A&K LR 300S Review

Well, I've always wanted this rifle ever since I saw the Prime kit with the real trademarks. However that was way too much money, so I'm very thankful that A&K decided to produce this for a reasonable price. Perhaps this is the first US review of this gun? Ah well, here it is. Enjoy.


Background
Taken from Wikipedia. I take no credit for the background information on the real ZM weapon platform. However, everything else is mine…
The LR 300 is an assault rifle based on the M4 Carbine, designed and manufactured by Z-M Weapons. The rifle is touted as an 'excellent entry weapon system' indicating that this version is available for military usage. One stated feature of the rifle is its 'diverted felt recoil' which helps prevent muzzle rise common to most other select-fire rifles and carbines.
Also notable is the rifle's capability to use a fully folding skeletal stock. Most AR-15/M16 rifle variants have a thick, cylindrical recoil buffer tube that protrudes several inches straight back from the rear of the receiver, and the weapon cannot operate without it. This normally precludes the use of anything but fixed or telescoping stocks. The LR 300 gets around this problem in two ways - the bolt carrier is half the length of a standard AR-15 carrier. Secondly, the return spring for the bolt carrier is mounted forward of the receiver on the extended carrier key.
LR-300MLs have flat top receivers with Weaver rails, allowing them to be used with multiple types of sights. The trigger, as well as the charging handle, magazine button, and hold open device, etc., are the same as the M16 and AR-15 rifles. The barrel has a 1:9 twist ratio, is chrome lined and has a Phantom flash suppressor.

First Impressions

The box the rifle came in was a simple plain cardboard cover with the styrofoam holding the gun and all the other goodies. The side of the plain cardboard box only had LR 300S written on it to tell what was inside. Eh, not a big deal since I could care less about the box; I wanted what’s inside. So upon opening the box, there is clear plastic wrapping around the styrofoam which I immediately ripped off. If you bought from a different retailer, your plastic may be opened due to the store testing the gun’s FPS. (I bought mine from airsplat.com as it was the only US retailer I could find that sold it for a decent price, ~$195) So inside the packaging is a bag of unknown weight bbs, a small screwdriver, a wall charger, a 9.6v battery (I wouldn’t trust this Chinese battery however…), a cleaning/unjamming rod, a tool to tighten/loosen the screw on the stock, 2 screw-on sling mounts, orange Phantom flash suppressor, 450 round grey-colored hi-cap, and the AEG itself.

Gun Inspection

The overall look of the gun is great. Even though there are no trademarks, only the words on the selector switch, in my full day (I do mean full day [5-6 hours] ) of working on it and playing a few CQB games, this A&K is a fine performer. Metal makes up most of the rifle. The only parts that are not metal are the handguard and pistol grip. The finish of the metal and plastic parts is good. Texture on the pistol grip is smooth and though the grip’s shape is unconventional, it is comfortable both with and without gloves. The handguard’s feel is a bit rougher than the pistol grip, and has a much more aggressive texture due to the bumps/ridges. As for the metal parts, I am unsure of what type it is. I believe it is possibly made of pot-metal or aluminum because it is a fairly light rifle for being all metal. However, I can say it is strong enough to withstand a 4-5 foot drop onto a thinly carpeted floor. (I did it about 10 minutes after I took it out of the packaging.) One thing it note it that the metal’s black finish seems to be very easy to scratch. Not scratch as in taking off the black paint to see silver metal, but scratching the paint so there is an off-black mark on the original black paint.

More In-Depth Inspection

The LR 300’s parts fit very well together. All the metal parts are fitted together very tightly and sturdily. When I took out the rifle, the first thing I did was check the tightness of all the screws on the rifle. There are hex screws everywhere, and I actually didn’t know if I should trust a Chinese clone to be properly put together or just expect the front sight to fall off when I fired it. Fortunately, I was surprised at the excellent machining of the metal parts and didn’t have to tighten too many screws. As a side note, the springs on the moving parts of the gun are very stiff, including the charging handle, the bolt-assist, and the magazine release. As advertised, the dust cover does not open by pulling back the charging handle. It also does not stay open once you open it because the spring on the latch pushes it closed.

First Shooting Impressions

I only shot this gun a little bit before opening it up and doing a few things to it, which I will touch upon towards the end. For the gun’s first shots I used a 9.6v 1500mah battery. The gun came shooting consistently 400 FPS out of the box. The highest was 403 FPS and the lowest was 398 FPS. Being that consistent seems pretty good to me. It took a while to adjust the hop-up and the sights, but I was easily hitting targets at my CQB shooting range area, where the farthest distance was only about 35-40 yards. Full auto was about 16 RPS with the 9.6v battery.
All firing was performed with .20g bbs.

Disassembly

Disassembly is much like any other metal M4 variant. The few things to watch out for are to unplug the fuse and battery wires in the front and make sure they feed through the hole (very tiny hole) in the front barrel assembly. Another thing to watch for is the bolt-catch when sliding the top receiver off. Because the top receiver surrounds the bolt-catch, the finish of it can easily be scratched. What I did was put a business card in between the catch and the receiver while sliding it off. Everything else in the disassembly is the same as any other M4 takedown. On a side note, this is where I was really impressed because the receiver fitment is very tight and precise, and the receiver pins were also very tight and stiff to punch out and put back in.

