Jump to content

Should I get ICS or CA?


eod

Recommended Posts

I'm about to order an airsoft gun. I have three friends that are also going to order one, at the same time, and the same gun. What gun should we get? The Classic Army CA M15A4 Carbine or ICS M4 M4A1 CAR-97?

 

Thank you

Link to post
Share on other sites
  • Replies 58
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Well, theres reviews of the ICS and CA armalites on here, so thats a good place to start. In a nutshell, they're both very good. Some minor differences

 

CA: has nice foregrips, black body, shoots 328 out of the box

ICS: not so nice foregrips, grey body, very nice gearbox design, working forward assist to clear jams, and will settle to 328, but not straight out of the box.

 

Although I'm sure there are plenty of threads on this already...

Link to post
Share on other sites
Well, theres reviews of the ICS and CA armalites on here, so thats a good place to start. In a nutshell, they're both very good. Some minor differences

 

CA: has nice foregrips, black body, shoots 328 out of the box

ICS: not so nice foregrips, grey body, very nice gearbox design, working forward assist to clear jams, and will settle to 328, but not straight out of the box.

 

Although I'm sure there are plenty of threads on this already...

Nice, Joeking, I can tell that you controlled yourself not to flame the poor newbie. ;)

 

To the question, yea, either one is going to make you proud. If you think you'll mess with the internals a lot, go for the ICS because it's easier to take apart. If you don't want to mess with the internals much, get the CA.

 

All the following threads are related to the very same question, and some are quite recent (like yesterday!)

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...wtopic=8020&hl=

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...wtopic=7119&hl=

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...?showtopic=7528

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...wtopic=4559&hl=

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...pic=7822&hl=m15

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...pic=8257&hl=m15

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...wtopic=8079&hl=

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...wtopic=7947&hl=

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/inde...wtopic=5462&hl=

 

And the reviews in the review section

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/?filnavn=/r...am15_review.htm

http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/?filnavn=/r...m4a1_review.htm

Link to post
Share on other sites
Damnit, I couldn't find the threads.

 

To be fair, and not to blame the newbies, I found the search functions are not very well implemented in this forum. It will give you error whenever you try to search anything less than 3 characters, like "ca" or "m4", or "tm", but at least now it can search for three letters like "ics" which is a huge improvement over the version couple months ago. And sometimes, people don't use descriptive title, and make it harder to find information.

 

Anyway, I have the CA M15A4 for a few months now, and shot...oh I don't know... 10k rounds at least. No jam or whatsoever. You need to understand that an airsoft gun is a piece of machine, and no machine is perfect, and it breaks sometimes. There are a lot of anecdotal bad things about ICS or CA's m4, for example, people say ICS's tappet plate tends to break, or ICS anti reversal tends to break, or CA has not tension releast button, so if it jams, it'll be a pain to fix, etc, but that doesn't mean any of these problems will happen to you, and if you take the time to read through all the above threads, you'll see more often, for these two particular AEGs, they'll work flawlessly more often than not.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorry guys :(. I didn't realize there were any posts concerning this very issue, at least so many. I think I'm going to settle with the ICS, even though the FPS of the CA is attractive. I read one of the reviews that after a while, the ICS' FPS actually increased to around 320ish. This is my first AEG to purchase. I apologize for my newbness. t3h n00bs h4x0r j00. sorry, haha.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Sorry guys :(. I didn't realize there were any posts concerning this very issue, at least so many. I think I'm going to settle with the ICS, even though the FPS of the CA is attractive. I read one of the reviews that after a while, the ICS' FPS actually increased to around 320ish. This is my first AEG to purchase. I apologize for my newbness. t3h n00bs h4x0r j00. sorry, haha.

Don't worry about it, but do try to search first in the future. :)

 

Haha, must be Hissing_sid's review. As far as I know, he's the only one claiming this. But yea, I don't think the extra fps makes that much a difference, and if you want more (sort of illegal to have above 328 in UK, and we can't discuss that here), you can always do a simple spring upgrade to outrage any CA stock gun. And because of the easy take down, ICS makes the spring upgrade a breeze.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't really feel like explaining it, but I'd go ICS all the way.

 

working forward assist, modular gearbox, metal body, no barrel wobble,..... flawless operation (so far, about 15k bbs in it.)

