Strayer Voigt Infinity 5" SCW - Western Arms
When Western Arms released the SCW gas system, to acclaim, in the 1911s, the airsoft world held its breath for the arrival of the SCW system SVIs.
Already a byword for performance, power and quality, could WA lift their flagship models still higher with the addition of this new gas system?
Obviously aware of the anticipation, WA chose to release the first SCW guns in all silver finishes, with blue, green and red grips.
What we have here is the 5" SCW, probably the one most people would choose.
In the Box
The SCW SVI 5" (and 6") come in the now familiar, grey SCW boxes, with only a sticker on the side to indicate what is within.
Contents, too, are pretty standard for a WA SVI with BBs, manuals, tube, hopper and rod loader, a couple of Allen keys and 2 interchangeable triggers. All familiar fare for some time with the SVI range.
First Impressions
An SVI 5" is about the same size as a standard 1911 or a Beretta, so it is the gun that many people will choose, being easy to handle and holster, whilst providing a decent length barrel for good accuracy and power.
The all silver (this one with a blue/purple grip) SCW SVI is a smart gun, with good markings and an impressively consistent finish, as was the 6" SCW SVI tested at the same time.
Unlike the newer Experts, the SCW SVI feature a traditional SVI grip, with aggressive chequering.
As you would expect from a WA SVI, the frame, outer barrel and all the controls are metal and the silver finish applied to the controls is very even and an accurate match to the frame and slide.
Closer Look
WA obviously decided to take a conservative approach with their first SCW system SVI releases.
This (and the 6") were the first all silver SVIs I have seen and do feature a rail, but neither is a first.
Still, there is little wrong with the basic SVI design (ask real steel and airsoft practical pistol shooters all over the world!) and the 5" SVI SCW does everything you would expect. The frame is metal (painted silver, of course), whilst the slide and grip/trigger guard are plastic (the slide is supposed to be Heavyweight material, which always used to pose problems painting, so looks like they have cracked that one).
The controls, trigger (interchangeable and in purple, to complement the grip colour - see the 6" for an example of another combination), slide lock, magazine release, safeties (grip and ambidextrous thumb) and hammer are all metal, too.
The grips, too, on this Purple gripped gun (and the green, although not the red) are, as far as I can tell, new for this model and, I think, are very attractive with the silver finish. Vastly superior, to my eye, to the rather tarty red ones.
Many, will also welcome the return of the plain (except for the rail) frame design, finding the Xcelerator fluting fussy, as well an all silver gun. The silver finish, is particularly good. Some WA guns have had slightly uneven or bubbly finish on painted metal parts, but this (and the 6") features a very consistent and smooth silver finish on plastic and metal parts.
Interestingly, the purple grip features a black mainspring cover (less noticeable than on the red one), suggesting this is a separate part on this model. There is also a large magwell (as on all 6" double stacker SVIs I have seen, regardless of variant, but few of the 5" variants), which is polished silver on this model. The chamber and cone barrel are in the bronze/gold colour first seen on Xcelerators, which looks good against silver (probably better than plain silver) and the recoil rod is unpolished silver in colour.
Markings, as with all SVIs, are few, but nicely rendered. Each side of the slide is marked INFINITY. There is a SV logo on each side of the grip, which is also cast into the frame above the trigger on the right side, ahead of which is the marking WA and ASGK (the only non-original markings).
The chamber is marked "INFINITY .45 ACP"
Shooting Impressions
Performance is everything with an SVI and the SCW system guns do not disappoint.
Click on image for bigger version in separate window.
Carrying out my standard 5m/6 round, off hand test, I achieved a best 5 grouping with a 2 inch (5.2 CM) diameter.
4 shots fell well within the target centre and I suspect I allowed my aim to shift slightly to the left, accounting for the pair to the left.
WA equip the latest SVIs with 6.03mm tightbore, accuracy barrels and they certainly seem to deliver a detectable improvement.
Over 10 shots, the SCW system 5" SVI averaged 283 fps (using Abbey Ultra gas and .2g BBs) indoors (at 12C).
This equates to around 324fps at 20C, from experience with other guns.
| Shot | FPS |
| 1 | 292.4 |
| 2 | 288.5 |
| 3 | 288.2 |
| 4 | 286.5 |
| 5 | 281.1 |
| 6 | 280.7 |
| 7 | 281.1 |
| 8 | 276.6 |
| 9 | 277.5 |
| 10 | 279.1 |
Trigger pull was 980g (34 Oz), which is a medium weight pull for a GBB.
Take Down
With the magazine removed, the slide is pushed back until the slide lock can be pushed through the frame. With that done, the slide, barrel and recoil rod & spring can be slid forward off the frame as unit.
At this point it becomes more complex as the recommended approach is to separate the recoil rod sections to allow the front of the rod to be pulled forward from the slide and the outer barrel, spring and chamber to be pushed forward, down and back to remove it from the slide. I find that removing the barrel works just as well, but the plastic chamber thread can be fragile and so it is probably not advisable to use this approach.
Conclusions
Overall, the SCW system SVI's feature a number of improvements over the older guns.
Many will welcome the easier to adjust hop-up and slight power increase, but I found the new sights the biggest improvement.
Combined with the tightbore barrel, accuracy is very good, no doubt helped by better gas consistency from the SCW system.
If you're looking for a managably sized double stacker 1911, the SVIs still look a great bet, despite growing competition and this is an excellent place to start.
As with the 6", though, there is probably not enough new here to justify adding an SCW SVI 5" to your collection if you already own an older one. For these people (and anyone looking for something less 'bling'), the Expert 5" offers all the advantages of this model (and more) in a more radical package.
Weight : 1,080g
Realism : ****
Quality : *****
Power : *****
Accuracy : ****
Buy this gun from Elite Airsoft
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