Tanaka silver Colt SAA Artillery

[Shao14]

Tanaka Colt Single Action Army .45 Artillery Review

 

Airsoft revolvers are notorious for their bad or rather inconsistent

performance, but after playing with all kinds of GBBs, I must say it

got a bit boring. An automatic just can't beat the style and

elegance of a revolver. Being a City Hunter fan, my ideal revolver

would be a 4" Colt Python, but the Marui model is known to be

cheap-looking, and prone to problems especially with green gas, and

the Tanaka ones had inconsistent performance too, but more

importantly, the Tanaka ones were long out of production, and out of

stock everywhere I looked. After looking around a bit more, and a

bit researching, I got my heart set one either the Tanaka M629 or

the Colt Single Action Army Civilian or Artillery model. My

decision was made easy for me by the fact that the Tanaka M629's out

of stock everywhere I looked, and so I ordered an SAA.

 

Originally, I ordered the silver Civilian model (4.75" barrel) from

WGC, but after a week, they told me it was out of stock, so I told

them to change it to the siliver Artillery model (5.5" barrel), and

I'm pretty sure I bought the last one in their stock because later

on the same night I told them to change my order, their website was

updated and showed the Artillery model was also out of stock. On

the side note, Tanaka made a dozen different models of the SAA,

ranging from black to silver, non-heavy weight to heavy weight, and

4.75" Civilian model to 7.5" Calvary model, and most of them are

already out of stock everywhere.

 

The real steel Colt Single Action Army was first introduced in 1873,

and is the oldest hand gun still in production today. Several nick

names for the SAA are Colt Single Action, Peacemaker, and Frontier.

 

Ok, enough with the introduction, on with the real review. I ripped

open my package, and inside the box, lie the shiny silver Colt

Single Action Army Artillery model with the gas adaptor, dissemble

tools and some BBs. This is my first airsoft revolver and my first

silver gun, and I've got to say it is the most beautiful thing I've

ever seen.

 

 

 

I was afraid silver finish on a plastic gun would look terrible, but

boy, am I glad I was wrong! Never seen a silver real steel, but by

looking at this gun, I just can't believe it's made of plastic.

Picking up the gun does not help identifying the build material

either. WGC said it's built of ABS plastic, but I still don't

believe it.

 

Looking down the barrel (not recommended if the gun's loaded)

carefully, you can see a ring of mold line at the tip of the barrel,

two short mold lines above and below where the barrel joins the

frame, and a vague mold line inside the trigger guard. That's it.

The finish everywhere else is just flawless. The silver finish is

just beautiful. Neither words nor pictures can do it justice.

 

The gun has good weight, 745g according to WGC, even though it's the

none-heavy-weight model. It felt balanced. The first thing I tried

is to spin it like a cowboy, and I can't get enough of it.

 

The gun feels quite solid, and there is no rattle whatsoever.

 

The Colt trademarks are nicely replicated on the barrel, frame, and

the grip panels.

 

 

Ok, that's enough about the looks of the gun. What I'm more

interested is its performance. Never handled an airsoft revolver

before, and getting it to work can be a bit tricky. Glance through

the pictorial manual with full of Japanese that's not one of my

languages, but I managed to make out the operation of the gun.

 

Unlike the modern revolvers, the SAA has a fixed cylinder that can

not be swung out. The BBs are loaded into the cylinder by simply

pressing it in from the front one by one. You need to rotate the

cylinder as you go (more on how to get the cylinder to rotate in a

bit). Each BB will click into place easily, and will not fall out

once loaded in. The only way to get them out is to shoot them out.

 

 

After you load 6 rounds into the cylinder, you can load another 12

in the tube under the barrel.

 

 

To do this, use a BB to push the pin at the front end of the tube,

and the rod can then be pulled out.

 

 

Pour the BBs in the tube, and push the rod back in until the pin

clicks back in place. The rod is spring loaded, so when the

cylinder rotates, BBs in the tube will be loaded into the cylinder.

Rather ingenious design, I must say, and this way, the gun has a

total capacity of 18. Reloading the gun takes a bit longer than

just inserting another mag, but Ocelot told me it's exhilarating to

reload the SAA in the middle of a battle.

 

To gas the gun, you need to open a piece behind the cylinder. This

is where a real steel SAA loads its bullets, but on the airsoft, you

see the ends of nice fake brass shells. The shells are

non-removable. On the back of each shell, you can see the text "W-W

45 Colt" except one shell on which it says "gas", and the primer of

the shell is a gas nozzle, and this is where you load the gas.

 

 

I quickly realized the tip of a standard airsoft gas can is not long

enough, but an adaptor (just an extension tube) is kindly provided

by Tanaka. I loaded my SAA with some 134a gas. And with BBs

already loaded, I'm good to go.

 

Being a single action gun, you need to manually cock the hammer for

each shot. You can do it single handed with the shooting hand's

thumb, or you can do it double handed with the free hand to cock the

hammer while the shooting hand just pull the trigger, and I've seen

a video demonstration before where an expert can shoot two rounds

off an SAA so fast with the two hand shooting style that you just

hear one loud bang, but of course, I'm no expert, yet.

