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review of the Ares amp dsr-1


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hello,

 

been lurking a long time on the forums and this is my first review so bear with me

 

first comment on this thread:

 

how can u make a good review if u almost cant post any pictures

 

i just got my amp a few days ago:

 

first impressions

 

the box looks good and is sturdy

 

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everything is neetly packed and is held in place well

to my surprise when opening the box i found a scope ( why the surprise because i heard they were going to deliver without the scope)

 

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the scope really looks descent but is huge (for me atleast, im not used to handle stuff that big ;) )

 

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what are the contents of the box

 

bolt, scope, scope mount, 2 mags, replica and to my surprise no manual.

 

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thats whats in the box

 

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when taking out the replica, i decided to closely inspect it for faults and damages

 

especially the seemes are noticable a lot ( but notting sandpaper cant handle) and there where some scratches on the body)

all the other stuff was in great condition.

 

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what was noticable was that after using the olt a couple of times u could see the paint had worn off at some places, the bolt movement really isnt smooth ( ill grease it later)

 

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here u see the line the bolt has made when going over the magazine

 

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other then that the details are really great and it really looks kickass

 

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then i did the fps test, outta the box she shoots ( on a beautifull summer/autum day)

 

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so i went looking for the pcs and i found it in the mag

 

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after some fruitless attempts to turn it deeper, i decided to take the mag appart.

 

taking it appart is really simple and easy although, the quality checks at the factory have failed on this mag

 

2 screws are missing - there should be 4 of them

 

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Edited by Pablo
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so i decided to take the rest of the mag appart

 

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when dissassembling the last part of the mag, the o-ring appeared to be broken

 

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what i found really weird was the flashhider, u cant take it off but with a extra piece of barrel to screw on u cant really attach anything( thinking about a silencer here)

 

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back to the performance

 

i havent been able to do a lot of testing because i live in an appartment ( neighbours would freak if i would walk aroound withthat thing outside)

 

but ill test it to the max this weekend

 

pro's

 

-scope

- looks nice and tough

- shoot really hard outta the box

- is heavy and compact in comparisson to the other snipers ( i have owned an aics and a m24)

- that u can adjust almost everything on this replica

- reserve magazine carried on the replica

 

con's

 

-need to put a lot off pressure on the trigger before the replica fires ( going to see if i can mod that)

-expensive

-room for improvement on details

-room for in box protection improvement

-the flashhider detachment ( not being able to put a silencer on )

-and in my case a faulty magazine

 

if u have any questions about the amp dsr-1 dont be afraid to ask them.

and ill try and answer them to the best of me knowledge.

 

greetings

 

chaplain

 

Airsoft Gent ( belgium)

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Nice review! I got mine last week. Haven't had a chance to shoot it yet.

 

Talking to my various contacts in HK's airsoft industry, I discovered some very interesting details:

"AMP" is an alias for STAR. STAR created a fake company name solely to try and get around the Ares copyright issue. Ares found out about the replica and opened talks with "AMP". AMP/STAR has been having trouble securing the rights to the DSR-1 because STAR only wanted to do 1000 units and Ares wants them to do more than that because Ares gets a small cut of every rifle sold. So even though STAR (AMP) have been saying they've got the copyright to license it, that was actually a premature statement, and in the end... may not have it (as further evidenced by the fact that none of the first batch have the real markings). Also, the likely reason why Gunner was saying that they won't increase the price on pre-buyers is because the licensing deal may fall through which means that the price increase won't actually happen. The "improvements" they talked about were always planned from the start and were meant to be part of the actual price everyone initially agreed to.

 

Also, there is a difference in price between the package with and without the Leupold replica scope. STAR bought up a lot of the scopes for cheap (US$33 each) in Mainland China and offered it to the wholesale buyers and retailers as part of the package deal for an additional US$39 on top of the rifle's price. It appears that Redwolf has changed their website's listing to indicate that their DSR-1s also come with the scope (well... it doesn't say that they don't come with the scope... which they used to). It looks like almost all of the retailers went with this option. The replica Leupold is ok, but not the greatest (probably decent enough for airsoft use).

 

Still, for the price, I think it was well worth it. :)

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usmcCorps- Since the manual PDF circulating about clears says Star on, I am guessing it is safe to say they are the manufacturers? Or is ARES the original manufacturer and Star made the manual? Correct me if I am incorrect. I am wondering if spare/replacement parts will be easy to come by. Since it uses the same gas system (at least it would seem) as the Star AWP 338 rifle, might there be some part interchangability?

 

I guess that we DSR-1 owners hopefully wont need to be replacing anything on them soon, as this may or may not be a limited production run.

