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HFC M172 Box Cannon (aka. Mauser Schnellfeuer)
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25-06-2008 6:41pm#1
Ok then, a review of the HFC M172 'Box Cannon', otherwise known as the Mauser Schnellfeuer, or if you prefer 'C96' (even though, technically it isnt a C96). I'm not gonna go into the real steel history, you can find plenty of that on the net. One interesting fact though is that the name 'Box Cannon' isnt just a generic name given to the gun by HFC, like other gun names, the C96 was known in China (where it was issued) as the 'Box Cannon' due to the fact that it came in a 'box' ie the wooden shoulder stock/holster and 'cannon' referring to its power.
Package and Contents
Ordered this from MIA, service was grand, plus got a free can of Abbey 134a gas with it, so please with the buy.
Anyhoo, nothing special about the package, just your standard polystyrene, no fancy cloths or such like WE, but hey, its the gun you are interested in! All that comes with the gun is a pack of BB's and an instruction manual, no allen key for the hop up, nor a cleaning rod.
First Impressions
For some reason when you look at pictures of these things on the net etc they always seem a little bigger, this was the case with this, I was surprised how small it was
. I had also read a couple of reviews when they mentioned just how heavy it was upon lifting it from the box. I didnt find it 'that' heavy, sure enough its 90% metal, but it was still somewhat lacking. When you pick up the mag though, now there is the weight! Pop that into the gun and suddenly its a little more substantial!
Finish
The finish applied to the gun is, how to describe? Well, certainly not a typical gun finish, but again an applied paint, slightly metalic in a sort of dark grey tone, its ok, and more or less well applied, but for purists its just a paint and not correct (I'm a purist!) The magazine is also painted and has a slightly darker tone to it! but, like I said, its pretty much well applied looks good and 'does the job'.
Detailing
As mentioned, about 90% of this gun is metal! The only plastic parts being the grips and the trigger mech. housing (both of which we'll look at later). I was pretty impressed with the level of work! Unfortunately on this model there are no trademarks, I believe there is a 'collectors edition' which has all the tades etc, but costs a lot more.
Like its real steel counterpart this gun has a fire selector switch, in the 'real' gun this switch would have allowed the operator to switch between semi and full auto fire, indicated by the 'N' and 'R'. On this model the switch is set to 'N' and is fixed in place, the switch 'can' be moved to the 'R' posistion when the screw on the opposite side is loosened, but, I dont believe this has any effect on the gun, certainly doesnt put it into full auto anyway darn!
This is a real mans gun!!
Look at those hard corners and subtle curves, pure steel in its natural machined glory! None of your fancy pants polymers, lightening cuts or fancy bling blings, ohhhhh no! This gun is hard, solid, rough, ready, butt ugly and robust! 
The site is graduated from 50 to 1000 yards, and is well cast and clear. The slider is easy to operate by means of a push button which allows it to slide up and down the ramp and confidently click into a desired distance notch.
The front sight is a little hard to line up with the rear sight, mainly because the front sight is very 'thick', and not a thin blade type front sight, but its ok, does the job.0
Comments
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The couple of reviews that I did manage to find hadnt many nice things to say of the grips, so, naturally I was expecting really horrible, cheap tacky grips, but no! I was pleasently surprised, the grips are actually pretty nice and pretty realistic too! They're pretty strong, have a nice tone to them, have ribs on the rear to strenghten them and do look the part. I'm happy with them for now. The grips are secured by a single screw, and now some useless knowledge for you, the real C96's only had one screw in the entire gun, that being the grip screw! The internals, trig mech etc were all held together via clips and tensioned springs!
The only plastic parts on this gun are the ones above, outlined in red. They are pretty visable, and it is a pity that they are of plastic, but I can live with it.
The gun also comes with a little lanyard suspension ring, the few reviews I had seen had slated this ring and had it removed, so, again, I was expecting a cheap key ring loop, but, again I was surprised. Its grand, its a good quality ring with bevelled corners, and is historically correct, so, its staying!
As mentioned, the magazine is the weight in this gun, and thus makes it very front heavy! The mag holds 30 BB's in a staggered formation. Loading the BB's in is a pain in the ass!! Seriously, you have to pull the follower down with one have and pour the bb's through a small hole with the other, all the while making sure that the dont fall out through a hole on the opposite side of the one through which you are filling and not allowing any to pop out when done filling! I've dropped so many BB's whilst trying to fill the mags, but you get used to it.......eventually.
The magazine clicks confidnetally into the gun and the hold is solid, releasing the mag is done by pressing the button on the right side of the gun, at which the mag, due to its weight falls out nicely. There is, however, a little play in the mag, it does wobble a bit, its not much, but it is noticable.
The hop up is adjusted via the hex key grub screw as shown in the pictures above.
The Action
As this gun is a NBB (Non BlowBack) its a little tame as regards the action, for those who like the realistic feel of being able to work the bolt/slide etc etc of other airsoft guns, well this gun may be dissapointing. The bolt doesn not move, although it is a seperate part it is fixed in place.
