This is the sexiest gun on the planet. Supermodels will be calling her for dates!
The Masada ACR by Magpul PTS (not the A&K or G&P variant) is the newest addition to my arsenal. The first impression that this AEG makes is incredible. Even the box is nice. The packing is carved foam, much nicer that the usual styrofoam, and I'd like to be able to find a hard case that it fits into...it's that nice.
The gun is rock solid. The long CNC'd aluminum upper ties the polymer lower, stock and fore-grip together. I think that the length of the upper contributes to the solid feel. It's more solid than the AR's I use at work.
It has great ambidextrous controls, which as a right hander, I could care less about. I like that the bolt catches open, not for the gee-whiz of it but because it makes hop-up adjustments easier for my fat fingers. The flash hider is orange plastic, and they must anticipate that buyers are going to trash it immediately, since it's cheesy in comparison to the rest of the gun's build quality. I'm replacing it with the Shark flash hider. Hope I don't poke anyone's eye out! Note: The Masada uses the clockwise thread on the outer barrel, so I had to re-order! (Just for the record, I re-ordered the clockwise unit from Evike on Monday, and it arrived in the mail on Thursday...pretty good turn-around time!) Anyone thinking of buying their own Masada ACR is going to want to immediately replace the orange plastic, so order the correct flash hider variant.
The textured panels around the magwell and on the pistol grip are all tiny Magpul logos, and the fore-grip is sufficiently textured for good grip, and has ample and varied attachment holes for add on rails. I have a Magpul AFG, and can't wait to see how it mates to the fore-grip. The attention to detail, trademarks, engraved (unique) serial number are all top quality. Even the gas tube (obviously non-functioning) looks authentic.
It does not come with a folding stock. There is one available, but time will tell if this will become an essential addition. There are supposed to be different barrel lengths available, but I haven't seen them yet. There is also supposed to be an AK lower available, but I haven't seen that available yet either.
An 11.1v li-poly fits easily into the fore-grip with room to spare. Not sure what others will fit, but it has more usable space than my G36.
My first impression firing the weapon was also very positive. It's first shots on the chrono were between 368 and 374. I was not able to test rate of fire.
Test Firing
I conducted free-standing, aimed test firings (10 shots) at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 yards, and full-auto (30 round bursts) at 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards as well as a paper break range test at 50 yards and 60 yards. Click the links above to see photographs of the paper targets.
My Thoughts So Far
With little hop-up adjustment I am consistently hitting a man size target out to 25 yards. My test firings at 30 yards had a little lift, which put about half the bb's over the target's shoulders. Based on what I saw today, 40 yards is a very realistic shot, and I think the shoot-eee will know they've been hit. I need to play with the hop-up a bit more. I missed my first shot at 50 yards, but was nine-for-ten after that. There is enough power in a .20g bb at 60 yards to break paper on a standard law enforcement target.
First Skirmish
"PJ to Beck, Maggie's had her first kill." First time on the field, first enemy contact, first shots, first kill. The Masada has great rate of fire for stock gears. While at the chrono (still in the high 360's/low 370's) I recorded a 20 balls/second rate of fire, still with my 11.1v li-poly battery. The trigger is very responsive in full and semi-auto mode.
I had trouble free operation all day. It fed well from a variety of magazines, both high and mid-cap. For the first part of this operation we had the high ground, and of course I had no trouble hitting targets that could not reach me. Phase two had us on the attack, moving up-hill towards a series of bases. Since our re-spawn was on the base of the hill I had several opportunities to shoot up at opponents and know I faced several who, despite the advantage the high ground gives, could not put shots on target (me) while I could reach them. The hop-up adjustment held all day long.
I spent more of the day firing on semi than I have with some of my other guns, probably due to the "long" nature of the field we were playing on. Switching from full to semi-auto is a breeze, and I like that the selector switch is out of the way when you aren't switching it. I find that the G36 family switches are always where I want my thumb to be.
The one in-game battery swap I had to perform went as quickly as I needed it to. I like that the pin stays with the fore-grip...I was in terrain where if I'd have dropped it, it would have stayed dropped forever.
I do not, as a rule, use iron sights or optics when I play. While I like the sight system this gun ships with, I found it only marginally useful. I expect I'll spend more time clicking it open and closed than I will looking through the rear peep hole.
One thing I'd wish they had incorporated into the design is a contoured grip. The texture on the grip is great, and the gun never slipped from my hand, but I do prefer a little contour...
Overall I am still very impressed. Next report will be "spring change".
