"I was skeptical to purchase this at first, since not many of King arms guns had reviews and this gun had a no reviews at the time. I used to airsoft when I was younger, So I bought this to get back in. Did not come with a battery, and finding what to buy was not easy, since evike and the actual manufactures website said different things. Kings Arms said it was a deans connection, and Evike said mini tamiya. I bought a mini Tamiya and a 7.4 Li-Po battery. Works great Ive gone Air-softing 6 times now from 10am-4pm on a single charge. My gun clocked 318 fps with .28g 6mm bbs. Had to adjust hop up since its originally tuned for .20g 6mm bbs. Feels great, except the handguard (the part of the gun with rail system) does not feel super tight. Took it apart and its just how the pieces connect. So when holding it the handguard rotates left and right slightly. So it just feels loose, but its not actually loose.
"--A Brief History--
About a decade ago, I was playing airsoft fairly regularly. Due to work, I had to stop playing. Recently had a change of location and I'm able to play again!
Why is that relevant to this review? Because the more things change, the more they stay the same.
A decade ago, airsoft M4's had a few common problems: Barrel Wobble, shoddy delta nuts, and lack luster accessories. The King Arms M4A1 RIS has these similar problems.
--A Matter of Perspective--
For $250, you get a full metal AEG with a MOSFET. In general, I'd argue the quality of the externals is pretty good. As with most airsoft guns, exterior finish quality falls short of the real deal, but in general, it's good enough to get the job done. Overall, the externals are on the mid to high end of what I'd expect for an airsoft gun.
--What's in the Box--
The gun, a hicap, the vertical grip, and two rail panels... ohh and some advertising papers. That's it... No unjamming rod, no manual, no speedloader... none of the things you've come to expect. The lack of a manual, online or otherwise is disconcerting. If you are a NEW player, be advised! The lack of a metal flash hider (unpainted or otherwise) is also disappointing...
--Externals--
So why the comment about the exterior quality in the history? Simple.... My gun's barrel came with a distinct wobble... like a plastic TM M4 receiver from the early 2000's wobble. So much so I felt obligated to tear my brand new gun apart because it's extremely annoying. This is where I found the first of "What the?" moments.
The Delta Ring Nut which holds the barrel on is a three piece affair. You have the part you pull on to remove the front hand guard, then the nut portion which actually holds the barrel on is two separate parts. The nut itself, is extremely thin, and as a result it actually deforms as the nut is tightened onto the receiver, which causes the barrel to loosen and wobble. Tightening this does NOT cause the barrel to tighten up so no amount of shimming the barrel will actually end the wobble. So that's a strong negative. That said, the outer barrel is a one piece unit, so if you solve the delta ring problem... so should the barrel wobble.
When reassembling, the actual delta ring spring broke... also not a good sign.
There are distinct mold lines on all of the plastic parts which I cut off with a knife. They were sharp enough to be a problem, hence the knife treatment. Overall though, the plastic parts feel like nylon, cut like nylon, and feel durable enough.
The crane stock is wired for a battery, but the WE 11.1V 4000mAh LiPo I bought does not fit. It's a big battery, so I'm not surprised. While I was inspecting everything, I went ahead and wired it for deans. The lead in the stock is fairly short, just long enough to put a battery in, but not much more. I suspect I'll be soldering in a short extension soon enough.
As for the rest of the externals, the front sight post is indexed by a set screw on the bottom of the barrel. The two cross pins which index the front sight on a real AR, sit in a groove which goes around the entire barrel assembly which means these two pins do little more than control the fore/aft movement of the sight. The set screw is a TINY set screw and thus has little control authority on the front sight so it moves. In general, a fairly poor design overall.
The flash hider is plastic, bright orange, and held in with a cross pin which has to be punched out to remove the flash hider. It's a standard negative 14mm flash hider so at least the common airsoft flash hiders work. The lack of an included one is... disappointing.
--Internally--
I have NOT had the gearbox apart. No point as the gun itself sounds GOOD for an out of the box AEG. The gearbox is smooth, no unnecessary whine or grind. The ROF with the 11.1V LiPo is... well... slower than expected at around 20 RPS. That said, it shoots a solid 390 FPS w/ .20's out of the box with an FPS variation of about /- 4 FPS. No complaints there, it's basically what you'd expect out of a factory tuned AEG.
The Hop Up Unit is the standard two gear affair held in place with a simple screw. It's no fuss, it works, just not overly well. I will have to update this after I actually field the gun, but Hop Up parts are cheap enough that replacing the hop up components is not out of the question. First game is in a few weeks, so I'll report back then.
I can't say I found the MOSFET... so I'm not sure if it's buried in the trigger unit like some of the more fancy units are? It's definitely NOT in the stock tube. The trigger assembly is a standard trigger, no microswitch here.
--Conclusion--
This AEG is a solid base for future building... I've already order a number of upgrade parts for the external short comings. So... overall, is it worth it? Sure. For $250 it's a solid deal with high quality gearbox internals. It has some problems with the externals and the accessories included with the gun. As my first King Arms AEG in over a decade, I can say I'm glad the issues are basically the same ole, same ole. Nothing awful, but some minor gripes I shouldn't be expecting out of an airsoft gun.
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