Comments and Notes: VFC SCAR L/H, VFC SR16, VFC M4 Sopmod, ICS AKS74U, ICS AK74M, ICS GALIL AR, ICS SIG 552/551 and others

[m102404]

This is a brain dump...and maybe some useful notes for someone looking into these rifles. It is not meant as a review per se...but I guess it sort of turned out like that.

First off, these are not "Cansoft" or "hybrids"...these are full metal "good old fashioned" AEGs. Cansoft sucks..."sportline"-ized rifles suck. The good 'ol rifles have been missing for far too long.

I've seen the outsides and insides of a fair share of guns...from $80 clone-crap to Cansoft to $400 waste of money GBBRs to "good old" stuff to multi thousand dollar setups. From TM to CA to G&G to ICS to Star to AGM to WE to PTW to Ino to KA to custom to whatever else I've forgotten. So I think I've got a decent basis for commenting on these rifles.

I am not going to take a bazillion gun-pron photos (look at marketing stuff for that). I'm am not going to "detail" every aspect of the rifle...I'll let someone else with more time do that.

If you've handled a couple of guns...if you're familiar with what's important and what's not really with things...then these comments will make sense. If you're living in a Walmart clearsoft coccoon then reading this is a waste of time for you...and we (I) don't really care if you exist or not anyways

I had the chance to fiddle with several of each model the other night. A couple of other local gun-techs were there as well and the following are the summary of their comments (heavily weighted to my own I suppose).

The rifles were disassembled and the mechboxes opened, checked out and the rifle reassembled and test fired.

First off...the VFC M4 Sopmod is a breeze to work on. The SR16 and SCARS...not so beginner friendly.

Secondly...after spending a couple of hours tearing into a number of rifles, one thing is very obvious. VFC has taken a lot of time/effort to look at and address the finishing touches of things. These are the little things that don't show up on a spec sheet of FPS or ROF.


Fit, finish and externals...are FREAKING AWESOME.

I was very, very impressed with all three rifles.

Both the SR16 and the Sopmod have the locking fake bolt that you can trip forward by pressing the bolt release lever...a la King Arms body. Retained body pins (similar to KA bodies). Some of the nicer rifles I've picked up and looked at are King Arms....they're just "pretty" and so well done externally....and I'd put these right there with those.

The SR16 is gorgeous. Deep trades, ambi mag release (solid), ambi selector lever, ambi bolt release. Beefed up trigger guard, numbered rail positions, flip up sights, QR sling attachment point...body ridges where they're supposed to be. I opened the hard plastic case that it comes in....held it...and I was speechless for a bit (rarity for me). It is that nice.

The M4 Sopmod has laser printed trades (I think...can't recall now?). Very nice fit and finish, solid RIS, butstock is firm and locks into each position positively. More of a "run of the mill" M4...but I'd peg this model as being right up there with the nicer ones.

The SCARs (L/H) are gorgeous. If you want a SCAR...this is one to get. Solid. Even with the gabizillion parts to the stock...it's a sturdy setup. Nice spring loaded contact pins to connect the mechbox to the stock battery. Battery compartment is tight...nice place to consider a LiPo. I'm not a SCAR guy...and I almost bought one last night.

If I had a bunch of money in my pocket that evening...I would have bought the SR16 and a TAN SCAR L right there and then. If I could have only bought one...I would have bought the SR16 (it's freaking trick). As it turned out I had a total of $5 in my wallet...so I doged that bullet.


Mechbox:
WOW...I was impressed again. Not necessarily because of the individual components, but in the overall "package" that you get for a mechbox and motor. Often when you get an awesome external package...the internals are poorly done to keep costs down. My impression was that VFC matched a very decent mechbox to a very nice setup.

Obviously, between the SR16 and M4 Sopmod you're going to see the same mechbox/motor. But some fine touches separate them. The SR16 has the through gearing setup so both selectors actually work. That's nice...but let me tell you...it's not the easiest setup to put back together until you get the hang of it. Once you've got the knack of it...no problems.

