Review - Hands-on STAR L85A2 (in progress)

[Flying Squirrel]

Did you order the custom batteries off Kos-Mos?

[Players]

well what ever happen to the follow up review? =T Anyway, I'm gonna get a STAR L85 Carbine, just wanna know if the SUSAT is really a good idea, considering the fact that the distance wouldn't really need a 4x would it? =T I mean what's the average distance?

[swatt13]

this is true, its been so long skru... so so very long.

[swatt13]

well in an uncanny series of events, i have wound up with this gun. and as i lapped up every bit of info skru posted, i thought maybe i would pick up where he letf off, and supply a second opinion; my impressions so far:

- the gun is heavy... like really heavy. i had a cqb prior to this and also have an m16/m203 and its heavier than those! apparently it wieghs 9lbs with the susat, it is amazing. the body is thick and solid steel, forgrips are fibre grips close to, or even surpasing ca quality; with the rear stock and cheek rest a nice rubber. all sling loops are steel, cocking lever is actually pretty nice. this was the one part i was certian i was going to change back to the a1 style, but now i figure ill keep it as is. the snow cutter trigger i wasnt a big fan of as well, however it actually is moulded around your finger and is very nice. there is a nice guard that is actually welded in place around the mag release, preventing any accidental dropped mags. the rifle fires hard (as skru said an average of 370fps) and fast.. very fast, and as skru said, is LOUD! honestly this thing sounds very reminicent of a real rifle, the actual concussion from the round going off being what your missing. but when you hear it go off, is soundsvery intimidating and gooood.

- the susat is very nice as well. full steel, thick and very solid. it has a rubber eye cup, and the characteristic single needle sight inside with a crisp and clear picture. It IS NOT illuminated, it is ONLY a 4X scope. it does have an odd eye relief, if you have used a G&P ACOG, its the egsact same as that; you need to get fairly close to use. with shooting glasses its no problem, with bolles and other low profile tac goggles its fine, but with paintball goggles, its useless. it is not mounted on a 20mm picatinny rail, but on a wierd rail of its own, with only three adjustment points to move it forward or back on the rail. as is, you couldnt mount any other optics on the rail with out modding notches into it or buying the adapter, but i thougholy enjoy the susat.

- the optional carry handle is awesome as well, this thing is solid and heavy like everything else on this gun. it puts the ar style handles to shame, theres prolly more metal in this than in a stock tm rifle.

- the case is sweet, i have a pelican case for my xm8 and they are very comparable, the difference being size, which i didnt expect. the star case is much smaller, but that is a bonus as my pelican case is large, bulky and hard to handle, i would love to buy another for my other rifles. that being said the stars downfall is that it is only the eggshell foam, and not the dense foam, that you cut out as desired to recess your rifle in the case as in a pelican. im sure you can just change that out if you so desired, but at $70 for replacment pelican foam, you really want to have do that.

- mags the star mag didnt impress me at first, hawever following suit of the rest of the gun, it is the same, heavy guage solid metal you see in every other aspect of the gun. it isnt finished as nice as tm or ka mags, the seams seem a bit sloppy, but it s still a decent mag. i didnt find the same mag well wobble as skru described earlier with the star mag. it was actually MUCH better than an metal body ar magwell. Now there is one MAJOR problem here, my ka mags.... dont work, period. i loaded them in and they are loose, and sloppy, as a matter of fact you can pull down on the mag and hear it disengage from the hop op. so when you fire you miss feed, or actually dont feed. on semi auto if you held the mag in place, it fired, but as soon as you switched to full, it wouldnt feed at all. shimming the mag well wont work... unfortunaty this is unfixable. star locaps work like a dream on semi and full. i am yet to try tm and ca mags. **EDIT 03/18/07** after hearing tm mags work (which i had a feeling was a myth as ka mags are identical to tms) i went and tried tm mags to find they fed slightly better, but still caused the rifle to dry fire on full auto. one thing id like to point out is for some reason they did engage slightly better. i am going to try ca mags on teusday and another brand. as it looks now im going to have to get the mid caps (only metal mags star offers), or settle with the 85 rnd plastic mags.

- ballistics with close to an ak or m16 length inner barrel, the rifle has amazing range; well into the 150' range, and a wide hopup range, much more specific than a tm hopup. however i found a major flaw as the rounds zing off to the left, exentuated by the range. this may be just a isolated incident and i wonderif my hopup or barrel are just cocked to the left inside the gun. if this is true, then i also wonder if the ka mags will function properly.

all in all , i thoroughly enjoy this gun, much more than any ar or ak ive handled, i like it more than any other bull pup ive gamed as well. i previously owned an academy l85 a1; i really liked it, though it was a sub par gun. i feel the l85 is one of the best bull pups out there, the only other rifle i feel is as nimble (maybe even more so) would be the g36c, which lacks certian features of the l85 (barrel length, stock configuration battery size as you can get an 8.4v max large cell) if you even somewhat like the l85, i gurantee youll love this rifle. the only thing is.. it kinda looks odd unless you have a british load out, but i dont care myself... oh and i guess the steep 1G price tag being another deciding factor. but on the bright side, G&G (G&G), ICS and i believe even TM and CA are all issueing their own version of the l85. id keep my eyes on the ca or the ics version for as they will likley be as good if not slightly better than the star, though im not sure where you could go to accomplish that, the star is top notch.

[.:Seaforth:.]

well if you are willing to order from over seas then its no problem. DPM is as common as Cadpat over here

[swatt13]

not too different from the us look, i dont mind dpm, and really really like desert dpm, but i hate the brit paratrooper helmet. wth is that all about, it looks like a bobble head. i love psagat/mitch

[Swatt Six-Four]

Hard enuf to find the L85 A2 let alone the gear. No one has one for sale and no where to buy them. Sounds like swatt13 you lucked out

[swatt13]

you cant complain, the signs from the gods were all in front of you with winning all that money, then NOT BUYING bransons. i shake my head friend.. i shake my head.

[Swatt Six-Four]

cold man very cold lol

[six4]

hey un dude ( joking ) if you cant find a star l85 what about converting your m-14 into an ebr? i seen one at a recent bcac game,,freakin deadly almost like the thing comes with an aimbot.

[Swatt Six-Four]

Did anyone ever get the inner barrel lenghts on the different models? Just asking