Home Reviews Ksc Mk23 KSC H&K MK23 Heavy Weight

KSC H&K MK23 Heavy Weight

by Arnie


KSC
H&K MK23 Heavy Weight
by Thomas J. Vallely IV (TJ)
aka The
Rabbit

Stock
Specifications
FPS
???m/s
(stock fps may vary)
Length:
245mm
Weight: 1400g
(box)

Ammo
capacity:

28
rounds


Introduction:

There are currently 3 versions of the MK23, I chose the
heavy weight version as the Zeke metal body and outer
barrel are getting harder to find. I ordered from Airsoft
Marine, great service and got my package two days after
I paid.

When
I first brought the package I was surprised at the sheer
weight of it. I was quite unbalanced and awkward. After
ripping through the USPS box and digging through he crumpled
newspapers I came to the KSC
box. It has tons of great pictures of the SOCOM doing
many cool things with various accessories. Ok so to the
gun, it is packaged much as most other gas guns, standard
Styrofoam, comes with a manual, odd blank form in Japanese,
loading tool, manual, bb’s, hop up adjustment, Allen wrenches,
and the gun as well.

Looks:
Well first off, if you have heard anything about the KSC
MK23, you have heard it is an OK gun, great if you upgrade it.
I got it with this intention in mind, but this is all written
with it in stock form. This is a very large pistol for big hands
and has a lot of heft to it, and a very large mag. The frame
is a blackish gray color and wonderfully heavy with all actuating
knobs made from metal, including the trigger, slide release,
decocker, safety, and hammer. Unlike most gas guns today, the
socom has lots of weight even when the magazine is removed from
it. The slide is a slightly lighter color and not quite as matte,
but very convincing. The trademarks are modeled after the Phase
III socom. It is clearly stamped “HK MK23 USSOCOM Cal. 45” with
official trademarks all over the gun. KSC thought they were
very tricky and placed a very small and almost “unnoticeable”
mark under the decocker that can only be seen if it is depressed
reading “KSC Corporation.” I was happy to see it there as opposed
to the other side of the slide though.

Unfortunately
the barrel is made out of plastic and with usage of the socom
silencer will strip itself. The only advice I can give is be
very careful with this part as the threads are not strong. It
has on it a green O-ring to mimic the one on the real steel
as well. Both sites are adjustable and have plastic light green
dots in them. The magazine is a full sized double stack and
holds 28 rounds. It has markings on the rear for “3, 4, 5, 6,
8, 10, and 12” bullets.

Feel:
So it looks absolutely great, but how does it feel? Upon
picking it up, it is very satisfying. Having large hands I felt
it very comfortable and easy to hold. One thing to notice is
the excessively large trigger guard which is meant to allow
gloved shooting; this is all well and good except it also makes
it impossible to rest your off hand pointer finger on it comfortably.
The frame feels like the read deal and the grips are very well
molded.

Time
to rack back the slide. The slide catch works and holds the
slide back and shows the internal nozzle and top of the magazine.

On
to the release…… enter the biggest problem with the gun. It
has the weakest return spring of all the gas guns I have owned.
The slide returns very disappointingly slowly and barely makes
a little click when it gets there. After deciding to get back
to that in a bit, I move on to the decocker. The decocker works
very well and is easily accessible for a right handed shooter.
The safety can only be engaged with the hammer back, and clicks
into place. It has a white and red dot to denote safe and fire
respectively and can be accessed on either side. One note worht
mentioning – the decocker can not be used if the safety is engaged.

The
trigger pull is very light, but not quite as smooth as my TM
M9, and like everything else on this gun is quite sizable and
has ribbing to help give friction. The mag release is ambidextrous
and I find very refreshing, no more mags being pushed out by
tight holsters or by bumping the mag release like on other guns.
When depressed the mag slides right out due to its heft, so
be careful. The mag fills like all other gas guns so I won’t
go into the details of it.

