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Meatball's Featured Reviews |
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Airsoft Core |
By DumboRAT
Published: December 6, 2003
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Maruzen Remingto(n) M870 Grip Version (pump-action) and M1100 (semi-automatic, GBB) Composite Full-Stock Version gas-operated shotguns.
First and foremost, with regards to these shotgun replicas, you'll have to make some decisions as to your playing style.
If you're looking for a replica that's suited for outdoor use, where you likely need a good effective range (at least that of stock Tokyo Marui AEG's) and minimal spread of the BB's (so as to effect accurate shots at range), then the Maruzen gas-operated versions are simply NOT for you.
In the above case, the Tokyo Marui shotgun replicas, either the M3 or the SPAS, will fit your bill much better.
However, if you're looking for a short range area-saturation item, then the Maruzen is your ticket. With the TM shotguns, their tri-inner-barrel design, while offering superb individual BB flight trajectory (which translates into stock AEG-level effective range) really effectively so minimize BB-shot spread as to make it, for all practical purposes, non-existent. Sure, it's great to use outdoors, where the triple-shot on what is essentially one center-shot kill location will help penetrate thick undergrowth and thus effectively increase your chances of scoring an elimination, but without spread, you don't really get the "shotgun effect."
Want proof?
http://airsoftguns.com/news/1999/08/targets.html
With the Maruzen M870, even at a range of 10-15 ft., with use of HFC134a (i.e. "duster") gas and 6 to 7 0.20 gram BB's, the spread of the BB-shots will literally fill a 2-ft. diameter circle.
Combine that with a muzzle velocity that's likely in the range of 150 to 180 fps. (for each BB) with such a load, and you get an item that is perfectly suited for indoor CQB "corner clearing" or "door breaching," as the multiple low-velocity projectiles will saturate a good area, while the low-velocity will virtually guaranty that your opponent will not be hurt by the massive number of BB's traveling his way.
With use of Taiwanese "Green Gasses" or other higher-powered gasses, at a range of 15 ft, all 6 to 7 BB's will hit an area no bigger than 3 inches in diameter. Back up to 30 ft. in such a situation, and you will see an impact radius of more than 3 FEET in diameter. And as most BB's tend to fall within the 25 to 30 ft. area, with only a few making it all the way out to the 30 ft. mark, best effective-range with this piece, when using a load of 6 to 7 0.20 gram BB's and Taiwanese "Green Gas," is likely somewhere just over 25 ft. At that range, maximal shot patterning can be expected.
The full-sized M1100's, with their extended inner-barrel, can easily push this range out to well beyond 40 ft., with some hobbyists reporting an effective range of nearly 60 ft.
No sights are offered on these replicas -- so it's all up to point-shooting. However, given its designated role as described above, it's hard to miss..... (note here that a new product to hit the US market is the Easy Hit fiber-optic sight -- http://www.easyhit.com/ -- a model is even available [the "Add-On Rib"] that literally adds a "rib" to the top of the shotgun barrel).
And while the power figures cited above may not seem impressive, you must remember that the design of this shotgun requires that a single burst of gas propel all 7 (or however many) of the loaded BB's in one jet. With only one 0.20 gram BB loaded in the shell, a muzzle velocity of between 260 to 280 fps. can be had with HFC134a (as tested by RedWolf Airsoft Specialists' "Poor Man's Chrony" procedure) can be observed. Furthermore, the well known and well respected player Paco has reported a chrony figure just over 400 fps. when this piece is juiced with a full dose of the more powerful Taiwanese "Green Gasses" (again, using a single 0.20 gram BB). Of special note is that at ambient temperatures below 45 deg. F., the M870 pump-actions will still function with HFC134a, although performance will be DRASTICALLY decreased. However, under these conditions, the M1100 will completely fail to cycle with HFC134a. Use of Taiwanese "Green Gasses" or such other high-powered gasses will be MANDATORY for compensation. Despite the power of the M870, its wicked and highly intimidating "black hole" of an outer barrel, and that blood-curdling "click-clack" of its pump-action being racked, its muzzle report is decidedly disappointing. There's no loud "boom" here - just an ever so soft, tinny, and hollow "pop" as a spray of BB's exit from the muzzle, forced by propellant gas stored in a detachable gas reservoir that resides in the grip handle of the M870. Things improve a bit with the M1100, where its sleek and menacing black polymer body is matched by a rather loud succession of barrel growl as well as the metal clank of its autocycling bolt - and much of this aural improvement is likely also traceable to a larger gas reservoir with slightly higher output, which itself sits in the buttstock of the M1100, powering the blowback mechanism.
