Review: ICS MP5A2

[kalnaren]

I Chih Shivan MP5A2

I used to have an MP5 that was, IIRC, a Tokyo Marui SD4 with an older Classic Army metal body on it converted to an A4. I sold it off when I was weeding out the collection as I hardly ever used it, and kind of missed it.

I wanted another MP5 mostly as a wall hanger/plinker/show piece, and maybe as an end-of-the-day-my-scrawny-arms-are-tired game AEG/loaner. As such I really wasn't willing to pay $500 for a new one and as a show piece an unmolested metal body was required.

My first choice would have been a Classic Army B&T MP5, but $500 for a BNIB AEG that I'm hardly ever going to game is pretty impractical. I'd heard decent things about ICS AEGs, the only one I own is the L85 and it doesn't work, but the externals are impressive enough so I thought I might try one of those. Online reviews of ICS guns in general seem to be pretty lacking (in quality of review and quantity).

Ordering & Shipping

Mach1 Airsoft is the ICS distributor in Canada and their prices on ICS AEGs are very reasonable for the Canadian market. ICS's full metal MP5 line sells for around $220-240 in the US market, so $340 in Canada is pretty darned good.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't getting a halfbreed or plastic body MP5, so I e-mailed Mach1 asking about the ICS-07 (MP5A2). They replied within 24 hours confirming it was a full metal gun.

I ordered this online from Mach1, and I have two complaints: First off, the ONLY payment option Mach1 gives you is Paypal. You can use either debit or credit, but you have to do it through Paypal. This wouldn't bother me except Mach1 also charges you the 3% processing fee. Really? No other options. Worked out to about $12 on my order. Not a lot but still. Most retailers will just hide this in the overall price.

My second -and much larger complaint- is that Canpar is used as the shipper. Basically, if you're not at home during the day, Canpar is fucking terrible. They have few depots and you can only pick up your package between 17:00-18:30. You have to call them to see where your package ended up (they actually tell you to use e-mail.. 8+ hour response time, yea, fuck that). Their depot closest to me ended up being on the other side of Hamilton (every tried driving westbound on the QEW at 17:20?). Shit, it would have been faster for me to drive to Toronto to Mach1's store than to have it shipped (closer too). While shipping prices are fair for a package of this size, I will not have a package shipped from Mach1 again unless I can guarantee I'll be home or they use a different shipper. If you have the option of shipping to your workplace you'll be fine. Unfortunately that wasn't an option for me. Anything else I buy from Mach1 I'll just drive to their store and get it.

Basic Overview

BATTERY: 8.4v 1500Mah mini.
MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 230 rounds.
FIREING MODES: Safe/Semi/Full Auto
MATERIAL: Zinc Alloy + Standard Industrial Plastic (ABS)
HOP-UP: Adjustable
WEIGHT: ~2,200g
VELOCITY: 430+
MECHBOX: Standard Version 2

What's in the box?



The ICS MP5 comes with a whole bunch of goodies. In the box you'll find the standard ICS plastic insert that holds the gun fairly well. You'll also find:

-An MP5A2 airsoft gun.
-An instruction manual with Canada-market stamp on it (manual is generic for all of ICS's MP5 series).
-A CD that includes information on airsoft, ICS, and diss-assembly videos for all of ICS's current guns. This is pretty handy for those unfamiliar with ICS airsoft guns.
-A 1500Mah 7-cell (8.4v) Ni-Mh battery with small connectors.
-Two metal tactical maracas.
-A bottle of what appear to be decent quality 0.2g Bbs.
-A spring (I'm assuming this is the “standard” spring that ships with ICS guns).
-A small-to-large battery connector.
-A wall charger (power adapter).
-An unjamming rod.

First Impressions

-Lightweight. For a metal bodied gun I expected a little more weight from the MP5. The older CA bodied one I had was definitely heavier.
-There was a strange white powder on different parts of the gun, likely caused by rubbing from somewhere.
-Looks good. Despite the lighter weight body it looks very good. I especially like the texture on the foregrip and lower receiver. The stock is pretty standard.

Weight:

Lightweight! This is one of the lightest AEGs I own. Maybe just slightly heavier than the Echo1 P90.

Sources put it at about 2,300g. Sounds about right.

Build Quality

Very good. Despite the lighter weight there is no movement or flexing anywhere. The magazines lock in very tight and don't wobble at all in the magwell. The lower receiver and foregrip are very nicely textured and don't shine at all. The stock is pretty standard for what I've seen on other MP5s.

