KJW (Beretta) M9A1 Full Metal gas blow back pistol, CO2 version review

[NonEx]

KJW (BERETTA) M9A1 FULL METAL GAS BLOW BACK PISTOL, CO2 VERSION REVIEW

 

The KJW M9A1 full metal gas blow back pistol CO2 version!

 

Specifications

Manufacturer: KJW (Taiwan)

Model: M9A1 (replica of the RS Beretta M9A1 9mm)

Build materials: Aluminum/zinc-alloy (“pot”) metal, polymer, plastic (details and internals)

Color: Black

Caliber: 6mm

Capacity: 22+1 rounds*

Height: 152mm

Length: 213mm

Width: 38mm

Weight unloaded (no magazine): 667g

Weight loaded (empty magazine): 930g

Weight loaded (with magazine and 0.25g BBs and CO2 cartridge): 976g

Propellant: Daisy 12g CO2 capsule (~750 PSI)

FPS: ~330 FPS**

Hop Up: Adjustable

Trigger action: Double action/Single action

Firing mode: Semi-automatic

 

* Recommended magazine capacity 20+1 to allow magazine spring to move freely against loading muzzle when inserting the magazine with the slide in its forward position.

** FPS measured with XCORTECH X3200 chronograph, average of 10 shots (first two shots discarded to release overpressure), 23C ambient temperature, Daisy 12g CO2 capsules @ ~750 PSI, Tokyo Marui 0.2g BB.

 

 

Order process

So I was browsing around various airsoft shops as one does and I stumbled across the KJW section at www.uncompany.com. I noticed they had a couple of KJW guns with “markings” (not actual licensed trademarks, but just markings) and since that has been one of my major gripes with KJW guns, the complete lack of markings, I decided to purchase a couple of pistols, amongst them I got the KJW M9A1 full metal with markings CO2 version gas blow back pistol. It was around 120 USD which I find more than acceptable for a full metal gas blow back pistol ready to take CO2 right out of the box. The order process was straight forward and I paid with PayPal after receiving a final quote with shipping cost included via e-mail. The shipping was around 5 days from HK to Sweden.

 

 

Background information

The KJW M9A1 is a replica of the Beretta M9A1 9mm pistol. The Beretta M9A1 is sort of an evolved version of the classic Beretta M9. The Beretta M9 was the pistol which replaced the Colt M1911A1 in the United States Armed Forces as their standard issue side arm. The M9A1 was developed based on request that came about after the M9 had been used in the services for some time. The major difference is the addition of a 1913 mil-spec accessory rail on the dust cover. In addition to that the serrations on the frame were modified for additional grip. The sights also were updated from a 2-dot sight system to a more traditional 3-dot sight system. The magazine well was flared for easier magazine changes (this is however not replicated on the KJW M9A1).

 

 

Unboxing

Looking at the box itself is not really that exciting. KJW have made an effort with some military style props around the pistol but the look and feel is just overall too murky and nothing really pops. I am not too concerned with the actual box graphics though, I find it more important that the styrofoam within the box holds the gun and its accessories securely in place, something which this box does well enough. Once inside the box you will find the following items:

 

1x KJW M9A1 gas blow back CO2 pistol ( picture )

1x KJW M9A1 gas blow back CO2 magazine ( picture )

1x Plastic bag (to cover the pistol) ( picture )

1x KJW sample BB box ( picture )

1x CO2 magazine hex key ( picture )

1x Hop up adjustment hex key ( picture )

1x Speed-loading tool-kit ( picture )

1x KJW featured products 2012 brochure ( PDF )

1x KJW product catalog 2012 ( PDF )

1x KJW M9 Series user manual ( PDF )

1x KJW M9 Series CO2 magazine exploded view ( PDF )

 

 

KJW M9A1 box art, nothing special really...

 

Once inside the box there is a nice amount of reading and viewing material to flicker through.

 

And once you remove all of the stuff covering up the pistol itself, TA-DA! Nicely protected in a plastic bag.

 

The unveiling of the KJW M9A1, finally!

 

 

First impression

The first impression when taking the gun out of the box is, “wow… It’s shiny”. The finish on this pistol won’t win any awards; it’s very shiny and almost has an oily look and feel to it. Far from the matte-black anodized finish which most real firearms have. Getting past the look of the finish the overall feel of the gun is very good, very little rattle from the magazine and barrel and everything is held together nicely. The gun has a good weight to it and feels well balanced. There are no major visible seamlines or tool marks on any of the metal parts.