 

The hammer seems to have 4 positions though only 3 of them are

useful. After each shot, the hammer returns to the rest position.

Pull the hammer back slowly until you hear the first click, this is

the second position, and only after the hammer is pulled from rest

position to the second position, the cylinder can be rotated

manually for loading or Russian Roulette purposes (the cylinder can

not spin freely though, it can only be rotate from one slot to the

next with a nice click each time). Pull the hammer a bit further,

you hear another click, and the cylinder is lock at this click. Pull

the hammer all the way back to the last position, and you are

finally lock and loaded.

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y171/shao...A/SAAhammer.jpg

 

To shoot, if you are going cowboy shooting from the hip, just pull

the trigger, but if you want to take an aimed shot, you've got to

look for the sights. The front sight is nice an big, but the rear

sight is just a slot on top of the frame. When the hammer is down,

the slot is blocked by the hammer, but you can't shoot when the

hammer is down anyways. Line up the front sight and the slot

horizontally is easy, but vertically, if the top of the front sight

is level with the top of the frame, the shots will go too low. If

the top of the front sight exceeds the frame a bit, the shots will

be just right.

 

 

In fact, there's a little cut on the back of the front sight. I'm

not sure if it's a little scratch on the front sight, or is it for

aiming purposes. Can't really see that little cut clearly from arm

length anyway, but that's where I need to line up with the top of

the frame. I am not sure if there's a hop up. There is no mention

of a hop up in the manual (or maybe there is, but I just couldn't

read it).

 

 

Before pulling the trigger, let me just point out that the trigger

is to the side of the frame. I'm not sure what the theory behind

this design is, but being a single action pistol, the trigger pull

is very short and light.

 

 

After shooting around a bit, I found the accuracy of the gun is

actually acceptable, better than I had heard or expected. The

grouping is occasionally spoiled by a couple of outliers, but

otherwise pretty tight, and I can hit my target trap at 15 feet

easily.

 

The power feels decent. I don't have a chrono, so no figures can be

given, but from shooting at boxes, I'd say it's at least 250 fps

with .2g BBs, 134a gas at room temperature.

 

Gas efficiency is outstanding since the gas is used for pushing BBs

out only. So far, I've shot more than 100 shots on one charge, and

it is still counting.

 

Final verdict? I am more than happy with this newest addition to my

armory. The lack of any blowback action is nicely compensated by

the moving cylinder action. And with the hammer lowered, you can

safely spin the gun around your index finger. The inconsistency in

performance doesn't seem to be much worst than a decent GBB. I'm

going to get a holster next and start practice fast draw with it.

[Shao14]

Appearantly, 10 is also the limit of the number pictures you can link in a post.

 

Here's a shot comparing the size of the SAA with the P226.

[Sledge]

*Drools* Any idea if it's safe to use green? And what would performance be like? And would you accept a few family members in trade for the SAA?

 

[Shao14]

*Drools* Any idea if it's safe to use green? And what would performance be like? And would you accept a few family members in trade for the SAA?

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Will try green gas very soon. It has not run out of the 134a I fed it yesterday. And so far, I'm more than happy with the performance on 134a.

 

Trade? Haha, I would trade it for a Tanaka M629. This gun is just too cool

 

Watch for a short video or two.

Edited June 11, 2005 by Shao14

[Shao14]

Just tried some green gas. The muzzle report is significantly louder, and the grouping at 20 feet is no worst than using 134a gas with .2g BBs at room temp. Can hit a letter sized paper target with no problem with grouping radius 2.5 inch for 18 shots.

 

Here's a small vedio 2.69 MB. http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=SAA

 

Here's a test target at 9m range with green gas, .2g BBs, room temp, standing, one hand, 18 shots.

Edited June 11, 2005 by Shao14

[Vicks]

my god thats a sexy beast, what type of price tag you get on those?

 

nice review btw, convinced me that i want one

 

cheers

 

edit: on a side note, do you have to pull the hammer back each time to fire or can you just pull the trigger?

thanks again

Edited June 11, 2005 by Vicks

[Shao14]

my god thats a sexy beast, what type of price tag you get on those?

 

nice review btw, convinced me that i want one

 

cheers

 

edit: on a side note, do you have to pull the hammer back each time to fire or can you just pull the trigger?

thanks again

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Got it from WGC for USD $172 + shipping (around $30 and I ordered some other stuff at the same time).

 

Yes, you have to cock the hammer everytime as said in the review and as shown in the video.

[Redhawk]

Great to see you're happy with it. From the photos the gun looks really nice. So the accuracy isn't too bad? I just might get one someday.

[Shao14]

Yep, the finish on the gun is far more superior than my KSC and TM GBBs. A few really light and small seam lines that I mentioned in the review, but otherwise, just beautiful. The silver finish is almost like a mirror, and you can indeed see the reflections in some of the pictures above.

