睇完呢個reviews...都係再觀望下先
**source from airsoft indiana**
Okay... There is a lot to cover and I only have a bit of time to write this up, so please bear with any spelling, grammar, or other errors.
There are plenty of pictures online of the kit together, so my pictures will be of what is messed up/etc.
My ACRs... GBBR is on top, AEG is on Bottom
Personal Statement
Many here do not know me, as I try to play locally in my home state of Indiana in the USA. I go by the call sign "Rogue." Personally, I have been playing airsoft for a total of about 8 years, teching AEGs for 6. Prior to playing airsoft, I was a semi-pro paintball player. I am experienced with just about every system under the sun, both airsoft and paintball.
Prior to my airsoft days, I did a Reserve enlistment in the Corps and left as an NCO, shooting near company-high each time at the range. I have plenty of experience with real firearms.
Now, this was my first airsoft GBB, but the operating principles are similar to both paintball and real-steal, so I felt confident I could work with this.
History:
I purchased the Magpul PTS ACR (FDE) off of eHobbyAsia the day it was released. At the same time, I purchased 12x Beta Project PMAGs (Black). At the same time I bought the NPAS in a polycarb nozzle, extra hop-up rubbers, and everything else I thought I would need to keep the weapon fielded. My rough total including shipping was ($1200)!
My thoughts were that Beta Project's kit would surely work with Beta Project magazines...
I have previously had two PTS ACRs in FDE, with one having snapped the front of the gearbox off. PTS is making good and replacing it, so I figured that this would be an ideal kit for the AEG that was currently down.
The kit arrived about there weeks ago and has since been (at least attempted) to be fielded twice with quite a few shots trying to wear it in.
Arrival
The kit arrives in a well-thought out box, with the individual pieces all in their own protected spots surrounded by foam. The kit includes:
Lower Receiver w/ Tigger Group
Bolt Carrier w/ Stock Nozzle Installed
Bolt Carrier Guide w/ Spring Installed
Receiver Key
QD Barrel w/ WA-Style Hop-Up and Barrel Installed (Red, soft bucking included)
Charging Handle Assembly
Installation
Basically, it is the same procedure that one would go through to replace the hop-up chamber on the weapon. eHobbyAsia did a great video of the unit.
In my case, assembly took about ten minutes with all the right tools.
Initial Impressions
My god is it beautiful! It assembled fairly easily, and the polymer used on the lower matched the stock polymers on the stock and hand guard fairly well.
Trigger was crisp and boy did it sound good to finally have to rack a weapon. The selector felt good to the hand, with solid clicks into Safe, Semi, and Fully-Automatic. Just like the real-steel, you can only put it on safe if you have the hammer cocked.
It used the stock pins, so no need to modify the actual body, it looked to be almost drop-in.
First Shots
I immediately took the assembled kit and noticed a few items on it.
The stock trigger actually felt pretty good. Its placement is a little to the rear compared to real-steel, but not bad.
The bolt was rough to cycle. It felt like it hard more resistance to it than what should be there.
The magazines were hard to fill, but the two I tried held gas reasonably well. (Leaks through the fill and primary valves).
The magazines were covered in almost syrupy type substance. Sticky and a PITA to touch and work with.
I promptly filled the magazines (which were a PITA to fill, since the feed lips are just too big for a KWA speed-loader and too small for the King Arms ones handy. The springs were hard to depress, which I attributed to it being new.
The first shots fired with .25 bbs and propane were chronoed about 250 and would not hop at any setting. The second magazine was inserted yielded 300 +/- 50 (fifty) FPS, a terrible consistency. It eventually had BBs mis-feed and the valve stuck open expelling all the remaining gas.
Needless to say, I was a little peeved that such an expensive system would not work out of the box.
Magazines
As stated above, I purchased 12x Beta Project PMAGs and I sorry to report they are complete and total ######. I was force to tear EACH one down to individual components to clean the magazines of the syrupy ###### that coated them and then had to open each valve and O-ring to remove the stock lubrication (which had crusted-think ear wax...) and then reassemble.
