TSD Tactical Retractable-Stock 3-Burst Shotgun
TSD Tactical Full-Stock 3-Burst Shotgun
Capacity: 30BB x 4 Shells, 10shot/Shell
Action: 3-Busrt, Pump Action
Velocity: 240-280FPS with .20g BBs, recommended TSD .20g
Hop Up: Fixed for .20g BB
Matel Parts: Barrel Assembly & Cocking Tube
Body Finish: Matte Black with Ruberized grip
Includes: 4-30rd Shells, BB Loader & Shell Holster
Warranty: TSD 30 Days
MSRP: $98.00

Introduction

Some may recall that I reviewed the full stock version of this gun last summer, so if you think you may like the full stock version, you are in luck and you should check out that review as well. The short blurb provided by TSD Tactical on this product is the following: TSD Tactical 3-Burst Shotgun is one [of the] first economical shotguns that can fire 3-BBs on 1-pump, utilizes 30rd TM compatible Shells. Truly a clone of the TM shotgun, long metal barrel & cocking assembly among improvements: matte black finish plastic parts and metal outer barrel. Includes a TSD 30 Day Warranty. As TSD advertises these are meant to be clones of Tokyo Marui’s Benelli M3 Super 90 shotguns, and have compatible parts including the shells. I will make some comparisons to the Marui, but I do not own one so only have a certain amount of perspective here. But from what I have been able to tell they are quite similar.

First Impression

The box is what I have come to expect from TSD Tactical. A simple and well constructed box, which has all of the key features printed clearly on the front, and sides of the box. I prefer their boxes which have the carry handle and are one piece, but this standard two-piece box is more reasonable considering how inexpensive of an item this actually is. When handling the gun you feel like you are handling a $200 item, but in reality it’s less than half of that. Definitely good news.

When opening the box I realized it was packaged exactly the same as the TSD Tactical 3-Burst full stock shotgun, except that this package was slightly smaller since it is stored with the stock retracted. Extending it would make it the same size as the full stock version. There was a Styrofoam cover over the mid section of the gun, which had an unjamming tool attached to it, and the manual in a Ziploc bag lay on top. One of the first things I noticed was the unmistakable smell of rubber. Some of the plastic parts have a coating of rubber over them which give them a stronger and more realistic feel. Removing the Styrofoam cover reveals this beauty of a gun, and also the compartments which contain some BB’s, a speed loader, four shotgun shells, case for four shotgun shells, and a sling.

Looks & Feel

You can probably already tell that I feel strongly for the aesthetics of this gun and you would be right. It has a great look to it, truly an ‘A+’ on the badass scale, and the same goes for the full stock version of this model. I remember a day when I used to used springers exclusively, and higher end, plasticy springers were selling $75-90 even $100+ and I simply didn’t know any better. This shotgun puts those purchases I made to shame, as it is in this price range, and has the look & feel of a high quality shotgun from one of the industry leaders. Having all sorts of a AEGs to use in skirmishes, I still find myself grabbing the shotgun just to show off, and without a doubt it will end up in a skirmish usually for the fun of it. There is nothing worse than picking up a newly bought gun and feeling like you bought a toy (you are buying a toy essentially but that is beside the point). This will not happen to you when you buy this gun, instead you will be excited that you got something this solid, for such a low price.

Despite the awesome feel a lot of the gun is plastic. The front grip, pistol grip, and cheek rest (on the stock) are plastics reinforced by rubber. This adds a considerable amount of comfort, a duller more realistic look, some added friction to make the gun easier to hold, and also reinforces the plastic making it more durable. So I am big fan of this, and I believe this is what Marui has on their equivalent shotgun as well. Largest plastic part is the main body, which stretches the distance between the two grips. It is more of your standard, durable, Airsoft plastic. Feels very sturdy, and does not have the cheap shiny finish to it that may be a concern considering the price tag.

Can clearly see the rubberized parts of the gun

The key metal parts are the two outer barrels, and the beam which the stock slides on. These are key in the sturdiness of the product and also the realism. Some more minor metal parts are the stock release button, shell release, trigger, shell door, among others. The rail on the top of the gun is not metal, which I was surprised by partly because of the look of it, and simply because they usually are metal. I don’t see any durability issues with it, but it is worth noting the rail is plastic. The adjustable rear sight is also plastic which was kind of disappointing, but I quickly ignored considering this is after all a shotgun and the sights will not play as much of a role. It is adjustable, you can use a hex wrench (which is provided) to raise it up or down, but you probably won’t need to adjust much once you realize how the shotgun spread works.

Rail and rear adjustable sight

The Stock

The stock has an interesting design. It has a metal core beam which holds it into place, and sliding on that is the plastic framed stock with a rubber coated cheek piece. A very sturdy design, I do not see any durability issues here. The metal beam has several notches to adjust where the stock locks into place. It is always nice to have these options, but I personally always prefer either all the way out or all the way in. Now if you were a shorter or younger airsofter I could see how the middle slots would be more useful. The stock is adjusted by hitting the button on the side of it, and rotating clockwise (looking down the barrel). The entire stock rotates, and then you can pull it back into a different slot, and turn the stock back into its normal place. The stock also has nice and thick rubber butt plate, which always helps for both comfort and durability. The end of the stock usually takes a fair amount of hard bumps, so having a rubber piece there to absorb this will be useful in the long run. Overall I like the stock, this one is definitely sound physically.