Inside The Gun

The wires are made of very flexible silicon. Seems to be of a good quality, but be careful not to cut them while you are sliding the top receiver on and off. Did I mention there is a fuse as well? Maybe not too important for some, but is a nice little addition to an AEG.

Hop-up is a one-piece metal unit. It actually looks just like a Classic Army hop-up unit. One downside to this rifle it the bad hop-up though. Apparently, the hop-up is not very good and does not apply enough pressure on the bb to really affect its flight. The hop-up bucking is also a different type than normal buckings. Its size seems normal, however side that should be a bit tapered it not; it is flat. Because of the different stock bucking, I am not sure if simply replacing the bucking will solve the hop-up problem. An entire hop-up unit and bucking may be necessary, if the parts are not compatible. There is also a large spring in front of the hop-up unit which A&K apparently does with all its models. It results in a good air seal between the barrel and the gearbox.

Disassembly of the gearbox is straightforward. I did notice however, that there was no Locktite on the screws. Anyway, the insides of the gearbox are actually pretty good. If you know how and can do it properly, remove everything from the gearbox, wipe everything clean, re-grease the parts, and re-shim the gears. A good online video guide is on mechbox.com, look for the V2 FTK Installation video. It shows how to remove everything (except the trigger contacts), re-grease, and put it all back together. There is also a good shimming guide here, http://pageproducer.arczip.com/daedalus03/workshop.html, which is a great link I found somewhere at airsofforum.com.

The gears are very well made and strong. I’d say if you’re going to leave the gun in stock performance or even up to 450 FPS, the gears should be fine.

Spring is very durable and fairly thick. Since this is an AEG I bought to play CQB with, 400 FPS is too hot. I tried to cut the spring with wire cutters, but did not work because of its thickness. If you do not plan on downgrading the spring, I’d say that the stock spring is pretty good the way it is and perfect for woodland use.

Inner barrel is a little shorter than the outer barrel. This is more of a problem for the long barreled version because the inner barrels are the same length in the short and long version.

Cylinder, piston and their heads are good parts. The piston, piston head and cylinder head are made of white plastic/polycarbonate (not sure). On the piston, the first tooth is made of metal (unsure of what type). Although there is a small white O-ring on the cylinder head, but overall the parts give good compression and do not need to be replaced unless you feel it is necessary.

Comes with metal spring guide with bearings. The tappet plate and air nozzle are fine. Trigger is plastic, and its spring is actually a bit heavier than other AEG trigger springs (in my opinion this is a positive aspect, as it is slightly more realistic).

I mentioned the wires were flexible silicon wires. High quality wiring job too, as the connectors were fully protected by heat-shrink.

Motor is amazing. Don’t replace this motor unless you’re going to spend $100 on a Systema Magnum, but even then I don’t think it needs to be replaced.

In my opinion, nothing has to be replaced in the gearbox unless you really want to or are going to be shooting harder than around 450 FPS.

My Upgrades

Well, I didn’t do much to make this gun a sweet gun for CQB. First off, I downgraded the spring to an Angel Stage 1 spring. Unfortunately however, the spring I got only shoots 280 FPS and the CQB limit is 330 FPS. So I am a little disappointed that I didn’t get a faster shooting spring. Next I replaced the hop-up and bucking. I bought an Element hop-up unit. It’s red and has O-rings on the chamber opening and magazine opening. The bucking was also replaced with a G&P bucking and regular nub. A shim job was also a necessary upgrade, if it is really considered an upgrade… I also purchased an Echo 1 Mosfet assembly. It came already assembled; all I had to do was replaced the trigger switch assembly and that’s it. The Mosfet chip fit inside the handguard where the fuse went. Along with those upgrades, I bought an 11.1 Li-Poly battery.

So right now I have great trigger response and a gun that I won’t feel bad if I spray someone with, as it only shoots ~280 FPS with .20g bbs.

Conclusion

I am very satisfied with this AEG and how it performs. The stock performance is great for field use, but too hot for CQB play. With just a little tuning the gun jumps from an OK gun to a beast. For ~$195 from airsplat, this rifle is well worth the price.

Appearance – 9 Out of 10 – Some people may not like the looks of it, but in where I play all I see are M4 and MP5s with RIS/RAS and the LR 300 is just a little different to turn heads.
Performance – 8 Out of 10 – Stock, this gun shoots ~400 FPS with .20g bbs consistently. With a bit of tuning, the AEG becomes even better and is closer to a 9 Out of 10.
Build Quality - 9 Out of 10 – The fitting of the parts is incredibly precise and tight. The finish of the plastic is very good, but the gun loses a point for being able to scratch easily.
Weight – 10 Out of 10 – Weight is very balanced both with the stock out and folded. I’d say it weighs at least 3.5 lbs with a full magazine of bbs.
Internals – 9 Out of 10 – The internal parts quality is very good. All the parts are good the way they are unless you decide to go above 450 FPS. Loses points for crappy green Chinese grease and the not-necessary-but-advised need to re-shim the gears.


Sorry I don’t have pictures of my gun. If I can, I will post some next week. If you look on Filipino Airsoft forums, there are pictures of the internals.

If you have any questions feel free to post or PM me.
Thanks.

This post has been edited by mutant90: Jan 12 2009, 02:53 AM