Gas fills to the M870 can be effected both with this reservoir in-place inside the M870's grip as well as with it detached (an excellent review of this is seen on Mentall's article, appearing as cited below in the "References" section, on Arnie's UK hobbyist site). For those of you who are shell-hogs like me (I've got no less than 43 shells), you may wish to also obtain an additional gas-unit. While hard to find (a retailer or private re-seller who's willing to work with you, such as my friend 888, who obtained this item for me on a special-order basis, would be your best bet), they're decently cheap (less than $20, USD, each), and as one unit can support up to 30 shots per fill, even only one backup carried in a BDU pocket or a magazine pouch would be more than enough for normal skirmish use. With the M1100, it's a matter of removing the faux rear buttstock recoil cushion, along with its resident gas-reservoir and evolution assembly, and filling that rather large compartment with propellant gas.
On the cosmetic front, the Maruzen M870 Grip Version as well as the black polymer/composite version of the M1100 FSV are both nearly all plastic (there is a "sporting" version of the M1100 available with wood furniture). However, they're quite hefty. At 2000 grams, the M870 feels very solid, and the sure-cocking foregrip adds dramatically to the effect (yes, one-handed cocking, made famous by "Sara Connor" of the classic sci-fi film "Terminator 2," is possible - however, be sure the sling swivel at the base of the grip handle doesn't trip into the release button for the gas magazine reservoir, letting it fly to the ground!). Meanwhile, the M110 is a true beast, measuring in at over 1 meter in length and tipping the scales at just under 3 grams (nearly 7 lbs). Sure, the proper Remington trademarks are present, but as my eagle-eyed friend Amgine pointed out, "Hey, it's spelled 'Remingto' on this gun." Surely a licensing issue.
One item to keep in mind is that while on the semi-automatic M1100 the spent shotshells are forcefully ejected and will land anywhere from 4 to 5 ft. away from you after having taken a spectacular flight arc since their exit from the shotgun, the shells, when ejected from the M870, merely fall to the ground. Not so spectacular, for sure, but still, much, much more realistic than that of the TM and Marushin replicas'. And really, the shells tend to pop out anywhere from an inch or two to about one to one-and-one-half feet from the body of the shotgun before starting to fall -- there really is no telling exactly how far each one will go before gravity takes over. Furthermore, the "ejection distance" does not seem to depend on the force with which the slide is racked back. Believe me, in order to insure successful ejection of the spent shell and proper chambering of the next round, you'll want to rack the mechanism with authority, anyway.
And speaking of racking in the next shot, the M870 Grip Version can hold 4 shells in the magazine tube (the full-size M1100 holds 7). If you really need it, of course, you can also load an extra shell "in the pipe," making for a total of 5 (+1 in the M1100 makes for a full load of 8, however, such misfeeds as mentioned below is also an issue here). However, doing so will likely cause you to accidentally trip the internal gas release, thereby producing a mis-feed. Of course, with each shotshell (available from most retailers in packs of 5; speaking of which, I recently [within the last month] received shells that were "green" colored instead of "blue" - and while I couldn't read the Japanese label on the packets, the word "new" was printed as a part of the product description, and the shells' base-pad are of slightly different design as compared to the "blue" type; did Maruzen re-design the shells; it has now been confirmed that only the "blue" shells should be used in the semi-automatic M1100's [its harsh mechanical action will tear the "brass" right off of the plastic husk], with the "green" and even "red" shells being reserved for the manually-cocking pump-action models), you can load anywhere from 1 to 10 BB's, but when doing so, you should remember the consequences to your observed muzzle velocity as well as effective range and patterning.
A further note on the shells is that should they be carried in a "shotshell holder" into skirmishes, the loaded BB's may jostle free of their capture points in the shell tube. This phenomenon seems to be directly related to the number of BB's in-line inside the shells - the more BB's, the more likely that some will be displaced during use. An optimal compromise between carry security and BB capacity per shell is somewhere between 4 to 6 BB's per load.
An unobtrusive safety is had directly at the junction between the trigger guard and the grip handle. While able to provide the shotgun with complete safety, if you intend to "draw" the shorter shotgun from a shoulder/back holster or such rig and THEN fire off a defensive shot during skirmish, you might as well forget about itâ?¦.. Disengaging the safety will take way, way too long; especially since its rather unobtrusive positioning means that it will be decently difficult to switch on or off. As such, a quick, smooth draw, PLUS disengaging the safety, becomes almost an impossibility during skirmish situations - especially in those "oh ****" moments when you're drawing a backup piece.
Therefore, your best carry option would be to jack in four shells (making for a full magazine), and then simply leaving the piece un-cocked (chamber/breech empty). This means that even if you were to accidentally trip the trigger, no matter the cause, the uncocked gun will NOT go off.
Now, ripping it off of a rear shoulder holster or swinging it around a bandolier/sling should pose no worries - and after you bring that large-bore barrel to bear on your opponent, simply cock and shoot. =)
With the M1100, its autoloading mechanism, combined with a rather short-travel and "touchy" trigger (albeit one with a very hard and high-poundage pull), makes engaging the safety necessary in all but the most ready-use situations.
