Post by grendl on Nov 20, 2012 13:31:09 GMT -5
I ordered the long-ballyhooed VFC clone from Airsoftworld.net last week and received it five days later. Shipping was $125 to Los Angeles. This thing is beautiful. Very heavy, not at all ergonomic. Holding it makes me feel small - like it was designed for guys over 7' and 300lbs.
Airsoftworld says the manufacturer is ACM but the only literature provided says AY. The several references in the booklet to VFC probably only attest to the fact that it too is a copy of the original.
So it's beautiful, heavy, stand-off gorgeous. The bad news is there is very little steel. Instead there's tons of non-ferrous metal. Good news is that there is no exterior plastic other than the furniture. The parts that are steel won't likely see play such as the incredibly heavy bipod (mostly steel) and the carry handle. I installed the handle and found it to be the only ergonomic thing about the rifle. I then did some research and learned there is no photographic evidence it was ever deployed during WWII. Like the M1 Carbine bayonet lug, it was added later and only anachronistically finds its way into movies. www.90thidpg.us/Equipment/Articles/BARHandle/ That's too bad for BAR gunners.
Unfortunately, in diddling with the handle and swinging the rifle around, it scored up the barrel. Now a refinish job is necessary since Sharpie doesn't cut it. I have two shades of Aluma-Hyde II coming in the mail. All the better since the three pieces which make up the barrel (?!) don't quite match.
Here's a close-up of the faux wood and my preliminary (failed) attempt to delete a redundant screw hole.
This image shows the "parkerized" finish nicely. But it also shows a casting seam which might need to be erased.
The magazines have a wind-up port which may need filling. I'm looking into replacement housings.
Here's the bolt cover which still does not fully close, but is their attempt to simulate the look of the real bolt. The black paint needs to be stripped and the metal polished.
This Phillips head screw needs to be replaced, but when removed has a captive brass sleeve, so I'm not sure how to address it yet.
I nice detail is the functional rear sight which flips up and adjusts for distance and windage. The photo etch isn't as obvious in person.
More pluses; they used several standard screws instead of Phillips or Allen head. Looks better for it but changing the battery requires the removal of two standard screws. Thankfully, the stock is cavernous and you could easily run a huge RC car pack or two packs with a harness in parallel so as to avoid having to change batteries in the field.
I ran it at 8.4 and 9.6V and 9.6 sounds like that's the way to go. I don't have a chrono and didn't have any soda cans laying around so I don't know how hard it hits yet.
UPDATE: I had a chance to skirmish in the rain last weekend. A team mate brought his M1918 which he received a week earlier from the same retailer. I'm told his worked fine.
Mine did not. It stopped working on the bench the night before when all I'd done was swap out the Tamiya plug for a Deans. It sounded like the gears were seized or motor burnt out. Pulling the trigger made the motor click on, but nothing else. I thought perhaps they'd marked the polarity wrong, but reversing it did nothing. After taking the gear box apart and reassembling it several times, I finally got it to work. Why it would jam on its own is a mystery.
While unrelated to my problem, another issues is that the switch the trigger activates is flimsy and prone to failure. It's basically a fork type switch where the trigger bridges the gap between two thin metal contacts. Since the trigger wobbles in its housing, the two contacts are easily bent and then you've got full auto, no off. Having fixed both issues, I got to skirmish with it the next day.
The hop-up was all over the place, the gun was short-ranged, and worst of all, the BBs fed less than half the time. It was basically a disappointing sound effects generator. One of the four magazines I received fed reliably so I've got to spend some time trouble shooting that now. I've ordered a high torque motor and a couple stronger springs and will let everyone know it works out once those are installed.
On the bright side, a RS wooden fore-end will fit without modification. Drill and tap a hole in your new toy for the bottom screw and you're set.
Airsoftworld says the manufacturer is ACM but the only literature provided says AY. The several references in the booklet to VFC probably only attest to the fact that it too is a copy of the original.
So it's beautiful, heavy, stand-off gorgeous. The bad news is there is very little steel. Instead there's tons of non-ferrous metal. Good news is that there is no exterior plastic other than the furniture. The parts that are steel won't likely see play such as the incredibly heavy bipod (mostly steel) and the carry handle. I installed the handle and found it to be the only ergonomic thing about the rifle. I then did some research and learned there is no photographic evidence it was ever deployed during WWII. Like the M1 Carbine bayonet lug, it was added later and only anachronistically finds its way into movies. www.90thidpg.us/Equipment/Articles/BARHandle/ That's too bad for BAR gunners.
Unfortunately, in diddling with the handle and swinging the rifle around, it scored up the barrel. Now a refinish job is necessary since Sharpie doesn't cut it. I have two shades of Aluma-Hyde II coming in the mail. All the better since the three pieces which make up the barrel (?!) don't quite match.
Here's a close-up of the faux wood and my preliminary (failed) attempt to delete a redundant screw hole.
This image shows the "parkerized" finish nicely. But it also shows a casting seam which might need to be erased.
The magazines have a wind-up port which may need filling. I'm looking into replacement housings.
Here's the bolt cover which still does not fully close, but is their attempt to simulate the look of the real bolt. The black paint needs to be stripped and the metal polished.
This Phillips head screw needs to be replaced, but when removed has a captive brass sleeve, so I'm not sure how to address it yet.
I nice detail is the functional rear sight which flips up and adjusts for distance and windage. The photo etch isn't as obvious in person.
More pluses; they used several standard screws instead of Phillips or Allen head. Looks better for it but changing the battery requires the removal of two standard screws. Thankfully, the stock is cavernous and you could easily run a huge RC car pack or two packs with a harness in parallel so as to avoid having to change batteries in the field.
I ran it at 8.4 and 9.6V and 9.6 sounds like that's the way to go. I don't have a chrono and didn't have any soda cans laying around so I don't know how hard it hits yet.
UPDATE: I had a chance to skirmish in the rain last weekend. A team mate brought his M1918 which he received a week earlier from the same retailer. I'm told his worked fine.
Mine did not. It stopped working on the bench the night before when all I'd done was swap out the Tamiya plug for a Deans. It sounded like the gears were seized or motor burnt out. Pulling the trigger made the motor click on, but nothing else. I thought perhaps they'd marked the polarity wrong, but reversing it did nothing. After taking the gear box apart and reassembling it several times, I finally got it to work. Why it would jam on its own is a mystery.
While unrelated to my problem, another issues is that the switch the trigger activates is flimsy and prone to failure. It's basically a fork type switch where the trigger bridges the gap between two thin metal contacts. Since the trigger wobbles in its housing, the two contacts are easily bent and then you've got full auto, no off. Having fixed both issues, I got to skirmish with it the next day.
The hop-up was all over the place, the gun was short-ranged, and worst of all, the BBs fed less than half the time. It was basically a disappointing sound effects generator. One of the four magazines I received fed reliably so I've got to spend some time trouble shooting that now. I've ordered a high torque motor and a couple stronger springs and will let everyone know it works out once those are installed.
On the bright side, a RS wooden fore-end will fit without modification. Drill and tap a hole in your new toy for the bottom screw and you're set.