New Airsoft PR On Evike

[SSGT Kitten]

Well, my PR did arrive. I've had a chance to look it over, so I'll toss out some information here. To start,

WOW.

I was impressed. The packaging was good, double boxed and the rifle itself in a shaped styrofoam container. It came with the charger and battery; standard low grade stuff I expect with any airsoft gun. It came with the manual, BBs, and the bore rod.

Construction seemed good and sturdy. There were a few minor loose points, mainly in the retractable stock (expected) and the grip (not expected). There was also a tiny bit of looseness in the barrel vent rib, but not bad. Fire control (FA/SA) was easy to manipulate, the safety was extremely stiff. I was impressed with the shroud; good fit, good feel, very minor issues with construction and that is just a nick in the bottom magwell. I had no issues with the grenade launcher pump or the shotgun shell lining up.

9V battery installation was bit tricky to me, since I apparently thought the battery went upside from the way I would normally install. I was surprised how much it stuck out, but its covered by the mag bottom when that is installed. The counter turned on, went to 00 and then to 95 when the magazine was put in. (AWESOME). Haven't had a chance to fire, as I am still charging the battery.

The caps were easy to remove with the advice earlier in the thread; however even with heating there was some residual glue material on BOTH orange caps. Not an issue as this will be painted over anyway.

The lower grenade launcher colour is light grey. I don't care for that. That's the #1 problem I see with the PR, and that is strictly a personal opinion there. The loading port for the grenades is made of the same green ABS as the shroud; it should be silver but I will repaint that. The Matrix logo appears to be printed, not etched, so removal and repaint shouldn't be too much of a problem. The shotgun shell looks like...well, a shotgun shell. I will hit that with some silver until I can get a machined 30mm grenade.

Overall, as I started, WOW. For the money, I am super impressed with what I got. It's definitely not 100% screen accurate, but for a mass produced item I can't believe how good it is. I would definitely recommend it. I don't know how disassembly will be; I am itching to take it apart to make the mods I want but I know it's better to plan things out and set up the shop properly before diving into it.

Charlie

*EDIT*: One thing I haven't heard mentioned before is the sights. Well, there are none, but the sight rail is actually fairly wide and easy to look down. Definitely need the stock extended to get a sight picture, but it's fairly intuitive to aim. Reminds me more of a shotgun than a rifle, but whatever. One thing is that the sight rail area is one solid piece; it fits into the two halves of the shroud. This means you can actually drill a hole in it to mount real sights. I have a tritium shotgun bead sight. I'm seriously considering installing that into the front to mimic what you can see in the A:CM game.

 

[SSGT Kitten]

Well, the counter doesn't cycle down. My smartcharger had the stock battery charged in about 1.5 hours, which is way too short. It didn't sound as if the gun was cycling fast enough either, although I could hear the motor turning. I have a bigger battery, but I'm hesitant about doing more testing since it's almost midnight and I don't want to wake the neighbors (bad) or my wife (worse).

Charlie

 

[Jodo]

Any pictures of the internals of the SPAS cage? Purdy please?

 

[Malphas]

 

[SSGT Kitten]

Malphas, in the left hand side of the cage, what is that bit that looks almost gold and red? Is that where the shotgun shell is mounted?

Charlie

 

[Malphas]

Yes because like you say, the tube slides back and reveals the shell. It was glued pretty good and looked like garbage so I removed it.

 

[SSGT Kitten]

Quick update on my end: the counter DOES count down. But you must actually be firing BBs for it to work. I didn't realize that; pretty much rules me attempting to "simulate" firing with a battery in to get the counter to go down. Since I plan on using this as a prop for a Colonial Marine costume, I'm either going to live with 95 and 00, or add in some kind of timing countdown to the circuit. For safety at cons and whatnot, I NEVER bring a charged battery. The last thing I want is to accidently hurt anyone.

On the battery note, I used the stock 8.4v that came with the gun, and 9.6v. If you are looking for what more accurately reflects the movie fire rate, go with the 9.6v. For those unaware, it's basically a DC motor driving this thing. The higher the voltage, the faster it goes.

Charlie

 

[noble]

Malphas, before you cut out all the slots on your spas cage,

look at a real one.

There are extra slots that can be bondo'ed over to make it more accurate.

 

[Malphas]

you must actually be firing BBs for it to work.

