Post by 2nd Bat on Mar 31, 2013 1:52:53 GMT -5
After several years of tantalizing peeks, rumors and premature releases and announcements the ICS long awaited M1 Garand has finally started arriving on front porches throughout the US. I had mine on pre order as soon as it was possible to do so. Prices at assorted retailers and early products on EBAY have had the rifle priced at $400.00 plus shipping but that is sure to come down somewhat over time. it's a low volume, low production item so a premium price was expected.
So what do you get for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400.00? The rifle arrived well packaged in a large box and came with one clip in the gun and a spare clip as well. In addition the package included an unjammng rod, a package of BBs and as a throw back to the old Tokyo Marui days, a tube plunger loader and rod. Finally there was a CD owners manual explaining operation.
The first impression is extremely favorable. True to scale, the rifle is big. A full 44" long and seven and a half pounds it's actually about 1" longer than my real M1 Garand but 2
pounds lighter. The wood is real and although i couldn't determine the type of wood with its tung oil finish it looks, feels and smells like a brand new, just out of the box, M1 Garand. The wood is a medium brown and the metal a solid semi gloss black. Way too pretty for a GIs rifle but that will be easy to fix.
Dimenionally the shape is fine and there are no glaring mistakes as replicas go and the overall impression is extremly positive. Upon detailed inspection, (especially when lined up beside a real M1 Garand) there are numerous infidelities to the shape. The length has already been mentioned but the way they get there is a puzzlement. The rear butt stock is a tad too long and a bit thicker in height and width. Probably done to accomodate a battery and provide sufficient thickness in the stock neck for the AEG motor. Better safe than sorry here I think. The butt plate is decidedly larger and thicker than the real butt plate and almost looks cartoonish. The lower stock is strangely too short and a bit thicker than the real rifle. To make up the difference in length, the front handguard is decidedly too long while the gas assembly is an inch too short. There is also a noticeable gap between the barrel and the gas assembly tube which will need to be filled with something.
A very strange aspect of the ICS Garand is the stacking swivel and sling harware are all
dramatically oversized. No explanation there? Very odd?
Since ICS had a blank sheet to design this I wish they had gone ahead and emulated the
features of the most valuable and most desireable early war Garands and replicated those
subtle features. (single slotted gas lug, site locks, machined handguard band, trigger guard etc.). These would have cost the same to produce and would have been nice
touches.
Without sitting it directly beside a real Garand, the overal impression for 99% of all viewers would be extremely favorable and the look in isolation is very good. The sense of
quality is very high. It shoulders well, feels very solid and has nice balance. There is
ample room for a wide variety of batteries and the area is easily accessed with the trap
door that would normally house a cleaning kit. The small tamiya clip clamped to an 8.4 or
9.6 battery it was charged and ready to go.
The clips are stocky and wide and claim to hold 42 rounds. (They don't.) 34 seems to be the maximum load and with the usual drop of 3 to 4 BBs from the gap between the lip of the clip and the tapet plate, figure on a true 30 round clip. The clip itself once in place
finishes off the look of the garand stock base and cleverly camouflages that unlike the real
Garand this gun loads from the bottom. With an AEG gearbox this is perfectly
understandable and in my opinion perfectly acceptable. It snaps into place nicely. With a
gentle push forward on the tab inside the trigger housing, the safety is released just like a
real Garand. (The early war machined trigger housing would have been cool but...i digress. With the safety off and a filled clip nd charged battery it's time to shoot this bad boy.
Bang bang bang bang. As quickly as you can pull the trigger and with virtually no gear wind this rifle responds. It has a built in mossfet to properly funnel juice to the motor so
no arching or delays as with most semi auto AEGs. Very satisfying, very crisp shots. The
long tightbore barrel means great accuracy and long range. It chrono'd just shy of 400 FPS
with 20 gram which puts it in the sweet spot for skirmishing a semi auto main battle rifle.
The hop up is brilliantly accessed by pulling back the charging handle and adjusting the
dial. Being able to adjust the hop while loaded is a real plus.
Once empty, the "bolt release" on the rifles side becomes the clip release. Clever and well thought out as well. Pinching the clips for removal is a little tough so i'm going to dremel a
small channel on each side that will speed this up a tad while not messing up the look.
The clips do fit in the garand ammo belt but so tightly as to not really being an option for skirmishing. They are thus far, way too expensive at nealy 30.00 each given that a
skirmisher will need at least 5 on hand for events.
In spite of my nitpicks about the slight abberations of shape and my desire that they copied an early war model. I love this gun and it is my new favorite airsoft gun of all time. Since
i typically have 20 assorted airsoft guns on hand in the armory at any given time and have
been in this hobby 30 years, that's saying a lot. I've already put 6000 rounds through it
and like the real M1 garand this baby is reliable, predictable and reassuring.
