Matrix Full Metal Zombie Killer M4
Sept 2, 2016 22:45:07 GMT -5
Post by triggs (SABR) on Sept 2, 2016 22:45:07 GMT -5
Full Album Review – Matrix Zombie Killer AEG
Matrix Full Metal Zombie Killer M4-16 Airsoft AEG Rifle by S&T
- Real Steel History
- Overview
- Accessories
- Externals review
- Internals review
- Performance
- Final Thoughts and Upgradeability
Real Steel History
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imgur.com/iWhR1lv [/img]
Image from www.wikipedia.com all rights reserved
The M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is a 5.56×45mm NATO, air-cooled, direct impingement gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine. It has a 14.5 in (370 mm) barrel and a telescoping stock.
The M4 carbine is heavily used by the United States Armed Forces and is replacing the M16 rifle in most United States Army and United States Marine Corps combat units as the primary infantry weapon.[5][6] (taken from www.wikipedia.org )
Overview
Every so often I get a string of equipment to review that I don’t have to pay for, which is great! Does that mean I will be any less honest and thorough about my reviews? No, I am not sponsored, or probably ever will be with the harsh reviews I give. But it is nice not to have to foot the bill for a review every time.
Welcome to the review of the Matrix Full Metal Zombie Killer M4-16 Airsoft AEG Rifle by S&T. This rifle was purchased through www.Evike.com, Matrix items only being available through Evike since it is their in-house brand name. Basically Evike has direct connections to the same China factories which produce items for other well known brand names. For instance, this rifle is coming from the same factory as S&T, on the same assembly line. However, it does not get sold by them, it is instead shipped directly to Evike, who then markets it.
Accessories
This has to be the barest rifle ever, even less than Classic Army.
The 470rd high cap is nice for a hi-cap. It fed smoothly in testing, and has a very nice paint coating on it. It also includes a winding key slot, but no key is included…in fact nothing besides the hi-cap was included. No battery, cheap wall charger (thank goodness), or unjamming rod!
Externals Review
I was very concerned when I started inspecting the rifle, the flash hider appeared to have massive amounts of glue around the threads and crush washer. However, when I attempted to twist it off, it immediately came loose without issue. The washer was glued to the flash hider, but separated easily once off the rifle. The barrel is all metal and roughly 10.5” long for a standard CQBR length M4.
The front sight is a fold down tye sight. However, this is the first folding site I’ve seen with a throw lever style lock. Other folding front sights I’ve used have either had no ‘lock’ and just spring lock into position, or have a push button on the side to lock open or closed. The throw lever on this front sight is, at the very least, different. I’m not sure I’m a huge fan, if I ever had to raise the sights in a hurry, but it works.
The RIS is a free-floating Knights Armament Company (KAC) URX II replica with clean and clear indexing markings on all four sides. It sits flush with the upper receiver allowing for an uninterrupted top rail. The lower rail unbolts using 6 screws allowing for the mounting of a M203, if the outer barrel was longer. Since it is only a 10.5” barrel the front mount on a M203 will either rest on the flash hider (if it is long enough) or not rest on anything.
Like the magazine, the paint on the rifle is very nice. The receivers also feature clean and clear “trademarks”.
The left side magwell features a large skull, with multi-caliber markings and individualized serial numbers. The trigger group markings feature Luke 9:1 “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” The selector has Safe (Pray), Semi (Psalm), and Auto (Asperges) markings [Asperges is a name given to the rite of sprinkling a congregation with holy water (taken from www.wikipedia.com )].
The right side magwell features a Punisher style skull, and the same Pray-Psalm-Asperges selector markings.
I am a fan of the oversized trigger guard that comes with the rifle. It’s designed to give operators with gloved hands a bit more room, but in general it just gives a bare hand some extra room which, depending on the pistol grip can be very nice.
Speaking of the pistol grip, this particular one is very unique. It vaguely reminds me of a combination of the LR300, standard A2, and a bit of HK416 mixed together. Unlike the LR300 and HK416 grip this one is very comfortable with a relaxed grip angle and no strange protrusions that bite into your palm. The downside is the motor plate is proprietary. It has no venting so it could potentially hold heat back compared to most of the standard grip plates that are vented or at least heatsink fin styled.
