Remington CA870 CQB - Maruzen

I originally bought a 'Sawn Off' Maruzen CA870 when I fancied a pump action gun. I modified that, with a side folding stock and a rail to a 'tactical' spec, but decided to sell it on. Within a few days of selling it, I was looking for a CQB version and ended up buying one from the same person I had bought the sawn off from!

The CQB is a special edition, with a metal sight rail, a pistol grip (in black, along with the pump foregrip) and a red dot scope.

Since the CQB was released, Maruzen have also launched the CQB Full Stock, which is very similar, but features a proper rifle style stock.

In the Box

My CQB wasn't boxed, but you get the sight separately, along with the flimsy tube and hopper loading tool, a small bag of BBs and the usual collection of manuals and other paperwork.

First Impressions

The CA870 is an impressively solid piece of airsoft equipment in any form. To my eyes, the black furniture (pistol grip and pump action fore-grip) improve the overall look considerably. Although there's nothing wrong with quality of the fake wood units on the sawn off, their appearance is far from realistic.

As well as the black furniture the CQB benefits from a solid metal rail unit, very similar in design to real steel Remington scope mounts, which looks great, provides a secure mount for any scope type and adds a little weight to an already hefty gun. There's also a perfectly good, Walther logo'd (presumably the same as provided with the P99 packages) open red dot sight, to complete the generous package.

The barrel on my gun had been painted (I assume, as it looks very evenly applied) a flat black, although the receiver is still the grey finished GRP of the Sawn Off.

I liked the CA870 Sawn Off and the CQB adds a tactical look and feel to the basic gun, whilst adding the useful scope mount (the standard Sawn Off having no sights at all).

Although not much of the outside of the gun is metal, there's a very solid mechbox under the GRP receiver, making the gun feel solid and well balanced.

Closer Look

The basic gun is totally unchanged from the Sawn Off CA870, but you get a lot more for the higher price.

One criticism of the sawn off was the unrealistic plastic 'wood' furniture. This is addressed on the CQB by replacing the sawn off style grip with a black ABS pistol grip and making the pump grip at the front from matching black ABS. This looks much better and, straight away, gives the CQB a more military look.

The other criticism of the sawn off is that it lacks sights of any kind. This has been addressed on the CQB by fitting a very neat, all metal scope mount (very similar in design to real Remington scope mounts) atop which is fitted a Walther logo'd (as seen on the Maruzen P99 full set and, more recently, the M11 CQB) open red dot sight.
The sight features 11 different brightness settings, about half of which were quite visible on a bright October morning.

The scope mount bears the wording "CQB"/"CLOSE QUARTERS"/"BATTLE", with "INTEGRATED MOUNT SYSTEM"/"FOR MARUZEN"/"SHOTGUN 870 SERIES" alongside it.

The pistol grip has "MARUZEN"/"MADE IN JAPAN"/"170192" stamped into the top right hand side and "USE FOR"/"LAW ENFORCEMENT"/"ONLY" on the left.
There are fittings for a top folding stock here, but no sling swivel, oddly, despite holes at the base of the grip for one.

There is a serial number and the same CA870 logo on the receiver of the gun, under the scope mount, along with "MARUZEN SHOTGUN"/"MADE IN JAPAN JASG"/"6mm BB CALIBER", as seen on the Sawn Off.

Otherwise, everything is pretty much as on the Sawn Off, with a smooth and not too stiff cocking action, a light trigger and good performance.

Oddly, the CA870 features a removable, rifle style, magazine, which feels very flimsy, but does the job of holding 40 or so BBs (some report filling it with all 40 can call the loading nozzle to be stressed to breaking point, so restrict the load to 35 or so for safety). Coupled with the smooth cocking action, this allows the CA870 CQB to put out a very impressive rate of fire.

There is an impressive range of accessories and upgrade parts for the CA870, which fits all versions. As well as upgraded power springs and tightbore inner barrels, there are now a range of metal outer barrels and magazine/cocking tubes, which will add greatly to the weight and solidity of the gun, not that this is an area where the CA870 is currently lacking.

Shooting Impressions

Click on image for bigger version in separate window.

Carrying out my standard 5m/6 round, off hand test seemed a little pointless. At that range, the CA870 CQB is quite capable of putting BBs, time after time, into a 4 inch across diamond, so I decided to take the CA870 CQB outside and fire off 10 shots at the same style of target at the end of my garden, which is about 18m (60 ft) away.

I used the red dot sight, placing the dot at the centre of the target. It is actually quite hard to place the gun on target for each shot without a stock of any sort and having to pump between shots.

However, as you can see, 9 of the 10 shots hit the target (the 10th hit the polystyrene backing). The target is only A4 sized (8.25" x 11.75" for those of you unfamiliar with A4 sizes), so they would easily have hit a person at this range, probably typical of CQB ranges.

Over 10 shots, my CA870 CQB averaged 301 fps. I do not believe it has had any upgrades and other report similar performance.

The trigger pull requires a 30 Ounce (850 Gram) pull, which is a medium pull for a GBB and about the same as the VSR10 rifle requires.

Take Down

Take down is a case of dissasembly, so I won't go into full details - If you ARE interested, check the Resources section.

Conclusions

Overall, the CQB version of the CA870 brings lots of useful features to the CA870 series and manages to look better at the same time (Its a pity no aftermarket suppliers have developed real wood parts for the Sawn Off, as it would make an unusual replica then).

Performance remains unchanged and (aside from some reports of breaking loading nozzles - due to magazines being filled to capacity - leave 4 or 5 out) the gun has a good reputation for reliabilty, power and accuracy. There are also a fair number of performance upgrade parts as well as metal outer barrels and, of course, the option of a full stocked version.

Some 'shottie' fans still favour the TM system that fires 3 rounds, but for woodland skirmishing, the greater power, solidity and upgradability of the CA870 CQB outweigh the extra rounds, which are not accurate at range and the triple barrel system is often cited as the cause of the TM shotguns' heavy cocking action.

Of the Sawn Off, I said "it offers reliable performance and good accuracy in a compact, but sturdy package". This remains true of the CQB, but with a more usable and convincing packaging.

Either would be a great choice as an unconventional sidearm or stealthy primary skirmish weapon. They also are great fun to just rack!

Weight : 1,600g

Realism : ***
Quality : ****
Power : *****
Accuracy : ***

Real Steel link at World Guns

Review of the Maruzen CA870 Sawn Off