 

Cleaning and lubricating

This is just a side note and not meant as a complete guide. The absolute first thing you should do with any new GBB pistol or rifle is to field strip it, clean it, and lubricate it. Most guns come bone dry at delivery and with some dirt in them. Doing this will allow you to enjoy the gun a lot more and it will also keep everything running smoothly so you do not get disappointed with your first experience with a new gun. This is also a good way to familiarize yourself with your new airsoft replica. However, for inexperienced users please consult a friend or airsoft shop/airsoft gun smith so you do not damage or destroy your new gear!

 

I prefer to use lint free cloth and microfiber cloths to clean, and to lubricate I use Kyosho R/C shock absorber oils (100% silicone) in the viscosities (thickness) of 100, 200 and 350, depending on what needs to be lubricated. For the muzzle which requires fast smooth action I use the 100 oil, for the guide rails, slide catch and internals I use the 200 viscosity, I also use this to drop onto the CO2 cartridges before installing them into the magazine to help keep the pistol lubricated. The 350 oil can be used for slow moving mechanical parts such as the disassembly lever etc.

 

 

 

Kyosho R/C shock oil in viscosities 100, 200 and 350 along with my trusty GBB cleaning micro-fiber cloth!

 

 

Features and functions

 

Sights

The sights are fixed/non-adjustable and feature the standard 3-dot sight design (in contrast to the M9’s 2-dot design, you can see the empty “u” dot in the center of the rear sight). The dots are bright white and sight alignment and target acquisition feels like a breeze with these things.

 

3-dot sighting system feels very comfortable and quick to use!

 

Hop Up

The hop up on the KJW M9A1, unlike the Marui M9, is adjustable. Not very userfriendly or easy, but it's there. You need to field strip the gun, and then on the bottom of the hop up housing there is a small key, in which the included hop up adjustment hex key fits. As per the user manual (page 6), adjust CCW to add hop, and CW to decrease hop. Unfortunatly since it is adjusted with an internal grup screw it is hard to visuall see how much or little the hop is adjusted. I would advise user care here as to not overtighten the hop and damage the hop up rubber or hop up housing. Adjust a little at a time and look down the barrel (dissassembled and unloaded of course!) to check the adjustment. As a side note, if you own a Marui M9 and wish to have an adjustable hop up, according to user reports, the KJW barrel assembly will work. Now give KJWs good replacement parts services you can order a complete outer/inner barrel and hop up assembly and install in your TM M9, pretty neat eh ?

 

Slide

The slide of the Beretta M9A1 features what is known as an “open slide” design, as opposed to most other traditional pistols which feature an ejection port (locked-breech-tilting barrel design) to only one side of the pistol. This gives the Beretta models an advantage in dealing with miss-feeds, double feeds and stove pipe jams. They are also easier to load a single round directly into the chamber thanks to this design. Most of these advantages are however mute on the KJW airsoft replica. In addition this specific model features some “markings” on both the left and right hand side, they appear to be laser etched/engraved. There are also a generous amount of serrations to the rear of the slide to assist in cocking the pistol. The sights are molded in to the slide, as is the nonfunctional loaded indicator on the right hand side.

 

Slide markings, left side at the top, right side at the bottom.

 

Slide serrations and dummy loaded indicator/extractor.

 

 

Safety

The safety does not replicate the real M9A1’s safety features fully, in that it does not double as a de-cocker. The safety simply disengages the trigger mechanism. The hammer faithfully features the half-cocked position which is a sort of intermediary safety feature between de-cocked and fully cocked. The safety lever is ambidextrous and can be operated smoothly with your thumb and feels firm and secure in both on and off mode. I would have wished for it to “click” a little more re-assuringly in and out of place, but it’s not a major concern. The red dots on the sides of the slide indicate that the pistol is in ready-to-fire mode when visible. The safety can be engaged in all three modes of the hammer, de-cocked, half-cocked and fully-cocked. The trigger can be depressed but does not do anything when the safety is on. The slide can be racked without concerns with the safety engaged. As a side note both KSC and Western Arms M9’s have working de-cockers, so it can defiantly be done, but seeing as the KJW is a TM based design and the TM also does not have a working de-cocker it is a given that it turned out the way it did.