 

I have not recieved my rifle yet, but it has made it stateside so I am confident Ill have it either today or tomorrow.

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How odd, just looking at the finish in some of those photos I thought "it looks like Star made this thing." So there you go. :huh: Thanks for the info, uscmcorps.

 

especially the seemes are noticable a lot

 

Oh *suitcase*, Snowman's going to have a fit! ;)

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usmcCorps- Since the manual PDF circulating about clears says Star on, I am guessing it is safe to say they are the manufacturers? Or is ARES the original manufacturer and Star made the manual? Correct me if I am incorrect. I am wondering if spare/replacement parts will be easy to come by. Since it uses the same gas system (at least it would seem) as the Star AWP 338 rifle, might there be some part interchangability?

ARES is the real steel manufacturer. As far as I'm aware, the only involvement AREAS has had in this product is either (1) they found out about it and wanted a financial slice of the pie, or (2) STAR (using AMP as a fake alias) approached ARES to see if it were possible to get official licensing for the product. STAR created the fake company name, AMP, as they hoped that would insulate them from any possible legal issues. However, all of AMP's products are sold to the wholesalers through STAR, so they're not trying very hard to hide the original source of the products.

 

I have yet to confirm it myself, but if the DSR-1 is indeed a Star AW-338 Sniper Rifle dressed up to look like the DSR-1, then the likelihood of parts interchangeability is high.

 

How is the Star AW-338 Sniper Rifle ? Is it a decent rifle?

 

How odd, just looking at the finish in some of those photos I thought "it looks like Star made this thing." So there you go. :huh: Thanks for the info, uscmcorps.

:)

 

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Mine came yesterday and haven´t testfired it yet either, but the bolt is very tight fit. Also, my bolt was bone dry and I had to lube it with good amount of lithium grease.

 

The loading nozzle also scrapes the hop chamber and makes some paint/ metal powder shavings to the nozzles front. This will krap out the inner barrel for sure, when fired the first times.

The bolt is simple and ingenious work, compared to Tanaka bolt. No light striking occurs and the gasflow valve is situated vertically. This is good in my opinion.

 

I checked the mags and mine are assembled with all screws and O-rings are intact.

One of the bipod legs were jammed inside the outer tube. Had to pry it out with pliers carefully. Luckily no marks came from this to the bipod.

 

The scope is sexy and I like the feel when taking good firing stance with this rifle. The rear monopod works just the way it should.

 

Coming weekend I will testfire this beast with GG/ propane, and will try out redgas too.

 

First DSR in Finland???

 

Cheers

 

-Hessu-

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Yeah, sorry about that. I reversed the company names. Orca pointed it out to me about an hour ago, and when I did some checking I realized I made the silly mistake. Ares is the fake company that STAR created to cover their legal asses, and AMP is the real steel company that makes the real deal rifles. It's AMP that STAR/ARES was trying to get the copyright contract from. Sorry about the switcheroo there guys. Somehow my brain swapped the two names and it just got stuck in there like that.

 

Here's how the information I shared should have read:

____________________________

 

"ARES" is an alias for STAR. STAR created a fake company name solely to try and get around the AMP copyright issue. AMP found out about the replica and opened talks with "ARES". ARES/STAR has been having trouble securing the rights to the DSR-1 because STAR only wanted to do 1000 units and AMP wants them to do more than that because AMP gets a small cut of every rifle sold. So even though STAR (ARES) have been saying they've got the copyright to license it, that was actually a premature statement, and in the end... may not have it (as further evidenced by the fact that none of the first batch have the real markings). Also, the likely reason why Gunner was saying that they won't increase the price on pre-buyers is because the licensing deal may fall through which means that the price increase won't actually happen. The "improvements" they talked about were always planned from the start and were meant to be part of the actual price everyone initially agreed to.

 

AMP is the real steel manufacturer. As far as I'm aware, the only involvement AMP has had in this product is either (1) they found out about it and wanted a financial slice of the pie, or (2) STAR (using ARES as a fake alias) approached AMP to see if it were possible to get official licensing for the product. STAR created the fake company name, ARES, as they hoped that would insulate them from any possible legal issues. However, all of ARES's products are sold to the wholesalers through STAR, so they're not trying very hard to hide the original source of the products.

 

I have yet to confirm it myself, but if the DSR-1 is indeed a Star AW-338 Sniper Rifle dressed up to look like the DSR-1, then the likelihood of parts interchangeability is high.

____________________________

 

Sorry for any confusion!

