The S.C.A.R. Posted July 4, 2012 Report Share Posted July 4, 2012 (edited) *This is the review from the Review Database, with added photos; please inform me in case any grammatical mistakes are made. English is my second language and I sure will make a lot of mistakes*+ (Short summary at the end if you don't want to read the whole review) TOKYO MARUI P226 CHROME STAINLESS TABLE OF CONTENT -INTRODUCTION -FIRST IMPRESSION -DETAILED LOOK -PERFORMANCE!!! -CONCLUSION -P226 FOR THE LEFT HANDED -SUMMARY FOR THE LAZY FOLKS!!! -RATINGS INTRODUCTION First of all, I confess that I'm not a fan of Tokyo Marui. As an airsofter, I consider myself as one of the oddballs. Whereas most airsofter loves Tokyo Marui for its accuracy, I hated TM. TM is one of my least favorite companies because of their ugly trademarks commonly found on their guns in most noticeable spots. Now I know TM fans would step up and say "hey but TM guns are accurate" but many other gun manufacturers can do better than TM already (or at least on the same level...), in terms of accuracy. But having not tried any products by TM (other than owning a few TM AEGs for two weeks), I decided to break my hands into one of their GBBs, which are said to be legendary close-quarter battlemasters. Previously my GBB experiences are only limited to KSC and many ACM. So I believe it's time to try out a GBB from Tokyo Marui. Since I'm trying to find a nice TM GBB, I didn't consider their Berettas (they suck with all those big ugly seams and fake trades) or their Desert Eagles (I already had a KSC Mk. 23 and that was unique enough). This was when I noticed the P226. It's slowly grew on me as I was "constructing" my NAVY SEALs loadout I realized I need the P226. That's where this gun comes into my mind. It's a bit more unique from the normal black P226 that most other airsoft companies have. When UN Co. had a 10% discount running for about two weeks, it was more than enough to convince me it's time to go and get this gun. INITIAL IMPRESSION A large silver box arrived a week later (thx to UN Co. for their timely delivery). Inscribed on the box are the technical details of the real-steel P226. Kinda gives the new owner a moody impression, I think thats why TM packaged it like ths way. There are also some laughable Jap-glish quotes like "COOL OF BRIGHTNESS PROFESSIONAL PISTOL". Yet I'm not mocking TM here as TM did a nice job to inpress me on the packaging. Inside, the gun sits on a black piece of clothe covering a polystyrene base, just like how they packaged their M1911. Sitting on the polystyrene base is the gun, the magazine, a box, a cleaning rod and the usual paperworks and manual. The box houses some BBs masquerading as 9mm bullets, which are not exactly realistic but likewise again that's how to impress a new owner!!! Taking the gun away from the marvelous base, the first thing I noticed is that it's quite plasticky. Maybe I've handled too many KSC Heavyweight guns so thats what comes to mind first. However it's very good quality plastic anyways and this is my first TM GBB so I'm not going to criticize that. What caught my eyes though are the TM trademarks. Yikes!!! Fortunately the rest of the gun is still covered in real deal trademarks instead of some HFC pistols which would have HFC markings all over the gun. The silver painting is very nicely applied. I'll go into that in detail later. DETAILED LOOK The only reason why I bought the chrome P226 rather than the plain black P226 is because of the finish. The chrome painting is very well applied to the gun, and gives an impression of lightly-polished stainless steel. It's definitely shiny (which is the reason I bought this gun). Now, onto the markings. The TM markings on the gun are all on the right hand side. Above the rail is the notorious "TOKYO MARUI CO LTD MADE IN JAPAN" with the ASGK mark next to it. Above the trigger is the ASGK marking and a serial number. There is also a "9mm Para" in Italic font, and thats the only real-deal marking on the right side of the gun. These are the markings are what purists worry about, and being a purist I do quibble about those markings, but since I bought this gun prmarily for skirmishing not for looks then these markings are not that much of an issue (to me...). The left side of the slide is marked "SIG SAUER" "P226" "STAINLESS" with "SIGARMS INC""EXETER-NH-USA" marked below the above one. The grip is marked with "P226" and "SIG SAUER" on either side. The magazine is marked "SIG SAUER 9mm" and "MADE IN JAPAN" on either one side. The sights are dovetailed in with white dots for fast aquisition. However there's no adjustment for elevation. Since I have handled the black TM P226 before, I should do a little comparison here as well. The grips on the Chrome P226 has a more rubbery feel when touched compared to the black P226, suggesting that TM has indeed improved the P226 with the new chrome version. These grips though, differ in size to the real-steel SIG grips so modifications are needed in order to fit real-steel grips into the chrome P226. Other than that, the externals, the internals and the performance are identical to the black P226, so it is really down to the finishing of the gun that made me choose the Chrome Stainless version rather than the Black version. The frame features a rail for mounting all sorts of accesories. But if one takes a careful look on the underside there are seam marks found on the trigger guard and the rails as well, though because this is a plastic gun then seams are a bit more forgivable. The outer barrel is finished in the same way as the slide did. External parts include the decocker, hammer, slide lock, trigger, sights and the take-down/safety lever. They are all chrome in finish. The takedown-lever also features a safety lever. By pushing the button on the other side of the gun it can be made safe. The P226 is embraced by the aftermarket manufacturers. With galores of metal bodies and enhancing features building the dream P226 would not be difficult, provided that your wallet can take a beating at least. I'll be really hard-pressed to any negative aspects of this gun, but