I know people have been waiting for one for this site. so i finally got around to making one

The Tokyo Marui M14, OD version




If you’re interested in this gun, I’m assuming you know the history of the M14. So I shall forgo that because I have a lot of important things to discuss.



Weighing in at an impressive 8.4 pounds (unloaded and without battery) and 3 feet, 8.4 inches long, the TM m14 has been a dream come true for me. It is rock solid, creaking only when you really try to make it creak; completely unnoticeable in the field. And it is a hefty gun, which is a curse as well as a blessing. But without a doubt, it is everything and more I’d hoped for in an airsoft gun.


When I first got the box almost two months ago (march 2006) the first thing I thought about was how huge this gun was. It was much larger than I thought it would be.


The box, to accommodate the huge m14, is almost 4 feet long.


I got the gun from www.poweredgeusa.com and have only good things to report about them, and definitely recommend them. As you can see, parts of the box were taken off to make sure shipping and everything went smoothly. Trademarks on the gun were intact, so I can accept the mutilation of the box.


The serial numbers are not unique, unfortunately.
And if you can’t read what it says thanks to my bad photography, they say:

U.S. RIFLE
7.62-MM M14
SPRINGFILED
ARMORY
1 1 1 8 4 9


I’m very pleased with poweredge and I must give my friend Masters2010 a lot of props for helping me get it. Without him, I wouldn’t have even considered buying it, and then convincing me to buy it. And for helping me actually get it.



Cosmetics

As said above, the gun is very solid. The creak is non existant in the field, and I really have to try hard to make the body creak.


The main difference between the OD and wood M14 versions (beside the coloration) is the checkered grip, shown below




The grip feels pretty good and gives the OD a little flare, rather than just being completely smooth…interpret that however you want to

The only other difference is the fake bolts that are not on the OD version. They fall off the wood stock version sometimes so I’m kinda glad I don’t have to bother.


Everything on this gun is metal, except for the stock, selector switch, peephole for the ironsight, and the (rather flimsy) top barrel cover (the ribbed thing in the picture below). The outer barrel, flashider, trigger, and bolt are all metal.


The selector switch, even though it’s not metal, is nicer than the G&G m14’s (in my opinion) because it just twists (no need to push it in) and clicks positively into place, and stays there.


The only dissapointment I had with the externals of this gun was that top barrel cover, but I don’t feel it in game, and I hardly notice it when I hold it.


The best part of the gun, however, is the bolt. It is absolutely fantastic. Makes the best noise out of any bolt I’ve ever heard (airsoft guns, at least). It makes a fantastic *ka-chink* noise. However, it can’t be locked back into place, but that’s easily forgiven.


The bolt forward


The bolt drawn back


The bolt drawn back, top view
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The cover moves with the bolt, with a metallic rattle. I make sure I keep the bolt nice and lubed to maintain that perfect noise.

Another thing to note in the picture above is that there is no hop up dial there. The hop up dial is located in the mag well, shown below.

(please excuse the awful picture quality)

The butt plate is the final thing I’ll post here. It is metal and it flips up just like the real thing.
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it reveals the door to the battery compartment


The final thing that should be mentioned in the cosmetic section is the flashider

It bugs me because it can wobble side to side a slight amount. I don’t notice it in the field, but it happens. I can live with it though. (if you wanted to know, it is full metal too). It fits onto 14mm CCW by sliding on the right with the flashider, flashider having 3 metal ‘prongs’ which insert into appropriate places, and then the ring keeping it in place. An allen screw keeps the ring in place by stopping it from rotating.



Performance

The best part. Performance. This gun is absolutely phenomenal. I’ve skirmished with it 4 times. The first two times, I used Excel .23 bbs. They were a perfect match of weight to prevent the bbs from flying off course, and high enough fps to begin with that I got incredible range from the gun. I can easily engage man sized targets at 125 feet. The effective range of the m14 against a man-sized target, in the open on a field, could be up to 200 feet. I know I had a kill at this range (had to fire full auto and ‘trace’ some rounds to them when they wouldn’t call themselves out on the first hit…) and when I walked over (counting my steps) I was astonished to find out the range (it was 65 paces, each pace being about 3 feet, totaling 195 feet, though my actual pace is more than 3 feet).

(At this time I’d also like to give a thumbs up to the SRC bb loader.

This little thing saved my life in the first 2 games since I only had a single standard cap magazine. I reloaded constantly in the field, though I was put in more of a DM role by my teammates so I had time to do it pretty effectively. The SRC bb loader works great and I definitely recommend one to anyone looking for a bb loader. Picture from www.poweredgeusa.com, http://www.poweredgeusa.com/images/uploads...OADER-SMOKE.jpg because mine were washed out due to the flash)

The next game I used KSC .25 perfect bbs. They were exceedingly accurate, and while I might’ve had a slightly longer range with the .23 bbs, I had many more first shot kills in the woodlands I play in, in the more medium ranged areas. The ironsights are perfect, placing the bb where I put them every time. The hop up is absolutely phenomenal, and shots are 90% consistant. I can place bb after bb where I want to whenever I fire the gun. As many of you might’ve read when I’ve recommended this gun, I outranged a 400 FPS SPR on the field that day, fairly easily too. Furthermore, a friend of mine went up against a 500 FPS bolt action sniper rifle one on one and came out on top. This is a great designated marksman platform, or sniper/counter sniper weapon, especially if you upgrade it (more on disassembly later). This game I also had finally gotten two more mags, TM highcaps.

