Time for a chat about WE pistols

[FireKnife]

Right, well seeing as I now have cash, live near a variety of sites and have that stupid retailer cash cow of a defence I am looking at reviving my WE testing.

 

Now through this I plan to do two things:

 

1. Provide a blow by blow of running a modern, compact WE pistol and see how it last through normal shooting conditions, but doing it on a constant and regular basis.

2. To change my perception of WE pistols based on a life-time of avoiding them due to their older and much more inferior models.

 

However before I begin I would like to find a few things out from other WE users:

 

Excluding the M9, Hi-Capa and 1911 series of WE pistols (the more checkered part of the WE line up) what guns have you had break on you?

 

This I would like to know so I can guage what pistols would be good for the test as I want something with a chance of lasting enough to make this worthwhile while also being a pistol I can take to games with me and find a use for.

 

So essentially I am just after any pitfall or traps people have noted (the poor QC on the likes of the M&P for example) before buying something to start the test with. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

'FireKnife'

[renegadecow]

Makarooooov!

[FireKnife]

I wish .

 

Tempted to hold this off until the M84 or Mak comes out but no, the time is now.

 

'FireKnife'

[renegadecow]

In that case there's always their Glocks. So many generations in and their barrels are still prone to snapping.

[Wild_XIII]

My HK3/WE Glock is holding very well, all I have to do is sometimes is square off the notch in the slide for the slide lock. Apart from that it runs fine. My M9A1 (new version) had the fake firing pin fall out and has it's own space program as it sends any weight BB into orbit.

 

My WE XDM was a terrible, terrible pistol. It was never reliable, had the disassembly level snap and eventually the hammer disintegrated. I regret buying that pistol!

[ED-SKaR]

WE pistols have improved greatly over the years, but they are still not up to the basic standard of a gun that will fire every time, or cycle fully if they do.

 

I just had a WE hi-cappa in, pretty much brand new (<1 month since it came from the shop) and the slide rails were in such a state that the slide falls off the gun. I've seen £5 springers built better than that.

[FireKnife]

Well based on having a cursory look around the interwebz the SIG P22X series seems to have some decent enough comments made against it with few breakages. Might go with one of them.

 

Either way the shortlist appears to be (using a compact because then it is easier to carry for games and oddly enough get hold of):

 

PX4 Subcompact, XDM Compact, Some Glock Compact, SIG P228/9 and possibly the new M84 Cheetah in a few weeks.

 

I have discounted the M&P due to never ever having seen one of them work right and the Hi-Capa Baby 3.8s have been eliminated and they are far too hit and miss on QC.

 

'FireKnife'

[Smoke]

I'd be interested to read your thoughts on the PX4 Compact.

 

The Wife wants one, and like you. I'm not quite over my WE phobia.... I read great things about them, but I wonder how many are actually being used as a skirmishing primary...? Probably not many.

[Pdubyuh]

_{I have a WE PX4 Bulldog and the XDM compact and I have had no issues with either, I grant they are used as back ups so dont have 100's of rounds put through them but so far both work fine.}

[FireKnife]

Only thing I have against the WE PX4 Bulldog is that it is an ugly frigger that I can't really get my hands round.

 

Though the XDM I had for when I did this last seemed ok but have heard many a horror story about the sears and hammer mechs giving way in them.

 

I am still not to sure but it looks like oddly the WE XDM Compact, PX4 Compact and P228 are the best bets for me, ugly or not. Glocks might be an option but they seem to be in abundance so perhaps enough testing already exists on those?

 

'FireKnife'

[wupaa]

Please do not even think about any generic models you can get from better manufacturers anyway.

I ordered PX4 myself. 100 euros for a gbb with night sights built-in and 2 magazine is a great deal even if it does not shoot like a stock Marui lol.

http://www.airsofttaiwan.com/shop/goods.php?id=1136 Just do it. Be the first one and it's cheap as soup. I guess you don't have to think about Makarov here as you are gonna buy it anyway. Sub-Compact PX4 and XDM might tell you something about the coming Makarov performance-wise.

