A&K M60E4 / Mk43 Mod 0 - A Full Video Review

[gerrysnaps]

Happy new year to all (again)!

 

After some confusion and mishandling on our part that led to me getting banned (whoops!), we can now share with you our last video for 2009, an HD video review of the A&K Mk43 Mod 0. The video transcript follows after the link.

 

We hope you all enjoy our little video. Thanks again to Marlowe and the forum admins for their consideration allowing us back on the forums!

 

 

Video Transcript

 

Hello and welcome to PinoyAirsoft Evolution 5.

 

Tonight, it's all about heavy metal and plastic rain as we look at the A&K Mk 43 Mod 0 Slash M60E4.

 

World War 2 in Europe taught the Americans a hard lesson in dealing with machine gun squads. So they sought to replicate and improve on the lethal German designs they fought against with the T44 prototype. The prototype led to the M60, a general-purpose machine gun meant to be the ultimate squad-level weapon. From conflict to conflict, it has evolved to keep up with modern war, until we come to the ultimate version, the M60E4 or the Navy Mark 43 Mod 0.

 

This isn't the first airsoft version, but A&K are the first to mass produce an affordable one that isn't made of plastic. This one is a metal monster that looks to live up to the ferocity of the real thing. And you can have it for the price of an iPod.

 

Bench Tests

 

Out of the box, it shoots at 407 FPS on 0.25, or a staggering 470 FPS on 0.20g. Or 2 Joules. That's the maximum legal limit in Hong Kong. And unlike your garden-variety upgraded M4, it delivers that power in an unbroken hail of plastic death. An unrelenting 10 to 12 Rounds Per Second, on the standard battery. The hail just goes on and on and on.

 

Contrast this with the M249, where ROF slows down after 3 or 4 seconds. The 249 is for a boxer with finesse, pouncing with quick jabs. Meanwhile, the M60 is for a drunken brawler. It just corners you and punches you. Repeatedly. In the face.

 

This isn't to say it's messy and inaccurate. The 470 mm inner barrel delivers respectable 30 millimeter groupings at 15 yards.

 

Handling

 

The M60E4 has a vertical grip, designed to be fired in offhand stance, like a rifle. The revised bipod puts the center of mass below its pivot to make a stable shooting platform. Barrel release and handle are faithfully replicated nice touches but serve no real purpose.But the ambidextrous safety works and will come in handy.

 

The gas regulator actually controls rate of fire electrically. It's a nice touch not even the high end VFC version can claim to have.

 

The Mark 43 is shorter than the standard M60. At a little shy of 1 meter in length, it's actually as short as an M249 PARA with stock extended. Fully loaded, it weighs in at a solid 16 pounds.

 

The sound activated autowinding boxmag is also made solid, unlike the paper box VFC throws in. But unlike the M249 and more like older SAW designs, the box magazine sticks out awkwardly out on the left.

 

In The Box

 

A&Ks kit comes with everything you need to rock and roll. No extra batteries needed as the boxmag plugs in to the gun for power. About the only thing that's lacking in this package is a couple of kilos of ammunition to fill up the boxmag. It's all there, and everything is usable. And yes, even the user manual is useful, having been photocopied from a good source.

 

Teardown

 

Popping the top cover gives you easy access to the barrel-style hopup, which is not unlike on the 249. Teardown is an easy task, with everything but the gearbox readily disassembled without tools. Popping the top cover gives you easy access to the barrel-style hopup, which is not unlike on the 249.

 

Under the metal, you'd expect there to be some very scary upgrades. Outside the massive gearbox certainly looks solid and is also cleanly constructed. All the wiring into the gearbox is routed through a connector that plugs into the receiver.

 

The spring is longer than normal. The motor is heavily magnetized. The gears are nothing special but reassuringly well lubricated. The tappet plate, cylinder and piston are longer than normal.

 

Amazingly, the compression can only be described as appalling. It's baffling how it even manages to do 2J. Another mystery is the hopup. Turning it even all the way up seems to do nothing to the BB flight path.

 

Now then the chinks in the metal monster's armor are showing. It gets worse.

 

Issues

 

Issue 1 - Boxmag Switch Location

 

The boxmag, a rare design innovation, is ruined by having the switch in the most awkward place it could possibly be. Even punching a hole through the ammo bag doesn't remedy this issue, as the switch stays hidden behind the battery.

 

Issue 2 - Loose Front Set

 

More seriously, though, the front set, given time to bed in, has a tendency to wobble. With some stress, the screws can come off the body, which, being made of a weak alloy, tends to let the screws destroy the threading. In point of fact, we had to change out all the screws with common stove bolts to hold it together long enough to complete this review.

