Storm Airsoft Arsenal Glock 17 GEN 4 GBB Pistol

[mightyjebus]

Thought I'd throw up a review of the Storm Airsoft Arsenal Glock 17 Generation 4 GBB Pistol.

 

I won't bother talking about the history of the Glock as it's pretty much well known but if you are unsure google it and find out that Glock went from making clocks to making the most prolific pistol of modern times.

 

So why the review? Well I seen the Glock 17 for sale for about £55 and though can you get much for a GBB pistol costing that amount? It seems you can.

 

The Storm Airsoft Arsenal pistol is a Polymer framed, Metal slide, fully trademarked Glock 17 that uses magazines that are compatible with TM and WE. Using Guarder gas and setting the hop it can reach out to about 40 meters and running it through the chronograph after setting the hop I was getting a pretty constant FPS of around 250. Even though the weather is a bit on the cold side it was happily emptying the magazine of 22 BB's and locking back after the last BB was fired.

 

So let's get some pictures on the go and I'll add a few comments as I go along.

It comes in a small box with Glock markings on the outside.

 

Opening the box you find the pistol, magazine, 2 back straps, a cleaning cloth (with nice Glock markings), a spare magazine follower and a spare pin for the back strap. There is also a manual and a certificate with the FPS readings before they posted the GBB to me.

As you can see the manual has a nice exploded diagram in case you need to find a part.

 

All the bits removed from the box.

 

Here's a few of pictures of the pistol for reference.

 

The blade front sight has a white dot and the rear sight uses a white U around the notch cut out.

 

The Magazine has a Glock traded base plate and you need to depress the small pin that you can see to move the base plate forward so that you can fill it with gas.

 

The serial number plate is on the front lower receiver.

 

The pistol has some nice markings in all the right places.

 

 

Splitting the slide is easy and the same as the real thing and most airsoft models.

 

The lower frame seems to be a good size for torches etc.

and it fits all the glock holsters I have although on the RS holsters it's a bit tight.

 

Before I talk about performance here's a picture of a TM Glock 17 and the Storm G17

So performance....

 

Well actually it's all good news. It fires as it should, It takes TM and WE Glock 17 magazines, the kick back is good, even in cold weather and it's generally a really nice product especially for the price. The hop rubber seems to be doing it's job and it can easily push the BB as far as my other Glocks. Add to this that it only costs £55 posted you can't really go wrong. So if you are after a Gen 4 Glock 17 then you might want to consider the Storm Airsoft Arsenal version.

 

So are there any downsides? Only 2 that I can see at the moment and 1 isn't really a problem if you just want to run it straight from the box.

 

The first issue I had was the grease used to lubricate the pistol. I found it quite thick and it made for a sluggish action when fired in the cold. I gave it a quick squirt of silicon spray in a few areas and it now cycles cleanly and gives a nice snap.

The second issue is compatibility. As I have said the magazine is good for TM and WE glocks and the TM and WE mags work in the Storm but the upper side seems to be slightly different between the different companies. I can fit the TM side on the Storm frame but it doesn't cycle and I can't fit the Storm slide onto the TM frame. I haven't looked too closely at this yet but I will and post my findings. This issue is only really going to be an issue if you plan to swap parts over from the different companies.

I forgot to mention that the hop is adjusted using a wheel under the hop unit and requires the slide to be removed to set it up. This is the same as my TM glocks.

 

I'll post some more about the pistol once i've had a bit of a mess around with inner barrels etc.

Edited January 13, 2016 by mightyjebus

[mimesis]

FWIW, Storm = Stark = VFC.

[NonEx]

Yeah. I hear that these Storm Airsoft ones were intended for the Japanese market but didn't do very well there so they are being sold in regular HK/Asia outlets instead.

 

Stark Arms / VFC Glocks in a different box pretty much.

 

But good write up none the less.

[BioRage]

I miss my Stark Arms.... G19.

 

[Bostitch]

Since there is already this thread, I figured I would jump in and add some additional pics and info on the storm g17. I recently acquired one of the "special" versions (stippled frame, trigger guard undercut, and slight finger groove reduction), and I couldn't be happier. I have very limited experience with airsoft glocks, having only previously owned a WE G19 gen4, but can say without a doubt that this gun is much much nicer than my old WE. Out of the box, this gun EASILY out shoots my old trusty kjw m9 in both range and accuracy...hell the range is on par with some of the stock aeg's I've owned through the years.

 

Since this thread is already a review, I'll just toss up some comparison pics between my real steel gen 4 G17 and the storm g17.

 

 

And here are a few for holster selection. Like most other airsoft glocks, the storm is slightly off spec from the real steel 9mm variants. Some 17 holsters may work, but most will not. Since these are slightly taller and thicker, you will need a glock 20/21 holster (which will hold the gun perfectly). Here is a ubl moded safariland 6377 for a g20/21.

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by Bostitch

[CplHicks]

So would sights for a Tm/we fit?