TokyoMarui
Car15 |
|
Marui Car-15 The real steel car 15 was first introduced in the Vietnam conflict. Troops wanted a short, accurate, powerful, and lightweight weapon. However, the car 15, one of the less heard of colt series weapons, was a failure. It was loud, had strong recoil, and a large muzzle flash. The men who used it didn't like it at all, despite its weight and manoeuvrability. It never really did come to any fame, and was quickly forgotten about.
However, Marui have found the car 15, and faithfully reproduced it. Although I have never seen a picture of the real steel, from what I've heard its an accurate replica. Anyway, on to the review.
Looks: Odd. Very, very, odd. Personally, I love the look of the car 15, although it is a rare weapon, not often seen in the hands of skirmishers. Imagine an m16-a1 put into a car crusher. The same foregrip, only much shorter. Same receiver and handgrip, and the same front sight, with a small suppresser just in front. The stock looks very much like an m16 stock, although again, much smaller, and it runs on a rather cool spring loaded rail, so can be retracted or extended as needed. The receiver is standard m16 grey, and the foregrip, handgrip, front sight assembly and stock are all black. The front sight, flash suppresser, stock rails and minor details such as the selector switch and ejection port are metal, adding a lot of weight to the gun. It is actually very close to the real steel weight, again, I have yet to confirm this, although I have been told a few times this is so. The 190 hicap that comes as standard is based on the 20 round 5.56 mag the m16 series rifles used in 'nam.
Feel and Build quality: The first thing I noticed was how comfortable the funny shaped triangular foregrip was, which and does not creak at all. The rear pistol grip is comfortable to hold, with grip texturing to help steady the weapon, and to provide better grip. The stock end is heavy, making the gun very well balanced. The stock doesn't creak at all either, and feels very solid. Overall the build seems very strong, and no barrel wobble so far, although I believe this may be due to the car 15's differently designed outer barrel.
Performance: The first thing I noticed on firing the car 15 was its range. For such a small barrelled weapon, I was expecting roughly the same as an mp5, however, the car 15 proved that size doesn't matter. Firing this thing into the woods outside my garden, the BB lands just in front of a small tree, 53 meters away from firing position (yes, I measured it. Sad bugger ain't it?). This was, admittedly, after a few mags sorting the hopup. The car 15 isn't terribly accurate, although kills are possible at around 45 meters, which is rather good. The RoF is very high, using an eg 700 motor and an 8.4v 600 mah battery, it spits out around about 800rpm. The sights can be very accurately adjusted out to 40 meters, although it does take a while to set them correctly.
Upgrading and accessories? The car 15 can take a large array of accessories, almost all from the m16 range, without the m203. You can add a laser, a flashlight, a scope, almost anything really. Silencers look particularly good on the car 15 in my opinion. My car 15 has a rather nice custom SD kit, however I'll go on about that later. With the versatile M16 gearbox, you can upgrade almost any internal part, for example the spring, gears and bushings. Helical gear sets and an eg1000 motor are available to really knock up the already nice RoF. A tn barrel helps increase accuracy, and a slight improvement on range is gained.
So how do you get it to shoot? Firstly, you'll be needing a battery. The stock gun uses an 8.4 600mah mini battery. It is fitted by pulling back the handguard collar, removing the left side of the handguard, clipping the 2 connectors together, sliding the battery into place, and replacing the handguard. The magazine is loaded by a small hatch on the top. Fill this section with ammo, wind the mag until it clicks, and you're ready to go. Turn of the safety and away you go.
Overall In my opinion, this is one of the most overlooked and underestimated electric guns available. It comes with a hicap as standard, a good RoF, good battery consumption, and comparatively good range and accuracy. It doesn't suffer from the infamous m16 barrel wobble due to the completely one off outer barrel, different from all the other m16 series, and is a genuinely good gun. It does have its minor problems, the stock can move slightly, the sights are fiddly, and to some people, it looks like an m16 in a car crusher, although I personally like the looks.
|
Performance |
5/5 The range, RoF and accuracy are great. |
|
Value for money |
0/5 or 5/5 Like marmite. You love it or hate it. |
|
Upgrade potential |
4/5 You can't get a 203 :o( |
|
Build quality |
5/5 Hicap included, and at about £200 |
|
Overall Potential |
4.5/5 much as I like this gun, it has faults. |
Horgy's Soopa-Wicked Kustom Kar 15 Its big, its menacing, its long ranged, its accurate, and it has a silly name. The car 15 is my favourite gun, I have spent most of my money on it, due to the fact I love the thing. With the help of Tom Andrews, Airsoft genius and owner of my local site, Elite Action Games, my car 15 is now something REALLY special. While browsing the UKAN forums a while ago, I noticed an interesting looking sale. A Car 15 with an SD front kit, integral with the gun. not having the money at the time, I soon forgot about it.
As fate would have it, a few months later, I swapped my m4a1 for a car 15. I had it upgraded, and already loved it. Then I remembered the car 15 SD, on Hustler of t2s' website. I checked with Airsoft Dynamics, and it was do-able, although somewhat out of my price range. So, after a few emails to Tom Andrews, he agreed to do it for an unbelievably good price. With the gun upgraded, and me having only 1 mini battery, I also paid for a 9.6v 1700 mah custom shaped battery, that fits nicely in the foregrip, and lasts a good day.
My
car 15 now has a matt black handguard, the custom battery, a Famas length
barrel, and of course the SD kit. The front sight was removed to add to
the sleek and snipery look of it, and the fusebox removed to allow space
for the battery. My car 15 now performs excellently, clocking at around
325 or so, with a maximum range of 68 meters, and a possible kill range
of around 65. The RoF is back to the normal 850 or so due to the 9.6 battery,
and the gun is well balanced. I hope to get an m16 pro scope when I can
afford one.
Aiming
without the front sight takes some getting used to, but I get on fine without
it. The pictures to the left and right are of the SD kit on the car 15,
I don't have a picture of the whole replica, although I'll try and get one
up soon. Many thanks to Hustler
for the idea to make this gun, and Tom
Andrews for all the work done.
review by Richard Horgan aka Horgy