images by Arnie review by TheGeneral
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images by Arnie review by TheGeneral
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Background History With the M16 A1 being introduced in 1960, the US Army was quick to take it onboard and replace the aging M14. Various versions such as the Car-15, XM177E2 and M16 Vietnam, were created for use in the Vietnam War. In 1982 the US Army requested a modified version of the A1 and Colt provided, making the A2, the gun designed for the soldier.
The A2 boasted many new features such as it fired the NATO 5.56 x 45mm round, had twice the fire strength of its predecessor, longer stock, adjustable sights, rounded foregrip and a finger channelled grip. The A2 made its fame in the Persian Gulf, where it was used by the US Army to great effect.
| IMAGE GOES HERE | Appearance Anyway, enough of that, now the airsoft M16 A2. The A2 comes in a nice box with cleaning and loading rods, 250 0.25g BBs, Manuals and a standard mag. I was quite surprised by the size of the A2, but it has grown on me. Marui have paid close attention to detail and quality, as per usual, with a very accurate size, weight and look of the real steel A2. The A2 has many metal components (including: flash hider, outer barrel, front site, O-ring, rear sites, mag release, fire selector switch, cocking lever, bolt cover, trigger and butt plate) which further add to the realism of the gun. |
The receiver is made of sturdy plastic with finely etched trademarks and logos of Colt. The bolt cover can be opened by pulling back the cocking lever, (has no purpose when operating gun), revealing the hop-up mechanism; turn the dial to suit your needs. The aiming on the A2 consists of two sights within the rear site. There is a battle sight for assaults and a snipping sight for, well... snipping. Either sight can be selected by just flipping one up or down. The A2 will accept any Marui M16 Magazine, I would advise the 300rds Hi-Cap.
Performance The A2 takes an 8.4v large battery, which is held in the stock. The battery can be changed within about 30 seconds. I would advise to not get an 8.4v battery with a higher mAh (capacity) than 1800mAh, as you will find, as I did, that it does not fit. This can be solved by a battery bag, but they are a bit annoying when skirmishing.
The A2 has an EG1000 Motor, which gives the A2 one of the highest rates of fire of Marui's line up. The noise is impressive and gives a good churning/thumping noise, not too far from a real machine gun (not as loud though). When you batteries in and mag full up, you're almost ready to fire the A2. Just turn the selector switch 900 clockwise to select Semi and a further 900 to select Auto.
The long barrel of the
A2 takes the range to about 40-45 metres. I tested it up against friends M4A1
and it beat it by about 5-8 metres. With a 0.2g BB accuracy is good, with about
1 in 4 shots going exactly where you want it to go, the others not far out,
again it beat the M4, not by much though.
Summary The
A2 really excels in woodland games and I have first hand experience with this.
It is a perfect size and is defiantly an all round scenario gun, except for
CQB. It can be applied as a support weapon or a sharpshooter if need be, but
its best role is as an assault riffle. The A2 does have a flaw though. The barrel
assembly (inner barrel, outer barrel and handguard) moves slightly from the
900 it should be at with the receiver. This is commonly known as barrel wobble
and has plagued long barrelled airsoft weapons. It can be fixed either by purchasing
a harder outer barrel, or by tightening the Allen screws that hold the barrel
to the receiver, but this only partially solves it.
| Accessories and Upgrades The A2 has a variety of accessories and modifications that can be added to either the internals or externals. Internally the A2 holds the Gearbox version 2, so therefore it can be modified with nearly all the systema upgrade parts (springs, piston heads, accuracy barrels etc), which will upgrade range, accuracy and durability. A hard outer barrel is also avaliable, which will solve the barrel wobble problem. If you fancy a better rate of fire then you can hollow out the stock and adding anything from a 9.6v to a 12.2v battery. |
ACCESSORIES
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Externally the A2 can hold a vast magnitued of cosmetics - metal bodies, sniper stocks, scopes, Marui/Sun Project M203 Grenade Launchers, suppressors and lasers... the list goes on. Some are purely cosmetic, while others are very useful at skirmishes and aid your AEG tremendously.
Of the many available upgrades and accessories I opted to add a 3-9x40mm scope, Marui M203 and SOCOM Suppressor, and internally I put in a M90 spring, 6.04mm barrel, aluminium piston head and various other re-enforced parts.
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Conclusion I must say I am thoroughly pleased with the looks and performance of this A2 setup - it make's a very good skirmish weapon. To sum up, I would say the M16A2 is one of the best woodland/assault AEGs and is an all round good choice of an AEG. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone. Written by A W aka "TheGeneral" Please feel free to E-Mail me at either @hotmail.com or T G to ask any questions.
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External Links:
M16A2 review by Ivan "Stuka!" B. - A review of the M16A2 over at Team A.S.S.I.S.T.
M16A2 (Tokyo Marui) by Elias - a review of the M16A2 on X-Ring Airsoft
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ArniesAirsoft