 

In other news, I decided to take a closer look at my DSR-1 again tonight. First thing I noticed was that the rubber butt pad wasn't secrued at all and one screw wasn't bolted down allowing the rubber pad swivel 360 degrees! Yikes. The fix was simple as the rubber but pad was easily removed (I originally thought it might be glued down but it was actually clamped on there very nicely), and that gave me access to the screws to secure them properly. The next thing I noticed was the seam line along the center of the pistol grip. The only area that bothers me is where my thumbs first knuckle (the thumb knuckle that's closest to the center of the hand) rubs against it. I'll have to file/sand those down. That part's not too bad though. The racking action is nice, but could use a little grease. Trigger's a little heavy... will take a little getting used to, but not too bad either. The outer barrel isn't fluted... not too distracting especially if you didn't know it was supposed to be. ;)

 

Things I love: how highly adjustable the whole setup is. Overall it's a very solid rifle. Looks bad *albatross*. The quick retractable extended bipod legs are a nice touch.

 

I do wish that they made it clear how to install the bolt which comes uninstalled with the gun (perhaps to show the customs officer that it is indeed a toy. I stumbled upon the installation method when I removed the stock and realized I could just slide the bolt right in. Removing the stock is easy, simply open the lever that allows you to adjust the stock length and extend the stock until it pulls right out. Slide the bolt in, then slide the stock back on and you're done!

 

To see how the entire gun breaks down and an exploded diagram of the gun, head over to newqrf.com, Ares > Gas Gun > AMP DSR-1 > Download Catalogue (PDF)

Or just save the above link's target file. ;)

 

I have yet to shoot the rifle, but my initial reaction is that for the money, it's worth it.

 

 

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The thing that puts me of most is the rummours that star have stopped making the aw338,which would leave that and this gun without any upgrade/replacement parts should something breakl.

I dont want to spend so much on a display gun should that happen,as ive already come across this problem with a custom rifle.

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Nice review, looking forward to reports of field testing, what this thing is like on accuracy, range and consistency through an entire mag. I nearly bought one of these but then I remembered in time that I'm useless as a sniper :P:D

 

Accuracy/range

 

I'm not a "true" sniper, closer to markman, but it's pretty good for me even stock and 0.20 bbs (superking bio) at ~30meters :o

At ~50meters 0.30 bbs (straight) give pretty good results imo.

 

I'll upgrade mine with a pdi 6.05 inner barrel and madbull hop-up rubber tomorrow.

 

Consistency

 

I used cybergun winter and green gas. There is only difference at the end of the mag if i shoot fastly.

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I'll upgrade mine with a pdi 6.05 inner barrel and madbull hop-up rubber tomorrow.

What's the maximum length inner barrel it can accomodate? What kind of inner barrel does it use? Something specific to the STAR Sniper Rifles? From the sounds of what you're describing, this rifle can use a AEG type barrels and rubber???

 

Are STAR sniper rifles generally safe to use with green gas?

 

And how do you adjust the hop-up?

Edited by uscmCorps
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Well, I recieved my DSR-1 this afternoon. I am impressed with the build quality, but the performance leaves much to be desired.

 

I tested mine in the basement with .20 and my Speeder 2000 chrono. The best reading I got was 417fps. Most readings were in the high 290s which is pretty crappy. I tried both magazines, and also tried both propane and green gas (I know, nearly the same thing). Both were epic failures.

 

As this is my first gas sniper rifle, I am at a lose as to what to do to increase performance. I lubed the bolt, checked the nozzle. Everything seems fine. I didnt see anything "jump" out at me. The "pcs" on the mags has the spacer washer in place, so none of the airflow is restricted. I didnt find any broken Orings on the magazines themselves. I dont have the proper tools to remove the valves so I didnt try.

 

This weekend Ill be trying again with a different chrono, as mine you have to shoot through a nozzle to get the reading. If the weapon isnt properly aligned this can give poor results, but I tried several different methods and none were able to record a high reading. Thus I am slightly disgruntled.

Edited by Fighting Maus
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What's the maximum length inner barrel it can accomodate? What kind of inner barrel does it use? Something specific to the STAR Sniper Rifles? From the sounds of what you're describing, this rifle can use a AEG type barrels and rubber???

 

Are STAR sniper rifles generally safe to use with green gas?

 

And how do you adjust the hop-up?

 

Stock inner barrel length: 590mm, aeg type. Mine is 650mm and i'll hide it with a silencer.

 

Here a pdf: http://newqrf.com/pdf/AMP-CAT.pdf

Do you see "amp-019" screw? this is how we modify hop-up.

 

French pre-review with pics: http://www.france-airsoft.fr/forum/index.p...howtopic=102144

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