Ares ms 700 (msr)

[Arktic]

Thought I would make a separate review here instead of in the other thread.

I have been interested in this gun for a long time now. I have always liked the real steel one so when the airsoft version was released I jumped on it without hesitation.
Being ARES it would be of decent quality and it was a very good price on redwolf, only $360. Here is my brief review of the gun.

A brief History of the rifle:

The Remington MSR - Modular Sniper Rifle was recently developed by the Military products division of the famous US arms-making company, Remington Arms, to meet the requirements of the US SOCOM Precision Sniper Rifle (PSR) solicitation, first issued in early 2009. The trials of actual contenders for the US SOCOM PSR contract are scheduled to March 2010. Requirements for the PSR include effective range up to 1500 meters with accuracy not worse than 1 MOA in 10-shot groups at all ranges up to the maximum, minimum magazine capacity of 5 rounds, maximum 'combat ready' weight of 18 lbs / 8.2 kg, barrels that can be changed by operator, folding or detachable stock and a number of other desirable features. It appears that Remington MSR rifle can fulfill all these requirements, but only actual trials will show, which weapon is the best. Regardless of the SOCOM PSR results, the Remington MSR appears to be a serious tool for long-range military or LE sniper work.
The Remington MSR - Modular Sniper Rifle is a manually operated bolt action weapon with rotary bolt locking. To facilitate caliber change, bolt is equipped with removable bolt heads, with bolt faces matched for appropriate calibers. Bolt heads have three radial locking lugs. The MSR rifle is built upon an aluminum alloy "chassis", which hosts a compact receiver, adjustable trigger unit, pistol grip, side-folding and fully adjustable butt-stock. The quick-change barrels are free-floated inside the tubular hand guard which is provided with a number of user-install-able Picatinny type accessory rails. The top of receiver also is fitted with monolithic Picatinny rail which is used to install sighting equipment (telescope sights or night vision sights). Additional equipment includes detachable folding bipod and a quick-detachable silencer, which installs over the specially designed muzzle brake.

Initial Impressions:
First thing that struck me was the weight. It has a very good heft to it. I have an M14 GBB and that weighs about the same as this. Over first glance it has very nice and solid build quality. The pistol grip is extremely comfortable to use. I was thinking of replacing it but no ways im doing that now. It has a nice texture and is rubberized.

The Rail, barrel and whole front half of the gun is very very solid. No wobbles at all. Every thing has been tightened down with some good force. The Stock however has a good amount of wobble on the hinge. Maybe 1mm - 1.5mm of up and down movement as well as left to right (feels about the same amount as the stock on my old WELL G96). This should be a fairly easy fix though. Will just add some brass shim stock to the under side of the hinge area. The locking mechanism is very sold and has a nice solid click once it locks into place. It aint going any where.

The adjustment dials on the stock are quite stiff and need to be worked on. The range of each of the moving parts seems fairly small. The shoulder pad adjustment is very easy however. Just a thumb screw that unscrews nice and easy with very smooth movement when adjusting.

The finish of the MS700 could be a bit better. On very close inspection you can see some tiny dents and seem lines but nothing major really. The rail has been cast very nicely with some mold lines on the far inside of the rail. Again you will have to look hard to find them. The paint on the gun is great. Very consistent and solid all over. No complaints there.

The performance was a nice surprise. All reviews have said that the rifle comes shooting around 380fps. Mine however is shooting a steady 450-455fps! with a 0.20g. The bolt pull is quite stiff. Not because of the spring but from the tight fitting I think. Also pushing the bolt back into position can be very tight and needs some force to go back in. This will probably wear in over time.

The magazine is tiny. Wasnt expecting it to be that small. Nice metal finish. Reminds me of the MAG M14 metal midcaps. Loading them is easy and quick. The rifle comes with a long tube style speed loader. The mag is extremely tight in the receiver. You have to give the mag a good push and slap to get it in. Once its in though its extremely secure. No wobble at all in any direction. Taking it out is also very stiff. Once some of the paint has worn down im sure it will become easier. You HAVE TO load the mag to full capacity to be able ti fire the rifle however. This is due to its feeding mechanism that it uses the push the bbs forward to the hop up chamber. The mag holds 78 rounds.

Pics time.



















UPDATE on the stock wobble.

I used some plastic from some AEG gear packaging. About 1mm thick or so.
I placed a square on the stock side at the top to eliminate the up and down wobble.
Then cut a key hole shape to fit into the area where the stock locks into place.
Glued them down with Q Bond so its not going any where.

The stock is now SOLID. No movement at all in any direction. The only wobble is when the stock is folded. Which is only for transport so dont care to much about that.
This fix took me about 8mins or so.





Onto the Internals of the rifle.

Taking the rifle apart is pretty easy. Just a bunch of screws and it falls away from the lower receiver quite easily.



On the rifle is split you can then see the trigger box and the feed tube for the bbs.

Feed tube.


Trigger box.