The only parts you can play with are the safety and the hammer, and if you are really bored you can take out the magazine and put it back in.
The safety works nicely, has a good confident click when put into the 'S' safe and 'F' fire posistions, and is easily reached with the thumb.
When in safe the gun cannot be fired (obviously), nor can the hammer be cocked. The safely cannot be applied when the hammer is cocked :rolleyes: odd.
The gun can be fired in two way:
1. The hammer can be manually cocked and the trigger pulled, this reduces the trigger pull.
2. Not manually cocking the gun, but pulling the trigger. The gun is double action, meaning that by pulling the trigger with the hammer uncocked, you can cock the hammer and realease it to fire off a bb, but this makes the trigger pull very heavy, but not too heavy that you wouldnt get used to it, or prevent you from rapid fire.
The Gun cocked and ready to fire.
Cocking the gun manually on each shot isnt the easiest thing to do, its quite a stretch of the thumb to reach the hammer, unless you cock it with your other hand.
When the gun is cocked it behaves a little weird. In its normal 'fired' posistion the 'firing pin' can be seen protruding through the back of the bolt with the hammer resting on it! On the real steel the firing pin would not be protruding until the gun was cocked and ready to fire, in which case the hammer would strike it to fire the round. But in this gun, when the pull the trigger, the hammer cocks and the firing pin dissapears, looks a little strange, but it is serving a purpose, see below:
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Firing
Not sure about the FPS of this gun, I believe with the 134a its around the 290/300fps mark, but I'm not sure. Its ok, being that its a NBB you have no slides kicking back, in fact, there isnt much to watch, its pretty similar to a revolver, just pull the trigger and see the hammer go back and forth. The firing is pretty silent, almost sounds like a gun with a silencer fitted. Also, because its an NBB there is greater gas economy, as all it needs do is fire the BB's, not kick back a slide etc.
Havent done many accuracy targets, nor played with the hop up, but from what I can see its pretty accurate out to 12-15m. There is the odd occasion however, for some reason, whereby a shot or two will just roll out of the barrell without hardly any power behind it, the next shot being grand again, which is weird.
I'll post up a few targets when I get around to doing a proper target shoot. In the mean time, enjoy a few glamour shots!
Cleaning/Maintenance
The gun 'does' come apart for cleaning and maintenance but, but for those of you who enjoy the realism and ease of being able to strip down your airsoft guns for cleaning you may be dissapointed, I DO NOT recommend that you do it unless there is something seriously wrong with the gun!!! For the adventurous (or stupid) out there the gun can be stripped by removing magazine and the screw for the fire selector, then cocking the hammer and giving the top slide a good push to the rear. The top slide will move, bringing with it the trigger mechanism. Remember what I said earlier about there being only one screw in the real C96's, that the trig mech was held together by tension? Well, you'll find this out the hard way when you strip this gun! Be prepared for flying springs, metal arms and other parts shooting out at you! Unless you have nerves of steel and hour or so to spare and a third arm then do not attempt to delve into the dark underworld of this gun! I'm not even going to attempt to take it apart to show pictures of the internals!! Not a chance!!! :pac:
Pro's
Great model of an historic firearm!
Nice detailing
Nice weight
More or less 'full metal'
Con's
NBB
Magazine is a pain to load!
Can be a little front heavy
Not very 'cleaning/maintenance' friendly!
Overall, pretty pleased with this gun. Its nicely made, great piece to look at and toy with and excellent for a display. I'll probably do some aging on it eventually and make her look a few years older and 'might' get or make some wood grips.0 -
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Just a few teaser pics of this funky little gun :P. I dont like fresh shiney paint and guns that look new, I want 'em to look like they've 'been there, dont that', as well as being able to be displayed as part of a militaria collection and look convincing.
Just a few pics below from the past few days. Nice shiney silver first, all that horrid grey removed!. New set of walnut grips supplied by me and a few trademarks applied (they aint easy to do!).
And finally, a rather bad teaser pic :P of how she's looking now! Still parts need aging, such as the fire selector switch, trigger, hammer and safety, but she's looking well I think! I'm happy anyway. Have a shorter mag ordered to replace the longer one.
More to come soon :pac:0 -
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Cheers topper
I was experimenting with it, paint just wasnt sticking to the metal at all! Even when cleaned properly and primer applied etc, it'd still just scrape off. So I found a bottle of printer ink (black) and started messing around with that to see what the outcome would be.
I tried heating the metal first and brushing on the ink, but that wasnt doing much, then I tried applying the ink cold, let it set for a while, then heated the parts with a heat gun to really try get that ink to stick. When it was dry enough I rubbed it down with 0000 wire wool to highlight the raised area's, add aging etc. Then fixed it with a few layers of clear laquer. I think it may need another few coatings of laquer to adequately fix it.
I wish there was just some simple way of 'staining' metal! :rolleyes:, some solution or ink that you could just dip the parts in and hey presto! you have black or blue parts. But then I guess the type of metal used in these guns doesnt help either.0 -
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