The stock extended

Function

The guns function is pretty self explanatory but there are some little things which you may not notice, and/or may throw you off the first time using it. The safety is as simple as it gets. Its above and behind the trigger, and pushing it one way reveals a red ring, meaning it is ready to fire, pushing it to the other way does not reveal a red ring and therefore it is on safe. The red comes out on the left side of the gun (looking down the barrel).

Now on to shooting this bad boy. You must first load your shells, which is self explanatory, and there are directions in the manual. You load up the speed loader, and then use it to push down 30 BBs into the shell. You then hit the door release infront of the trigger to open the door, and you slide the shell into the slot underneath the gun, and close the door up and you are ready to go. You should know how to load the BB’s and the spring, but in case you don’t you pull the front grip towards yourself until it clicks then you let it go back into place. Check the safety and you are ready to fire.



There are actually two parts on this gun where you can store shells. You can put one shell in the lower barrel if you remove the cap, and can also put on shell into a slot in the bottom of the pistol grip. Having a shell in the barrel is less practical, since you have to unscrew the cap to get it out, but the one in the pistol grip is pretty quick to get in and out, and use. You also have the belt holster which can hold four shells, and is included with the package and is probably the easiest and most efficient to use.

And here is one with the shell in the handle



The lower barrel with the cap removed

Performance

For those of you who have read my review on the full stock version, you probably will find yourself reading more of the same as they perform identically. The gun is advertised to shoot 240-280 FPS and this seems to be accurate. The wide range of velocity undoubtedly has to do with the three BBs coming out simultaneously. The BB’s are coming out of three separate barrels, one for each shot. The gun is completely reliable in this respect, assuming you load all thirty BBs into each shell, each time you load the gun three BBs will come out, and you will have 10 shots per shell. It is flawless. This surprised me a little at first since it just appeared to be a complicated process, but it obviously is a solid mechanism since it always works.

This gun is a lot of fun to shoot. The loading motion makes a satisfying noise, and the upon firing the gun it gives off a satisfying noise as well. No plasticy, springy, noises coming from this gun. If you have every shot a shotgun before you will see that it shoots much like any shotgun would. The three BBs stay somewhat close together for maybe a third to halfway through the flight, and then they begin to spread out in different directions. This makes the performance very hard to judge since accuracy is usually such an important component but it’s different with shotguns. You can target shoot, hit targets easily, etc. from close distances (50-60 feet), but the gun does not shoot with consistency and it loses effectiveness exponentially once you get further from the targets. Is this disappointing? I do not think so. To me it is just how a shotgun is supposed to behave, and these shotguns live up to that potential. Some have this idea that they can get one of these multi-shot shotguns and they’ll be essentially creeping through the woods practically sniping people from a distance. This will not work. This will work, like how shotguns work in video games, if you can get close to your target and get the first shot off.



Keep in mind this is assuming you are in an AEG skirmish. Going into an AEG skirmish with an $80-90 shotgun is going to be a challenge so lets keep things in perspective here. But it can be done, I have done it, and I have had a good time, had some success, and have usually been overmatched. But there is something about the challenge of running around with a shotgun that always makes me do it at least once a game. It is a fun and an affordable gun to add to the collection. If you go into a game with springers, others shotguns, some gas pistols perhaps, you will find that you are in good shape. It won’t change that you have to get close to targets, but it’s a lot easier against a springer than it is against an AEG.

I also would not expect to be able shoot this gun quickly. The pump is somewhat difficult to pull back, but definitely nothing crazy. It does have enough tension however to prevent you from just pumping and pulling non-stop, and especially not in any accurate manor. The more you use it the faster you will get however.

Who Should Get This Gun?

There is definitely someone out there who reads this review and know this gun is for them. Someone who likes shotguns, likes the price tag, and wants to have this type of low maintenance gun around. So you people know who you are and I do not need to say anymore. This gun is also good for anyone looking for an affordable, fun gun to have around. It has basically no maintenance cost, you just need to load up the shells and you are ready to go. They even provide the accessories to carry around the shells. This gun could also serve as a primary if you were going up against the right opponents. I would say this could definitely be a good primary against other spring guns out there, and perhaps some gas guns as well. You will have to be prepared to play with a different style however.

This gun is kind of a niche gun since it requires a certain interest and playing style for it to be successful in the field. This gun also probably the cheapest thing you could buy and still be able to compete with the AEGs. You won’t be that effective but in my opinion it is good enough to be on the field.



Overall

Overall you will get everything you pay for with this gun and perhaps a little more. It has a solid build, and is not going to break on you externally unless some sort of extreme pressure is applied, or some kind of strange fall. It comes with useful accessories; 4 shells, shell holster, sling, and speed loader all of which are enough for you to get started. Once you make the initial purchase you only need to pay for ammo, and as we all know they are cheap, and they will be even more cheap when you are using a spring powered shotgun. The gun shoots like a real shotgun would, three BBs in a close grouping for 50-60 feet and then they begin to spread out significantly and the shot becomes exponentially less effective at hitting its target. It is a lot of fun to use, and is a great gun to have in the arsenal, and also is a lot of fun to take out in a skirmish every once in awhile.

- Meatball

Rifleman2424 - June 18, 2009 Great review man, I was actually looking into one of these not too long ago and now I feel I have a better idea of what I'm getting.

Meatball - June 18, 2009 Thanks. If there are anymore questions I can answer feel free to ask.

Cruiser09 - November 21, 2009 Any suggestions as to where to purchase this gun?

discountairsoftstore - December 14, 2009 -Cruiser09 - November 21, 2009 Any suggestions as to where to purchase this gun?- wwww.discountairsoftstore.com has great selection and pricing!greatlection

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