Now, the design of them is actually quite ingenious. Unlike other GBB brands, which have square and proprietary o-rings, the Beta Projects use a chamber that you can replace o-rings from at your local hardware store. Once you get past the loc-tited screws on the top, it is easy to take apart (about 5 minutes from start to finish) so long as you have Allen Keys, a punch set, screwdrivers, and a valve key.
I had the following issues and the fixes (where I could figure out one) is below.
Beta Project PMAG Magazine Issues-
-The lubrication used on the stock magazines had congealed, turning hard and crusty damaging the stock valves. ALL magazines needed to be completely disassembled and cleaned prior to usage.
FIX: Cleaned them out and well-lubed them with silicone oil.
-Out of 12 magazines, three (3) output valves leak and four (4) fill valves leak consistently even after cleaning and lubing.
FIX: Still have minor leaks in a few that do not prevent fielding, but was forced to retire a magazine and use it for spare parts for the others.
-The bolt catch levers are an inconsistent height leading to wear on the bolt carrier. This causes wear to the bolt carrier, rounding out the bolt catch edge.
FIX: I bent the bolt catch lever on each magazine upward, fixing the issue.
-The O-Rings on the top and bottom of the chamber have commonly blown out. While they are easy to replace and add gas tape to, it happens in the field with no warning.
FIX: After fielding them a couple of times, all the o-rings that were going to blow, have blown. I took apart the magazine, liberally applied gas tabs (from a local hardware store) on the threads and it fixed the issues.
-The two plastic halves of the magazine skeletons often have sharp edges, causing BBs in the magazine to jam.
NO FIX: I took a dremel to the gab and it helped, but there are a few magazines that STILL jam.
-The magazine floor plate holder breaks quickly. I currently have five (5) broken from simply trying to fill the magazine.
NO FIX: Both superglue and model glue did not hold the piece together.
-Due to the poor factory lube the main valve springs are inconsistent. FPS from magazines varies up to 30 FPS.
NO FIX: The main valve springs were rusted from the stock lube, giving them inconsistent diameters, thus inconsistent releases.
-The metal feed lips are scratching bbs during extraction leaving BB shards in the chamber.
NO FIX: The metal feed lips were never sanded down, so trying to both load bbs and extract bbs can cause them to deform (which screws up the bb hop-up and flight path) or flat breaks the bb.
-On many magazines, the last bb would not load, causing damage to the loading nozzle.
NO FIX: The springs are too hard, pushing the last BB high into the feed lips where they get stuck. I have tried everything from silicone oil to WD-40. Nothing will dislodge them.
Magazine Summary: So much promise, but expensive POSs'. After looking at GasGuns.info, go for the G&P PMAGS. They have a higher capacity, readily available spare parts, and do not leak stock.
MagPul PTS ACR GBB Kit
I truly am at a loss...
This had so much potential to be one of the best things for airsoft, but has ultimately been a failure due to poor quality control, material selection, testing, etc.
Features:
Ambidextrous Safety
Ambi Bolt Release
Ambi Charging Handle (you can switch sides fairly easily with a tool)
WA-Style Nozzle (Fully WA compatible. RA-Tech and other brands fit just fine)
WA-Style Trigger Assembly (To be honest, I am going off of other people on this one. I have not ripped apart the trigger assembly and taken a look myself)
WA-Style Hop-Up & Barrel (You can use any WA-Style Hop-Up unit. The stock hop-up has notches to lock-in your setting since recoil has a tendency to change it). **I have since moved to an AEG barrel assembly since the stock one was not hopping.
Double-Sided Bolt Catch (Theoretically, if the magazine bolt catch lever was high enough, it would reduce wear, instead, it increased wear on both sides.
WA-Style Chamber Guide
A list of proprietary parts:
Bolt Carrier
Bolt Carrier Guide
Bolt Carrier Spring
Lower Receiver
Tigger Assembly Holder
Nozzle Guide
Nozzle Guide Screw
Charging Handle Assembly
Barrel Key
Outer Barrel **Please note that AEG barrels are NOT compatible
As soon as I started delving into the actual GBB kit, I started to notice wear VERY quickly on many key areas.