I am not impressed about WE either but have already bought two models that are unique: Bulldog and P-Virus. That custom p226 was fine.

[FireKnife]

I would buy the Cheetah when it get UK side. Don't trust the postage or customs service in this country one bit after a good few things going wrong.

 

However I am thinking of the PX4 Subcompact and P228 now as I have already had the XDM. The godd thing is I at least have a shop nearby that allows me to fondle them before I buy so I can see fit in the hand etc, as at the end of the day I still want to buy one that fits me, even if this is a thrash test etc.

 

'FireKnife'

[scorch]

_{I have a WE PX4 Bulldog and the XDM compact and I have had no issues with either, I grant they are used as back ups so dont have 100's of rounds put through them but so far both work fine.}

 

Do you even gas them? I don't think I've ever seen you put rounds through a pistol.

[FireKnife]

Do you even gas them? I don't think I've ever seen you put rounds through a pistol.

 

Well I do recommend WEs as holster stuffers. Perhaps it is taken literally by some?

 

'FireKnife'

[garry]

At present, I have 2 x WE XDM's and an F226.

Neither have had any issues at all and seem well built. Personally, I think the f&f on both is very good, especially the XDM.

 

I've owned a huge number of gbb's over the years and had issues with all at some stage with the exception of WA. No issues with the WE's as yet, but possibly a little early to tell, as they have not had much more than 600-700 hundred rounds each through them yet. With some of my WA's, they've fired so many rounds I've simply lost count - shame they are not widely available these days.

[3vi1-D4n]

I think that you need to be objective about your testing, but also figure a way to get paid doing this testing.

 

When snowman review guns on his website, he followed a consistent testing methodology and even though I consider parts of it (Particularly the accuracy tests) were seriously flawed in the objective of the test, it was consistently flawed and therefore much of the information was still useful. 

 

However your review is actually different, its not an OOTB test like snowmans its a durability test.  It means aside from an OOTB test (accuracy, power, looks/feel), you will need to build a test rig to cycle the weapon till failure.  That would be the most scientific method possible.  Otherwise its mostly the opinion of one person and will be pretty much subjective.

 

 

I personally would like to know the OOTB performance, reliability and durability of each of the GBB platforms.  As you know, I have had the newer Browning M1935, M1911 SV, SIG P228, M&P9, TT33 SV, and even though nothing has broken as yet, they did not impress me at all.

 

Browning M1935 (2009):  No Hop, low FPS, Heavy trigger.  Kicks ok, but major letdown as the FPS and no hop was basically unskirmishable.

M1911 (2009):  Low FPS, BB follower consistently breaks, functioning but inconsistent hop up.  However good gas efficiency and kick.

SIG P228 (2012): Leaky mag base, shoots left and down, inconsistent with a non existent hop up.  However good gas efficiency and kick.

M&P9 (2013): Trigger wears and goes auto, then leading to inability to field strip, functioning but inconsistent hop, inconsistent power output.  However good gas efficiency and kick.

TT33 SV (2013): Totally useless hop up due to having been manufactured with the wrong inner barrel, shoots high due to high rear sights (that's no fault of WE).  Breaking hop mechanism, and leaky mags.  However due to the chrome slide and hammer, the gun cycles flawlessly and has a good kick and good short range accuracy (compared with the black version which does not cycle as smooth)

 

So as you can see WE's aren't the best, but thats only really a sample of one, and none of my sidearms have been in a skirmish, just target shooting around the house. 

 

For me I see WE as diamond's in the rough, but like the SMG 8 triggers one can only work with shoddy materials for so long before it fails.  So far, aside from the WE M&P9 and XDM, which both have short internal hammers and hence more prone to wear (Similar issues seen in Marui glocks, KSC Glocks, CA Glocks etc), most of the traditionally hammered pistols have not had trigger wear issues (I have only witnessed a KSC CZ75 experience trigger wear). 

[Liquid_snake]

I had a WE hi-capa dragon many summers ago, the 5.1 barrel model not the potato masher. I found it to be a fun gun to use and looked damn pretty as well. I found the mags to be fairly well made too, all held their gas and had a nice weight to them.

