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by Darren-Jon Ashmore (aka Nautilus) images/edited by Arnie
So
what is it ? Beware this is a bit of a mouthfull.... It's
the Japan Retail Companion (JRC) I first got hold of a Masterkey type of RIS Shotty for my TM SR16 at the end of June, but did not write on the bugger as I felt it was a scabby little item. According to our distributor it was one of the things to be sold by American Gun Kids – under the banner of “Quick Dismount Weapon” – and sported what appeared to be a set of reversed scope mounts (albeit big ones) grafted onto the back of the shotty. Now I am perfectly willing to believe that this was a prototype model, but without any sign of a release version (calls to Gunkids themselves only revealed no date and the interesting admission that they were not actually making the beasts - which makes me glance in the direction of those crafty Den chaps for some strange reason).
Still, when this little sod from JRC turned up earlier this week all thoughts of the other piece vanished and it was unceremoniously dumped back at the shop in favor of the new offering.
So, with all of you Masterkey fans drooling at the thought of a cheap answer to your prayers, lets break this little fellow down.
The
gun itself is the KTW/Dong San Rubberised M37 with pistol grip – Crockett
and Tubbs live again! In practical terms this makes the gun all black
and while this is merely a stylistic touch it certainly gives the whole
gun a much better look when attached to a mean and moody SR16 (as the
wooden pump grip on the earlier model looked quite out of place). Moreover,
the fact that the gun is supplied with the pistol grip means a quick
dismount later and you have a not too shabby CQB device.
Which
brings us to how the little sod is attached in the first place.
Simply and very elegantly the lads at JRC have bolted the top half of
what appears to be a heavily cut down RIS (it may or may not be an MM
but it certainly is not Marui as you will see below) to the top of the
shotty’s receiver and them attached the lower half of the RIS to the
top of that – welding the rail surfaces together for strength. Attachment
is then simply a case of taking off the existing lower frame and substituting
the shotty. That’s it, pure and simple, but it is also where the gun’s
real problems come in.
Not
being based on a Marui RIS, there is a real fitting problem, in as much
as two metal lugs, on the sides of the lower RIS need to be removed
(or sockets cut into the upper rail) before the gun will fit. Not a
problem for a Dremmel as the metal is quite soft, but a bit of a downer
all the same. Moreover, once the gun is in place it is obvious that
the front retaining lugs are not large enough to keep the rail – and
therefore the gun – from rattling about. A strip of rubber and some
super glue solved the issue for me, but you’d think it would not be
too hard to have worked this kink out in pre production……..ah well.
However, this double rail feature makes the little sod a really attractive notion as far as I am concerned. Off the gun comes, and off comes the lower RIS to reveal that you are actually left with a shotty with a short but serviceable 20mm Weaver rail interface already attached for all manner of lovely toys.
Not
much more to say about it than that though. Like Ronseal - "it
does exactly what it says on the tin" and, all in all, it does it very
well. I think this is an excellent purchase for those after a Masterkey
option and either balk at the weight of Maruzen’s mighty 870 (though I bow
to Ash Nichols and his FAMAS/870
combo in this regard), or freak at the mechanics involved in getting a gas
shotty to work in the role.
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In less that a week after its release, the locals shops have gone through 8 of the little buggers, for all sorts of RIS equipped Guns (we’ve had the usual AR15 clones, an MC51 which looked pretty good and an APSII Orca RIS (?!) which looked really odd. However my favourite “Masterkey” – incuding my own - is the First Factory AK Mirage which the Gun Bunnies II team captain owns, as that already looked bloomin mean with its real steel black plastic (which surprised me when I saw it) Dragunov style stock, foregrip and long flash hider). |