Now in the world of airsoft, tidbits of trivia like this can sometimes go unconfirmed. They can be either rumors, hearsay or speculation. So I wasn’t quite satisfied with Redwolf’s claim. I watched the film when it was released in theaters and wasn’t impressed by it, so I wasn’t about to rent the DVD just for the sake of a review. I do remember Jinx brandishing a chrome-plated little pistol with a slender suppressor attached. So I did the best thing that could help me confirm this matter: I emailed Western Arms. I asked them if the Spy Pack models were inspired by the James Bond film Die Another Day. Firstly, let me just say that I received a response from them in less than six hours. These people are truly professionals, and it shows in their products and customer relations. Oh, and the answer? YES! You better believe it! So there you have it, straight from the horse’s mouth.
Opening up the box reveals a lovely “stainless” Beretta M84FS and a matching long and slender sound suppressor attached to the muzzle. It comes with a couple of hex wrenches, small bag of BBs and a manual (for the old regular M84FS.) Weighing at 542g, the gun is rather light even with the suppressor screwed on. The suppressor is made of metal and has a matte brushed surface. Inside is foam filled for sound reduction, and I’ll discuss how much sound it actually reduces a little later. The suppressor feels rock solid when securely screwed on and there is no “wiggling” motion.
It’s as if the suppressor has become one with the gun. And here’s why. In most airsoft guns when a suppressor is attached to the gun the thread is outside the gun’s outer barrel. (Or in the case of the Maruzen Walther P99 with Silencer the thread is inside the outer barrel.) But in the case of the Spy Pack the thread is on the gun’s inner barrel. So when the suppressor is screwed on, it is actually attached to an internal part of the gun. This makes it more stable and prevents wobbling of the outer barrel. Also, the suppressor doesn’t “weigh down” the outer barrel, which can cause the blowback action to cycle a tad slower. With the suppressor unscrewed, the gun looks like it has a standard barrel.
The slide and frame are made of ABS with a silver coating. It has smooth lines and curves and in traditional WA quality there are no molding seams. It’s a carbon copy of the real M84FS and it has been put together nicely. There’re markings all over the gun, from Beretta’s true trademarks to WA’s own inscriptions. The markings range from light etchings to deep engravings on the surface. The finish is more polished than previous silver-plated guns produced by WA. When compared to my WA Beretta M92FS PV Inox, the M84FS is more polished and a little brighter. This actually makes it look more metallic. Metal parts are: hammer, trigger, disassembly lever, slide release, safety, rear sight, magazine release and some internal parts. The 20-round magazine is in a mis-matched black color and uses the Magna Blowback System.
The rear sight is of black metal with a red half-circle; the front sight is silver and has a matching red dot. Aligning the sights isn’t as easy as, say, lining up sights with the three-dot system. This may be due to the front sight being silver. In order to see the sights clearly, the rear and front sights should be the same color, such as black, and have contrasting white dots. The red dot on silver doesn’t really stand out and also black and silver contrast each other.
There are some differences in the Spy Pack models and previous older models of M84FS. First of course are the outer and inner barrels. As mentioned the inner barrel is threaded to accept the suppressor. The outer barrel is also a tad wider in diameter to accommodate the threaded inner barrel. Also the inner walls of the outer barrel doesn’t have the imitation rifling grooves that are commonly seen in airsoft guns. In the regular M84FS, the right side of the slide says, “MADE IN JAPAN BY WESTERN ARMS, ASGK. But on the Spy Pack, that has been replaced with “BERETTA USA CORP. ACKK MD.” Performance For the chronograph test I used HFC134a gas and 0.2g BBs. I fired the gun in normal room temperature and I also warmed up the magazine before I started and after every reload. Accuracy test was done using a standard 6-inch bulls eye target at 16 feet away.
Gassing up the magazine is as simple as any GBB pistol, but there’s always one thing to remember when filling up a Western Arms mag. There is a tab that depresses the gas release button and it must be pulled downward (under spring pressure) in order for the button to pop up. When the tab is up, it pushes the button in and releases any gas in the mag. So the tab must be pulled down before filling, otherwise all the gas will go in one end and out the other. The magazine takes 20 rounds and uses the simple “pull down the follower and drop in the BB” system. This means no loading tools are needed. The BBs are stacked in stagger formation. I fired 10 rounds into the target and got some pretty nice groupings (see target photo). The gun was surprisingly accurate for such a small package with a short barrel. The blowback was nice and quick, not too much of a kick, but very fast. The silencing effect from the suppressor was minimal. To begin with the sound of this gun firing without the suppressor isn’t as loud as your average full-sized GBB pistol. With the suppressor attached, the sound is reduced only by a tad. You would have to listen to the gun firing with and without the suppressor back-to-back in order to notice the difference. The slide locked back solidly every time the last round has been fired. I removed the suppressor and fired another 10 rounds and got pretty much the same result. The suppressor did not hinder nor did it improve the accuracy and velocity. The inner barrel is so perfectly lined up that the BB didn’t at all touch the inner walls of the suppressor. I then chronographed the velocity and got an average of 228 FPS. Not too bad, this is to be expected from a small package like the M84FS. Without the suppressor it yielded 231, so there is virtually no difference. This little “hush puppy” managed to spit out 67 shots per charge. Hop-Up To access the hop-up the slide must be removed first. Press in the small button located on the left side of the frame, just above the trigger guard. Then on the right side swing down the take-down lever and then move the slide forward and off the frame. The hop-up is located at the inner barrel, so use the hex wrench to turn the screw clockwise to increase the hop. I only use the gun for indoor plinking, so I didn’t find a need to adjust the hop.
Conclusion Western Arms has made great quality GBB pistols over the years and they certainly didn’t miss their mark with the Spy Pack editions. The Deluxe Edition has a beautiful “chrome” finish, a nice pair of wooden grips and looks fantastic with the suppressor attached. The price is high, about $196 USD, but with WA you get what you paid for. Price for the Standard Edition is around $40 less. Good
Points: Bad
Points: Reviewed by Redhawk External Links: TBA Site links: TBA Comment on this review in the forums Last modified: Saturday, August 16, 2003 3:07 PM Copyright 2003 ArniesAirsoft
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