TOP M249 (FN Minimi) - First Impressions & Fixing the problems by Andrew Macpherson (aka LT Mac) edited by Arnie

Stock Specifications Model Target Original Planning. M249 FN Minimi FPS 0.85J Length: About 110 cm ish. 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

TOP 249 SAW - First Impressions & fixing the problems: As most of the Airsoft world knows the long awaited TOP FN249 was released late last month to mixed reviews. While an in-depth review of the depth and scope of the positive and negative elements of this electric gun is beyond the scope of this article three issues are examined:

The bipod, battery, and ammunition feeding.

Author's 249 with custom box-mag and .223 linked ammo

On my FN249 the tabs that were cast to hold the bipod in an upright position were, by my judgment, not correctly aligned. This may be, however, so that the guns operator has two bipod positions. I looked at the tabs and was considering either filing the bipod legs or the tabs themselves to correct the situation when the situation took care of itself. Both tabs promptly broke clean off - see pictures - in my normal handling - I have not used the gun to skirmish yet.

Broken Bipod tabs - dissapointing: This was not the most frustrating detail that I have had to work through on this squad weapon. As detailed by many new FN249 on the Internet this offering by TOP has problems feeding BBs from the M16 magazines it can use. On my gun the problem seems to be that the magazine well and latch for the M16 mags is way to loose. This prevents the M16 mags from releasing their BBs and thus the gun from firing. I must admit this was VERY frustrating since the 249 cost as much as much as 3 or 4 of my other guns. This led to me developing a motorized box magazine for my 249, which I am happy to report, has fixed the BB feeding problem.

My box magazine is made from a real steel SAW ammunition box, a Classic Army hi capacity magazine, a gear box from an old Taymia T-34 model tank I had in my hobby room, some wood and sheet metal for the frame and BB hopper (it holds almost 2500 BBs) a R/C battery I cut in half from Radio Shack and some custom parts (bracket, BB feeding tube, switch, etc). This was NOT an easy task. It took a significant amount of time - 2 destroyed CA high caps - feet of pipe trying to find a bend angle that worked and finally a overall understanding of how the BBs should be fed into the 249.

Author's Custom BoxMag: As you can see from the pictures once you attach the feeding tube to the 249 with the bracket - you can attach the BOX next. There is no solid connection between the feeding tube and the box mag - the high cap keeps pressure on the BBs that are fed into the tube. Through experience I found it much more important for the BB feeding tube to have a perfect fit into the 249 that from the BOX itself. You can see the push button switch that is operated by the fore hand when shooting the gun. I experimented with having the trigger operate the feeding of the BBs but found the system unsatisfactory since there are many times that you want to feed BBs but not shoot the gun.

I can now report that I have put over 9000 BBs through using this system and it is very solid except for the odd dry fire if you are not operating the box mag when you are shooting and the 249's high rate of fire expends all of the BBs that are loaded under the internals pressure.

I really hate how small the battery space - I cut my fuse right out and replaced the small AUG battery connector with a large type so that I could neatly ffed them back into the gun - I also painted my battery back so that when you look in you dont see green battery cells. I think it makes the gun look more realsitic.

by LT MAC