Chrissyg Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 Hi all, Recently, a package arrived at my door containing a new gun which I am reviewing on behalf of Gunfire in Poland (www.gunfire.pl). The package was to contain a brand new M4-A1 clone which retails for the price of 195.83 Euros (around £177). As with every time any of us recieve a new gun, I tore open the box to find a brow plain cardboard box with some "Gunfire" advertising on it and lifted the lid... Initial Impressions: Upon opening the box I was greeted to a very nicely packed layout with all the usual bits of paper and targets: This foam-like padding is very nice and among the best that I've experienced over my 6 years playing airsoft, ensuring no damage could occur to the gun whilst in transit. So far so good! Now I'd like to say at this point, that I'm very much opposed to purchasing clone rifles (some of them are very good, but I prefer to pay the extra few £££ for something like a TM) but upon lifting up the M4 I was pleasantly surprised. No cheap feeling plastic has been used on the stock, pistol grip or front grips and has a feel very much similar to that of a Classic Army M15, however there were a few seam lines. Everything else is full metal and of seemingly good quality, with paint that is very resistant to scratching. The stock has 6 positions, and at each position lock in very nicely with little or no wobble. Time to charge the 9.6v battery which comes with the gun and see what is what! On Gunfires website the specifications are as follows: “The M4A1 replica is made of : - ABS: foregrip, buttstock elements, pistol grip and some of the internal elements. - METAL: body, barrel, sight bases, upper receiver, magazine, and a buttstock tube. A 420 fps of power allow to use the M4A1 replica on an open battlefield as well as in a forest. Inside the Gearbox you will find: - Precision barrel 6,04mm - MOSFET - Metal ball bearing - Reinforced TORQUE-UP gears - Piston head with bearing - Reinforced piston with metal tine - Low-resistance wires - New type of delayer - New type of tappet - Metal guide - 8 locking pawl - Reinforced Gearbox frame- Ball bearing on the main gear - Increased torque - Chromium cylinder - M130 spring Set includes: - M4A1 Carabine GFG03 - Hi-Cap magazine - Battery 9.6 V 1100 mAh - Charger Technical details: Power - 420fps Guarantee - 24 months (the best I’ve ever seen offered!) V2 Gearbox Materials - ABS and metal Weight - 3062g Battery - 9.6v 1100mah” Quality: From barrel to stock this gun feels like a quality bit of kit, there is no wobble and only very slight movement in the stock and foregrip. However, the feel is still better than most clones that I’ve had experience with! .... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chrissyg Posted October 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2009 ... The Magazine: On first looks the 300 round hi cap magazine looks of similar quality and finish to the rest of the gun, and has one of the hex key winding mechanisms. But, and its quite a big but. It doesn't fit the gun without massive brute force (a good firm hit on the bottom to get it to lock), and even then once I felt it was placed in correctly it dropped out in the middle of a testing.. Wasn't happy. It did feed on the occasion the magazine stayed in the mag well, but I would highly recommend buying some different magazines as TM hi and lo, G&P mids, and ICS hi caps all fitted with a very easy click. Something that definitely needs addressing. Performance: Firstly I'll cover the claims of 420fps. I took the following readings over 10 shots on semi auto: 1. 419 2. 412 3. 421 4. 425 5. 417 6. 402 7. 413 8. 418 9. 419 10.422 These readings look fairly good and relatively consistent (with the exception of 6.)! Secondly, accuracy and distance; I measured out 60metres in my garden and set about having a good old shoot and all was well until the second burst I fired. A single BB would shoot off to the right (one in ten or so) which a bit disappointing but an easy fix! Turned out to be the rubber was slightly misaligned. With this fixed the gun was as consistent with groupings at 15metres with a spread over 10 rounds of 45mm from standing with the 6.04mm barrel that comes as standard. And as for distance, I was seeing BB’s drop at around the 55metre mark (albeit not very accurately at this point, was struggling to hit a two to three foot wide tree). The mosfet that come pre-installed into the gun seems to work fantastically however! I was able to get nine and a half magazines out of the 9.6v 1100mah battery out of one charge, which ran out after 7 magazines in my TM CAR-15 (no mosfet). The gun has so far had 20,000 BB's put through it, (2,000 per day) and I will be updating this at 50,000 BB's with an "inside the gearbox section" soon to see how the gun fares in the long run! Value for money: This clone is near enough £50 more than a similar clone and verging on non clone territory so is it worth it? Bad points; 1. Magazine 2. Hop up issue (which is probably exclusive to this rifle, but it's the one I had to review!) Good points; 1. Good battery/mosfet combination included (which is totally the opposite on many clones I've seen) 2. 6.04mm barrel which really does make a difference 3. Good build quality 4. Flawless performance for the 20,000 rounds I've now put through it 5. Nice weight, not too light, not too heavy Overall conclusion: I really like this M4, but the magazine issue really lets it down as the ability to buy the gun and play the same day without having to worry about purchasing batteries and mags is lost with this gun. If you have M4/M16 magazines at home then this would make a great addition to your armoury if you want something a little more than a clone but don't want to splash out on a non clone, and like I have seen with many a clone a little tweaking is required to get it working very nicely! So, if you have the experience to tweak these guns I'd say its worth the extra money over a clone and overall worth the £50 extra, the mosfet is a good addition and I would buy another of these provided that mag problem gets sorted. I'd rate this gun at 7.5/10 Chrissy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lance201 Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Nice review, you know that the GFC M4 ist 100% a JG FB6604? I think you will get the JG much cheaper in GB than the GFC from gunfire. Lance Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frontiers Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 yeah, Gunfire mostly rebrand AGM but that is a Jg baby, how i love people who copy aww... meant who wants to be the E1 of all E1s Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chrissyg Posted October 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 6, 2009 I wasn't aware that any of the clone companies have mosfets in them but fair enough if thats what it is Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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