 

Ambidextrious safety is, well, ambidextrious but not a de-cocker unfortunatly.

 

The various stages of the hammer. De-cocked, half-cocked and fully-cocked.

 

 

Slide catch/slide release lever

The slide catch is fully functional and does a reliable job of locking back the slide each and every time the gun runs on empty. This is much thanks to the use of CO2 which delivers the extra punch needed to lock the slide to the rear. The slide catch/release lever can be easily operated with your thumb to both engage and disengage it.

 

Slide catch in action, catching the slide! Very easy and comfortable to operate.

 

 

Disassembly lever

The disassembly of the gun pretty much fully mimics that of its real steel counterpart and is very easy to use. Unlike the real Beretta M9A1 the magazine must first be removed in order for the slide to come off freely. So, after removing the magazine you simply depress the disassembly button on the right side of the frame with your right-hand index finger, keeping the button depressed, rotate the disassembly lever on the left-hand side of the frame downwards until it has been turned 90 degrees. Let go of the button on the right-hand side and remove the slide from the frame by pushing it forward until it comes off fully. You can now remove the recoil spring guide, spring and outer barrel to further disassemble the gun if you wish. To put the pistol back together simply slide the slide back on to the frame all the way to the rear and engage (push upwards) the disassembly lever on the right-hand side to lock the slide into place again. Rack the slide a few times back and forth to make sure it’s securely in place.

 

The disassembly lever allows for easy field stripping of the M9A1 pistol.

 

The KJW M9A1 field stripped. Out of all the pistols I have handled I think the Beretta M9 series is the easiest to field strip.

 

 

Trigger

The trigger replicates the single/double action feature of the real Beretta M9A1. This means that the guns hammer can be operated with the trigger only in both de-cocked mode, half-cocked mode and fully-cocked mode. So if you have a round in the chamber there is no need to manually cock the hammer first before firing. Once the first round has been fired from either single or double action mode each subsequent shot is then single action only due to the operation of the blow back racking the slide and cocking the hammer for you (this is what is known as a semi-automatic self-loading pistol). The trigger pull feels firm and smooth without being too light. There is some slack in the trigger in both modes but not so much so that it feels awkward, I think it’s pretty standard on all M9 models. Firing in double action mode is a bit of an art form in itself trying to avoid jerking the gun when the trigger releases the sear and drops the hammer. I much prefer to operate in single action mode.

 

The trigger in double-action and single-action mode respectively. Trigger pull is smooth and has a comfortable resistance to it.

 

 

Magazine release

The magazine release is located right where the trigger guard meets up with the grip front-end of the frame, placing it pretty much in line with your thumb making for very easy access and smooth operation. The spring in the magazine release feels like it should have been a little bit stronger but I haven’t had any magazines fall out on me yet so it does its job just fine. The magazine catch, like the real steel M9A1, can be reversed to the left side simply by removing the grip panels and flipping the magazine catch over.

 

The magazine release is located in a comfortable position and is easy to operate. Can also be reversed easily for lefites!

 

 

Grips

The grips on the KJW M9A1 replicate the look and feel of the real ones but with the logo in the center being replaced by the KJW logo due to trademark licensing rights “issues”. The material on the grips appear to be a type of polymer and actually feels very good, almost having a velvet feel to the touch but still providing good grip. The screws are standard flat-head screws, whereas the real M9A1 features hex screws. Guarder offers both the hex screws and grips with the proper Beretta logo for a couple of dollars, might be worth it if you want that little bit of extra authenticity on your pistol.

 

The grips provide and comfortable and grippy grip!

 

 

Frame

The frame of the KJW M9A1 features two (of the three) most significant changes between the M9 and the M9A1 real steel counterparts. These being the addition of a 1913 mil-spec (most likely not mil-spec on the KJW…) rail to the front of the frame (known as the dust cover), the more aggressive serrations to the front and back of the grip section of the frame (the M9 had only straight vertical serrations) and also the addition of a flared magazine well (not replicated on the KJW M9A1) for easier magazine changes. From what I can tell there is also a slight difference in the style of the front of the trigger guard between the M9 and the M9A1, where the M9A1 lacks serrations. The frame also has a slight radial indentation right below the beavertail to allow for a higher and more secure grip. I find this feature very comfortable and does make the grip feel higher and more secure. In contrast some other Beretta models feature a straight back strap frame. At the very bottom of the frame to the rear there is a lanyard loop attachment point for securing the pistol from getting separated from its operator. Unfortunately this piece appears to be made from plastic and so durability could be an issue if used heavily.