The stock is a standard LMT style crane stock with ample room for both LIPO and NIMH butterfly type batteries. The buttplate is a good thick rubber pad, with solid mounting clips that easily come off to get to the battery compartment.
The stock tube is a standard 6 position tube, though it does not have any position markings like some come with. Sadly the entire tube is taken up by a very large fuse. If eliminated, it is possible to fit a decent LIPO inside of the tube. Though squeezing all of the wires in there does pose a challenge.
The rear sight is a standard KAC 200m peep sight. Definitely not one of my favorite sights, especially on a CQBR length rifle, but it does work.
Internals Review
Overall I was very pleased with the externals. For roughly $200~ the full metal externals were very pleasant. Which is why when it comes time to crack open the rifle I’m always wary.
Disassembling the rifle is as quick as any other M4 AEG. However, I should note that the front pin, and back pin are both clipped or pinned so that they don’t simply fall out of the rifle. Be careful not to just hammer on the pins or you can easily lose the little detent nub holding the front pin in. Or bend the clip holding the rear pin in.
The hopup is a run of the mill metal hopup chamber with plastic gears and such. I was a little annoyed that the lugs that you typically slip the metal securing clips around to hold the gears in place were far too short, but with just the dial screw holding everything in place everything seemed ok.
The bucking is a standard China black bucking and worked as well as to be expected in testing.
The barrel is an odd 245mm length barrel. The next closest aftermarket tightbore is 247mm (P90) but the 10.5” barrel can easily host a 300mm barrel, although it’s more comfortable when you have a long flash hider, or a barrel extension on to cover the exposed barrel.
The motor is the same gray and black type found in DBOY AEG’s. Either way, it’s a standard stock motor and had neither great torque, or speed.
Once I got the upper receiver off it was clear this was going to be an interesting gearbox.
For starters, the shape of the gearbox is unique. I’d love to know exactly why S&T decided to cut down the front of the gearbox, especially since the V2 design is already notoriously weak at the front, but have no fear, test fitting a standard V2 shell in the lower and putting things back together yielded no interference so when the shell breaks, it can easily be replaced.
Second, was the missing screw; just one, right next to the motor, for no apparent reason. No big deal, it’s not like it’s a necessary screw. Still, I’ve never seen a new rifle with one missing there.
Inside of the gearbox it is standard V2 parts, so both replacing, and upgrading is easy, which is a great thing.
The shells, while being an odd shape come with standard 7mm bearings. Evike’s website lists this as an 8mm gearbox, so either this is an old model or a typo on their part. 7mm is more than sufficient, so again, not a big deal.
The tappet plate spring post was oddly shaped. It shouldn’t be a problem, but I do prefer my gearboxes to have as much metal as possible. They certainly aren’t made from top grade steel, so they need all the help they can get.
The gears are different…They appear to be of the same XYT material and quality, but have no markings.
I was pleasantly surprised by the full metal tooth piston. For some strange reason it is a half rack piston and not a full tooth, something not required except in extreme cases, but it doesn’t hurt anything and hopefully the full metal teeth increase the lifetime of the piston.
The spring felt very light. The advertized FPS is 370-400FPS, which I quickly found out was not what mine was capable of. After tearing apart the gearbox it’s easy to see why. It felt in the M100 range and performance tests confirmed it.
The spring guide is a rather cheap piece with no bearing or even a washer to help alleviate possible spring twisting.
The cylinder head is a little strange, the o-ring appears to be malformed, or possibly it was a liquid rubber added and forced into the cylinder to make a proper air seal. It did work and had no leaks when tested.
The air nozzle is a brass type metal and comes with an o-ring for a solid air seal. Normally I’m not a fan of metal nozzles, but this one fed flawlessly when tested.
The cylinder is a chrome plated Type 1 ported cylinder for a M4 length barrel. It might slightly over volume the air ratio with this type of short barrel setup, but it won’t noticeably affect accuracy given how short the barrel is to begin with.
The tappet plate is a typical polymer plate and seemed as strong as any other plate.
