External
Links:

For information on
the real-steel item, have a look at: http://www.remtek.com/arms/steyr/tmp/tmp.htm

KSC’s
Website: http://www.ksc-guns.co.jp/


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on this review in the forums


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




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