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King Arms VLTOR M4-VIS1 Carbine


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Righty - The actual review will be up this evening when i'm home from work, along with lots of nice pictures for you all to stare at. This 'Pre-review' is mainly here to give everyone a quick breakdown of the features of the gun, and for anybody to pose any questions they'd like to see answered this evening. So...

 

Where am and how many money is?

 

I purchased mine from Wolf Armouries - Cost me £399.99. Wolf are so far the only UK retailer i've found to stock these, although WGC and Redwolf and the like all seem to have them in stock. As a bit of a side note, i was VERY sceptical about buying from Wolf... I'd seen a rubbish engineer ruin a friend's M16 and charge £200 for the service before now, and i'd generally been unimpressed by customer service. My sceptisism was immediately proved well founded on Saturday - Ordered the gun Friday, and made it absolutely clear it had to be Saturday delivery, and i'd be willing to pay any extra - I was assured it'd turn up on Saturday. The gun didn't arrive on Saturday while a friend's stuff did, both coming via the same courier. My heart immediately sank - However, this is where the story becomes more positive. After much phoning around at parcelforce and Wolf, i established the guy who took the order was new to the place and unaware of Saturday delivery procedures - I told Wolf, essentially, to go and F themselves, despite their repeated apologies; I was understandably annoyed. I told them i'd return the package when it arrived on Monday, and they could give my damn money back, as it had become clear from ParcelForce i wasn't able to collect the gun from the depot it was sitting at. However - After about half an hour, Wolf called back - A fella named Max had managed to convince Parcelforce to hang around at the depot until i got there so i could collect the gun. Now, the guy who took my order at Wolf *DID* screw up, quite badly. However, they really, really worked their arses off to sort it all out, despite my anger-related rudeness. It's totally restored my faith in Wolf's CS, and i'd like to say thanks to Max for fixing this all for me, in case he's on this forum. Anyhoo, i ramble...

 

What come in box?

 

Well, obviously the Rifle itself. It's packaged in your average King Arms generic AEG box, with a sticker marking the contents of said box. The box is pretty forgettable really - It's a lot more 'designed' than a G&P box, but it's nothing amazing - Lots of KA markings and logos. Quite annoyingly long as well, due to it being the same box for full length rifles. The black foam securing the rifle in place is perfectly adequate for the task, and despite some minor knocks to the box, the gun was in perfect condition. The box is simple but effective, as it should be.

 

Included is:

 

1 x VLTOR M4-VIS1 Carbine

1 x 300 round AR15 hicap

1 x QD Vertical foregrip - The full length one, not the silly stubby one. (I hate the stubby ones)

Generic KA M4 Manual - Totally useless, as it had NO specific information on battery placement in the modstock, etc.

Funnily enough, no cleaning/unjamming rod with mine - I have several, but something to look out for if this is going to be your first AEG.

 

Why buy, is nice?

 

Well, the obvious one here is the VIS (Versatile Interface Structure) upper receiver. This is (from what i know) the first out-the-box AR15 based AEG rifle with a monolithic upper receiver and rail assembly. I might be wrong on that, but i'm fairly sure it is. Basically, the receiver and the rail system are one piece of solid aluminium. This has obvious advantages such as durability, a completely free-floating barrel, a very solid feel, and it looks damn nice. Real steel wise, it's essentially an MUR-1 upper receiver with a rail system permanently affixed, starting out as 2 separate pieces and then heat treated and other stuff to permanently join the 2 parts together. Here's some info on the real deal:

 

http://vltor.com/vis.htm

 

The features also include:

 

Fully trademarked VLTOR lower receiver, uniquely numbered

Tango Down style smooth pistol grip - Way nicer than the M4/A2 style

10.5" one piece outer barrel with birdcage flash-hider

Easily removed VLTOR marked flip up front sight gas block

Fully adjustable flip up rear BUIS

VLTOR Battery carrying Modstock on 6 position numbered buffer tube

 

I can't be bothered to wait for the review, should i buy one?

Put simply, yes - This one's a definite winner. I'll go into as much detail as my typing fingers will allow this evening to clarify exactly why. It's solid, weighty, looks the tits and the performance is fantastic. It has a couple of niggles, as every gun does, but it's overall a fantastic AEG despite these. If anyone wants specific details photographed, or wants to know anything in particular about the rifle, ask away either on here or via PM, and i'll make sure to include it in the full review.