 

The biggest addition to the M9A1 over the M9, a 1913 mil-spec rail for mounting lasers, lights and other accessories. Not very attractive, but functional.

 

The serrations on the updated frame of the M9A1 allow for a more secure grip.

 

The magazine well of the KJW M9A1 is unfortunatly not flared like its real steel counterpart but magazine reloads are easy enough. Also a lanyardloop attachment poins is present but is however unfortunatly plastic.

 

 

Magazine

The magazine is of a double stacked designed with a capacity of 22 BBs. However to allow for spring movement when inserting the magazine into the KJW M9A1 with the slide (and muzzle) in its forward position I would recommend a maximum of 20 BBs to be loaded. Unfortunately one of the downsides to CO2 airsoft replicas is that almost all models have an additional, thick, baseplate attached to the magazine to allow for enough room to fit a CO2 cartridge inside. The baseplate slides off once you push in the tiny pin holding it in place (the pin is actually a part of the magazine spring-baseplate so it seems very durable). The design of the baseplate and its release mechanism feels solid and I doubt it will break any time soon. Once the base plate is removed you have access to the CO2 capsule end-cap, simply unscrew it with the included hex key and insert the CO2 cartridge. I would recommend adding a drop or two of silicone oil to the top of the CO2 cartridge to keep the gun and its O-rings well lubricated. When the CO2 cartridge is in place simply put the end-cap back on and secure it with the hex key, tighten it down until it punctures the cartridge and keep tightening it until it stops “leaking”. One thing to note is the warning attached to the magazine;

 

“After using the CO2 magazine charge, release all the gas to avoid premature O ring seal failure”

 

So basically KJW recommends not keeping the CO2 cartridge in the magazine unless you are going to be shooting it actively. The O-rings that are installed at the KJW factory appear to be almost hard-plastic rather than rubber, not sure if that is a costs saving measurement or an attempt to increase durability. However the KJW CO2 magazines are notorious for starting to leak after minor use, mostly due to the O-rings drying out or becoming deformed. I actually went ahead and replaced the O-rings on the magazine valves to some higher grade rubber O-rings. The measurements for the replacement O-rings are CS (cross section) 1mm, ID (inner dimension) 6mm / 7mm (inner / outer O-ring of valve), OD (outer dimension) 8mm / 9mm. However I did note when doing research that most O-rings can only operate at temperatures down to -30C to -50C, something which I think a frozen CO2 cartridge and its expelled gases can easily reach. So make sure you have some spare O-rings at hand!

 

The CO2 magazine with the grossly oversized baseplate!

 

The magzine baseplate has a warning sticker on it, reminding you to empty out the CO2 cartridge when not in use!

 

Depress the small pin on the magazine baseplate to remove it.

 

Slides away to the side and can be removed for easy access to the CO2 cartridge base-cap.

 

Top of the magazine features a CO2 valve, gas route rubber and plastic feed lips.

 

 

Fit and finish

These two categories are probably where most KJW pistols fall short under. Not in a terrible way, but more in the “you get what you pay for” kind of way. As mentioned the overall finish of the gun is very glossy, annoyingly so (this particular M9A1 model is the worst of all KJWs I own). However there is an upside to the KJW finish and that is durability. I have previously owned a couple of KJW pistols with similar finish and they hold up quite well. The molding (yes, these are not CNC produced metal kits in case you hadn’t figured already J ) of the pistols parts seems slightly soft (details such as text, edges etc. aren’t as sharp as you might wish), but this could also be due to the generous amounts of “paint” added to the actual parts. In terms of fit the gun holds up surprisingly well and nothing feels overly loose or out of place, with one exception. The recoil spring guide rod sticks out approximately 1mm too far from the front of the slide, this annoys me A LOT, but not a major issue per say. Overall the tolerance level of things is quite good. I also feel like the recoil spring could have been a little stiffer, certainly the CO2 allows for a stiffer spring, so installing a TM M9 based 150% spring is an option if you want a little snappier recoil action.

