ICS Pro Line CXP-APE Carbine Electric Blowback Airsoft AEG Rifle (Color: Black)

"I bought this gun on November 6th, 2016. It's been 3 years and this rifle has served me well. Running 11.1v lipo batteries has a tendency to trip the fuse on it, so I stuck with 7.4v. The mid-caps are half a mm smaller than the hi-caps so they will shake out of the mag well, but this can be fixed by a bit of tape on the mags. The internals are solid and everything stock has worked for me until about 4 months ago, my hopup chamber cracked and I had to replace it. Most of the parts are out of stock so I have to use aftermarket parts to fix it. A bit hard to find compatibility but at heart it's still a standard v2 gearbox. I dropped in a titan gate and after a bit of modification it fit right in like a glove. Since then I've put in a new bucking, upgraded the compression and the gun shoots like a dream. Overall a fantastic gun that I love to use. Just prepare for a bit of maintenance and the gun will serve you as well as it has for me.

"Great gun overall only complaint is mine shot a little hot out of the box (430) with .20s

"Completely awesome that's all I need to say about ICS

"Overall I would give this rifle a 4.5/5. Very solid rifle out of the box. This was my first expensive AEG so the performance out of the box was great. It had a great rof and good groupings. The only complaints I have about this aeg is the weight, and stock piston. The APE is a fully metal rifle other than the motor grip and stock making this gun heavy in the middle of the body not a big deal just a warning. Lastly the stock ICS piston should be switched out immediately as the stock piston has completely plastic teeth. These teeth stripped out on me during the chrono of the first field day I had with this gun only two days after arrival! Luckily somebody had a spare piston I was able to switch out easily with the ICS split gear box and able to make it into the first game of the day. Overall great gun would recommend to anybody.

"Pros
-Good RoF
-can use Lipo
-amazing externals
-good FPS
-solid internals (split gearbox)

Cons
-Price
-strange magwell, won't take most mags
-unsayisfying sounds (bolt release, inserting mag)
-sub-par out the box iron sights
-fuses blow easily (when using 11.1v lipo, but comes with extra fuses)
-not a bit after market

Solid 9/10 most orb the cons were me cherry picking

""A solid 4/5 rating. I don't believe any gun deserves a 5/5 except for maybe the elite version of the UMP .45. I had some initial problems with this gun. Mainly it came with a broken hop up. This is attributed to the fact that it's designed somewhat cheaply IMO. Plastic chamber that's pretty proprietary to ICS. Be very careful when adjusting the wheel and you should be fine. I had to RMA back to evike and that was a pain. (Always call evike, never rely on their online support systems you won't hear back otherwise) in the time it took to hear back from evike, the piston stripped after maybe 100 test shots. After about a month I got the replacement APE and the same thing happened to the piston. It's a bummer that ICS would include such a crap piston in a very high end aeg. The split gearbox did make it easy to replace the piston with a g&p one and I've had no problems yet, though the blowback function is engaged by that stock piston so you will lose that function.

Now, externally the build quality is absolutely superb. I've never owned a gun that's this well put together. It is quite heavy but not stupid heavy. so if you're a small build either harden up or find a different model. I have noticed that the third lever that you push up to release the magazine can and will catch on your gear and jettison the mag while you're carrying it. Tightening the Allen screw and disabling the switch all together will fix this. Most m4 magazines will not fit this guy without removing material from the top of the magazine. It's an easy fix if you're crafty like me. I believe that KWA mags will fit without modification.

Battery space is verrry tight, but you can find an 11.1 to fit. Just be aware of it. ROF is extremely impressive and FPS with a g&p piston clocked in at an average of 397 from 3 shots. No joke, it's that good. Most ICS guns shoot like this. The gun has plenty of range with its stock barrel and accuracy is very good but not great. I will be Popping in a madbull hop up and hoping that will get my groupings tighter.

The gearbox is shimmed very well. It sounds and feels like fantastic when fireing. Truly a fine tuned machine. I would recommend taking apart the upper gearbox and cleaning and re lubing it as you should all gearboxes. Its a bit of a pain but you will notice a difference.

All and all this is an excellent gun that will serve a experienced airsofter quite well. It's not without its issues, but the design of the gun will make it much easier to troubleshoot and repair than a gun with a conventional gearbox. If you have the money, the knowledge, and the ware withal to hump a heavy gun around all day I would HIGHLY recommend the ape. REMEMBER: if you're buying this gun, put a high quality polyacetyl piston in your cart as well. The g&p one is $16 and you're going to need it.

"The hop up and bucking are not good. Mine is not accurate at all but it does shoot a good distance. I found mid caps that do work without modification - valken tactical mid caps. Battery is a real tight fit like the others had stated so u will need a small battery. But the split gearbox makes it so easy to work on. It's a ok gun but I wish I bought something else.

"This gun is a complete piece of poop. It's not compatible with any mags. Sure you can modify them so they insert into the mag well BUT they will push the hop up chamber forward slightly causing compression problems at the nozzle and bucking. My fps jumps from 330 to 460 making the gun useless. When I bought the gun I had no idea removing the orange tip voids the warranty which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. They sell the freaking black metal ones to replace it with!! So thanks to Evike I have a $385 piece of junk. They will not refund my money or let me exchange it for something else that actually works. Do not buy this gun!! And for the love of God don't remove the stupid looking orange tip from your gun because it apparently taints it in some way where it can't be returned. I've spent a lot of money with Evike but they won't get another dime out of me after this.