Performance
FPS: 320-330FPS
Range: 150-160ft
I was a bit disappointed by the chrono readings upon testing. Evike advertizes the rifle at shooting 370-400FPS. This rifle came in shooting much less than that, even before opening up the rifle. Upon a good cleaning it continued to shoot in the same FPS range, which goes to show how consistent it was to begin with. Typically a good cleaning and basic maintenance changes things.
That said, it makes for a perfect CQB rifle right out of the box. So as far as intended uses the rifle shot right where you want it, no work required.
With a low FPS and very short barrel the accurate range is bound to suffer somewhat. But, considering it’s supposed to be a CQB rifle, the range is more than sufficient. Drop in some upgrades and tune the hopup and it will certainly hold its own against other rifles in the open field.
Final Thoughts and Upgradeability
Since this is another M4 variant, the possibilities are endless for external (and internal) modifications. I tossed on some 2-tone options I have laying around on personal rifles, but there is no end to possibilities since the M4 is such a common platform, and covered with RIS slots.
Externals Score: 10/10
I’m honestly trying to think up reasons to take away points, but it’s minor nitpicky things that can’t affect the score. I will say that the trademarks are annoying. I like seeing custom trademarks, but these take up most of the left side of the receiver. The silver crush washer on the flash hider looks strange to me, but nothing a little paint couldn’t fix if it actually bothers you.
Internals Score: 8/10
The oddly shaped gearbox is probably going to come back to haunt the owner, fortunately a standard shell fits, but why not have it in the first place? Also the tappet plate spring pin being unformed or malformed worries me. And finally the short lugs on the hopup gears leaving them unsecured.
Overall score: 9/10
Normally I average the final score between the internal and external scores. But in this case I’m averaging the worth of the rifle. Honestly I could give it a full 10/10, it’s that nice of a rifle. For the $200~ or under (Evike sales or discounts) it’s a fantastic rifle. There aren’t many rifles in the $200 range these days other than say a G&G that come anywhere close in quality vs. value, even fewer that are full metal. I will knock a point off and keep it at 9/10 just for the gearbox being the odd shape that it is. I expect it to crack much sooner than a standard V2 shell due to its shape, and that’s just annoying. Still, it’s definitely worth every penny. Not everyone will like the trademarks, but I found them amusing at the very least.
© Copyright triggs 2016
Matrix Full Metal Zombie Killer M4-16 Airsoft AEG Rifle by S&T
- Real Steel History
- Overview
- Accessories
- Externals review
- Internals review
- Performance
- Final Thoughts and Upgradeability
Real Steel History
Image from www.wikipedia.com all rights reserved
The M4 carbine is a shorter and lighter variant of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is a 5.56×45mm NATO, air-cooled, direct impingement gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine. It has a 14.5 in (370 mm) barrel and a telescoping stock.
The M4 carbine is heavily used by the United States Armed Forces and is replacing the M16 rifle in most United States Army and United States Marine Corps combat units as the primary infantry weapon.[5][6] (taken from www.wikipedia.org )
Overview
Every so often I get a string of equipment to review that I don’t have to pay for, which is great! Does that mean I will be any less honest and thorough about my reviews? No, I am not sponsored, or probably ever will be with the harsh reviews I give. But it is nice not to have to foot the bill for a review every time.
Welcome to the review of the Matrix Full Metal Zombie Killer M4-16 Airsoft AEG Rifle by S&T. This rifle was purchased through www.Evike.com, Matrix items only being available through Evike since it is their in-house brand name. Basically Evike has direct connections to the same China factories which produce items for other well known brand names. For instance, this rifle is coming from the same factory as S&T, on the same assembly line. However, it does not get sold by them, it is instead shipped directly to Evike, who then markets it.
Accessories
This has to be the barest rifle ever, even less than Classic Army.
The 470rd high cap is nice for a hi-cap. It fed smoothly in testing, and has a very nice paint coating on it. It also includes a winding key slot, but no key is included…in fact nothing besides the hi-cap was included. No battery, cheap wall charger (thank goodness), or unjamming rod!
Externals Review
I was very concerned when I started inspecting the rifle, the flash hider appeared to have massive amounts of glue around the threads and crush washer. However, when I attempted to twist it off, it immediately came loose without issue. The washer was glued to the flash hider, but separated easily once off the rifle. The barrel is all metal and roughly 10.5” long for a standard CQBR length M4.
