G&P M4 SOPMOD: Initial Impressions

[Leon Kennedy]

G&P M4 SOPMOD: Initial Impressions

by Kevin Heiland

 

Background

 

I entered into the airsoft scene halfway through my freshman year of high school. At the time, the entire sport was quite mesmerizing to me: the cost of some guns blew my original opinions about airsoft and the “sporting goods store” aspect of it out of the water. I joined forums and lurked for a while, then went on to become a moderator at Airsoft-barracks.com. It was a fun escapade, but regardless of how into it I got, the price of gear always outshone my income. Eventually, I slid out of the sport.

 

Four years later, it’s my Sophomore year of college, and my buddy got into the sport with our heavy playing of Xbox. Figures, eh? Of course, I got sucked back into the game. The market sure has changed; Echo 1 and other “clones” are quite popular and actually worth the cost. However, I now had a pretty good sum of disposable income thanks to employment, and decided to go all out and get the type of gun I’ve always wanted. I finally dumped the money on this beautiful G&P M4 SOPMOD, sold by Airsoft Gi.

 

Unboxing

 

After carving through UPS’s cardboard maiden of packaging, I found a surprisingly plain box. Now, I’ve seen some G&P boxes before, and they all at least have the G&P “Laser Product” logo. This is completely blank. Inside is some nice OD foam plates, and underneath is the gun itself. The box contained:

 

Gun

Mid-Cap Magazine

Extra Deans connectors/shrink wrap.

 

That’s it. No manual. No case candy. No cleaning rod. I found it quite strange. That’s not the only strange part about this gun, but more of that will be explained later.

 

Impressions

 

This gun is a mean *badgeress*, and you can quote me on that one. The moment I picked it up, I thought, “wow”. I’ve handled plenty of rental guns and loaners, mostly Marui and clones, and the sheer weight and feel of this thing cannot even compare. The aluminum body is just solid. Everything that’s metal on the real steel is metal on this. The only plastic parts I can find is the foregrip, stock, and pistol grip.


Speaking of the pistol grip, it’s quite thinner than some other AEGs to simulate the real steel’s grip.

 

The engravings on the body are nice, deep, and painted well. Plenty of jokes on this one! “MCLMMM”, “Megaforce Use Only”, etc. Not my top pick of receivers, but it’ll do for now. The top rail is nice and clean cut; good paint job on that, too. The dust cover stays open on this model, unlike other G&Ps; pulling the charging handle pulls back a cover, revealing the hop-up. I believe the forward assist and bolt release are non-functioning on this model.

 

The crane stock seems solid enough. The rubber butt is a nice touch. Operation is simple, push down on the lever to adjust length, pull it up all the way to remove the stock. Inside the buffer tube is the battery connector, and a single Phillips head screw to remove the buffer tube from the rest of the body. The stock fits a 9.6v nunchuck battery, but I know some companies make larger batteries specifically for the crane stock.

 

This model of M4 actually comes with a flip up rear sight and no carrying handle. On another G&P M4 I’ve handled, the carrying handle was a nice piece of aluminum, and the sights on it were great. This flip up one is no exception. Adjustable horizontally and vertically for windage, all metal, and clear. Personally, I prefer a wider sight picture, so this tiny pinhole sight isn’t comfortable.

 

Moving forward, the barrel is all metal, and one piece. Gas tube, too. The gun came with the normal orange plastic flash hider, but ASGI threw in the black metal one as well. That was an awesome touch.

 

The included magazine is a standard G&P Midcap. It feeds fine, but some BBs fall out once you remove the mag. It’s all metal, and opens up via a small hex on the bottom.

 

Performance

 

Living in an apartment, I can’t really just go out and shoot test shots, but I did unload a mag on a target down my hall, and from what I can tell, this is definitely shooting at least 340 fps. The gun is nice and loud, and the hopup didn’t need any adjustment to be accurate the 30 ft I was shooting it. This isn’t a testament to accuracy, just a good reassurance that the gun works how it should.