 

The accuracy is decent at 9m, but the sights could be better. I guess it's more meant for shooting from the hip rather than aimed shot.

 

The fixed cylinder require the gas tube extension to feed the gas, and I still haven't quite master the use of that. Everytime I try to gas it, gas always spills out from the extension rod, and I have no idea how much gas actually went in the cylinder. The one time I used 134a gas, and got somewhere around 150 shots out of it, but the other times when I tried to use green gas, only got a few dozens (though I don't believe I fill the cylinder up with green gas). I'd say if you are looking for negative things about the gun, the extension gas feeding tube is it.

 

Oh yea, a set of ivory grip panels would be nice.

Edited June 12, 2005 by Shao14

[Redhawk]

Yes, indeed, either ivory or wood. If you go for ivory then you'll probably have to settle for imitation ivory as real ones are too expensive.

 

As for the gas nozzle, I usually try to hold it as vertical as possible. Gas spillage is common, and you can tell when the cylinder is full because more gas than usual will spill out.

[Shao14]

Other revolvers whose cylinder can swing out don't need and extension tube for the gas, do they? I think the extension tube is making the spillage more than others. I usually have much less spill when filling my GBB mags that don't need the extension tube. But anyways, I could get gas in the cylinder, so it's all good.

[Redhawk]

Actually I think all of the Tanaka revolvers require the nozzle.

[Shao14]

Actually I think all of the Tanaka revolvers require the nozzle.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

hmm, interesting then. In the case of the SAA I can see why since the gas can nozzle is not long enough, but why would others still need the extra nozzle?

[mike77]

Cool review,

 

I'm plannign to buy this gun and I think i won't regret it, but I have a question.->

 

Do you think it is skirmishable?

 

and what is the longest distance this gun would shoot/hit a mansize target?

 

 

greetz,

 

Mike

Edited June 12, 2005 by mike77

[Vicks]

Got it from WGC for USD $172 + shipping (around $30 and I ordered some other stuff at the same time).

 

Yes, you have to cock the hammer everytime as said in the review and as shown in the video.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

ahah, sorry shouldnt skim read, espically after you went to all the effort to write it, i have now gone back and re-read it, thanks for the info.

[Shao14]

Cool review,

 

I'm plannign to buy this gun and I think i won't regret it, but I have a question.->

 

Do you think it is skirmishable?

 

and what is the longest distance this gun would shoot/hit a mansize target?

greetz,

 

Mike

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, what do you mean by skirmishable? I can only tell you the facts and you be the judge. It holds 18 BBs, and reload takes a while though not too hard. It has to be manually cocked after every shot. From 9m, the accuracy is comparable to GBBs. Don't know the max range. Is that skirmishable for you? Personally, I'd take either my M9 or P226 for skirmish. The revolver is a classy gun, and not meant for killing people.

[Redhawk]

Personally, I'd take either my M9 or P226 for skirmish.  The revolver is a classy gun, and not meant for killing people.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Actually, no airsoft gun is meant for killing people.

[mike77]

I use my CA m15 carbine as a primary, but the SAA is so f*****g cool that it would be nice to have it as a backup (and for twirling and plinking around)

the single action(18shots) makes it more of a challenge to use it as a secondary...

 

but this will take some practice and knowledge of the Force to "kill" in 1 shot

Edited June 12, 2005 by mike77

[Shao14]

I use my  CA m15 carbine as a primary, but the SAA is so f*****g cool that it would be nice to have it as a backup (and for twirling and plinking  around)

the single action(18shots) makes it more of a challenge to use it as a secondary...

 

but this will take some practice and knowledge of the Force to "kill" in 1 shot

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hehe, see, any guns that shoots can be a back up in skirmishes, even a springer, and the SAA is much better than a springer (though also much more expensive). Would be fun to play some cowboy style games. I've been practicing shooting from the hip cowboy style with my SAA, and it's so much fun just to target shoot. Don't need to worry about jams either.

[Shao14]

Hehe, my SAA and M15 loadout.

 

[rizzo]

*silver finish burns eyes*

 

Awesome dude, am liking the spin tricks in the vid

[Catchv22]

Do you know the FPS and gas efficiency on Green Gas or Propane?

[Shao14]

Do you know the FPS and gas efficiency on Green Gas or Propane?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't have a chrono, but with 134a gas, I shot the cereal box with the SAA it penetrates both sides easily. That's all I can say for now.

 

I can't properly gauge the gas efficiency yet because I have trouble knowing when the cylinder is full (see my earlier posts). One time on 134a gas, I got around 150 shots out of one charge. With green gas, I got something like 60 shots, but I was pretty sure the cylinder was not fully charged yet. I'll try again sometime.

[Shao14]

*silver finish burns eyes*

 

Awesome dude, am liking the spin tricks in the vid

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Heh, I've been trying to perfecting that. Got to go get some western movies and learn some other spining tricks.

[Catchv22]

Thanks for the info. For me, 60 shots is definitely more than enough. This review really wants me to go out and get one of these babies.