Disassembly:
The KSC MK23 dissembles like its real steel counter part,
release the mag, pull back the slide, and align the pin, pop
it out and slide the slide forward and off. This is where we
come back to the return spring. Upon inspecting it, I find that
there are two springs on the guide rod, but the outer one is
the sluggish problem. The larger return spring is very flimsy
and doesn’t stand a chance of moving the giant slide back at
any decent rate. Keep in mind this may just be a problem with
the heavy weight version though. The effects are multiplied
when using the KSC SOCOM Silencer on the gun. Screwing on this
accessory doubles the length it and also makes it more front
heavy, though not unwieldy. Back to the return spring, when
releasing the slide it is so sluggish you’d be lucky if it made
it all the way back. Side note: the KSC socom silencer has a
small barrel extension that if mated correctly will increase
accuracy of the gun.

Performance:
Before moving on to shooting, I made one slight modification
to the return spring assembly that upped performance and had
no negative effects to the gun. I added part of another spring
to the assembly seen in Assembly 1 Picture, this made the slide
return much more crisp and on par with most gas guns.

Fill
the magazine is very easy to do by hand and can be done on the
field if you have spare bb’s around. But it is no a pour in
design, rather they went for a more realistic double stack where
there is no slit in the middle to see the bb’s. This has its
pluses and minuses. First it doesn’t let you see how much ammo
you have left, but the good sides are that it looks more realistic,
and it also makes it much less likely for dirt and other such
to get in the magazine, and scratch up the ammo. When this is
done, cock it and let it rip.


Target 1 on the left, 2 on the right

Target
1 shows the results of shooting at 15 feet using the NRA kneeing
position, taking a 2 second pause between shots. This proved
to give great results and I was satisfied at how it shot considering
the size of the target. Target 2 shows the results of shooting
at 15 feet standing, pausing between shots about ½ to
1 second. I was very impressed by these targets. Although if
you have to shot in rapid succession it could prove inaccurate
due to a large heavy slide that throws off you aim after every
shot, much more then most gas guns with the exception of all
metal guns. I don’t have a chronometer, so I could not do accurate
tests. I can say that in the can test it performed about on
par with a tm m9. Although it was slightly weaker, it was much
more accurate then my m9. I believe this to be caused by a much
longer inner barrel.

Trouble
spots:
Having had this replica for all of two days, I can
see two areas that have the potential for problems. The fist
being the same as on the western arms hicap series, the top
portion of the ejection port has already started showing wear.
The second is the threads spoken of earlier. I have heard many
rumors about Part Number 66 breaking, but only time will tell
on that one.

Conclusion:
This is a great replica, and has many nice features found on
high-end guns, such as a working decocker, and dotted sights,
as was expected from KSC. Although the price tag is a bit high
for this manufacturer it is worth the money. With that said,
it is also not a gun for beginners to airsoft. They are best
left with the M9’s and the Glock’s, as this is a gun that will
need upgrading, and fine tuning to get to a good workable level.
When buying this gun I would suggest ordering a new recoil spring,
high flow valve, and a socom silencer (I mean it just looks
and feels cool). Also think about holstering this gun, it will
not fit in most, try to find on made for the real steel or the
new guarder tornado will hold it as well. This is not the replica
for everybody; just think what kind of sidearm you need before
getting one before you make the plunge. The Performance tests
showed this to be a highly effect gun and would work well on
the field if you can be comfortable using it.

Well
that’s my story and I’m stinking to it,

by
Thomas J. Vallely IV (TJ)
aka The
Rabbit

PA, USA

Appearance

5/5
(one of the nicer looking gas guns)

Build
Quality

4/5
(the Barrel brings this category down)

Performance

2/5(unusable
with current return spring)

Value
for Money

4/5
(expensive, but very nice piece)

Overall
Potential
5/5(very
upgradeable, silencer, lams, scope mount, parts, valves)

External
Links:
TBA

Site
links:
TBA

Comment
on this review in the forums


Last
modified:
Saturday, August 16, 2003 6:17 PM
Copyright 2003 ArniesAirsoft




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