 

Every once in a while, the gun’s trigger stops pulling in semi auto. Switching to full and firing a round works fine; perhaps something is becoming locked? Only seems to happen when rapidly firing in semi.

Important Notes

 

The receiver threading is measures imperially, not metrically, so some RIS systems made for Marui and Echo 1 guns do not fit. This gun uses a “real-style Delta Ring” system, where the delta ring is pulled down to install the handguard, so be careful when buying rails. The support at Airsoft GI turned me towards the Madbull Daniel Defense Omega rail, which bolts onto the existing delta ring and is “confirmed” to work with G&P M4s.

The gun comes standard with Deans connectors. This means that the normal Tamiya connectors that nearly ALL airsoft guns and batteries come with will not work. You must find a way to use an adapter, or solder new connectors on. The gun’s connector is a male Deans connector, by the way.

The inside of the crane stock is rough-cut and sharp. Don’t be a dumbass and stick your finger in it to remove the battery clips; use needle nose pliers.

 

Conclusion


There you have it, the G&P M4 SOPMOD. It’s a rock solid gun with great out-of-the-box performance. It’s definitely a skirmisher’s AEG. I am really happy with this purchase, and if called for, I’ll write a full review once I get inside the gearbox and get out into the field.

 

Here are some photos. Sorry, the DSLR is not available right now, so I'm using a loaner camera...one I can get into a good environment and a nice camera, I'll throw out some nicer pictures. Please, PLEASE ask questions; most reviews I find of G&P M4s are lacking some important details, so I'd like to clear up any questions people have.

 

[mrpugster]

nice thx for that mate

[druid799]

the lock up in semi mate , the same problem can ocure with the TM socom EBB , one way of solving it is to switch to lipo . was happening to me so changed over to lipo at the sugestion of Richard Y on these very forums (used 7.4v 2200 and deans connectors) and its never happened since . hope this is of help .

[Leon Kennedy]

the lock up in semi mate , the same problem can ocure with the TM socom EBB , one way of solving it is to switch to lipo . was happening to me so changed over to lipo at the sugestion of Richard Y on these very forums (used 7.4v 2200 and deans connectors) and its never happened since . hope this is of help .

 

 

I got a pretty small battery for it, so switching would be good. I'm assuming these things hold up to a lipo well? Any specific sizes that fit best in a crane stock?

[druid799]

I got a pretty small battery for it, so switching would be good. I'm assuming these things hold up to a lipo well? Any specific sizes that fit best in a crane stock?

haven"t owned a G&P my self but i would have hoped for the money there charging it would hold up to lipo ok ! have a look around there"s loads of crane stock lipo"s around (once you start looking!) but from my limited experiance i"d say stick with 7.4"s (work fine for me) and you"ll be fine , 11pointers mite be a bit hard on your new toy , though i"m sure others will give you more advice as well .

[SilentTank]

haven"t owned a G&P my self but i would have hoped for the money there charging it would hold up to lipo ok ! have a look around there"s loads of crane stock lipo"s around (once you start looking!) but from my limited experiance i"d say stick with 7.4"s (work fine for me) and you"ll be fine , 11pointers mite be a bit hard on your new toy , though i"m sure others will give you more advice as well .

 

7.4 for G&P is plenty of rof without modding the gearbox. I suggest either the king arms or the G&P made 7.4v lipo sticks for crane stocks. Not hard to find at all at sites like redwolf/ehobby/tokyo model ect. If you want to run 11.1, I recommend shaving 2nd to last tooth on piston to prevent premature-engagement. Also ensure good lube and proper shim though on the G&P I had the gearbox ran like champ

[hwagan]

Chuck a 7.4 Lipo pack in it and you'll be sorted - I've never experienced lock up issues in either of my G&P AR's. An 11.1 Lipo is really unnecessary unless you're looking to spend a fair bit fiddling with the gearbox just for a ridiculous and ridiculously high rate of fire - the G&P M120 motor with a decent 7.4 Lipo should run around 20-22 RPS. Nice review, and good choice of rifle - I've never looked back from G&P AEG's, and i don't think i ever will.