I have never had a missfeed with excel, KSC or Crossman/unnamed dicks/sports authority bbs, or a jam. There were a couple times when I was using my highcaps and near the end of them (when I had only wound them up completely once) that the gun dry fired, but that was my fault.

The TM standard is great; it is metal (on the outside) and I’ve never had any problems with it in terms of feeding; the last 3-4 bbs fall out however, but that happens with all guns.

The mag from the side

standard mag from the top

High cap from the top

High cap from the top, door open

High cap from the bottom, showing the winding wheel

Mag inserted into the gun. It rocks in like an AK mag


I’d like to say right now, however, this is not a gun for small people. It is huge, heavy, which is good, and it is huge, and heavy, which is bad. The gun weighs over 10 pounds loaded, and when I’m running around in full gear (BDUs, vest, extra mags, side arm, etc) it wears on me. I’m 5’9” so the length isn’t a problem, but at the end of the day during a game that went from 10 AM to 6 PM I was worn out. Now, I don’t know about a lot of you, but I run track all year round (cross country, track and track) and I lift weights for pole vaulting, so I consider myself to be in good shape. Therefore, you might want to find something that’s 10 pounds to get an idea of how heavy the gun is. The length is another factor. When I’m moving through the woodlands, the 4 foot gun catches on everything. I have to move it around constantly, so it doesn’t get caught on bushes, trees, etc. and it wears on you more than smaller gun would.
Some comparison pics for you:

m733 and the m14

m14 and m733 stock extended
I hope that can give you an idea for the length of the gun


The ROF is great with the standard 8.4 battery, and I’m looking into getting a 9.6 (I have other uses for the 8.4). I’m very happy with www.batteryspace.com as the smart charger and 8.4v 3000 mah battery are both very quality products. I give them a complete thumbs up and recommend them for all your battery needs I’ve never run out during games, and the smart charger is great for a lazy person like me…


The battery (and sorry I don’t have a picture of the smart charger, but it is the standard “universal smart charger,” blue with yellow letters, .9A and 1.8A selector switch)

the space for the 8.4v battery. Note the door and the rest of the butt plate is metal



Takedown

The uniqueness of this gun shines in the gearbox. It is a version 7, which is completely new and therefore, many techs refuse to open it up, without a high price at least. I only partially disassembled the gun; I’m not touching the gearbox

pull down on the trigger guard, and the whole piece pops out as shown above

jiggle the stock and top receiver a bit, and it comes out

as you can see, replacing the stock would be pretty easy

disconnect the wire that goes to the motor from the battery compartment, and you’ve got the whole top part taken off. If you then remove the fuse, fuse box and wire, you can easily swap them into a new stock. A wood stock perhaps…

that was as far as I went with my gun, but from there it’s just a matter of taking off the outer barrel cover, outer barrel, receiver, before you get to the gearbox. There are plenty of websites which can help you do it. This review won’t be one of them, since that would require me to take mine down further, so until I get a tightbore to install, it’ll stay that way.



Conclusion

Awesome gun. I’ve compared it to CA m4s, my own m733, a TM AK fully upgraded with systema parts, and it completely outstrips them in almost every manner. It was the best $400 I’ve ever spent. I have no regrets what so ever.

I have only two gripes I can think of; the top barrel cover is really flimsy, and the front sight wobble. Other than that, this gun is perfect. The only other complaint I have that involves the m14 is the rarity of mag pouches that work exclusively for the m14. The mags are much wider than an m4/m16 mag (wish I had a pic…) and shorter. The general rule of thumb is 1 m14 mag for every 2 m4/m16 mag in pouches. I’d like to credit Wolf from MAASF for solving the height problem. The m14 mags, being shorter, are harder to get to in a full m4/m16 mag pouch but this is remedied by stuffing something down the bottom of the mag pouch; I used some old socks, and Wolf used some bubble wrap. They make the mags ride higher in the pouces, so it becomes a breeze to get to them.

I’d also like to reinforce the size and weight of the gun. Again, this might not be the gun for you because of its size and weight, especially if you’re going to be really mobile.

I’d like to recommend you get extra magazines too from the beginning. As much as I love my SRC speed loader, having 2 high caps is much better than loading one standard in the field.

I absolutely love my m14; it is far better than any other gun I’ve seen on the field (in or under the price) I have nothing but good things to say. And if I didn’t mention it, it wasn’t a problem or it is metal, so if you love M14s don’t hesitate to pick one up. While they’re not as rare as you’d like to think (3 TM m14s at the field I play at, and 1 G&G m14) they still are few in comparison to m4s and m16s.

This is truly an awesome piece of equipment!



-Matchgrade