Innovation (well, at least to me)...is nice, and VFC has done something really neat with these mechboxes. The spur gear (big flat one) is spring loaded...so it is shimmed on the "bottom" and spring loaded with a collar around the axel on the "top". No fiddling with shimming that side...neat...and it works. The other gears look very nice...we didn't run them enough to wear test them, but they "sound" nice. The cylinder is chromed and "M4" ported.
Blahbidyblah-ramble on about other parts.


To note...VFC has used a high speed (2nd tooth removed) clear polycarbonate piston, tappet and hopup unit. Personally...I'm not crazy about this material unless it's a big blocky chunk of it...but it certainly held up for the testing that we did. The tappet will flex...evidenced by when you crack open a mechbox and the tappet is wanged way up out of position by a sector chip (standard installed). The hopup is snug and feeds...time will tell I suppose.

Ball bearing spring guide - odd...the M4 Sopmod has a retaining screw screwed into the back of the spring guide when the mechbox is closed up....but the SR16 doesn't. More notes on assembling the stock in the next section.

The mechbox is a hefty sucker. Reminds me of a CA mechbox. The solid black metal bushings must be 8mm minimum. What struck me with these mechboxes in general was the consistently very nice assembly between one mechbox to the next. There's min TWO quality control marks (assembler's initials) on each mechbox. There's a cut out slot on the left side of the mechbox where you can get something into there and release the anti-reversal latch...nice touch. If it's any indication as to the accuracy of the mechbox shell casting...the parts stay in place while you are closing it up...no jack in the box frustrations.

ThunderCatus would like this touch...the mechbox screws are regular philips screws.

The motor is a no-lable red unit. The magnets are very strong (i.e. suck all the screws/pins/bits laying around and you've got to use two hands to pull them off).

Assembly/Disassembly:
Mechboxes drop in nicely to the bodies, screw holes line up, screws are solid (not self-disintegrating types like others), parts fit together with minimal clearance. Gun to gun...assembly is very consistent. What else could you ask for?

Bodies are straight...mechboxes sit straight in the bodies. Nice...no wrestling with it. Pins are snug, but fit without a hammer (maybe a little nudge with a plastic hammer now and then ).

The way the stock pipe on the SR16 and M4 Sopmod attach is worth note. There is a nut in the end of the inside of the body stub....and the stock pipe screw engages this nut and doesn't screw through into the mechbox spring guide. Sort of like a Star M4...but nicer finishing.

It's not hard to get the mechbox out of the SCAR...but it's a pain in the ass to get it back in with the selector levers lined up on both sides. It will drive you nuts....right up until you figure out the trick to it . Come on...if a 5yr old Asian kid working on an assembly line can do it...so can you. But it stumped all 4 of us for a while until we got it....LOL

Shooting:
It shoots nice. ROF on a mini 9.6v 600mAh was very quick. Feeding was excellent. The guns sound "nice"


That's all for now...comments on L85's, MP5's, SIG's, AK's and probably others to come.

[Daiviet]

Nice piece Tyson, very informing. Yet another reason for newbies to save up instead of buying garbage.

For the VFC scar, it was simply moving the selector to a specific position then dropping it in no?

ps. you forgot to call meee, I would have loved to help.

[m102404]

Sorry buddy, things got rolling in a hurry yesterday.

Yeah...in the end, that about sums it up with the SCAR selectors. But it's worth about 20 minutes of swearing, 2 smokes, one get up from the table in frustration and a bit of head scratching until you figure it out. Getting the through gears and floating gears that the selector levers attach to in the right spots is just silly at first. It works, and is solid...but a pain to do.

[cbcsteve]

Definitely agree with the VFC Rifles on quality

Makes me wish I did not sell my VFC AKS74U, right out the box it did not need to be modded to take any Lipo and it shot perfect without having to touch a thing inside the gearbox.

Now this makes me want to go buy a VFC again ahah

[m102404]

Definitely...their AK's are like portable vaults.

I have pretty much sworn off of "regular" AEGs now...liking the PTW/GBBR stuff too much at this time to put up with AEG performance.

However, if I "needed" an AEG right now...I have the options of building a custom one or buying one. Considering the quality level and nice touches on the rifles I checked out...I wouldn't build one, I'd just buy the VFC SR16. No brainer decision. Even if I wanted to trick it out a bit, I'd be miles ahead starting out with that one vs. whatever I could build from parts here and there (without breaking the bank).

