Here's my new Toyko Marui Glock 18C Automatic Electric Pistol (AEP). Purchased from DEDusa for $150.




First Impressions

I've owned 2 KSC Glocks before, and the lower half looks identical to the 17/18C. I've also handled real-steel Glocks, and I have to say the lower frame/body looks identical to those as well (the newer Airsoft 19 and 23 with the metal/plastic blend, although feeling nicer and being heavier, doesn't match as well as the ABS plastic does).

Full GLOCK trademarks on the slide, body, and on a sticker on the bottom of the mag (which can't be embossed there because it hides the motor set screws, and the motor alighment screw). Front of the slide does look different because I had to buff off the orange paint which shined the ABS plastic too much. The plastic on the slide is textured to resemble the power-coat finish the real gun is finished with. Sights are the standard Glock style, only the rear sight is adjustable.

The only part about the looks I don't like is how the ejection port cover isn't a seperate piece. It's molded into the slide, with lines etched into the plastic to try to make it look like a seperate part; they're not nearly deep enough to fool anyone. Hopefully they'll fix that if they ever make a metal slide for it (for looks and the added weight)

Metal parts (besides internals) is the selector switch, rear slide plate/cover and magazine.



Accesories (what comes with it)

Glock 18C AEP
30 round stick magazine
Cleaning Rod
Ni-Cd 7.2 volt, 200 mAH battery
Wall Charger
Box, Instruction manual, and other papers all in Japanese



How It Works

I used a TM speed loader and had no problem pumping in 30 BB's (I will note however that after extended loading, my speed loaders are showing wear on the tip due to pushing it into the metal of the AEP mag).

The slide comes off by pushing in the rear plate on the slide and lifting the entire slide up.

The battery is inserted beneath the barrel, and is extracted by pulling the lever shown in front of the hop-up wheel. Hop-up is adjusted by turning the wheel.



To charge the battery it comes with an auto-stop wall charger. The red LED light on the charger turns off when it's done charging. It takes around an hour to charge the 7.2v 200mAH battery.

Every Airsoft Glock I've seen before only had the horrible trigger safety mechanism. This is the first Airsoft Glock to have a working safety, although it's in an awkward place. The safety is the lever on the right side of the gun that normally let's you take off the slide (on a real gun, and the GBB versions). Only the right side of this lever actualy moves up and down for "safe" and "fire" modes.





Firing Impressions

OH, MY, /THOU SHALT NOT USE MY NAME IN VAIN/!!! Is all I have to say, start salivating. If you know me at all, you know I started my Airsoft career with GBB pistols. I spent $500+ on my first GBB; a Glock 18C, and I had to spend that much to make the gun shoot as well as my AEG.

I started shooting with the BB's that came with the gun. I know they had to be at least .2's, but I could swear they might have been lighter than that. I picked a tree 15 yards away, no problem, I picked a tree 25 yards away, no problem, I picked a tree 35 yards away, little problem --adjusted the hop-up and once again, no problem. Now if that already isn't impressive, I aimed for a tree 40 yards away (120 feet) and all I have to do is align the bottom of the front site with the top of the rear site, and I was hitting the tree at chest level with a quick blast of full-auto (semi-auto took 3 shots to get them to arc properly, then about 5-7/10 shots hit the tree at chest level). Full-auto has a very nice ROF as well.

Accuracy to me is not shown by setting up paper targets and measuring the groupings, I consider a gun having good accuracy if you can hit a man sized target within 3 semi-auto shots, and this gun did that even to 35 yards, and was pretty darn good up to 40 yards as well, although I would only feel comfortable doing so up to 30-35 yards (and would always use full-auto at that range).

You might not believe these ranges, but let me assure you, it's totally possible. The BB's seem to float in the air, and definitly take longer to get to their target (since the gun is only supposed to be 215 FPS) than a regular AEG or GBB. I'm thinking the hop-up system used in this gun is closer to real AEG's, and far different and superior than GBB's hop-up system in my opinion (thus the extra distance with less FPS, but taking longer to get there).

I would say the effective range of this stock gun, is 35 yards. I would also only try to hit a target at that distance, every time, during a skirmish, by using full-auto since this gun is still no match for an AEG (until you start upgrading the AEP that is).

Now here somes the bad parts (very little and minor): the BB's that came with the gun were too light in my opinion. I know this because maybe 3 out of every 10 shots would wander off (but this could also be due to the short 105mm inner barrel). The only BB's I had for the gun were .25's after I used up the BB's that came with it, and they helped qualm this effect majorly. The hop-up is definitly set for .2 or .23 BB's because I had it turned all the way up with the .25's and I wasn't able to hit the 40 yard tree without aiming higher up and arching the shots.

Another problem, and this too might be solved by using .2 or .23 BB's, is that I found the hop-up to sometimes be in-consistent. I've noticed that on semi-auto I sometimes won't get the maximun distance, but when I switch to full-auto it's fine. Then when I switch back to semi-auto again, it's back to normal (this is after around 2,500 BB's through the gun)

Now most of those problems are probably due to me using heavy .25 Bb's in the gun, or it might just be that it's barrel is so darn short (and I say short because I'm comparing this gun to AEG's not other GBB's).



Mags / Batteries

I've had no real problems with the mags on this gun as has been reported by other people, and I've put around 2,000 BB's through it so far. I will say that I had a magazine jam three times when using non-name-brand BB's, but once I used my dwindling supply of Excel's, that hasn't happened again.

Battery life is actually impressive. I can get just over 400 shots out of the small 200mAh battery, and since it charges in around 30ish minutes, it's not a problem. With my old GBB's (which I've sold all of them since they kept on breaking), I would have had to refill the mag at least 15 times.



Conclusion

I can't stress how impressed I am with this gun. It shoots justy as good in stock form than my KSC GBB Glocks did (although the shots won't get to the target as fast, they still go around the same distance and with the same accuracy). It's very quiet, has the same weight as the same model GBB, and costs the same price.

I've found my new skirmish sidearm, and as soon as they come out with a power-cord lanyard for this, I will try some upgrades on it (since once upgraded; which I've been told the gun will reach 280 FPS with .25's --that's around 330+ FPS as measured with .2's which is the normal testing weight-- you only get 100 shots out of the battery).





Upgrades

Performance
Cylinder
Piston Head
Bearing Axle Hole
Upgraded Spring
Spring Guide
105mm (stock length) Tightbore Barrel
130mm Tightbore Barrel with Muzzle Cap for Silencer
200mm Tightbore Barrel with Muzzle Cap for Silencer

Other
100 rd. Mag
Lanyard Eyelet
Fiber Optic Sights
Mount Base

Needed/Wanted: Metal Slide, Metal outer barrel (with the ports), power-cord lanyard, Gears, Piston.



AEP vs. Traditional GBB

AEP Pros

-Electricity is cheaper than Gas
-Electricity doesn't smell
-You don't have to carry a large bottle of gas with you into the field
-Electricity hasn't been proven to cause cancer in the state of California (as in Propane)
-Equal range as many GBB's
-No blowback action means better accuracy on full-auto
-Quieter
-Same FPS in cold weather (GBB's don't work well in cold weather)


AEP Cons

-Not as high FPS which means the BB's take longer to get to target
-No realistic blow-back action
-Not as loud or intimidating as the sound of a GBB


So ultimately, I'm hoping this AEP turns out to be more reliable than any GBB. If it will still be reliable ungraded to around 320 FPS (the same as a stock GBB), I believe this is the future of Airsoft Sidearms.

This post has been edited by TriChrome: Sep 23 2005, 09:51 PM