 

A small but annoying defect, apparantly present on the Marui M9 as well. Guarder makes a correct lenght recoil spring guide rod.

 

 

Performance

To measure the performance of this pistol I performed three basic tests, FPS test, gas efficiency test and a cool-down test.

 

FPS Test

To measure the pistols FPS I fired 10 controlled shots approximately 1 second apart into a XCORTECH X3200 chronograph. The propellant used is a Daisy 12g CO2 cartridge and the BBs are Tokyo Marui 0.2g. Ambient room temperature was 23C. Before proceeding with the test I fired two shots outside of the chronograph to eliminate any extreme FPS results on the first and second shot due to overpressure in the CO2 cartridge. Here are the results;

 

Shot 1: 343 FPS

Shot 2: 333 FPS

Shot 3: 334 FPS

Shot 4: 335 FPS

Shot 5: 337 FPS

Shot 6: 333 FPS

Shot 7: 325 FPS

Shot 8: 323 FPS

Shot 9: TOUT

Shot 10: 311 FPS

 

MIN: 311 FPS

MAX: 343 FPS

AVG: 330 FPS

 

As we can see from the results the pistol has a fairly consistent, albeit slightly hot (for most CQB/pistol purposes), FPS performance. An average of 330 FPS on a CO2 pistol is actually below what I had anticipated (I guesstimated it at 340-380 FPS). With some minor tweaking this could easily be dropped to a comfortable 300 FPS. The easiest way to do this is to modify the muzzle floating valve spring to have less tension (cut ½-1 coil), meaning the CO2 used to propel the BB is cut off sooner and diverted to power the blow back effect. Another way to achieve the same effect is to shim the floating valve by adding some material to it. I have ordered spare floating valves and springs from KJW and will be testing this out shortly.

 

Gas efficiency test

How many BBs can this KJW M9A1 fire on a single Daisy 12g CO2 cartridge with controller firing? To test this I simply fired the pistol with controller shots using a single CO2 cartridge until it would not fire any more BBs. The answer is an impressive 87 shots, where only the last 10 showed a noticeably performance drop in terms of power and blow back. The slide failed to lock back on the last shot as it did not have enough power to cycle the gun fully.

 

Cool-down test

Now as a final performance test I wanted to know how much of a factor cool-down is on this CO2 pistol. What this means is, how much is the pistols gas efficiency affected by rapid fire, thus cooling down the CO2 cartridge more rapidly than if we do controller shooting as per the test above. To test this I loaded up a fresh Daisy CO2 cartridge and fired the pistol like a mad man, reloading BBs when necessary. The answer is 70 shots. That is damn impressive; I would like to see a gas gun match that performance. This comes out to a “cool down effect” of 19.5% ( 87 – 70 = 17 -> 17 / 87 = 0,195 etc. ).

 

Overall shooting this thing is a complete joy. The sound the kick of the blowback and overall feel is very pleasing.

 

 

Accuracy

And now for the accuracy test. I performed two separate tests here, one with controller firing of 10 rounds at a target from a distance of 7m/23ft, and a rapid fire test of 10 rounds from the same distance. Here are the results:

 

Controlled fire, 10 shots, pew pew pew! Pulls to the right, perhaps operator error... I also managed to place two fliers far to the right...

 

Rapid fire, 10 shots. To be honest this was a poor performance on my part, I think it can do better than this. However the heavy CO2 powered blow back recoil did throw me off target quiet a bit.

 

 

Mind you this are basically my first shots with this pistol on a target, so this means the gun and hop-up has not been broken in, and I myself am not fully comfortable with shooting this pistol yet. But from what I can conclude from the results the gun has a slight tendency to pull to the right a little bit, this could possibly be from a slight miss-alignment of the hop up rubber, and/or my pulling of the trigger (hmmm...). The results are pretty consistent though so as far as accuracy goes I am pleased with the results, it produces fairly nice groupings, and again, not being fully broken in and tuned (both the pistol and myself), I bet it could be a little bit better still. I will also attach two additional targets which I shot with controller fire during the gas efficiency test. The target spec. are: STAR 25x25cm shooting target, 2.5cm yellow inner bull's eye, 5.0cm black outer bull's eye. Shooting was done two handed and kneeling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upgrade potential

Being based on the Tokyo Marui M9 pistol the upgrade potential for the KJW M9A1 is quite good. I say “based on” because from various experiences and reports we know that it is not a direct 100% clone. But the majority of TM parts are a straight drop-in fit or require slight modification to work. KJW themselves also have excellent support in terms of supplying spare parts and accessories. I actually placed an order for several accessories, upgrade and spare parts for this model without issues, quick, friendly and helpful replies. This is something that not many airsoft manufacturers offer to the same degree, which is a shame really.