[Danke]

I am really getting my hopes up for the VFC gas rifles! Checkout this link below for the showroom, you'd leave there with an empty wallet.

http://tw.myblog.yahoo.com/bbstar100...307&next=10298

[Donster]

nice post. quick question, you may have put it in, but i may have glanced over it without thinking:

for the VFC internals, are there any proprietary parts, or is it all standard stuff?

[-Trooper-]

Originally Posted by m102404

Sorry buddy, things got rolling in a hurry yesterday.

Yeah...in the end, that about sums it up with the SCAR selectors. But it's worth about 20 minutes of swearing, 2 smokes, one get up from the table in frustration and a bit of head scratching until you figure it out. Getting the through gears and floating gears that the selector levers attach to in the right spots is just silly at first. It works, and is solid...but a pain to do.

The first time that I had to figure out the selector switches it took me a good 20-30 mins, but after a lot of experience I have been able to lower it to around 2-5 mins. It was still a pain in the ass the first time.

[Danke]

On my SCAR the mechbox is a VFC one for the Ambi-selector switch. The hopup is unique too. I think they went that route so the takedown would mirror the real thing. On my 416 once again the box is unique but that's just for the bolt catch, if you can live without that then regular M-4 etc. V2 stuff fits fine.

[Sha Do]

As well, I have also noticed that all of the mech boxes for the VFC AEGs have an access port on the selector plate side which allows you to use a small flat head screw driver to decompress the spring for easier dis-assembly.

As Ty mentions above, shimming is greatly simplified by the fact that you only have to shim the selector plate side (or bottom) of the mech box, while the other side of the spur and sector gears are actually spring loaded. Definitely unique to VFC and very functional, but it means that you have to be careful that these two small spring don't jump out if the mech box explodes upon dis-assembly, or you're out of luck.

The SCAR's switch assembly parts have marks that correspond with a marks on the selector plate and the ambidextrous selector cams. Though not the easiest SCARs I've worked on, figuring out these marks greatly simplified the reassembly process.

Next onto some Heavy SCARs....the 7.62 variants of the typical SCAR.

SHA DO

Totally agree with you Tyson, I had a vfc 416 and a ak 74 and both were just superb.

[L473ncy]

Can this be extrapolated to their AK line?

I'm basically trying to decide between a VFC AK and a RS Type-56.

What about modding? I'm looking at doing some external mods and wondering what would be a better base to go off of. I know with the RS that the dimensions are either closer to or exactly the same as the Real Steel AK dimensions but what does that mean for accessories made specifically for airsoft? Will I have to do some mods in order to get stuff to fit or will I need to get stuff custom made in this case?

Either way I know that I'm going to go for a quality base so it's just a matter of which high quality brand to go with.

[Danke]

For AKs what do you want, 56 or 74?

[L473ncy]

Danke:

Originally I wanted to piece together my own VSS Vintorez but now thinking about it it's probably going to be a lot of headache, swearing, and frustration.

Anyways, the ultimate goal is a VSS, so either Type-56 or AK74 will do (I was looking specifically at the VFC AKS-74UN). If the build quality and stuff from the original review that Tys made can be extrapolated to the VFC AK series then I'm at a loss at which to choose, I'd need help deciding which to go for.

Money (hopefully) shouldn't be a problem, assuming that I can get a job, and if I don't get enough then I can always wait. I've already got an M4 and this is really just a pet project of mine (and I'd like to make this gun a beast too so I'm willing to wait for the right one to pop up).

[m102404]

that's a tough one...the RS body is sized differently from "regular" AEG AK's...whereas the VFC AK is "normal"...so for airsoft mods the VFC might be a better base. But for RS mods, the Real Sword might be better. Honestly...dunno.

The front ends are similar though...the RS is a right pain in the ass to take apart...the fit is really really tight. (i.e. pound with a hammer and wood block to get them apart). Nice part is...being all steel the RS just gets pounded back together and it's like brand new.

Steel is steel...other metal is not.

Tys