The trigger box doesnt look to be like any other VSR 10 trigger box. I havent seen many so maybe some one can correct me.
Its made out of a decent type of metal but is probably just pot metal. It looks like is has a 90degree seer which is great. I couldnt get the trigger box off of the cylinder chamber even after removing a lot of screws. So maybe I missed something there...
The trigger itself is made from a different metal to the trigger box though. Much nicer and sturdier. I changed out the stock spring for an Element M145 ST spring. It was extremely stiff so I had my doubts....and rightly so. After I pulled the bolt back and locked it into place it came off of the sear. Not broken but just pulled over the top it I guess. A Steel seer might solve this.

Next up the Cylinder.

Cylinder head.

This looks to be made quite well with a nice o-ring on it. No air leaks as well so thats good.

Plastic Spring Guide.

Plastic spring guide.......not much to be said about it. Feels very sturdy and strong. Will replace this with a metal bearing one.

Plastic Piston.

This piston reminds me of the one I had in my WELL L96. I thought VSR 10 pistons were a lot small than this? Its made of strong plastic, same as the spring guide I assume. The O-Ring is pretty good and fit tightly in the cylinder. No need for stretching or any thing.


I'll probably add a sorbothane pad to it to quieten it down a bit.

Spring.

Decent spring I guess. Was a lot shorter than the Element spring I tried.

Cylinder.

Seems a bit cheap to be honest. Very thin wall thickness. I would replace it.

After wondering why the bolt needed so much effort to push forward I think I found the reason why...



There was some serious pitting and bad moulding on the inside of the upper receiver. Maybe mine is a lemon but I had to use some 1000 grit sandpaper to sand it down. Its now a lot easier to cycle the bolt. Was a bit disappointed with that.

Onto the hop up and barrel.

The hop up chamber is made from pot metal.





The hop up arm is a nice thick plastic and wont break at all. The nub though is s super soft silicone one that deforms even if you just look at it. The same crappy see through rubber that my hop up rubber was made from in my old ARES M4 FF.



The Hop up rubber itself though looks pretty decent! It looks Identical to the RA TECH hop up rubber for WE GBB's. Its a nice thick but supple rubber. Doesnt feel cheap at all. Has a normal AEG style nub inside.









I changed out the hop up rubber to an A+ rubber for VSR as well as changing the nub to one made from the back of a bic pen. I have had great success with this nub in my WE Scar GBB so want to try it out in this rifle. Its very hard and doesn't deform.

Overall Im still very happy with this gun and what I paid for it. Due to some of he imperfections and poor quality of some parts I have changed my rating to a 7/10.

If there is any thing I have missed please let me know.

Ok here is a comparison of the MS 700 parts next to JG BAR 10 parts for reference.

Trigger Box

























I havent opened up the trigger box yet to get the sear out as I want to be sure I know how it goes back together before I do that.

Cylinder Comparison.















The piston of the MS 700 is 104mm long. The bar 10 piston is every so slightly wider in diameter than the ARES one. It still works in the rifle but it quite tight.

The piston of the MS 700 is made of extremely soft plastic and has started to slam fire after less than 4 magazines. Replacing the piston is a must with this rifle as using it in stock form clearly doesnt last very long.

[SuperHog]

Just did on post on the other thread regarding your pics.

Can you get measurements on the piston ie. length and diameter.

From the pics, the trigger box and hop up appears to be proprietary. If you can post pics of the trigger box internals, that would confirm if the internals are VSR10 compatible or not.

[Arktic]

Updated.

[SuperHog]

So, what is VSR-10 compatible on this rifle???

[Arktic]

I am waiting for my various parts to arrive from Hong Kong then I will report back.

[nstahl.19]

Awesome review, will keep an eye on this thread, thx.

[Arktic]

Very small update for now. Im still waiting for my trigger sears to come back from the CNC shop. Should have them by Friday.

I received my upgrade parts from WGC Shop yesterday.
http://www.wgcshop.com/wgc2008/main/...ACTION-PT-PN01

http://www.wgcshop.com/wgc2008/main/...LAY-PT-PSS10CH

http://www.wgcshop.com/WGC_Shop/imag...ss10sg_low.jpg

Firstly the piston only just fits inside the ARES cylinder. Very very tight and doesn't move freely. Same as the JG Bar 10 I've been using in the interim.

Secondly the Laylax cylinder head doesnt fit either. Its slightly to wide. It only screws in about 2 threads then gets stuck.

I then transferred all the new parts to a JG Bar 10 cylinder and every thing fits perfectly. The Bar10 cylinder also fits perfectly into the upper receiver. I then changed over the bolt handle from the ares to the bar 10 cylinder. Works great.

So in short. The ARES cylinder is UTTER GARBAGE!! Throw it out as soon as you buy the rifle. Actually throw the whole assembly away excluding the bolt handle. The piston, spring guide, cylinder head and cylinder are junk. Replace them with upgrade parts.

[brumak280396]

can someone send me a link to the ms700 for around 400$ with shipping please? ive only seen msr 700s go for 360 with 80+$ shipping:banghead::snipe::snipe::snipe:

[jomor]

I'm wondering if some one could post a list of the upgrade parts that would work properly for this gun? I love the look of it and want to upgrade it as much as possible!
Please and thanks