EMG Colt Licensed Retro Models XM177E1 Commando Airsoft AEG Rifle

"This thing is great. I think I got a really good one. It will outrage all of my aegs and has a good rate of fire with an 11.1. I painted it and got a foregrip to make it a proper xm177. It is beautiful!

"Excellent XM177E2 replica with a few exceptions. Let’s get the quirks out of the way - the hand guard. I understand the manufacturer decided to use modern hand guards for battery space yet for those trying for realism it is not the best fit. Time period hand guards are available from numerous places for 20 or so. Second gripe, if you do acquire the period hand guard you will need to rewire to the rear. If you are not good at soldering, insist on grabbing a rear wired mosfet unit. After these two have been sorted you will be a proud owner of an AMAZING replica with excellent performance. There are reports the original Cyma mosfet will burn out after use on an 11.1 battery, be aware of this if you intend to use an 11.1.

Pros:
Accurate trades carved into the receiver
Solid build
Cyma based platform

Cons:
Modern hand guard
Questionable mosfet

"I bought this gun to scratch my retro AR itch and it certainly does the job. Very sturdy build with beautiful Colt trademarks to go along with it. Unfortunately, it comes with a bad mosfet and beefy M4 handguards instead of the slim car-15 handguards. I'd recommend replacing the mosfet first especially if you use 11.1v batteries.


Pros:
-Very sturdy. I think they used aluminium alloys just like the real ar's.
-Colt trademarks :L
-comes with SHS 13:1 ratio gears
-retro AR
-deans connector
-selector switch is very positive

Cons:
-Big and beefy M4 style handguards
-Bad mosfet

"This is one of the best aegs I've gotten in quite sometime! It shoots really accurate and its really compact!

I just got this for Christmas and its great for my Vietnam reenactment kit and the cyma platinum gearbox is just great!

The XM177E1 is a good aeg and kinda unique and the colt trademarks on the upper receiver really neat!

"Saw a lot of confused reviews about this model so wanted to chime in with some experiences on it.

I think it's a very nice CAR-15, but a little bit short of perfect.

The externals are amazing; they might even be G&P bodies, I'm not entirely sure. Apparently CYMA bought out G&P some time ago. Deeply engraved trades and a nice Colt grey color. Fits most magazines that I have. Has an okay rotary hop up and solid range. The handguards are wrong for an XM177E1 because they are sized to hold batteries (M4-type.) This is probably the biggest drawback for me, a gun like this should really come rear-wired out of the box.

My tech tore down the GB; it's a CYMA Platinum and everything is very solid. They are shimmed pretty well out of the box. Shot 395 on the dot with a 0.20G G&G BB. Very good trigger response and stock performance. When you buy one of these, it's 50/50 if you will get one with the older CYMA mosfet (which goes "beep beep") or the newer CYMA mosfet (plays a little musical chime when battery is plugged in). The older ones seem a little fragile, as in the physical trigger switch can be broken if you are too unga-bunga with your trigger pulls.

Ours was an older CYMA mosfet and we replaced the old-style mosfet with a Titan. It ran fine stock as well. I generally think this gun is worth the money, but most people will want to rewire to rear and replace the M4 handguards with skinny CAR handguards. That's the main downside, it is a phenomenal performer otherwise. Even as a project gun, it is pretty worth the money and I hope they don't discontinue it.

Remember that this replica does have a mosfet, and do NOT leave the battery plugged in like that other guy. Most mosfets have a slow battery drain over time and will ruin a lipo battery if left sitting plugged in. That's not a flaw of this replica.

"Bought this rifle because I’ve always loved the classic look of the M16A1 and the XM177E1. I’ve been having some battery issues where when left in for an extended period of time the batteries go bad and start to swell as well as the safety damaging the guiding track for the safety. Overall very good gun with solid QC (minus the battery problem) can’t wait to add the classic triangle style heat shield and a scope plus the 20 round VN mags

"Externals are decent. I bought for the Colt trades and Era correct flash hider. At first the gun shot very well with a Titan Power 7.4 Li Ion. Approx 16rps and really ripped on an 11.1 approx 28rps. Trigger was super snappy and it was a lot of fun to plink around with. However after about 5-6 mags through it the piston stripped. It was a huge bummer for sure especially since I'm one of those OCD kids who immediately voids their warranty by removing all orange tips as soon as I get them. I love historical replicas and I'm a huge WW2 and Vietnam Era collector. So naturally I already have the G&P Colt licensed XM177 and the basic CYMA XM177 so I didn't even bother to attempt fixing the issue and sold it for a decent price a few days later. So I'm pretty sure the one I got was a lemon because I hadn't even put 1,000 bbs through it and mainly used it on a 7.4. I own the XM16E1 version of this lineup as well and I love it. Shoots great and is identically snappy just like the Carbine version. Overall I give the gun a 6.25/10 because of the issues I had and the stock hopup and bucking need to be upgraded immediately. If you plan to skirmish with these you are going to have to invest another $50-$70 or so on getting new barrel hopup chamber and bucking combo to be able to lift anything more than a .25 past 75ft. They shoot 370-380fps but the accuracy and consistency is about as bad as any $250 airsoft gun I've ever seen.
That and the chunky M4A1 style handguards/battery compartment isn't Era correct and tracking down a G&P XM177 isn't easy to say the least. If they just would've skipped the SHS 13:1 high speed gearset and went with a basic mosfet and kept the slim handguards I think it would've been a 9/10. Overall its a meh...and will probably need to be tuned or something will need replaced within the 1st 20,000 shots. I expect more for a $280 replica.

"Colt trades are the best thing about this replica. The mosfet crapped out on mine about 2 mags into test firing when I got mine. Luckily I found someone who was willing to help me recover most of the $280 investment about a month later. Overall I am not impressed with the CYMA Platinulm internals and feel like the SHS high speed gears and cheap mosfet are unnecessary and gimmicky. I love Vietnam Era replicas but when they are as unreliable and pricey as these EMG Helios/CYMA/Cybergun replicas are I wouldn't recommend them to anyone really. Classic Army, G&P, and CYMA standard are all better options in my opinion. 5.5/10 from me and thats being generous.