Bolt carrier group
Stock Nozzle
Bolt Catch
Hammer
The issues I have had and their fixes (if I could figure one out)
-The bolt carrier is not locking to the rear on empty with all the magazines. The bolt carrier is wearing at the locking point prematurely, causing a cascadingly worse problem.
FIX: I bent up the magazine bolt catch levers. It seems to be working, but the damage was done to the bolt carrier. It now has rounded front edges from the "almost catches." I have since took a Dremel and tried to flatten it out. It has helped, but it is NOT a long term solution.
-The stock nozzle is not "hard enough" to remove BBs from the Beta Project magazines reliably. The BB extractor has bent and no longer reliably strips bbs. Instead of being the square shape, it is now rounded.
FIX: The RA-Tech Hard Polycarbonate Nozzle is so far working well. Cheaper nozzles WILL NOT hold up to use (by use I mean as low as 100 shots). You MUST use a hard polycarb.
Side Note*** The Aluminum nozzle WILL NOT work either. It is a perfect fit, but it damages the nozzle holder pin on the receiver side since the holder is pot metal.
-Often, the BBs will "mis-chamber" by not entering the actual barrel, instead locking in place below it.
NO FIX: I cannot seem to figure out why this happens. It looks to stem from the hard metal feed lips on the magazines scratching the bbs.
-The Hop-Up does not have sufficient force to reliably hop BB. Even at the maximum setting only about 1 in 4 bbs will hop correctly.
FIX: The G&G AEG barrel chamber seems to be doing the trick. The problem is the consistent is utter ######, so your hop setting will be inconsistent.
-The Charging Handle catch has worn quickly and no longer holds the charging handle forward even when the bolt is locked to the rear.
FIX: You have to completely disassemble the charging handle assembly and you can dremel down the lever such that it will hold it forward.
-The hammer surface was not perpendicular to the bolt carrier (it is canted about five degrees), causing uneven wear on the bolt carrier.
NO FIX: This is a blatant assembly or design error.
-The rubber on the back of the bolt guide has cracked and is falling off, causing a "tink" sound on each bolt cycle.
NO FIX: No spare parts are available
-The front of the Bolt Carrier Guide Rod is breaking off, not holding the bolt on the rod when the weapon is disassembled. It is made of pot-metal.
NO FIX: No spare parts available.
-The Bolt Carrier has a lot of friction moving in the upper receiver
FIX: Dremel down the spacers in each of the four corners
So far, this weapon has been nothing but problem, after problem. It is only my love for ACRs that keep me willing to press on.
I beg and plead for RA-Tech to put together quality steel components so this can be a field able weapon system.
Quest for Parts
As soon as I realized that parts were wearing quickly, I reached out to eHobbyAsia and MagPul PTS directly.
-eHobbyAsia promptly asked what my issues were and after I stated them, were sorry to admit that no spare parts were available.
-MagPul PTS was kind enough to put me in touch with a "Laurence Mak" Yahoo.com e-mail address who said they worked for Beta Project
Here is his original e-mail to me:
"Dear Nathan
This mail is from Beta-project,
we received a mail from PTS to contact you about the MASADA GBB kit spare parts
Could you tell us the GBB kit where you buy from
we will contact the store to handle it
Thank you"
I stated my problems and have forwarded them the same pictures you see in this post.
I have NOT received a response from them yet, nor a referral back to eHobbyAsia
Summary
For the time being, avoid this like the plague. It is simply not the quality standards that MagPul should associate their name with. I am e-mailing them immediately to appraise them of this and hope the see the issues.
e-Mail Beta Project and tell them to have spare parts available and to support their products.
Anyone is welcome to PM me or post questions below. I will do my best to answer them.
Pictures of some issues are below.
Helium-3 將會令人類文明到達另一個境界!!