 

Issue 3 - Mag Mount Loses Thread

 

The problem extends further elsewhere. Putting stress on the magazine mount can cause one of the screws to shear off the receiver and later cause the entire mount to separate.

 

Conclusion: Recommended With Reservations

 

In the end, we can only recommend the A&K Mk43 with some reservation. Out of the box it is quite a capable BB hose. But ultimately the A&K Mk43 is let down by all the shoddy materials used to keep it affordable. If it could only take as good as it dished out, this gun would actually be skirmishable.

 

Granted, it's still the most powerful support gun you can get out of the box. That is, until the screws come loose.

 

[MrM60]

I have had NO issues with mine since it came out.

 

A little loose end, but around 400,000 rounds stock, and still nothing wrong. Yes, I am trigger happy.

I just put new screws in the front set and doesn't wobble at all.

It will have a ROF of around 12- 22 RPS.

 

So I have no clue on the issues you are talking about.

Edited January 13, 2010 by MrM60

[gerrysnaps]

MrM60, that is an impressive round count! Keep in mind though that our biggest issues are not with the ability of the gun to keep firing, but with the body wobble and screw shearing problems. These really come up when you've handled it as roughly as we did in the field. Similar guns, notably the A&K M249, are able to suffer more abuse without having the integrity of the body compromised.

[nuclear_darkness]

How I remedied the switch problem in my own special way.

 

I simply jammed a small piece of folded paper so that the switch is set to the setting I want, then used a small bit of gaffa tape to cover up the switch area. No more problems with the battery changing its position.

 

 

Another problem I remedied my own way was the box mag drooping on the holder, using some green string.

 

I simply tied some green string through the hole above the BB feed pipe, through the hole of the cloth box mag holder and then over the top of the mag holder.

 

That way its held in solid and the feeding tube wont snag on the metal when the mag sags down which it no longer can do.

 

Another problem was the hop up, being of odd design I simply cut up a small piece of of a Biro Pen tube to a slightly longer size of what they used, it worked perfectly (with a new rubber of standard spec). I now have a great hop unit.

 

I also replaced the motor with a g&p m160 (short head) and it works perfectly. Giving me a better ROF that isn't silly and the rest of the parts have been fine. The compression in my box was also next to perfect.

 

With those easy and quick fixes (haven't had the screw loosening yet) I have a brilliantly skirmishable m60.

 

Any questions or if you need pics please ask guys.

[RC-1138]

Very professional review. Shame about the screws though, I was interested in this but I think I'll wait to whoever's 240bravo comes out and compare it to this for a final decision.

[Cubeman]

MrM60, that is an impressive round count! Keep in mind though that our biggest issues are not with the ability of the gun to keep firing, but with the body wobble and screw shearing problems. These really come up when you've handled it as roughly as we did in the field. Similar guns, notably the A&K M249, are able to suffer more abuse without having the integrity of the body compromised.

 

 

Surely mabye some locktite or something to give the screws better grasp?

[zerodivide]

Surely mabye some locktite or something to give the screws better grasp?

 

Loctite was one idea but it seems the screw bolts are really shallow and so is the threading. They don't screw into the gearbox so there isn't much material to support it. If you play in manicured game fields it looks like it would be fine. But if you ever play in thick foliage like we do in Asia you need to think about reinforcing the body.

 

Our troubles began when I took it through a jungle-type game field. The brush was thick enough that you literally had to hack at it, in this case with the M60. When I reached the "base" the gun was non-functional. It was a surprise to see it turn into two pieces. Postmortem examination showed the barrel had ejected and it had lost at least two bolts on the body. The wiring on the gearbox was pulled out as well. It seems, if you flex the front of the gun enough its possible to destroy the threading and dislodge the bolts. I switched to the M249 in the same terrain and it wasn't a problem.

Edited January 18, 2010 by zerodivide

[Bagpuss]

Has anyone tried bonding the two body sections together, e.g. epoxy resin glue or cyanoacrylate? I don't think PU adhesive (e.g. Sikaflex) will work as it a) is designed for some flex and you need a certain thickness of bonding agent. Another option could be the low temperature ally welding rods, but I suspect they would melt at a higher temperature than the body

 

The other option is thread inserts, but I just think that there isn't enough surface for the screws to bite to.

 

I was thinking of cutting small groves in the mating surfaces to increase the body area and soldering the spade connectors inside the body*

 

 

(*) I've found the only reason to split the gun in two is if you don't disconnect the mosfet on barrel removal. Its possible to disconnect the spade connectors very easily. Once you have had to open up the body once or twice, its not quite the same after, due to, as mentioned, poor screw threads.

[gerrysnaps]

We have contemplated welding the pieces together but haven't actually tried that out!

[Hillslam]

Yeah - all these issues were solved almost a year ago. See my sig.