Matrix Mosin Nagant Gas Powered Bolt Action Airsoft Rifle (Model: Steel / Real Wood / PU Sniper Variant)

"I'm writing a second review just to share some things that I've found in the last 17 months with the gun.

I still love the gun very much, but it is not a robust and heavy duty gun. Having been fielded once and having about 1000-2000 shots fired out of it, it developed a few problems that took a lot of reverse engineering and know how to fix.

First: the string used to pull the spring back in the magazine to load BBs into the chute broke. This rendered the gun completely inoperable, aside from muzzle loading BBs. The gun still functioned perfectly fine aside from the feed issue. This was fixed by using strong, cotton threading to recreated the string pull. The fix wasn't easy at first, but once I spent about 5-8 hours working on fixing it, I figured it out. At this point, it's an easy fix when the string breaks again (it will, I've replaced it once already).

Second: after a while the gun started leaking gas out of the nozzle and becoming extremely unpredictable in terms of how powerful the shot would be. It got so bad that the BBs loaded into the chamber would be pushed out of the barrel by the gas leak. This is an issue with the orings inside of the cylinder becoming brittle and damaged by use. I'm currently working on this fix, but I believe I can fix it by replacing the o-rings in the cylinder with slightly thicker o-rings. I'm waiting for a shipment of WE and VSR gas orings to try and fix it. This will also hopefully fix the unpredictable power.

The gun is very clearly designed to be a spring gun with a gas gun conversion put in by the manufacturer based on its build. A complete exploded diagram is available from King Arms after registering for their website and it helps A TON!!!!

Third: The valve in the inlet valve snapped off while filling the gun. This is an issue with the placement of the valve compared to the scope. You have to take the scope off of the rifle when filling it, or it will break. I replaced it with a KWA G17/ATP magazine fill valve and it has worked perfectly ever since. Take off the scope when filling, keep a big flat head handy to tighten/loosen the thumb screw on the mount

This gun functions best with heavier BBs. It chronos around 360FPS with .2g (1.2j) and 320fps with .43 (2.7j), which gives heavier BBs a much flatter trajectory and more consistency with the hopup than lighter ones. A .43 easily reaches a man size target at around 200-220ft, while the .2's are much less predictable. .3 is a good middle ground if range is a primary concern over consistency.

The barrel and hopup bucking are 100% Marui compatible, which means they are easily upgradable! I haven't done it in mine yet, but I intend to put a nice long TBB, ML rubber and nub in once I sort out the gas leak issue.

Finally: This thing is a monster to try and take down! It requires two barrel bands, 9 screws (three flat head large, 5 medium phillips, 1 spanner) and a non captive spring to be removed in order to remove the bolt from the receiver. You have to remove the feed system to remove the barrel from the receiver and the feed system is a mishmash of a tensioned spring and a bunch of tiny phillips screws. Have patience, take it slow, watch videos, look at the diagrams and be careful!!!!

I would buy this gun over again if I had the choice, I love the thing!!!!!!

"Absolutely love it! I've only had it about a week, so I don't have any long term insights. The build is very robust and the feel is spot on. It's a little different from the none PU model, as the loading device is identical to the Zetalabs instead of the King Arms, but the bolt functions the same as the King Arms in its short bolt design. With .35s I can make a man sized target out to about 150', so it's not exactly a tack driver, my VSR makes it out to about 300'. I doubt I'll replace my VSR with this, but it is fun. I intend to try out some heavier BBs (probably .43-.45) to see if I can coax a bit more accuracy/range out of it. The finish on the wood is VERY easily marked, I'm very tempted to get my hands on a real steel stock to mod the receiver into for a more authentic look/feel. The trades are cool, they correspond with the Izhevsk arsenal and mine is dated 1941. The serial is only stamped on the top of the receiver (round, so you can't pass it off as a pre 1936 model) and nowhere else, as it would be on a real steel model. The safety knob on the bolt is none functional, but honestly? I think I've turned it on once on my real model and just never bothered again (it's heavy and just sucks... if you have a mosin, you know). The biggest down side for me is that it is gas, it just isn't consistent enough in its power to make a decent sniper rifle, it's almost more of a novelty in some aspects and I know I can't use it in a game until the weather warms up (chicago-land).

The magazine on this thing is bonkers, though. You flip over the rifle, open the bottom of the magazine, pour some BBs into the channel and pull a string, pour some more in and pull a string, pour some more in pull the string again, close the bottom of the magazine, work the bolt, fire. The gas system involves a valve in the top of the bolt and lasts about 20 shots on average. Luckily, cool down only takes place if you're shoot AS FAST as you can.

I'd recommend it for anyone who is a Mosin enthusiast or looking to do a Russian sniper impression.

Pros: Feels JUST like my real steel PU sniper rifle
Great weight
Accurate to boot within 100'
feels rugged and tough
SOLID hopup, simple bucking/screw setup. Works great.

cons:
inconsistent due to being gas
unusable in the winter due to being gas
magazine is a nightmare to load in the field (I assume, it's a nightmare to load in my house!!!!)
Get ready to carry a can of gas with you! About 20 shots per charge!
Not nearly long range enough for heavy sniper duty (think 250-300')
Short pull bolt, totally throws me off compared to the real steel
VERY thin finish on stock, might wear into looking cool, though
trades are lacking

"It is indeed a great rifle for WW2 Reenactors or for someone looking for something different or more classic. The real wood feels nice to hold and the weight makes you feel good when you swing your rifle around to take aim.

I dislike the internal magazine but I also understand that Mosins never HAD magazines and this was a simple cutaway for not manufacturing magazines. All parts are also proprietary (sad) but I do have a guy at my field who has a guy who will manufacture parts for him, so lucky me. The short stroke action is also very nice for follow up shots but takes away the glorious feel of racking the full bolt for the motherland.