The body is grey-like, but not like the pictures. the body fits well with the grips color-wise... and yes the grips are kinda plasticy. but I plan on getting different ones anways.

Link to post
Share on other sites

And there's always the fact that Armalite apparently never supplied any guns to the US Army. They flogged the rights to Colt before production started.

 

At least Olympic Arms actually flogged the gun to the military.

 

Makes me laugh the way people bleat about wanting "proper" trades and then say they prefer the CA gun because it has Armalite trades. :P

 

And yes, I am being argumentative. I think everybody knows where I stand on this issue. :D

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've started a "Useful Threads" section at the bottom of the "Before Asking 'Which AEG'" pinned thread at the top of Newbie Discussion. This thread is now linked to from there.

 

Thanks for providing such useful info guys, and well done on being so restrained. By providing useful links and helpful advice, you have made this a very useful thread.

 

Keep it up ;)

Link to post
Share on other sites
and well done on being so restrained.

 

Yes, yes. I know I should have searched, I just didn't realize this was such a popular subject. I know what it is like to have to deal with things like this, I also admin a forum/site (http://www.arson-network.org). It's not airsoft related (computer security and programming). Thanks again. Ordering ICS this week :P.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Would anyboody with an ICS M4 take a picture of keeping the gun horizontal by just holding the top of the barrel?

Is that supposed to be a challenge? :D

 

Seriously, I don't think I own a gun which I wouldn't do that to.

 

Swinging the ICS M4 about by the muzzle is no problem at all.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I've got to agree , the ICS M4 is built like a tank , you CAN pick it up and swing it around no bother .This is the best gun I have ever seen and given the option of ICS or CA , I would suggest ICS , it is a VERY solid gun ,I can't imagine the real steel version being much different ,on the out side any way ????...Dark Star

:rolleyes:

 

 

Haha, yea, that's a challenge. ;)  Take a picture for us whenever you get back to your m4, Sid.

 

Cheers

Link to post
Share on other sites
Haha, yea, that's a challenge. ;)  Take a picture for us whenever you get back to your m4, Sid.

I should mention at this point that I've already seen the gun bounce down a set of stone stairs, end over end, without damage (except to the flash hider).

 

I tell you, I went and got the gun, gave it a shake and I bricked it when it rattled. Adrenalin was pumping and I thought I'd wrecked a £250 gun. I gave it another shake and slowly realised that the rattle I could hear was the stock rattling on it's tube. Relief! :D

 

Seriously though, is there some reason you doubt the ICS gun could do this?

I've never really used a TM M4. Would that kind of treatment break a TM gun?

Link to post
Share on other sites
Seriously though, is there some reason you doubt the ICS gun could do this?

I've never really used a TM M4. Would that kind of treatment break a TM gun?

 

No, I don't doubt the ICS gun could do this just as well, but I'd just like to see it for the record. ;)

 

And yes, according to Arnie, if you do this to a TM G3 (not sure about M16/M4), you'll regret it.

Link to post
Share on other sites

I always wanted an m16...... as in an m16a3...... Is the CAm16a3 just an m15a4 with a different body or is there different internals, Does the ICS have the tapplet plate problem?

 

Give us some info owners please.

 

Also in everyones opinion which is the better armalite mag...... (please dont flame me for the newbish questions :flamed: ..... i never was a massive armalite fan..... m16 grows on you ^_^ )

Link to post
Share on other sites

I think TM, CA, and G&P mags are all the same dimension, and I have used all three (standard, hi-cap, and mid-cap, respectively). Heard ICS's hi cap mag's longer (actually the real M16 mag dimension, and holds more BBs). But for the first three, they all worked great for me. Some people do have some problem with CA hi cap, but I think those are defects. As long as you get the non defect mags, regardless the brand. They all should work well.

Link to post
Share on other sites
No, I don't doubt the ICS gun could do this just as well, but I'd just like to see it for the record. ;)

 

And yes, according to Arnie, if you do this to a TM G3 (not sure about M16/M4), you'll regret it.

 

I have attached a photo I have just taken (using my webcam) of me holding my ICS M16A3 with red dot sight and mag in by the end of the barrell.

 

post-3269-1107391331_thumb.jpg

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and the use of session cookies.