Metal parts include the upper receiver, front and rear sights, trigger, selector lever, all three sling mounts, body pins, mag release lever, and cocking handle.

Like the RS MP5 the lower is plastic but still looks very good, along with the stock and foregrip. On this replica the cocking tube assembly is plastic, and thus looks a slightly different colour than the rest of the body. It looks good enough and is strong with no flex but marks easier than the metal. A new, full aluminum cocking assembly will run you about $100. The cocking tube spring isn't too strong, but like most MP5s I'd still shy away from doing the “HK slap” until you replace it with one made of reinforced mithral. I did it a couple of times because it's awesome, but no more. One disappointing thing was the flash hider (or I guess thread protector on this gun) -it's plastic and does shine a wee bit. It also has no threads.. so there won't be any suppressor attached to this gun. It can be easily removed by removing the hex screw under the foresight.. and replaced with one that doesn’t suck.


Shitty thread protector

The selector is stiff and feels kind of funny. It drags on the textured track so feels a bit like it “grinds” when you move it. It still locks into place well and I suspect this will get better as it's used more*. It's similar to the selector on the G3 series, though the TM selector moves much more freely but the track isn't textured like this one is. The markings are very crisp and are the standard German “Safe”, “Economical” and “Fun” trigger groups. The markings are on both sides of the gun so you can easily see where it is set from either side. Be aware though that this is not an ambidextrous selector and is designed for right-handed shooters.

*After working it a bit the selector has loosened up.





Another thing worth mentioning is that the mid sling mount (the one attached to the magwell) is quite stiff. On most MP5s I've seen attaching a sling here would be tempting fate. This one is pretty good in comparison.

Final thoughts on the construction

Overall I'd say there is nothing disappointing about the build quality of this gun. It's definitely gameable without worry, though I'm not sure the lighter metal body would hold up if you fell on it with all your weight.

The metal body isn't as heavy as other more expensive AEGs, but it looks great, the finish is excellent, and is still cheaper than some of the halfbreeds out there.

The Sights

Standard MP5 iron sights. The front sight is fixed (and unlike the ICS MX5-P, you can't change out the front sight post. This is actually a little known feature of the RS MP5. Too bad ICS didn't copy it for this gun as well). The rear sight is fully adjustable for elevation and windage. Although it has 3 holes + full open, all 3 holes are the same size so you in effect only get 2 aperture settings. This is probably fine for airsoft, but if you really want to be accurate replacing the rearsight with a metal Classic Army one might be preferable.



Like all MP5s the upper has mounting points molded in to add your own choice of MP5 specific rail.

Trademarks

The ICS-07 lacks replica trademarks. There is an engraved serial number on the right hand side of the magwell, and an engraved (but unhighlighted) 'Kal. 9mm x19' on the other side of the magwell. I'm not a huge one to care about trades so this doesn't bother me a whole lot, though I understand that older ICS MP5s had more extensive trademarks.



Magazines

The ICS MP5 comes with two metal 230 round high capacity magazines. The only markings on the magazines is “9mm x19 IF” at the bottom. They lock in the magwell quite well and don't wobble at all. These hicaps take quite a bit of winding.

I'm not a fan of hicaps but to start off 460 round capability makes this gun more than usable out-of-box.

I don't have any other MP5 magazines to test with unfortunately.

Performance, Firing, and Internals

The ICS MP5 comes with a 8.4v mini battery with a small tamiya connector. The gun has a large. It also comes with a small-to-large adapter. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand it's nice to see a higher end gun come with a battery. On the other hand the amount of resistance you'll get through four tamiya connectors is ridiculous, so even with a low velocity spring battery life will be degraded. On a more powerful spring I suspect you'll get maybe 1,000 rounds through it before the battery can no longer supply enough power to pull the spring.


WIRE FOR EVERYONE!!!

Either way, I tested the gun out-of-box as shipped from Mach1 Airsoft with the included battery, adapter, and hot spring. I tested with BB Bastard 0.20g BBs and an Xcortech x3200 shooting chronograph. Results:

471.3
475.7
430.7
470.1
471.6

Average: 463.8. Rate of fire: 10.8 rounds per second.

Obviously this velocity is FAR above the 430+ stated by the manufacturer. Not that it matters, it's too hot to game anywhere in Canada anyway. And 10.8 RPS for a submachinegun is.. lacking.

