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ARES Tavor TAR-21 - First Impressions


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Just got mine, so a few initial observations/impressions:

 

Good:

 

Solidly built. And I mean SOLID.

 

Good weight. Not sure how it compares with the real thing but feels 'right'. I'm 5' 8" and it feels comfortable to shoulder if a little back-heavy (much like the L85).

 

Well made. I was expecting good things from TSI but average to poor on the ARES. How wrong I was! This is great quality. Although it's mainly carbon-fibre there's very little 'plasticky' feel to it. Surprising amount of metal parts, too. No rattles, creaks or wobbles.

 

Fixable:

 

MARS sight honestly isn't as bad as I've read. Mostly metal and seemingly well-built. Optics seem clear enough and not distorted as read elsewhere but a little dark (as expected though). Red dot/laser adjustments not instinctive but got there in the end.

 

Laser ok. Again, difficult to adjust but will be adequate for indoor CQB as intended.

 

ROF. I like realistic ROF but this feels quite slow on an 8.4 mini battery. Will have to ramp it up with a 9.6 I think.

 

Bad:

 

No printed manual.

 

Trigger. Nice and 'tight' - very positive. Response though seems poor. Trigger/fire delay very noticeable. Long travel. Not sure if this can be fixed.

 

Is there a mosfet in this thing?....

 

Overall:

 

Worth the RRP? Maybe not (just) but has potential. A must buy if you're into less common/exotic weapons. :)

 

 

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Not sure what you can do about the pull, it seems to be the nature of bullpups. To speed up the response, you could whack a MOSFET in, switch to Deans, see if the wiring could use an upgrade and use an 11.1v lipo.

 

Just doing the latter to my T97 has helped (I'll get the rest done when it breaks).

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Errata:

 

...this feels quite slow on an 8.4 mini battery. Will have to ramp it up with a 9.6 I think.

 

[trigger] response though seems poor. Trigger/fire delay very noticeable. Long travel.

Well it will be if you use a near-dead battery! :rolleyes::D

 

Revision:

 

Trigger response is now assessed as good - if just a tiny bit unresponsive. Nothing to whinge about, tbh. ROF is superb on an 8.4v.

 

(...anyone wanna buy two new 9.6 minis?... :D:P )

 

More than happy with this out the box - now for some firing...

 

icon10.gif

Edited by Panoptes
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Possible, possible...

 

I thought the Tavor already came with a tightbore though?

 

Tbh, apart from sights, I'll be "ain't broke, ain't fixin" this one! :D

 

IDF sling is now on order as-is the EoTech 557

 

I really, really want a MEPROLIGHT though. :(

 

Either:

 

m21.s.jpg

 

or this bad boy:

 

Mor11.jpg

 

:o

 

 

 

 

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The mepro sight is something i would really love to get hold of for my Tavor, it finishes off that look. :)

 

Although the Ares is far superior to the TSi, I think it can do with some improvment out of the box. I found the shim job wasnt great, the hopup rubber is extremely thin and leaky, and theres a lot of grease/oil in the cylinder and barrel.

Stripping it is also a pain in the face but with a little work it can work really well. I ditched the old Ares motor this afternoon in favour of a G&P M120 in there and an active breaking mosfet. trigger response is 100% better although it still lacks in that trigger'ish feel. :)

 

Its a shame the gun strips the way it does because you need to remove the gearbox to change the barrel etc, I'll have my barrel next week and have to do it all again. :)

 

Family photo. :D

4128241941_229153b1de.jpg

Edited by beretta
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I'll be running mine on an 11.1v lipo when I get it. In fact I run all my AEGs on 11.1v now, having switched from 8.4v. I suspect the difference in wear is incredible, but nothing has worn out yet.

 

Why don't you split the difference and go for a 7.4v lipo? Normally, a 7.4v lipo will give a higher ROF than an 8.4v nimh, but in a more efficient package.

 

Edit:

 

Nice family shot, beretta - you've reminded me to keep an eye out for the G&G F2000 :)

 

Incidentally, what barrel are you getting for your Tavor?

Edited by The Reptile House
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