 

 

 

 

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Right, annoyingly, i can't borrow the work camera this evening. My phone camera is so bad there's no point, and i've had a knackering day, so i'll do the full thing tomorrow evening.

 

However...

 

The lower, removable section of the VIS has the tiniest bit of wobble, if you're using a VFG. The upper 3 rails attached to the receiver will only wobble if you get a hammer involved. A massive one.

 

Stock is a little bit loose, as AR stocks tend to be. Still becomes rock solid when shouldered, however.

 

Feeds flawlessly with the included hicap, CA hicap, ACM hicap, CA midcap and MAG plastic midcaps. G&P midcaps won't fit, and the CA mags are a snug fit.

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Right, unfortunately, i'm in the middle of moving an office of 300 people to a whole new building, and have a total lack of time to do a proper review. So here's the basic things you'll need to know:

 

Good news:

 

Build quality is excellent overall - Nice finish, nice trademarks, decent plastics and looks awesome.

Performance is fantastic - I don't see any need to upgrade this in stock form. Shoots about 340fps, very accurate and excellent range. Gearbox feels smooth, RoF is about 800 a minute with an 8.4v.

Rear BUIS is fantastic - very well made.

Very comfy, very well balanced with a battery in, and very nice to use overall.

 

Bad news:

 

Stock/Battery fitting design is an abortion. Unless you're very careful, wires will get trapped, fitting the battery into the stock is a PITA, and the stock will only retract to the 3rd or 4th position with a battery in, depending how lucky you get with the way the wires come to rest in the buffer tube. I don't mind, because i hate battery bags, but you'll have to be careful. Stock has a fair bit of wobble as well.

Can't strip the thing - Don't know if i'm missing something here, but pushing pins out and sliding the body forward isn't enough to take the thing apart. Something sticks, i don't know what, and i'm not willing to force it.

 

Overall, it's an excellent AEG - A couple of annoying issues as always, but it looks, shoots, and feels the nuts. KA have paid a lot of attention to the detailing, and the gearbox is excellent.

 

BUT.

 

And this is a big but - The day this arrived, so did two G&P sentry's belonging to friends. This thing cost me £130 more at £399.99, and all i've got for my £130 is a one piece upper receiver. I love it, don't get me wrong - But the G&P is a better buy. It looks almost exactly the same, the stock and battery design is FAR superior, and it's also a little better on the external front, with equally good performance.

 

So, overall...

If you want a one piece upper receiver/rail system *that* badly, you'll be happy to live with the minor issues and the higher price. I am, and really, i'm not that bothered about the price - I know a lot of you people who pay rent and the like will put much more thought into the price. It's only worth it, if you REALLY want a proper VIS carbine. If you want a gun that looks similarly good and shoots just as well, buy the Sentry.

 

 

Here's some pictures 'n all.

 

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Edited by hwagan
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A guy i play with has the KA M4-VIS1. Externally the gun is solid and looks great. But he has had nothing but problems when it came to upgrading the internals. King arms bodies do not like other companies parts, especially new hop up chambers and mechboxes. After some fitment issues with the new mechbox and hop up chamber he now has the gun running like a champ though!

 

*edit*

 

Hwagan, in regards to removing the upper receiver from the lower. You need to slightly lift the charging handle upwards as you slide it off. There is a catch on the top of the mechbox that is stopping you from removing the upper. When i had to switch out some parts on a friends KA M4 i had the same problem. Eventually i figured it out and noticed the little notch on the top of the mechbox. And yes only the front pin needs to be taken out for the upper to come off, the rear take down pin holds the mechbox in place.

Edited by Whudafxup
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See i'm a strong believer in leaving a gun as it was out of the factory until something breaks... Saying that, i'm in the UK, so the out of the box performance for this gun is as good as it needs to be, which doesn't hold true when you're up against people with another 60fps...

 

*edit* Just tried that dude - Still not going anywhere... I'm sure it'll probably work if i use a little more force or wriggle something about, but i'd rather not risk it, as i have no real need to strip the thing anyway. Fairly annoying though >.<

Edited by hwagan
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