Performance after Spring Swap

I swapped in the other spring the gun came with, which is I suspect the “standard” ICS spring.

357.9
361.0
360.6
356.5
355.7

Average: 358.2. Rate of fire: 13.73 rounds per second.

This was again on the stock battery. Velocities are much better and after some use the spring will probably settle down to around the ~350 range. If you're planning on using this gun in doors though a new spring might be advisable just to be sure. At least it's gameable outdoors with this spring. Overall FPS variance around 5 FPS isn't too terrible for a stock gun, but I've seen better. ROF was pretty sad. Considering it's going through 3! pairs of tamiya connectors though no real surprise.

A note about large batteries: The stock for the MP5A2 is rather tight. I can fit a 2,000 Mah large battery in there without too much trouble (although there is a lot of excess wire that is hard to tuck away), however I have a 2,400 Mah and a 3,400 Mah large battery and NEITHER will fit in the stock. Granted my 2.4A battery is rather old so maybe newer ones will fit. If you want to use a 9.6v battery you're going to be relegated to a mini.

Hop-up

While I don't have enough room to gauge the hop effectiveness, I can say that the gun uses the Marui style hop-up. The little lever is black -not white- so it isn't overly noticeable.

[kalnaren]

Accuracy

Accuracy isn't bad for a stock gun, though it does have a bit of a peculiarity. As you can see in the picture, 3 rounds were very close groupings with two rounds flying off yonder. I did this test twice to see if it was just my shooting and the results were similar -3 rounds very close to centre with two others flying off somewhere else.

The hop-up was off and this test was done using Bastard 0.20g BBs so I doubt the problem is BBs or hop related. A T/N barrel in this gun wouldn't be a bad idea.

Still, for a stock SMG with a tiny barrel I think the accuracy is actually quite decent. Using short bursts should reward you with a few rounds on target.

I should also mention that these shots were with the sights right smack in the centre of the target. So that's pretty wicked for stock sighting.



Internals

I opened it up to swap the spring from the one that came installed to the standard one it came with.

I guess I've been spoiled by G36 varients. This thing was a sado-masticast's chore to get into in comparison. It would be nice if they included diss-assembly instructions... oh wait! Guess what's on that CD the gun came with! Glad I did or I would have had no clue what I was doing. Overall the MP5 wasn't hard to take apart, just a lot of steps.

The stock wires are connected behind the mechbox with tamiya connecters. Another set you have to replace or straight wire to properly convert to your connector of choice (mine is mini-deans).



The lower on the ICS MP5 slides out of the back of the upper quite nicely.. no need to split the body or anything.



The mechbox is a standard V2 mechbox. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened it and found a bearing spring guide. One less upgrade needed. Greasing and shimming was also good. The gears turned smoothly without undue resistance. I didn't bother re-greasing the gears.



The piston rails were covered in some strange coppery stuff that looks like the coating on the stock spring. I cleaned out that crap and re-greased the piston. I believe all ICS guns from Mach1 come with an upgraded piston. The piston is heavy and quite sturdy and will likely last a long time, especially in a lower powered SMG.



The stock spring was actually bent when I took it out. Here it is compared to the “standard” spring.





The motor is a standard ICS Turbo 3000.

Compression was lacking and I suspect it's partially the cause of the variance in FPS numbers. A new nozzle and /or better sealing piston head would probably do this gun well. Could also be because of the new spring (and honestly, I'm so used to tweaking with my own well tuned guns I can't really remember what's “normal” for average stock AEGs).

Overall the internals are satisfactory. A better nozzle and piston head (both pretty cheap parts) is all that's really needed, and the stock ones aren't deal breakers.

Modifications

Well, it's an MP5. That means somebody, somewhere, has stuck a variant of every tacticool accessory on one. You can add all manner of stuff -railed grips, flashlights, lasers.. I'm not going to list them all. Hell, I've even seen “sniper” variants of the MP5 made by some lost soul.

The foregrip is a standard MP5 foregrip so anything you can shove on a Tokyo Marui one you can shove on here. The gun is wired to the stock so if you're planning on putting a telescoping or collapsing stock on it you'll need to re-wire (though in that case you should have just bought an A3 or A5).