That's another reason I mentioned to pull on the non counter side when taking apart. It has a sensor that reads the BB's as it passed through the barrel. The wires for it run along the counter side so be careful not to rip it.

noble- Thanks I'll do that. Actually didn't even think to reference, I just started cutting.:facepalm To much of a hurry.

 

[Monster Dave]

Not true. Take the long stem bb stick that came with your PR and jiggle it around inside the end of the barrel with the counter turned on - it will fool the sensor into thinking that it's firing BBs - I did that for display purposes to have my PR showing a specific number of rounds.

 

[SSGT Kitten]

Not true. Take the long stem bb stick that came with your PR and jiggle it around inside the end of the barrel with the counter turned on - it will fool the sensor into thinking that it's firing BBs - I did that for display purposes to have my PR showing a specific number of rounds.

I didn't think of that. Good idea. The other thing I was wondering: as malphas said, there is a sensor in the end of the barrel and the connecting line. It wires in a via a standard clip to the readout sensor. Anyone think it would be hard to wire that into the trigger instead? As long as the trigger was depressed it would count down. I am going to take a look at the diagrams and wiring closer. I don't know if wiring into the direct motor lines would be a good idea, as that voltage might blow the counter circuitry. Maybe just add in a switch like is used for the magazine in/out sensor? Thoughts?

Charlie

 

[Jodo]

Thanks Malphas! In your opinion, do you think it's an easy task resetting the slide to completely cover the shotgun shell/grenade? Mine is a tad bit off, and it's driving me nuts!

 

[Malphas]

You will still need to break it down. The slider runs on that track on the bottom. Would either need to break and reglue at the circle or the shell to readjust.

EDIT* Hope my pics have been helping. They are on my old busted phone so not the clearest.

 

[Monster Dave]

The pics are great!

 

[Jodo]

AWESOME, thanks for that picture!!!!


.....Now I'm afraid to open mine up. :lol

 

[SSGT Kitten]

Took mine apart tonight. Disassembly wasn't bad; followed the evike manual backwards. The tough part was the shroud. I used a small wooden dowel to help provide pressure. Definitely not easy getting the shroud halves apart; unfortunate the plastic locking pins at the top (near the sight rail) didn't separate, they snapped. But it doesn't affect the outside, and I think a bit of reinforcement on the rail and it will be fine. The metal pins are still good to go. Working on sanding, paint prep, and putting a trigger on the grenade launcher. Sling mounts are being a pain. I need better D-rings.


Here's a closeup of the pin damage I was talking about (it's the little white dots on the shroud interior)

Charlie

 

[redbouche]

I just tried to fire mine for the first time. I charged the battery for 4 hours yesterday per the instructions. But when I fire it sounds like its going but it doesn't fire. I know they are getting pulled from the magazine, because occasionally a few will fall out of the magazine compartment, and a few have rolled out the end of the barrel. Weak Battery? Anyone have any advice?

 

[redbouche]

I'm beginning to think it is the magazine. The BBs done even sit all the way up in the magazine. They just drop to the bottom. What is the function of the wheel at the bottom of the magazine? It also mentioned a "Charging rod" in the instructions but I didn't get anything like that in the package. One more thing, it says it is supposed to hold 60 BBs, but when I insert the BBs manually only 21 fit in the magazine. So what is going on here?

 

[SSGT Kitten]

I'm beginning to think it is the magazine. The BBs done even sit all the way up in the magazine. They just drop to the bottom. What is the function of the wheel at the bottom of the magazine? It also mentioned a "Charging rod" in the instructions but I didn't get anything like that in the package. One more thing, it says it is supposed to hold 60 BBs, but when I insert the BBs manually only 21 fit in the magazine. So what is going on here?

You have to open up the little "window" at the top (the hinged part). Pour the BBs in that. Then reclose the window. When that is done, turn the wheel at the bottom to charge up the spring. Turn it until a BB shows up at the top and it clicks. It should feed properly then.

Charlie

 

[Gee2]

So got mine in on Tues., charged the battery overnight, put it all together got about half a dozen shots and run into what seems to be the same issue as some other folks with the piston/spring sticking. Tried teh screwdriver trick and it worked for a few more shots then game over... Love the gun but am a bit dissapointed with the operation (or lack thereof).