Tanaka M700 AICS

[Shooting Addict]

Is the Tanaka M700 AICS any good? I prefer gas over spring but i couldn't find much on ASC or Google, so any thoughts? No this is not my first gun for those of you assume i want to be a ubber cool 1337 COD snipeer lol

[FOX_111]

I tried gas rifles and I did not liked them.
They are cool to play with, but when it come to acuracy, consistency and reliability, they don't come close to springs.

They are restricted to hot weather use.

[kullwarrior]

Not really, if you run a 12g co2 regulated it can be controlled. There's folks in Arnies did that on the ARES AW338 and got 300ft range (2 inch group) fps was 500fps on .2g

[Thenooblord]

2" grouping at 300 feet? I find that impossible to believe

[Azathoth]

There is a large and loyal following of Tanaka M700 AICS owners myself being one of them. They are the BEST of the gas rifles. I recommend if you can find it a Preban PCS version of the M700. ACtually any of the Tanaka M700/M24 variants are excellent. There is a handful of modifications to make the system do what you want whether it's more power 500+ FPS, better consistency. There are 2 people in Edmonton with HPA modified Tanaka mags.

[The Acer]

I have a modded KJ M700 with external rig, similar thing with the 12 gram CO2 canister, I await patiently for my scope to come in, for me to game it

[grantmac]

I don't even have a gas gun, yet. But I am currently working on an HPA rig which will be a lot lower profile than any of the current rigs, close to the 12g CO2 rig in size actually.
It may even be able to fit inside the AICS stock and then lead out through the mag-well.

Unfortunately there is so much machining involved that there is just no way I could produce them commercially. But I will have one slick gun once its running.

Of course what nobody has mentioned yet about gas guns is that they become much more efficient with heavy ammunition. They just don't loose FPS as the BB weight is increased like springers. So in a way you have to be even more cautious of your muzzle energy and engagement ranges.

-Grant

[Skruface]

Both I and Brian (Illusion) have had a Tanaka M700 AICS; I still have mine, not sure if he has his, but there's a great thread detailing how he upgraded his somewhere on this forum; well worth the read.

The Tanaka is a beautiful, well-built, and skirmishable gun out of the box, but requires an investment of a few hundred more dollars to make it truly impressive. However, due to the unique (and not particularly good) hopup design and lack of aftermerket tightbores (it comes with a stock 6.08 barrel, KM makes a 6.04 for the stock Tanaka hopup unit) it's not nearly as accurate or consistent as, say a TM BAR10 GSpec out of the box.

The main issue is that Tanaka mags are prohibitively expensive (close to $100 each after shipping from HK) and were never EVER intended to take Green gas/propane - doing so will ruin the mag in short order. There are a limited number of aftermarket parts as well (King Arms/Caliber/Best Gun/Creation) but at minimum you should get the KA aftermarket hopup unit (switches to a VSR-style hopup setup and inner barrels) and the magazine parts (mag block - allows use of Green/propane - hammer spring, steel striker plate and hammer), as well as one of the aftermarket aluminum chambers (part 91 - it's plastic on the Tanaka right where the barrel and receiver join the body..drop you gun and you could literally break it in almost in half). That will cover most of the "out of the box" deficiencies of this gun.

You can find all the abovementioned parts at WGC or Redwolf - just do a search for "M700" and it will find most of them for you.

Also, ENSURE you are getting a model with PCS (Power Control System...it's the velocity-adjustable bolt). The aftermarket ones aren't great, and there are a lot of models of the AICS that don't have this feature (meaning, you can't adjust the gas pressure on the fly).

[Azathoth]

I honestly don't know what you are talking about for unable to handle greegas out of the box. I've been running my gun with propane since I owned it 2 years ago, and there are users running un modified tanaka mags and propane since they rifle was released.

The PCS Pre ban version is not available unless you can find it in the classifieds. oh and KJW M700 bolt works in the Tanaka but the FPS is terrible. KJW mags are not compatible.

[Skruface]

Originally Posted by Azathoth

I honestly don't know what you are talking about for unable to handle greegas out of the box.

The internal magazine walls are too thin to handle the pressure of Green/propane without deforming under pressure...they are designed to be run under the pressures of duster only (since Tanaka is a Japanese manufacturer and the guns were only ever designed to gun on duster to comply with the Japanese FPS standards). This is an old, well-known problem with Tanaka M700 mags. My personal experience was leaving my gun sitting on a sniper mat for 10 minutes under direct sunlight on a warm (+20C, but well below +30C) spring afternoon.

The mag walls bulged outwards and deformed so badly from the pressure of propane that the magazine could not be physically removed from the gun....I started with wiggling the mag while pushing down with my fingers and eventually had to resort to a dowel and hammer to hammer the magazine out from the top.

[grantmac]

For the Tanaka AICS owners:
How large is the cavity in the back of the stock? I'm trying to see about stuffing a pressure vessel in there for onboard air.

Thanks,
Grant

[ILLusion]

Originally Posted by Skruface

Both I and Brian (Illusion) have had a Tanaka M700 AICS; I still have mine, not sure if he has his, but there's a great thread detailing how he upgraded his somewhere on this forum; well worth the read.

I still have mine, and plan on keeping it for quite a while. Mine has had heavy modifications done to it... I even just received a custom made ported 6.00mm tightbore barrel for it, to use with a Tokyo Marui VSR-10 / GBB Pistol type hop up chamber system, which is far superior to the Tanaka version.

My biggest gripe with the original mags (besides the mind numbing price), was the fact that they would NOT take propane well, and the walls would flex and expand, making it extremely difficult to insert/remove in to the mag well. I was lucky enough to get myself a supply of the Pax Armamentia CNC machined anodized 6061 aluminum mag inserts that were way stronger and prevented flex. Unfortunately, Pax Armamentia no longer exists, and I'm not aware of any other aftermarket company making these inserts.

Finally, if you were to get one, I would highly recommend getting a PCS bolt version IF you can find one. It has been several years since the PCS was banned, and I'm not aware of any aftermarket upgrade/replacement versions. The last time I saw an M700 AICS for sale in the classifieds with the PCS Bolt was about 2 years ago, and it went for $1000, bone stock.

It's mainly a convenience feature, although, if you are careful with the parts you're using to upgrade, you can still get a non-PCS version up to the power levels you need. I know the G&G bolt can take the power up to almost 800 fps with the proper upgrades... it is essentially a pre-ban bolt set to wide open gas flow.

[deltaspear]

hello sirs.does anybody here sell the reinforced magazine block for the aics magazine?i also need one.common problem of the swelling.

[ILLusion]

I wish someone still made them... I'd like to get a few more mags...

[Swattiger]

I am pretty happy with its performance with duster, and it is for sniper, so do not shoot a lot in a game.

So the propane/ green gas issue does not bother me at all. I have 2 Tanaka mags and already very happy.