ICS M4 review for you guys.

[phishphansj3151]

ICS M4A1 w/ Olympic Arms™

 

History lesson:

“The M4 Carbine is a shorter, and lighter version, of the M16 A2 assault rifle, achieving 80% parts commonality with the M16A2. As with many carbines, it was meant to provide troops with an effective, shoulder fired weapon in lieu of pistols, such as the M9. Since the weapon is shorter, thus lighter, it is handy and more comfortable to carry than full length rifles. While this makes it a candidate for non-infantry troops (vehicle crews, clerks and staff officers) it has been used by US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and others seeking a compact weapon for close quarters combat.

The M4A1 was developed and is produced for the United States government by Colt Firearms, who has an exclusive contract to produce the M4 family of weapons through to 2009.”

 

First appearance:

The rifle came in a brown cardboard box with the ICS logo on it and the logo of Olympic Arms along with large letters M4 on it. The gun was securely tied down to the box with straps there was bubble wrap to insure no damage on arrival. My reaction when I opened the gun was amazing. My jaw dropped and I was in awe. The gun looked perfect. The Olympic Arms trademarks were laser done and really made the gun look all it could be. I was also surprised on how dark the grey was. In all the pictures I had seen the grey looked very light but in the flesh it looked great. (In my opinion I think it looked better than all black. I picked the gun up and it felt very heavy. It felt almost equally balanced, except a little more weight in the front, but with the battery inside it feels perfect. Another thing I noticed was how short it was! The gun is about 4 inches longer than my arm, and the gun is about 2.5 ft. (Yes I know I have long arms.) Even with my lanky arms this thing feels very short. My super 9 is about 14in longer than it. The stock is a little bit wobbly but a quick go at it with a screwdriver will fix that easily. Another thing I was surprised at was how much metal there was. I think the only plastic on it was the foregrip, stock, pistol grips, and the hop-up adjuster knob. SOLID!!! There are no wobbles present (besides the stick which is fixed.) The barrel is all metal and feels like you could throw the gun off a building and still have no movement in the gun. (Not that I’m telling you to throw your gun off a building.) The only dislike so far is the shiny foregrip, but its not a big deal.

 

 

 

The magazine:

The magazine on the gun is the same color grey as the receiver and is metal. It feels solid but I noticed a few feeding problems with it but nothing harder than just giving it a little shake. (Nothing to be worried about.) The magazine is quite large and is a little bit longer than Tokyo Mauri magazines. If you worried about conserving ammo have fun with this gun because it’s gigantic magazine holds 450 rounds! Talk about Spray n’ Pray!

 

 

Technical stuff:

The gun has the new split gearbox as you might know and it is awesome! With a simple opening of the gun by pushing out a pin it reveals the lower and upper gearbox. The upper gearbox can simply slide out and be replaced in 5 seconds. Perfect if you have another gearbox and need an m120 spring in there for that hard to reach sniper! This rifle also come equipped with a forward release lever so you don’t have to put up with lower and lower power as you use your gun in the future. Just push the button and there you have it…no spring tension!! Yay ICS!! The gun also has very easy to use hop-up system. Just pull back the charging handle behind the rear sight and you can see a little black dial on the left side of the receiver. Some people say it’s hard to turn but I found no problems with mine and setting the hop-up was as easy as can be! The sites on the gun are very good also because of the 2 easy to use dials right at your fingertips. The only problem is that its hard to use when you’re wearing full face but this is true with most or if not all airsoft rifles.

 

Shooting:

Now to the fun part…shooting this beast! I set up a target and flicked the fire selector switch to auto and pulled the trigger down for a short burst. PRRRRR!!! The gearbox sounded quite odd but I came to relize that it was the new split gearbox design that made the sound of a hurt cat. I shot out a few more bursts and then went to check out the target. (I had my hop-up set and sights aligned.) There were 2 nice groupings. 1 grouping at the targets chest and another in the targets forehead. There were no individual bb marks because these things made a hole the size of 2 quarters at each grouping! ACCURATE! I moved out to 20 meters and the same thing happened with the groupings. At 30 meters you could see the individual bb marks but there were all within 1.5in away from each other. The power on this thing was amazing also! My friend wanted to be the first shot with it, (with proper eyewear…of course!) I shot a small burst of ammo at his back and he instantly jumped up and yelped. He told me compared to my super 9 and M9 I shot him with, the M4 felt like a bee sting while the other 2 felt like a spitball. At 30 meters I hit my friend with 1 shot where with my m9 it took 8.

 

 

 

 

 

Some personal reflection:

Looks: wow….is it possible something can look this good? 10/10

Magazine: Alright a few problems but easily manageable. 8/10

Sights: Very accurate and very deadly the pin sight doesn’t let enough light through. 9/10

Insides: Awesome and they look reinforced except for those nylon bushings. 10/10

Shooting: Perfect power, and perfect accuracy…What more is there? 10/10 (11/10 if possible)

Overall: 10/10. Everything is almost perfect!!

Was it worth the $300? Its worth $400, but I just got a good deal. That’s how awesome it is.

 

 

Review done by Simon Jones, AKA Phishphansj3151 (USA)

 

(I will be adding more later)

Edited January 27, 2005 by phishphansj3151

[cruxed]

NIce review dude. Keep up the good work

Cheers.

[phishphansj3151]

thanks man

[ZAXAQUAR]

nice review i agree 11 of 10 i have one but its a callapsable stock and its GREAT!!!!!

[Antagon]

Awesome, screw CA and their black receivers, that gray looks amazing.

[Shao14]

Tell Arnie to post it in the review section.

[billymak]

very good review phish,

 

I recently got the M4 - retractable stock, and after a couple of quick fixes it's great.

 

I agree - the iron sights can be a little too hard to look through in dim areas/undercover.

 

How about a couple more pics?

 

thank you.

[phishphansj3151]

ya ill get some more up once i get my RDS and what not. (My dad is bein a little over protective about his digi camera.)

[MooCow]

very nicely done on the review... good stuff

i'll be looking forward to reading any other reviews you might be doing too

[phishphansj3151]

ya i might be reviewing a few more guns too but only like a KWC m9

[phishphansj3151]

Updated better pics:

UPDATE: Gun still amazing

Edited February 16, 2005 by phishphansj3151

[andthestoryends]

I think the gray body looked way better in the initial shots.

[phishphansj3151]

Can you put this on the reviews section?

[phishphansj3151]

[phishphansj3151]

Just some more pics of this bad boy.

 

Please feel free to contact me also w/ any questions you have. My AIM name is the same as my user name, and you can PM me also.

 

 

I'm also going to update this review:

 

As you all this gun is using the new ICS split gearbox system. For conveinience its awesome for just taking out the upper gearbox, however this new gearbox has proved to be weaker than the standard TM gearbox. After upgrading the spring to just an m110 there was a significant differance in the guns reliability, until I had to remove the spring and go back to stock. The piston is pretty weak, and will need to be replaced before upgrading. I reccomend not upgrading or even opening it at all as it proves to be a bit more tempermental than the TM versions. However the tappet plate problem has been removed with the newer models of this gun.

 

Like I said, feel free to talk to me,

~simon