Noveske Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) It has been a LONG time since I've gotten so excited about any airsoft gun. When they announced the KWA Kriss Vector earlier on this year at Shotshow, I was a bit skeptical as I've never been a huge fan of KWA products. I've only ever liked their MP7, but other than that, not a fan (apologies to KWA fans out there). After watching the videos and pics, I started to have a change of heart and the anticipation grew. FINALLY, after almost a year, KWA finally released the KWA KRISS VECTOR this week. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the first batch as they're almost sold out everywhere. Hot item I guess. Without further ado, here are my initial impressions (and pics!): Box Contents (may vary from country to country): Box includes, 1x Kriss Vector, 2x Long Magazines (HK only I believe), 1x accessory rail, 1x front BUIS, 1x rear BUIS, 1 QD ring, 1x barrel thread protector, 1x vertical foregrip, 1x hop up adjustment tool, 1x sight adjustment tool, 1x instruction manual Externals are solidly built. Great polymer used and the stock is solid when extended out. When folded up, it clips into the receiver well. One thing I did notice was its weight. With the magazine in, the thing is not light. Rails are aluminum and zinc alloy charging handle & controls (could be steel but I have not yet tried it with a magnet). Fire controls are ambidextrous, crisp and click into place very solidly. I have yet to decide whether I like having separate controls for safety and fire select. That said, it is very different in weapon control ergonomics, that's for sure. Trigger is very crisp. KWA did a great job with the trigger design. There is almost no travel. Only things that aren't ambidextrous are the charging handle, bolt lock and magazine catch. I supposed this could be due to the side folding stock. One thing i noticed was that it took a little more force than I expected to pull back the charging handle. Not sure if this will loosen up over time. The bolt catch, although not being ambidextrous features a tab which enables you to lock back the bolt manually. As for the magazine catch, I don't particularly think it's in an intuitive place. It sits a little too high up on the magwell which is fine if you plan on just dropping your mag to the floor, but perhaps my hands are too small to be able to hold and remove the mag with one hand. I wish KRISS would have designed the mag release on the firing hand. OK on to the internals. KWA designed the KRISS VECTOR GBB to field strip exactly the same way the real steel one does. 4 identical pins hold the entire platform together. Inside, you'll find all STEEL parts. That's right, KWA did not go wrong on this part. Firing mech, hammer, sear, Super V mech and even the bolt is steel. Although this means you'll have to keep your gun well lubed, it should outlast that crappy pot metal that we oh so commonly see in stock GBBs. Kriss Super V System with metal bolt: The hop up is the new KWA style 2-pronged one. Still a hastle to tune but at least the tool is provided: Steel hammer, sear & selector system: Field Stripped: Magazines are proprietary to the KRISS. TOO BAD they didn't make Glock magazines work with the Kriss, but again I guess KWA never made a .45ACP Glock replica. The magazines are definately much larger. I'm a little iffy about the mags as the first one I got leaked out of the box and it had to be replaced. I've put a KWA Glock mag next to it for comparison: Shooting the Kriss is absolutely awesome. Not a whole lot of recoil (for obvious reasons), but it's remarkably straight. I ran a few tests through the chrono and it clocked at at about 340-350FPS (~1.4J with 0.25g BBs). Some more pics: Next to an FPG (lol): I'll be taking her out tomorrow for a game. So I'll let everyone know how it goes. Feel free to ask me questions and I'll try my best to answer them Props to AZNRIPTIDE859 on his moral support and reminding me to get this asap. Cheers mate! Edited December 21, 2012 by Noveske 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
emp3ror86 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Great review, thanks! I am tempted to get one. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MRF Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 And what about recoil ?I'm asking because KWA Kriss was reported recoilless, what's quite... weird since real thing does have recoil, what's clearly visible on any video with it.I understand attention to detail, but if lack of recoil on KWA replica is a fact, it seems to be not very well thought and designed.I guess we are searching for more BANG in this hobby... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Noveske Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) And what about recoil ?I'm asking because KWA Kriss was reported recoilless, what's quite... weird since real thing does have recoil, what's clearly visible on any video with it. I understand attention to detail, but if lack of recoil on KWA replica is a fact, it seems to be not very well thought and designed. I guess we are searching for more BANG in this hobby... I really don't know how to answer this. It's somewhat like shooting the KWA MP7. There isn't much recoil at all and the gun vibrates in a more up and down motion than back and forth. EDIT: But if you are looking for more recoil, this isn't your gun. Edited December 21, 2012 by Noveske Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MRF Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) Well it's more like I think that recoil of real Kriss is more or less equal to what we can expect from existing airsoft gas systems.Anyway, thanks for info . Edited December 21, 2012 by MRF Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bankz5152 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 I cant wait for mine to come!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cavapanther Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 (edited) Is it a 1:1 replica? Edited December 21, 2012 by cavapanther Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Noveske Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 <blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="cavapanther" data-cid="2588657" data-time="1356096408"><p> Is it a 1:1 replica?</p></blockquote> Is this a trick question ? 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weekenny Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 :-( had it taken Glock long mags I'd have snapped one up. Yes, yes I know they'd be incorrectly sized but let's face it once in the grip you'd never know if they'd just released outer covers for the lower part of the mag. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bankz5152 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Well no, because it would look very odd. Like G36s with M4 mags.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
akiraspeedstar Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 <blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="MRF" data-cid="2588627" data-time="1356086223"><p> Well it's more like I think that recoil of real Kriss is more or less equal to what we can expect from existing airsoft gas systems.<br /> Anyway, thanks for info .</p></blockquote> ? I wish my GBBR had the recoil of the real KRISS Vector haha. Judging from videos while it is probably a very significant reduction in recoil for a .45ACP, it still seems to kick pretty good. Also watch out, the hopup adjustment piece in the gun is made of plastic and to what Boobie said isn't very strong. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ariamark Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 nice review mate and i cant wait for mine to get here Quote Link to post Share on other sites