It has been a long time coming but better late then never! You will not regret buying this gun....Unless the GnG is a lot better!
So what do you get for somewhere in the neighborhood of $400.00? The rifle arrived well packaged in a large box and came with one clip in the gun and a spare clip as well. In addition the package included an unjammng rod, a package of BBs and as a throw back to the old Tokyo Marui days, a tube plunger loader and rod. Finally there was a CD owners manual explaining operation.
The first impression is extremely favorable. True to scale, the rifle is big. A full 44" long and seven and a half pounds it's actually about 1" longer than my real M1 Garand but 2
pounds lighter. The wood is real and although i couldn't determine the type of wood with its tung oil finish it looks, feels and smells like a brand new, just out of the box, M1 Garand. The wood is a medium brown and the metal a solid semi gloss black. Way too pretty for a GIs rifle but that will be easy to fix.
Dimenionally the shape is fine and there are no glaring mistakes as replicas go and the overall impression is extremly positive. Upon detailed inspection, (especially when lined up beside a real M1 Garand) there are numerous infidelities to the shape. The length has already been mentioned but the way they get there is a puzzlement. The rear butt stock is a tad too long and a bit thicker in height and width. Probably done to accomodate a battery and provide sufficient thickness in the stock neck for the AEG motor. Better safe than sorry here I think. The butt plate is decidedly larger and thicker than the real butt plate and almost looks cartoonish. The lower stock is strangely too short and a bit thicker than the real rifle. To make up the difference in length, the front handguard is decidedly too long while the gas assembly is an inch too short. There is also a noticeable gap between the barrel and the gas assembly tube which will need to be filled with something.
A very strange aspect of the ICS Garand is the stacking swivel and sling harware are all
dramatically oversized. No explanation there? Very odd?
Since ICS had a blank sheet to design this I wish they had gone ahead and emulated the
features of the most valuable and most desireable early war Garands and replicated those
subtle features. (single slotted gas lug, site locks, machined handguard band, trigger guard etc.). These would have cost the same to produce and would have been nice
touches.
Without sitting it directly beside a real Garand, the overal impression for 99% of all viewers would be extremely favorable and the look in isolation is very good. The sense of
quality is very high. It shoulders well, feels very solid and has nice balance. There is
ample room for a wide variety of batteries and the area is easily accessed with the trap
door that would normally house a cleaning kit. The small tamiya clip clamped to an 8.4 or
9.6 battery it was charged and ready to go.
The clips are stocky and wide and claim to hold 42 rounds. (They don't.) 34 seems to be the maximum load and with the usual drop of 3 to 4 BBs from the gap between the lip of the clip and the tapet plate, figure on a true 30 round clip. The clip itself once in place
finishes off the look of the garand stock base and cleverly camouflages that unlike the real
Garand this gun loads from the bottom. With an AEG gearbox this is perfectly
understandable and in my opinion perfectly acceptable. It snaps into place nicely. With a
gentle push forward on the tab inside the trigger housing, the safety is released just like a
real Garand. (The early war machined trigger housing would have been cool but...i digress. With the safety off and a filled clip nd charged battery it's time to shoot this bad boy.
Bang bang bang bang. As quickly as you can pull the trigger and with virtually no gear wind this rifle responds. It has a built in mossfet to properly funnel juice to the motor so
no arching or delays as with most semi auto AEGs. Very satisfying, very crisp shots. The
long tightbore barrel means great accuracy and long range. It chrono'd just shy of 400 FPS
with 20 gram which puts it in the sweet spot for skirmishing a semi auto main battle rifle.
The hop up is brilliantly accessed by pulling back the charging handle and adjusting the
dial. Being able to adjust the hop while loaded is a real plus.
Once empty, the "bolt release" on the rifles side becomes the clip release. Clever and well thought out as well. Pinching the clips for removal is a little tough so i'm going to dremel a
small channel on each side that will speed this up a tad while not messing up the look.
The clips do fit in the garand ammo belt but so tightly as to not really being an option for skirmishing. They are thus far, way too expensive at nealy 30.00 each given that a
skirmisher will need at least 5 on hand for events.
In spite of my nitpicks about the slight abberations of shape and my desire that they copied an early war model. I love this gun and it is my new favorite airsoft gun of all time. Since
i typically have 20 assorted airsoft guns on hand in the armory at any given time and have
been in this hobby 30 years, that's saying a lot. I've already put 6000 rounds through it
and like the real M1 garand this baby is reliable, predictable and reassuring.
It has been a long time coming but better late then never! You will not regret buying this gun....Unless the GnG is a lot better!