BELL Zev-style Glock 17

[vorpalbunnie]

 

 

FULL ALBUM HERE

 

 

When in Hong Kong I impulsively decided to buy one of the BELL ACM Glock 17s from CRW-airsoft, just because I like the Zev slide style and, well, 600 HKD isn't very much at all.

 

 

The metal quality is actually quite nice (very little wear on the gold finish after much fondling), and the frame has full Glock trademarks with stippling. It comes with a spare nozzle and a set of O-rings, which is neat I guess.

 

Unfortunately....it has some performance issues. Namely not locking back and only getting through about 10-15 shots before sputtering. But as a display piece I was satisfied. 

 

 

Of course not really, I wanted something I could shoot, so the CRW staff and I decided to see what it took to make it functional (or rather why it wasn't working). So here is what has been changed:

 

The core of the issues is the recoil spring, well springs. The mags were blamed in the past but it's actually because the gun has 2 strong springs and a spacer instead of a single quality recoil spring. So we pulled one out. Now it can get through at least 40 shots (I forgot my count...sorry ) on the crappy BELL mag. The valve in the magazine was also dremeled a little bit to release more gas.

 

Other brand magazines, specifically WE-tech polymer mags and Tokyo Marui G17 magazines do not play nicely with the flared magwell. Their baseplates are too wide. MGC has given me a strong desire for plastic Glock magazines so the BELL plate was merely put on the WE polymer magazine. Perfect fit and a happy Vorpal.

 

While the WE magazine did work perfectly now, gas was still lost because WE magazine nozzle rubbers are flat whereas Marui/BELL ones are curved. So mine has a Firefly one in it now.

 

 

Next issue: It doesn't lock back every time.

 

Fix: Just bent the bar. Literally just bent it down a little bit. Now it works every time.

 

An accuracy test was performed and it...wasn't too bad to be honest. Not as impressive as my Marui but still definitely functional. I'll post the video once it is uploaded by CRW.

 

Future plan for this is having some color added to the slide by CRW before they ship it to me.

 

 

 

My final thoughts, if you want the look of a Zev Technologies-style Glock for cheap, it's a decent purchase. If you are willing to spend just a little bit of time (and money) then you can have a very functional sidearm too. Making the gun definitely a good buy (if you like the look, which certainly isn't for everyone).

 

 

Though my Glock and mods may be introduced as standard by CRW for these BELL glocks, so if you are lazy you could just wait

 

 

 

 

[Safeword]

Thanks, have been looking at these myself. Now I really want one 

[vorpalbunnie]

Firing test

 

Edited July 23, 2015 by vorpalbunnie

[Wingmann]

It seems Bell is improving a bit in the quality department. That doesn't look bat at all.

[HamletV]

Any idea of how is the quality of bell today?