Schaap Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 King Arms is well known for their aftermarket parts and AEG’s. They recently released 2 new officially licensed Colt(-trademark) M4A1: a full length one, and a CQB version, featuring a 4” shorter barrel. I ordered mine as soon as it came out, here are the first impressions: 1. Package The M4 comes in a nice and colorful box, stating with a hologram-like sticker that the Colt trademarks are officially licensed by Cybergun. The inside of the box reveals the M4 packed in cut-out black foam. Inside the package, you can find: The M4A1 300rd highcap magazine A detailed manual, in English. 2. The features Full Metal AEG (with nylon plastics) 7mm Bearing Gear Box. 14.5" Outer Barrel Bolt Lock System Weight: 3.20kg Length: 87-95cm (6-position retractable stock) 310fps with 0.20gr Semi / full automatic 3. The exterior Let’s have a better look: The handguards have fake heatshields, saying “DO NOT REMOVE” … I like those extra details… The handguards are made out of nylon plastic (no ABS), however, they have a nice texture and are very well finished: no burrs or anything (Classic Army, for instance, does) Placing the handguards on is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The G&P delta ring is soft to push in, the Classic Army is harder, but this is rock solid. You need to place it on the ground and try to get a grip at it… Oh well, the handguards stay in place, that’s for sure! The front sight has good to very good finishing (only 1 small burr) and has trademarks on the side and top. The tip you line up with is steel. A nice extra over the G&P is the side sling swivel, it’s often more handy then one underneath. The barrel has nice trademarks too, the same as you can find on the G&P barrels. The flashhider is steel, and well formed. The stock… well… it’s a 6-position stock, the plastic has sharp edges (on the handle to move it), you might want to unsharpen those with some sanding paper. The sling swivel is metal. The stock tube is unfortunately aluminum, I was hoping for a steel version, neither is it the lipo-ready stock they offer… It would have been a nice little extra. The ring that bolts against the receiver however is steel. The fake forward assist knob is steel too… The receiver has a somewhat brown color, depends on the lighting you put at it. I’ve seen real steel M4’s have the same sort of shade, but I think King Arms has overdone it on this one… it has all the trademarks it should have. The grip feels a bit cheaper than a Tokyo Marui’s, but is still very well formed and stiff. The carry handle is alright, some small casting errors can be seen. The back sight is adjustable like all other M4’s, and is also made of steel (not only the thing you look through, but the whole assembly that moves up and down). Very nice! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) The bolt-lock function is a nice extra, if you charge the carriage handle, the bolt locks back, making hop-up adjustment easier. The bolt cover is steel. The other side of the receiver is the ending point of our little tour. The bolt catch is steel, nice surprise The selectors switch has a nice and solid click. Good. The turning knobs on the carry handle are steel. The trademarks are good, but not perfect. They are nicely thin and deep, they are complete like it should be, but all spaces between the words seem to be missing… very strange! On both TM SOPMOD and G&P M4A1, the spaces are there… See for yourself: 4. The shooting & internals: Well, this was more a exterior test, but here we go anyway: The gearbox gives quite a ‘whisp’-noise, I’ll look into it if I have the time to, maybe it’s normal, perhaps it’s bad shimming. FPS, though not tested, shows somewhere between 300 and 320fps. The hop-up is a standard V2 design with metal hop-up chamber. It does the job, the accuracy is quite well, but I’ll have to wait for decent BB’s to give you results. I’d say: if you need it for CQB or medium-range shooting, it’s good. But don’t expect to shoot beyond 30-35 meters. 5. Conclussion: King Arms seems to have made the lowest priced, Hong-Kong made M4 on the market. It features nice features, quality metal with various steel parts and full trademarks (licensed!) and working bolt-catch. A nice detail for us Europeans is that it shoots within the field limits, requiring (unlike the G&P counterpart) no downgrading. I have reviewed a G&P M4A1 (in Dutch…) and Classic Army M15A4. The finishing seems to be more on-par with the G&P, which had overall better finish than the CA. There isn’t really much difference between the G&P and King Arms, the G&P is slightly more expensive. If you have any questions remaining, please ask! To end the review, some extra pictures… Edited January 14, 2009 by Schaap Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Abelius Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Very nice review. Is there wobble between the body halves? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Thank you, I forgot to mention a few things I see. No wobble between both receiver parts, no wobble between barrel and receiver, no handguard wobble. Very little wobble between stock tube and barrel, I think tightening the bolt in the stock tube and the steel nut that bolts against the receiver will eliminate that. There is wobble on the stock <-> stocktube, just like every other M4 I have had trough my hands, this KA is almost as bad as any other! The magazine fits in fine (good actually), a Classic Army highcap does barely fit, so I'm glad they didn't make the magwell any smaller. I bought KA 68rd magazines, I'll let you guys know how they feed and fit the M4 (they had some issues on my G&P, needing minor modification) Oh yeah, the charging handle definitely makes a nicer sound than non-functional ones do! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pforcerecon Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 I would assume that the ARMS mags would fit as well then since they're made to be the same size as RS mags. As for the stock tube not appearing to be lipo ready, do you plan on doing so, as well as keeping the handguards standard or upgrading to a RIS? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) pforcerecon, it is like you are reading my mind: I'd love to put a LiPo in the stock, that's why I hoped it would be the KA LiPo ready stock, but fortune tells otherwise The receiver however is the typical King Arms 'ready for rear wiring', so that's good. Now I'm not completly sure if I'll buy the KA tube, or save some money and shuv a LiPo in this tube and be happy with all but fully collapsed stock position. I'll add some cheap DBOYS RIS rails too.... CA handguards fit, so the DBOYS RIS should fit too, G&P rails won't! Oh... and you could use a boring bar on a lathe to cut of a few cm's (1-2) of the narrowing in the tube... Edited January 14, 2009 by Schaap Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pforcerecon Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Oh ok, good to know on that. Ya I'm in a debate right now for the perfect CQBR setup..debating to go with the KA CQBR and add a ris and lipo, or go GBB status and go either WE or WA..I'm in this great debate right now man, and the madness is killing me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) Well, seems like ur a clone of me, I was thinking of buying the WE instead, but high gas cost, higher (2-3x) magazine cost, reliability and the bad experience I had with WE made me choose this KA AEG. Now, off to the garden to plant some seeds for my money tree! Edited January 14, 2009 by Schaap Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pforcerecon Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 haha..I'd say I am a clone..although the WE mags do sound to be a better price, at least here for a good $30-40, compared to the WA mags at anywhere from $100 up. How much would the WE be there in belgium?......can ya spare some money seeds?? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Well, knowing that you can get a box of 5 KA 68rd magazines for $45, and a WE goes for $38 a piece, it's still pricey... The low buying price (around $200), cheap magazines ($10 / piece) of the same brand (guaranteed good working imho) makes this a very nice replica for everybody who is looking for a basic M4. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pforcerecon Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Very true indeed, and plus I do like having the best of both worlds, as well as a backup gun in case either one goes down, since AEG is more reliable than Gas, and with gas of course there's no worry about battery or placement, even though now we have lipo's which is nice, but debateable depending on where/when/how/and why i suppose....i'd still get one though =D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vestaa Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 nice review, gonna get me one of those Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 The magazines came in today, they fit ROCK SOLID, no magazine wobble at all! You do need to put them in / get them out in a quick motion... Knowing the fit, they should function like a charm, I'll keep you guys updated! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pforcerecon Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 is this for the ARMS mags that are RS size? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'm talking about King Arms 'cheap as dirt' 68rd metal magazines... standard AEG-sized magazines. These: http://www.kingarms.com/productpage.asp?prodid=453 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
pforcerecon Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 oooh ok ic =D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
recon1988 Posted January 21, 2009 Report Share Posted January 21, 2009 Thanks for the review, this looks like a very nice M4. Might be my first gun if I can find a US seller who has one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
recon1988 Posted March 23, 2009 Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Got my King Arms M4, the review convinced me. All in all I am impressed, the King Arms stock internals are great (you can see them in more detail if you look up the King Arms Troy M4 review on here), and the externals are perfect. I could fit a 2200mah 9.6 v battery in the front handguard, don't know if anything bigger can fit. I swapped out the barrel and hop up bucking with a Madbull 6.03 and a Systema bucking; I have no chrono but using a poor mans chrono it penetrated both sides, take that as you will. Another thing I noticed is that King Arms brand plastic midcaps don't fit well and don't feed that well either, I will replace them with S Arms midcaps later on. I recommend one of these if you want a solid stock M4 that you either want to keep stock or upgrade. King Arms also just released a FN M16 for the same price as this Colt M4, I will probably pick one up in a few months. Thanks again for the review. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted March 23, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2009 Nice to hear from someone else... I'm starting to think that mine was just a lemon... O well, 260-280fps is really all you need on CQB... The M16 looks very good indeed! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
recon1988 Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Ive read another review about this KA M4 that said they got low FPS with the stock hopup/hopup bucking, and after replacing it went up to 340fps. You might want to try replacing the bucking first, since the stock barrel is supposed to be 6.04 so it doesn't need replacing. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
unas Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 King Arms seems to have made the lowest priced, Hong-Kong made M4 on the market. And how much did you pay for it ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted March 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2009 The stock bucking has been replaced, the piston-head has been replaced (giving it a nice little 25fps extra), but it still barely hits 250fps! I'm guessing the nozzle/cilinderhead is leaky... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kodiak22 Posted March 29, 2009 Report Share Posted March 29, 2009 The stock bucking has been replaced, the piston-head has been replaced (giving it a nice little 25fps extra), but it still barely hits 250fps! I'm guessing the nozzle/cilinderhead is leaky... i believe a guy from another review, said he had to replace the entire hopup, not the bucking, to fix the FPS issues. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Schaap Posted April 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 6, 2009 I've ordered a Guarder cylinder enhancement set (cilinder, cilinderhead, piston, pistonhead & nozzle) I'm hoping this will put my M4 over 300fps, preferably 330. If this fails, I might buy a completely new HU-unit Anyone else has ordered this M4 or one of their other variants? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
s85sss Posted April 10, 2009 Report Share Posted April 10, 2009 i had in mind to buy this rifle and then put a G&P ras ll, do you think it can fit the KA? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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