 

 

Summary

I have to say I really like KJW as a brand itself; they have some major strong points in their gas blow back pistol line-up, the strong points for the KJW M9A1 specifically are;

• Tokyo Marui based design
  
• Adjustable hop up
  
• Full metal out of the box
  
• Good fit and function of parts
  
• CO2 capable
  
• Strong, crisp and hard blow back (much thanks to the use of CO2)
  
• Fairly accurate
  
• Excellent spare-parts services directly from the KJW factory
  
• Excellent price (~100-120 USD)
  

However it also has some weaker points which you have to take into consideration:

• Sub-par finish (glossy but durable)
  
• Lack of proper trademarks or any markings at all (depending on model)
  
• Lack of fully functional de-cocker
  
• Some parts break a little too easily (based on forum reports)
  
• CO2 magazine O-rings fail easily
  
• CO2 might have too high FPS for some users
  
• Does not compare to a fully upgraded Tokyo Marui pistol (with metal body kit etc.) in terms of fit, finish and quality feel, but considering they are 1/5^th the price you can’t really expect them to be
  

All in all, considering the price, the positives and the negatives I think the KJW full metal gas blow back pistol products are excellent starter or dedicated side arm pistols for all gas blow back enthusiasts unless if you require absolute perfection.

 

As a side note, I actually had, no more than 6 months ago, a project going where my goal was to purchase all the Tokyo Marui gas blow back pistols which I liked and upgrade them with full metal body kits and internals etc. The project quickly came to a halt and I sold of all finished guns and project parts (4 completed guns and 1 in parts), simply because I felt it was not worth the time, money (around 600 USD per gun all parts included) and effort it took to get a good quality end result. Don’t get me wrong, you can get fantastic, near perfect, end results with this method. However KJW offers an excellent compromise straight of out the box that works, has good fit and function. The main problem with building custom gas blow back pistols with metal kits etc. is that there is a lot of small precision fit and finish work involved to get a good end product, something I was not willing to spend time doing. Also due to a technicality in the Swedish fire arms law which deals with airsofts it is (again technically) illegal to own gas operated airsofts. The only propellants explicitly stated and allowed according to the the law are “air, spring or CO2 powered…”.

 

And that concludes my review of the KJW M9A1, I hope it was informative and pleasant to read. If there is anything missing, or someting which needs more detail or correcting please let me know and I will try to fix it. I just noticed that I did not specifically address the hop up for instance...

[NonEx]

Update on the lanyard loop attachment point. A Guarder Marui M9 steel part will fit with minor modifications. However the Guarder piece is hollow as oposed to the stock one which is solid, so the hammer spring has a tendency to want to creep down into the lanyard loop. This can be mittigated by placing a spacer in the lanyard loop. The mod that needs to be done is to shave 0.25mm off of the top of the Guarder piece so it sits flush and aligns with the pin hole.

Edited April 8, 2012 by NonEx

[NonEx]

I just realized I have made a factual error in this review. I incorrectly refer to the hop up adjustment hex key as the front sigtht adjustment hex key. The front sight is non adjustable and the small hex key is for the hop up. I was, parallel to writing this review, thinking about a review for the KJW Hi Capa and got the details confused.

 

In addition the adjustable hop up deserves a section in the review.

 

I would like for a mod to make the following adjustments to the above review;

 

 

Corrections

In the Unboxing section please change the following line;

1x Front sight adjustment hex key ( picture )

to this;

1x Hop up adjustment hex key ( picture )

 

Additions

 

In the Features and functions section inbetween the Sights and Slide section please add the following;

 

Hop Up

The hop up on the KJW M9A1, unlike the Marui M9, is adjustable. Not very userfriendly or easy, but it's there. You need to field strip the gun, and then on the bottom of the hop up housing there is a small key, in which the included hop up adjustment hex key fits. As per the user manual (page 6), adjust CCW to add hop, and CW to decrease hop. Unfortunatly since it is adjusted with an internal grup screw it is hard to visuall see how much or little the hop is adjusted. I would advise user care here as to not overtighten the hop and damage the hop up rubber or hop up housing. Adjust a little at a time and look down the barrel (dissassembled and unloaded of course!) to check the adjustment. As a side note, if you own a Marui M9 and wish to have an adjustable hop up, according to user reports, the KJW barrel assembly will work. Now give KJWs good replacement parts services you can order a complete outer/inner barrel and hop up assembly and install in your TM M9, pretty neat eh ?