 

On the downside the split slide idea on the dragon model was INCREDIBLY impractical. The front sights were held on by one single, ball achingly small screw - you know the kind that is itching to lose itself. Upon emptying 2 mags through the gun you needed to re-tighten the screw otherwise the entire front of your gun went, quite literally, flying off somewhere in front of you. I opted for the loctite solution which meant the screw was never lost but the front was never totally solid without constant retightening. The only other complaint I would have is that occasionally it wouldnt accept a mag and just dropped it a few seconds after loading.

 

Other than that a nifty wee gun that served its purpose as an "oh ###### need something to empty rounds in the direction of that person whilst I runaway to reload my primary" kinda gun.

 

If I found one circa <65 I'd buy again no problem

 

* Edit: Ah yes also just remembered that the split slide was advantageous as it was fairly lighter and it made the whole thing pretty easy on gas

[GingerBreadMan]

I have the we hi capa 5.1 and I have had it about a year now and I haven't had a problem with it. Many people say that this pistol as well as wes 1911s are their worse, but it is just as reliable as my we glock 17. I know they are not tm, but they are cheap... And metal and I also think that we have improved their pistols recently and don't deserve the hate they often get. Just my 2 pence

[P.S.I.]

My last (and probably final) attempt at using a WE pistol was the "Toucan" (M&P) full size. 
Out of the box, the hop-up was essentially non-functional.  This was due to a manufacturing defect that did not allow the adjustment wheel the correct range of motion.
I then installed a Prometheus packing, a TBB, and a modified KJW hop-up adjustment wheel; at which point the hop-up was functional. 

After approximately 12 magazines of working reasonably well (yet no where near as well as my TM HC 5.1) the loading nozzle broke.  I found a replacement nozzle, installed it, test fired it and promptly sold it before it could fail on me again. 

I have never liked WE products, but I have tried on many occasions, only to be let down every time.

I keep thinking "they have to get right eventually", yet it seems to me that they continue to anything but.

[faramon]

So I always see WE's as nice but nothing special how ever I do love my Px4 Bulldog .. like a lot, it's slowly taken over the place of pretty much any of my other pistols.

 

Snappy, accurate (for the mall .. so you know not exactly long range) and just lovely to hold.

[Wild_XIII]

So I bought myself a WE Glock 19 because you can never have too many Glocks right? I certainly don't rate it as highly as my HK3P one. The hop doesn't work, even after trying different hop rubbers. If I stick the barrel from my 17 in there, it fires great! Also the action isn't as snappy, even after filing/polishing the slide rails. Though that could be down to the smaller recoil spring though.

 

I'm not too disheartened though, I'm sure the issues are fixable. The 19 just feels "right" in my hands as well, the small grip actually works very well for my manly hands.

[FireKnife]

Any number of Glocks is too many Glocks .

 

Still I have yet to get round to this. The prospect of a Makarov coming out and having less money has put this on hold for a tad.

 

Once I get the WE Mak it will start.

 

'FireKnife'

[ED-SKaR]

So I bought myself a WE Glock 19 because you can never have too many Glocks right? I certainly don't rate it as highly as my HK3P one. The hop doesn't work, even after trying different hop rubbers. If I stick the barrel from my 17 in there, it fires great! Also the action isn't as snappy, even after filing/polishing the slide rails. Though that could be down to the smaller recoil spring though.

 

I'm not too disheartened though, I'm sure the issues are fixable. The 19 just feels "right" in my hands as well, the small grip actually works very well for my manly hands.

You may find that the outer barrel is bent or has burrs or dirt inside it that is causing the inner barrel to sit at a slant. I'm having that issue with the fit on a KJW M9, and have seen it before in KSC glocks and WE hicappas.

[Wild_XIII]

Thanks for the tip, I'll check it out. I've also noticed it catches the area around the hammer a lot, meaning it has to work extra hard to cycle the slide. Seems to be a common thing with Glocks though as everyone I've ever owned has done it.

[Mike_West]

Yesterday, one of the hex screws holding the rear of the BBU in my WE P228 fell out for no reason at all.

Am I supposed to worry?