The front sight is a fold down tye sight. However, this is the first folding site I’ve seen with a throw lever style lock. Other folding front sights I’ve used have either had no ‘lock’ and just spring lock into position, or have a push button on the side to lock open or closed. The throw lever on this front sight is, at the very least, different. I’m not sure I’m a huge fan, if I ever had to raise the sights in a hurry, but it works.
The RIS is a free-floating Knights Armament Company (KAC) URX II replica with clean and clear indexing markings on all four sides. It sits flush with the upper receiver allowing for an uninterrupted top rail. The lower rail unbolts using 6 screws allowing for the mounting of a M203, if the outer barrel was longer. Since it is only a 10.5” barrel the front mount on a M203 will either rest on the flash hider (if it is long enough) or not rest on anything.
Like the magazine, the paint on the rifle is very nice. The receivers also feature clean and clear “trademarks”.
The left side magwell features a large skull, with multi-caliber markings and individualized serial numbers. The trigger group markings feature Luke 9:1 “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.” The selector has Safe (Pray), Semi (Psalm), and Auto (Asperges) markings [Asperges is a name given to the rite of sprinkling a congregation with holy water (taken from www.wikipedia.com )].
The right side magwell features a Punisher style skull, and the same Pray-Psalm-Asperges selector markings.
I am a fan of the oversized trigger guard that comes with the rifle. It’s designed to give operators with gloved hands a bit more room, but in general it just gives a bare hand some extra room which, depending on the pistol grip can be very nice.
Speaking of the pistol grip, this particular one is very unique. It vaguely reminds me of a combination of the LR300, standard A2, and a bit of HK416 mixed together. Unlike the LR300 and HK416 grip this one is very comfortable with a relaxed grip angle and no strange protrusions that bite into your palm. The downside is the motor plate is proprietary. It has no venting so it could potentially hold heat back compared to most of the standard grip plates that are vented or at least heatsink fin styled.
The stock is a standard LMT style crane stock with ample room for both LIPO and NIMH butterfly type batteries. The buttplate is a good thick rubber pad, with solid mounting clips that easily come off to get to the battery compartment.
The stock tube is a standard 6 position tube, though it does not have any position markings like some come with. Sadly the entire tube is taken up by a very large fuse. If eliminated, it is possible to fit a decent LIPO inside of the tube. Though squeezing all of the wires in there does pose a challenge.
The rear sight is a standard KAC 200m peep sight. Definitely not one of my favorite sights, especially on a CQBR length rifle, but it does work.
Internals Review
Overall I was very pleased with the externals. For roughly $200~ the full metal externals were very pleasant. Which is why when it comes time to crack open the rifle I’m always wary.
Disassembling the rifle is as quick as any other M4 AEG. However, I should note that the front pin, and back pin are both clipped or pinned so that they don’t simply fall out of the rifle. Be careful not to just hammer on the pins or you can easily lose the little detent nub holding the front pin in. Or bend the clip holding the rear pin in.
The hopup is a run of the mill metal hopup chamber with plastic gears and such. I was a little annoyed that the lugs that you typically slip the metal securing clips around to hold the gears in place were far too short, but with just the dial screw holding everything in place everything seemed ok.
The bucking is a standard China black bucking and worked as well as to be expected in testing.
The barrel is an odd 245mm length barrel. The next closest aftermarket tightbore is 247mm (P90) but the 10.5” barrel can easily host a 300mm barrel, although it’s more comfortable when you have a long flash hider, or a barrel extension on to cover the exposed barrel.
The motor is the same gray and black type found in DBOY AEG’s. Either way, it’s a standard stock motor and had neither great torque, or speed.
Once I got the upper receiver off it was clear this was going to be an interesting gearbox.
For starters, the shape of the gearbox is unique. I’d love to know exactly why S&T decided to cut down the front of the gearbox, especially since the V2 design is already notoriously weak at the front, but have no fear, test fitting a standard V2 shell in the lower and putting things back together yielded no interference so when the shell breaks, it can easily be replaced.