cavapanther Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 <blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="cavapanther" data-cid="2588657" data-time="1356096408"><p>Is it a 1:1 replica?</p></blockquote> Is this a trick question ? I'll take that as a yes Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weekenny Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 <blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="bankz5152" data-cid="2588676" data-time="1356103503"><p> Well no, because it would look very odd. Like G36s with M4 mags....</p></blockquote> With a lower cover squaring off the mag it'd look the same. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Squad 701 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 It looks like you did well to get two magazines, I haven't seen any HK online retailers offering this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
lonewolf69 Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Congrats on the purchase and it looks like a SOLID unit from KWA, BRAVO... But IMHO, again it's on me, the whole reason to have GBB systems in the first place is for added realism of BB... Without it, I might as well be shooting AEGs... In terms of Real Steel, shooting .45ACP rounds, one can understand why the KRISS was invented to absorb/reduce the recoil but IMHO for me from a GBB realism standpoint, it's counter productive. I'm also on the fence for how the unit looks like REAL steel or otherwise, on the one hand it's got a great FREAKIN' unique/bad *albatross* look but on the hand it doesn't much resemble any standard firearm does it...? Again all of this IMHO... Still got an amazing deal with DUAL mags... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
SixtyNiner Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Sweet review. Looking forward to a (hopefully positive) after game report. Can't wait to try one myself. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
First Man In Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Congrats on the purchase and it looks like a SOLID unit from KWA, BRAVO... But IMHO, again it's on me, the whole reason to have GBB systems in the first place is for added realism of BB... Without it, I might as well be shooting AEGs... In terms of Real Steel, shooting .45ACP rounds, one can understand why the KRISS was invented to absorb/reduce the recoil but IMHO for me from a GBB realism standpoint, it's counter productive. I'm also on the fence for how the unit looks like REAL steel or otherwise, on the one hand it's got a great FREAKIN' unique/bad *albatross* look but on the hand it doesn't much resemble any standard firearm does it...? Again all of this IMHO... Still got an amazing deal with DUAL mags... You could also argue that the sacrifice in recoil to mimic the SUPER V design is more realistic. Let's face it airsoft guns have little rrcoil, obviously iimplementing a recoil reduction system would reduce it to nothing. Its still realistic in magazine capacity, bolt catch, mechanical function, and such and personally, I'd rather have the same firing mech as the real steel than more recoil. While I agree the recoil is disappointing, I think it was a worthy sacrifice. Great review, as long as you guinea pig testers can run this thing for awhile without major flaws I'll definitetly pick one up out of the next batch. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weekenny Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 I'd agree that faithful replication of the field strip and super v layout are better than just making it recoil for the sake of it. If they hadn't copied the v folk wouldn't be happy, there is just no pleasing some people. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
BigAl Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 It's traditional in Airsoft mate, rant on about an amazing new gum coming out speculate out all the great things it may have/ do. Wait for ages for it to be released then as soon as it's out whine about all the perceived faults! 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
weekenny Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Lol I noticed. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bankz5152 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 More information Noveske!! Whats the range and accuracy in a game? Hows the double tap? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Noveske Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 (edited) Just got back from a day spend skirmishing with the KRISS. Overall I would say I'm very pleased with its performance throughout the day. I only had one jam resulting from a sticky bolt. If you don't charge the bolt right it could get left in the half position and there isn't a forward assist like on AR15s. This was actually great since it got me thinking about the ergonomic efficiencies of clearing a jam for the KRISS. Performance-wise, simply-put, I was very impressed. KWA did a fanstastic job at regulating equal amounts of gas on each shot, and along side a well tuned hop up, the KRISS shot remarkably straight and accurately, especially considering a barrel length of about 6 inches. The 2-round burst feature was a fun feature and performed as it should each and every time. On the flip side, there were a few things I noticed that could have been improved. Firstly, the sheer weight of the KRISS is still somewhat a turn off. It weighs almost as much as a full size carbine (if not more) and the weight distribution is canted towards the front. I can see how this would have been great to compensate for recoil on the real steel version, but that said, it is quite a heavy piece to run around with on the field. Secondly, the sling point (which I heard was an afterthought) is not particularly friendly to the right-hand shooter as it is positioned biased to the left hand side. What ended up happening was that the Kriss would swing around when left hanging on my sling as I transitioned to my secondary (see pic below). To rectify this, I recommend investing into a top rail mounted sling mounting solution like the Magpul RSA. A note on shooting ergonomics with the KRISS: Since the sling mounting point is on the top, when transitioning between shooting hands (with the stock folded out), the stock actually needs to pass under the sling instead of over it (as with most conventional platforms). This may take a little getting used to. Anyways, a couple more pictures of the KRISS' in action: EDIT: Note about recoil on the KRISS: There is significant recoil on the KRISS, but not backwards as one would expect, but you can really feel the Super V mechanism working. Edited December 22, 2012 by Noveske 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
bankz5152 Posted December 22, 2012 Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 Thank you I know the recoil is little but whats it actually like? Can you really feel it moving downward rather thn back? I can't wait for mine!!! Its still delayed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Noveske Posted December 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2012 More information Noveske!! Whats the range and accuracy in a game? Hows the double tap? I'd say the KRISS is accurate up to about 30 meters. The double tap feature is a neat feature, but I haven't found a relevant use for it thus yet in airsoft. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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