review request: Tokyo marui M4 sopmod

Southern Dandy

Hi all, looking for peoples opinions on the above said sopmod, mainly stick to gbbr's so i wana know if the ebb are as satisfying to fire. The sopmod grabbed my attension but if anyone has a better suggestion then tell me.

Cheers

tudenham10

I have a SOPMOD for a while now and it's easily the best AEG in my ever dwindling collection but if you're buying it for the "kick" from the recoil system then I'd stick to the GBBrs. There is a slight kick in the butt stock but nothing really that noticeable.

However in every other respect it's a lot less hassle than the GBBr (having owned 2 Gbb rifles). The hopup unit is easily one of the most stable and effective I've come across. It does really prefer .25's but that's no big deal. The 30/82 rd mags are a bit pricey but less so than most high quality mags for a gbb and you've always the mag pipe adaptor option if you don't want to go down that route but you will lost the bolt release mode when you reload. (Another cool feature imo)

The only other consideration for you should be the batteries, the 8.4v standard proprietary batteries can be a bit light so if I was to buy another one of this type of aeg, I'd look at the M4 Socom (wired to the front, takes regular batteries) or the new Marui Scar L which is essentially the same system but it takes regular batteries and has a cycling bolt on every shot, which would bring you back towards the GBBr option.

Southern Dandy

tudenham10 wrote: »

I have a SOPMOD for a while now and it's easily the best AEG in my ever dwindling collection but if you're buying it for the "kick" from the recoil system then I'd stick to the GBBrs. There is a slight kick in the butt stock but nothing really that noticeable.

However in every other respect it's a lot less hassle than the GBBr (having owned 2 Gbb rifles). The hopup unit is easily one of the most stable and effective I've come across. It does really prefer .25's but that's no big deal. The 30/82 rd mags are a bit pricey but less so than most high quality mags for a gbb and you've always the mag pipe adaptor option if you don't want to go down that route but you will lost the bolt release mode when you reload. (Another cool feature imo)

The only other consideration for you should be the batteries, the 8.4v standard proprietary batteries can be a bit light so if I was to buy another one of this type of aeg, I'd look at the M4 Socom (wired to the front, takes regular batteries) or the new Marui Scar L which is essentially the same system but it takes regular batteries and has a cycling bolt on every shot, which would bring you back towards the GBBr option.

What about upgrades for it, heard it fires 280 fps stock so naturally i wana bump that up to 328fps or there abouts. Is there a hardkick upgrade for it? if they even exist with ebb.

tudenham10

Yeah they're setup for 280 as standard but I wouldn't go mad on upgrades for it as it really doesn't need too many.

I have an M90 spring in mine along with a Tanio Kobe twist barrel and a guarder clear rubber and it's firing at bang on 1J when I use .25's. I have read about an upgraded "hard kick" set on Arnies but it doesn't look like it's making it to market any time soon, probably for very good reason!:)

There has been plenty of opinions offered on this forum and I'm sure on many other about Marui and their standard setups but in my own opinion as an owner of a few maruis, the standard gear sets, nylon bushings, piston and piston heads all work just fine (Hope I'm not putting the mockers on it now!) but if you want a well informed guide on them you might take a look at http://eagle6.co.uk/beta/2010/09/15/the-definaitive-tm-sopmod-m4-upgrade-guide/

Bear in mind that this chap (RichardY on arnies) upgrades and repairs SOPMODS as a sideline, so he should know what he's on about but I'd keep it simple.

Horse84

+1 to all of what tudenham has said above. Easily the best aeg i ever bought. I got it right when it came out first and was just blown away by it's performance out of the box. It was just that consistent all the time, i never felt the need to upgrade it at all, if it ain't broke don't fix it i say.

If you've done your research, and it's worth it imho, before splashing out on something this expensive, then you might have come across the sopmod's weakness. The threads on the stock tube have a tendency to strip themselves from the blow back (light enough that it is). It started happening mine and i just rethreaded it each time, which in itself can be avery awkward job as the battery wires run along the stock tube to battery in the rear. I didn't realise however that the more i did this i was damging the matching threads on the lower receiver, so much so that it could not be put back on after awhile.
Mine has been like that for a good while, and spare TM parts are nigh impossible and extremely expensive to get. I'm hoping that with the release of clone ebb aegs that spares and cheaper aftermarket parts become more available.

if i had my way again i'd prob opt for the socom version, http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/aeg/tokyo-mauri-japan/tokyo-marui-m4a1-socom-carbine-airsoft-blow-back-aeg.html which is the exact same aeg, slightly less expensive and it's front wired with less weight and consequently less stress going to the stock and will not prob have those same issues as the sopmod version.:)