should anyone require more details other than TM trades, the seam marks, albeit a big improvement from their old nasty Berettas, are still quite easy to spot, and are not as well-moulded as the KSC counterparts. The other negative aspect (to left-handers) would be the controls. The slide lock, decocking lever and the magazine release is a piece-of-cake for the right thumb, but so far using the left hand to fire the P226 proved to be difficult. See section "P226 FOR LEFT HANDERS" for more details. PERFORMANCE!!! "Finally, down to the shooting part". Obviously this is the part where things get even more interesting. Now since I bought this gun for shooting not for admiring the beauty while it's inside a glass case, how does it perform on the field? I did an accuracy test with a 7 by 5 inch target. At 6 metres away with just a bit of hop-up set it scored five shots out of six within a group of just 27mm. It can be considered as impressive since a gun with such short barrel (97mm according to the manual) can score such tight grouping. The first set of six shots, though more widely spaced (40mm), was equally dead on target as the second set (27mm). Power-wise it is around 300 fps at 20C (with Propane) and is just slightly more powerful than the black P226, by around 20-30 fps. This gun is LOUD!!! Very intimidating although that also means a silencer can be well-suited for this gun (loosing off around 5-15% of the sound would justify, right?) The gun's action is very snappy, with sharp action, but doesn't kick as much as my KSC USP and Mk. 23 counterparts. The cycling of the slide is really fast too. This ensures accuracy staying at the maximum potential and you can potentially double-tap a lot as well. CONCLUSION It was really hard for me to like a Tokyo Marui. Their guns are always marked with loud-and-clear TM trades as well as being very plasticky. While I still don't like the gun's trades (and thats the only fault I can find so far), there's not a part of the gun that I really hated. Excellent accuracy (considering the size of the gun), excellent looks (except those notorious TM trades), good quality - I can't ask more from TM that I had held such a negative attitude to for the past years. It's an ostentacious pistol I admit, but still if you want a unique P226 with the uniquely well-applied silver finish, but with good skirmishable/practical shooting accuracy as identical to the black P226, the silver P226 would serve you admirably. With all that I hold a new opinion of Tokyo Marui GBBs. Surely there are ugly TM trades on the gun that I would hate forever, but hey the trademarks on TM guns are not exactly inaccurate (KJW and HFC cough cough...), and it performs around the same (sometimes better than my KSC USP, I'm really torn between which one is the better shooter) and is only outperformed by my humongous KSC Mk. 23 so far. With that I come to rewrite my long-held opinions of TM. It can stand against the well-reputated KSC and Western Arms stock-wise. P226 FOR LEFT HANDED I did this section specially for those who liked this gun but felt-ignored since this gun is only right-handed-friendly. Well here's some solutions. I have tried using my left hand to shoot the P226, and so far I can give out some solutions. One possible way is to relocate your left thumb to the left side and the slide lock, decocking lever and the magazine release can be easily accessed. Be sure to hold this pistol very tightly with your remaining fingers. Practise this technique on soft surfaces like on your bed. Another way is to use the trigger finger to access the magazine release and the decocking lever. The slide lock, unfortunately, is far too uncomfortable for your left hand trigger finger to access. Which means the only possible way is to use your right hand to deal with the slide lock. I hope these ways can help left-handers also considering the P226 to be on their airsoft to-buy-list. I'm a right-handed person (so you can say "XX you" or "screw you" if you would like to) but these are the ways that I have discovered to operate the P226 left-handed so far. SUMMARY FOR THE LAZY FOLKS!!! For those who don't want to read the whole review, here's the brief sum-up: PROS: -Well-applied chrome-stainless (silver) finish -Excellent accuracy considering the size of the gun -Good quality feel (the grip speaks volumes for that) -Very ergonomical (for right-handed shooters) -Not too heavy but not too light either -Ease of acquiring targets -Relatively realistic (can be a con too) -Fast cycling, snappy -LOUD!!! CONS: -Bane of TM guns - TM trades AAAAAARRRRRR!!! -Visible seam lines and moulding marks, albeit great improvement from the TM Berettas of old -Not very ergonomical for left-handed shooters, a section above is dedicated to make it as ergonomical as possible to left-handed shooters as possible RATINGS Box Impression: 10 (The box and the insides really gave me a surprise. But be aware the newer verions of these guns no longer have that magnificent cloth) External: 8 (I really love the silver looks of the gun. The metal parts are of quality with no pot metal. Whole gun feels of quality. The only exception is the TM trades which quickly deducts a mark, as well as the seam lines and moulding marks that deducted one more mark) Performance: 9 (So far only the short barrel hinders this score by a bit, but so far I'm impressed with the gun's performance. Updates to the power and field testing would be uploaded later) Update potential: 10 (There are galores of bodies, internals, enhancements provided by different aftermarket manufacturers, it seems that the P226 is the gun seconded to the M1911 in terms of aftermarket accessories) Overall: 9 (I'm impressed with this TM gun. Other than the TM trades and the seam marks that still continues to fuss me somehow I reckon this is one of the best medium-sized GBB I have ever owned. Excellent accuracy. impressive looking, good quality, what more can you ask?) [Any feedback will be appreciated!!!] Edited July 4, 2012 by The S.C.A.R. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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