Second, was the missing screw; just one, right next to the motor, for no apparent reason. No big deal, it’s not like it’s a necessary screw. Still, I’ve never seen a new rifle with one missing there.
Inside of the gearbox it is standard V2 parts, so both replacing, and upgrading is easy, which is a great thing.
The shells, while being an odd shape come with standard 7mm bearings. Evike’s website lists this as an 8mm gearbox, so either this is an old model or a typo on their part. 7mm is more than sufficient, so again, not a big deal.
The tappet plate spring post was oddly shaped. It shouldn’t be a problem, but I do prefer my gearboxes to have as much metal as possible. They certainly aren’t made from top grade steel, so they need all the help they can get.
The gears are different…They appear to be of the same XYT material and quality, but have no markings.
I was pleasantly surprised by the full metal tooth piston. For some strange reason it is a half rack piston and not a full tooth, something not required except in extreme cases, but it doesn’t hurt anything and hopefully the full metal teeth increase the lifetime of the piston.
The spring felt very light. The advertized FPS is 370-400FPS, which I quickly found out was not what mine was capable of. After tearing apart the gearbox it’s easy to see why. It felt in the M100 range and performance tests confirmed it.
The spring guide is a rather cheap piece with no bearing or even a washer to help alleviate possible spring twisting.
The cylinder head is a little strange, the o-ring appears to be malformed, or possibly it was a liquid rubber added and forced into the cylinder to make a proper air seal. It did work and had no leaks when tested.
The air nozzle is a brass type metal and comes with an o-ring for a solid air seal. Normally I’m not a fan of metal nozzles, but this one fed flawlessly when tested.
The cylinder is a chrome plated Type 1 ported cylinder for a M4 length barrel. It might slightly over volume the air ratio with this type of short barrel setup, but it won’t noticeably affect accuracy given how short the barrel is to begin with.
The tappet plate is a typical polymer plate and seemed as strong as any other plate.
Performance
FPS: 320-330FPS
Range: 150-160ft
I was a bit disappointed by the chrono readings upon testing. Evike advertizes the rifle at shooting 370-400FPS. This rifle came in shooting much less than that, even before opening up the rifle. Upon a good cleaning it continued to shoot in the same FPS range, which goes to show how consistent it was to begin with. Typically a good cleaning and basic maintenance changes things.
That said, it makes for a perfect CQB rifle right out of the box. So as far as intended uses the rifle shot right where you want it, no work required.
With a low FPS and very short barrel the accurate range is bound to suffer somewhat. But, considering it’s supposed to be a CQB rifle, the range is more than sufficient. Drop in some upgrades and tune the hopup and it will certainly hold its own against other rifles in the open field.
Final Thoughts and Upgradeability
Since this is another M4 variant, the possibilities are endless for external (and internal) modifications. I tossed on some 2-tone options I have laying around on personal rifles, but there is no end to possibilities since the M4 is such a common platform, and covered with RIS slots.
Externals Score: 10/10
I’m honestly trying to think up reasons to take away points, but it’s minor nitpicky things that can’t affect the score. I will say that the trademarks are annoying. I like seeing custom trademarks, but these take up most of the left side of the receiver. The silver crush washer on the flash hider looks strange to me, but nothing a little paint couldn’t fix if it actually bothers you.
Internals Score: 8/10
The oddly shaped gearbox is probably going to come back to haunt the owner, fortunately a standard shell fits, but why not have it in the first place? Also the tappet plate spring pin being unformed or malformed worries me. And finally the short lugs on the hopup gears leaving them unsecured.
Overall score: 9/10
Normally I average the final score between the internal and external scores. But in this case I’m averaging the worth of the rifle. Honestly I could give it a full 10/10, it’s that nice of a rifle. For the $200~ or under (Evike sales or discounts) it’s a fantastic rifle. There aren’t many rifles in the $200 range these days other than say a G&G that come anywhere close in quality vs. value, even fewer that are full metal. I will knock a point off and keep it at 9/10 just for the gearbox being the odd shape that it is. I expect it to crack much sooner than a standard V2 shell due to its shape, and that’s just annoying. Still, it’s definitely worth every penny. Not everyone will like the trademarks, but I found them amusing at the very least.
© Copyright triggs 2016