Personally I'm planning on adding a flashlight forgrip and an RDS of some sort. As this is primarily a show piece I'm more concerned with looks

Overall Pros and Cons

Pros:

-Looks good. Looks very good.
-Solid construction with no flex.
-Includes two magazines.
-Metal upper receiver.
-Comes with, by all appearances, a decent quality battery.
-Comes with dis-assembly instructions on CD.

Neutral:

-Lighter weight than expected.
-Included magazines are hi-caps
-Plastic cocking tube assembly (looks good, but gun isn't FMU).

Cons:

-Not gameable out-of-box due to super hot spring
-Plastic non-threaded thread protector. Seriously this should have been metal.
-Not all large batteries will fit in the stock (not specific to the ICS -some wouldn't fit in my TM/CA hybrid either).
-Included battery requires an (included) adaptor to use.

Conclusion

For myself, this gun fits the reason I bought it perfectly -a good looking metal wall-hanger, occasional plinker, and maybe gamer/loaner every now and then. It's a metal MP5 for $340. Considering I still see some halfbreed MP5s going for sub $400 I honestly have zero idea why anyone would choose one over this. A CA B&T MP5 is better, but is also going to cost you about another $200.

Quite frankly I'd actually suggest this to new players who wanted an inexpensive but good quality gun.... if it wasn't for the spring. This one has everything you need -battery, enough ammo capacity to game, ammo, good looks, solid construction... but the thing just shoots too damned hot. A new player unfamiliar with AEGs would have to be willing to swap the spring. If they were willing to do that than I'd say this was a near perfect beginners gun. It includes everything you need -a battery, a (crappy) charger, sub-400-fps spring, good accuracy. If you're a noobie and willing to swap a spring, than this is really a complete beginner's gun package.

To the experienced player looking for a nice wall-hanger or inexpensive secondary/loaner of good quality than this gun more than fits the bill.

For someone looking for a very high quality authentic replica, you may want to pass and go for a CA.

I'm not going to provide an overall rating because your reasons for considering this gun will change how well it suits your needs.

[JLiang]

Nicely done. I wasn't aware the ICS was that nice, but now I'll have to look into it.

Awesome!

[kalnaren]

I really like it. Like I said, it's lighter than I expected, but a nice piece nonetheless.

[Trebor]

is mach 1 easy to deal with?

[LegioXIII]

It's too bad about it not having a threaded muzzle, but perhaps this may be acceptable to some:

http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/in...oducts_id=2090

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by Trebor

is mach 1 easy to deal with?

Other than what I outlined above, I have no complaints.

Originally Posted by LegioXIII

It's too bad about it not having a threaded muzzle, but perhaps this may be acceptable to some:

http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/in...oducts_id=2090

Indeed. I was rather disappointed about that. Even if you're not planning on suppressing it, the protector just looks like crap compared to the quality of the rest of the gun.

[LegioXIII]

Originally Posted by kalnaren

the protector just looks like crap compared to the quality of the rest of the gun.

Very strange that they would put this one bit of plastic on

[kalnaren]

Ok, I'm still stupid.

I pulled apart the box (yea, I didn't do it before), and discovered two more things:

-A battery charger. It's actually a wall adapter with an output of 10.5v@600mah. Fine in a pinch but I wouldn't use it permanently.

-An unjamming rod.

Review updated.

[JLiang]

Good job. ^_^

[RodrigoMF]

I changed the sights of my with a HK416 ones, but i installed a full upper rail.

Guys..

I bought a CA 110rds metal mags for the ICS MP5, but they are too hard to change..

Some sugestion for make them more smooth ?

[chuckus]

I've heard complaints about the ICS M4's having a non standard delta ring and buffer tube and, as a result, most external upgrades require mods or wobble when installed.

Have you tried any non ICS external parts yet?

[RodrigoMF]

Originally Posted by chuckus

I've heard complaints about the ICS M4's having a non standard delta ring and buffer tube and, as a result, most external upgrades require mods or wobble when installed.

Have you tried any non ICS external parts yet?

My RIS are Cyma and the upper Sleeve are Laylax both them required heavy drilling..

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1...74123643604097

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by RodrigoMF

I bought a CA 110rds metal mags for the ICS MP5, but they are too hard to change..

Some sugestion for make them more smooth ?

For some reasons I've found quite a few of the "newer" MP5s to be very finnicky with mags. My old CA one took any mag I put in it, I tried a new G&G one at TAC2012 and it's own mag wouldn't even budge.