Airsoft Action - October 2023

ARMOURY
RWA BATTLE ARMS DEVELOPMENT SBR
a lightweight, lo-drag M-LOK rail. I’ve been a Fortis
fan for some time, and have a couple of their rails
myself, but they say of the SWITCH AR15 Mod 1 Rail
System “when designing the SWITCH, we wanted a
handguard that was easy to install, but also be able
to quickly change rails for a variety of mission or
competition specific setups”. The real rail features a
brand new patent pending locking mechanism that
allows tool-less removal which is replicated for the
AEG, but c’mon, the rail design not only looks great
and is cool as hell, it’s very functional, and it adds
minimal weight to the platform overall!
So, three GREAT companies working together
to create something in airsoft form that will tick
ALL the boxes for many players wanting something
short, light, fast, and performance-driven for “close
encounters”… it all looks good to me, so now I’ll
hand over to Larri to tell you all about performance!
MEET THE AIRSOFT “SOMMELIER”!
Good to meet you all again fellow airsofters, It’s been
a while since my last game and site reviews, and
this I’m heading somewhere other than community
and airsoft venues! As you know, I’m a pistol user
in CQB action; however, I’m always interested in
short versions of the AR as besides its looks, the best
thing about AR for me is that there are always new
directions with attachments and accessories so you
can customise your guns performance or look.
So this time I’m going to show you my first review
on an AR, one which RWA, under the Battle Arms
Development licence, manufactures. Back in the
review preparation stage, I talked a lot with Max
(RWA Gambit in his online persona!), as I always think
an AR video montage (something that I’m known for
creating) is cooler looking than with pistols; we can
install multiple cameras on the gun, and also there are
several ways to use the AR and as a result, a whole
video can be edited with more interesting content.
Max suggested an SBR AEG among his armory, as
it was perfect for use in CQB, Target shooting, and
SpeedQB, and that was the very latest BATTLE ARMS
DEVELOPMENT SBR!
First of all, this is a fully licensed AEG with Battle
Arms Development and Fortis Mfg as Bill already
mentioned; for those who are keen to know about
which parts are licensed, detail features include:
• Fortis licensed SWITCH 556 Rail System – MLOK
• Fortis licensed Muzzle Brake 5.56
• B.A.D. licensed collapsible VERT Stock
• B.A.D. licensed 556-LW Receiver
• B.A.D. licensed Light Weight Low Profile Gas
Block
• B.A.D. licensed Ultramatch LIGHTRIGID Fluted
Outer Barrel
• B.A.D. licensed BAD-ASS Safety
• B.A.D. licensed Enhanced Bolt Catch
• B.A.D. licensed Large Enhanced Modular
Magazine Release
• B.A.D. licensed Enhanced Takedown Pin
• B.A.D. licensed BAD-ATG AEG Grip
The total length of the gun is only 555mm, so it’s
perfect for close combat without sacrificing a lot of
movement speed. As for weight, it is only 2750g, so
it’s not heavy for an AR. However, as I have played
pistol-only for several years, the first game took me
some time to get used to it, luckily with the QD point
I was able to grab back my old MS3 sling for this
experience, and with the M-LOK rail system, there
were numerous possible locations for different kinds
of attachments, so I installed two cameras and red
dot sight!
COMBAT READY
The default power is 0.83 Joule/300fps on a .20g BB
which is very friendly for CQB, and from my personal
experience, I can witness it can handle targets within
30m without a problem. As it uses a Rotary style hopup,
you can adjust your hop-up easily, different from
first-generation Tokyo Marui AEG more than 20 years
ago! Back in those days, I hated adjusting the hop-up
when I got a new AEG since it took a very long time
for tuning it in, plus a lot of parts need to be removed
to reach the hop-up system!
The default trigger is pretty sensitive, for a semionly
game, you just need to slightly pre-pull the
trigger then it can give you a very quick response, and
if you are willing to spend some time and few bucks
on it, it will give you a VERY quick trigger response.
But, if you want a zero-budget solution for a faster
rate of fire? The system itself allows you to change to
binary fire mode, and all you need to do is link your
gearbox with a smartphone app, then you can switch
on the binary mode. It’s fast but not every game
venue or game host may allow this function.
As I had owned several short versions of AR before,
the magazine catch of this beast is nice. It is way
bigger than ordinary AR, so it helps for quicker reload.
If you want to use 7.4V batteries, you can install them
from the back of the gun, as the B.A.D. VERT stock
and a buffer tube extension also provides you a good
space to install 11.1V batteries, but then the AEG
will be slightly longer, but it is still user-friendly in a
CQB environment. However, this gun uses batteries
more quickly than I expected, a 11.1V battery can last
around 30 minutes of gameplay at the pace we play,
34
OCTOBER 2023