As for upgrades, well, unfortunately, there just isn't much to be had in terms of those that are specific-for-airsoft.
For those who want an increase in power, there have been at least a half-dozen reports from very, very well-respected hobbyists INDIVIDUALLY AND INDEPENDENTLY stating that they have either NOT observed power increases after retrofit with the various aftermarket valves for this item or have actually observed an effective power DECREASE with such retrofits.
And as for cosmetic accessories, Maruzen has its own side-saddle buttstock or receiver mounted (via Velcro loop-closures, this item is not a hard-mount item nor will it require you to place Velcro directly onto the replica; it's like strapping on a harness on your body) spare shell holders. This item can be seen fitted to the M870 GV in the AirsoftScotland review of the M870, as it appears on Arnie's UK hobbyist forum, which is referenced below.
And for skirmish-users, the addition of a proprietary soft-shelled "spent brass catcher" is an absolute must. This item is also detailed in the referenced AirsoftScotland review.
With both the shotshell catcher as well as the shotshell carrier, you can typically also purchase these items from overseas retailers as a bundled accessory pack made by KM/HEAD1950 of Japan. One critical item to remember is not to allow the mounting loops come into interference with any critical functional areas of the replicas - and this includes the cocking handle.
The empty "husks" can then be transferred from such on-gun shell-catchers to something like this, which has been a part of my kit since the addition of my Maruzen shotty:
http://store2.blackhawkindustries.com/cgi-bin/storenew.pl?page=/new/product.html&setup=1&ida=938&idp=1336&his=0
This is NOT to be confused with the carry pouches used for "full" shells, which can be had both in the following "traditional" format:
http://store2.blackhawkindustries.com/cgi-bin/storenew.pl?page=/new/product.html&setup=1&ida=927&idp=1336&his=0
[But remember how I talked about the BB's "leaking out" of each shell?] or can be stored in any one of the various "new"-style Kydex shell-holders (ones that have a bottom "plate" to effectively "seal-in" and close the BB-hole). A competition model that allows for access to 5-6 horizontally carried shells in a "soda-machine" internal format would be ideal (can't find a pix of this one, sorry, guys!), or, alternatively, there are plenty of slip-on 2-shell carriers available. For those desiring a "special touch," they should consider experimenting with various real-steel accessories, as detailed in this thread below:
http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/reviews/m870/m870_custom_parts.htm
Additionally, most real-steel barrel/magazine-tube mounted clamps designed to accommodate the use of a laser sight module or a tactical flashlight can be retrofitted successfully to those very same attachment points on the airsoft replicas.
A special consideration to be made is with various "weapons-specific" forends - these will not fit without EXTENSIVE modification.
And similarly, to install a scope mount on these replicas as with their real-steel counterparts (side-of receiver "cantilevered" format) is equally as difficult, if not outright impossible (confirmed again by many individual enthusiasts) due to differences in the receiver mechanicals - as you can see, in this following photo of a Clarence Lai custom-built M1100, the red-dot sight mount base is directly affixed to the main receiver body at the TOP:
http://www.dentrinity.com/ClarenceLai/M1100.htm http://www.dentrinity.com/ClarenceLai/M1100cu.htm#sight
Well, that's it!
There's really not much more that I can say about these replicas that hasn't already been covered elsewhere.
Much of that is available through this legendary thread: http://www.airsoftzone.com/forums/message.cfm?topic_id=28201&forum_id=15#411404
Which, as you can see, bears a preview and incomplete version of this very review within its multitude of posts.
More importantly, though, it also bears the many inputs from a dedicated core of Maruzen gas-shotgun enthusiasts, and is therefore well worth the read.
Additional references that are highly recommended include the following:
http://www.airsoftzone.com/forums/message.cfm?topic_id=33231&forum_id=15 -- Phrizzawh's Maruzen M870 gas-efficiency test.
Arnie's UK hobbyist site provides the following: http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/reviews/m870/m870_review.htm, http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/reviews/m870/m870_review_as.htm, http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/reviews/m870/m870_review_mi.htm
As well as an interesting side note of Nautilus' review of the M1100 Defender, which uses not shells, as common with the other Maruzen offerings, but rather, a "magazine" feed: http://www.arniesairsoft.co.uk/reviews/m1100/m1100_shortreview.htm
And finally, this important troubleshooting and maintenance guide comes at the courtesy of SectionVI, a dedicated and well-respected bunch of UK skirmish enthusiasts: http://www.section6.fsnet.co.uk/m1100-870.html
They also authored this excellent article detailing a wonderful custom-job: http://www.section6.fsnet.co.uk/mau_m1100.html
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to e-mail me directly at:
CXL77@po.cwru.edu
Thanks!
Allen aka DumboRAT
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