 

 

Addition

In the Summary section under strong points, below the line;

• Tokyo Marui based design
  

Please add

• Adjustable hop up
  

Changes

Please move the Cleaning and lubricating section to below the First impression section.

 

Change the picture under the Sights section to this picture : https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7rhhzOLwEO4/T4I1EfFO-KI/AAAAAAAAAuc/lWHqAOrd7os/w800/kjw_m9a1_sights.jpg

 

Obviously/logically the rear sight should be presented "first" to the left hand side of the image.

 

PS. I will report this post myself to get the attention of the mods to perform the above requested changes, I don't know if that's the correct way but, oh well.

Edited April 9, 2012 by NonEx

[Misfit]

Hi.

 

Please don't use reports like this in the future - if you need edits made to a review it's far easier to PM a moderator with a link to the thread and the entire updated posts text. That way we can just copypasta it in instead of digging around for the right sections so we don't break it any further, etc.

[NonEx]

Thanks for the info and help. Where may I find a list of "avaliable" mods to PM these requets to in the future ?

[NonEx]

So I received the parts I ordered from KJW, amongs them the "Hogue" wrap around grips, threaded outer/inner barrel assembly and their silencer;

 

 

The silencer is absolutely amazing quality, I was a bit worried when I first saw what I paid for it (25 USD I think) but it is worth it. Very nice materials and finish and with foam insert, and it actually quiet down the gun a bit as well.

 

I also have to retract my statement regarding the finish of this gun. It chips very easily and flakes off. It is almost like it is caked/layered on. I have as of yet ran into three different KJW finishes. 1) the KJW M9A1 glossy caked on paint, flakes easily. 2) KJW P229, thick semi-glossy finish but seems alot more durable and does not chip. 3) KJW MEU and Hi Capa, matte black finish very smooth but seems a little thin but fairly durable.

 

The regular M9 frame I received from KJW had a much nicer matte finish (like the MEU and Hi Capa) than the M9A1, I have e-mailed KJW and asked about their different finishes on their products.

 

 

I am also wondering, excuse me if I sound crude, if there is any point in me doing any further KJW GBB reviews in text or video ? The response and feedback to this review hasn't exactly been overwhelming, so just wondering. Perhaps I covered all the information needed and wrote a perfect review and thus there is no feedback to be given ?

 

Next up on my projects list is a KJW KC-02 10/22 rifle in the style of old school Tanio Koba Hogue black stock with silver bull barrel Should be fun.

Edited April 18, 2012 by NonEx

[PureSilver]

I'm always happy to see in-depth reviews of pistols - please, it might be that the reason we're not hurling questions your way is because you've answered all of them!

[NonEx]

FYI just got word directly from KJW that they are indeed now using the new matte black finish as I described on the KP-05 and KP-07 on all their new pistols, I must have gotten an older shelfstocked version. Just so you know. I guess there is no way to tell if you get a fresh production batch or not but it's nice to know that they have switched over.

[NonEx]

Good news, bad news.

 

The bad news: The Guarder hex screws do not fit. The threads on the screws are too thick, about 1mm too thick. The screws thread measures 4mm. I didn't have a large enought threading tool but it can be done with the proper equipment.

 

The good news: The Guarder TM M9 150% recoil spring fits and works and makes a big differense, maybe too big. Worst case you have to cut 1-2 coils off of it to make it work just right. However it does not interfere with the slide lock.

[Dukeman]

Awesome review... You did a realy great job and i would like to read more of them. Many more

[NonEx]

Thanks for the input!

I have purchased a couple of more guns and I am considering doing video reviews instead. Trying to work up the courage and stamina to talk non stop in a 10-20 minute review!

[Wingmann]

Awesome reading. Thanks a lot!