Review: SThunder M203 shells, CO2 cores and Madbull CO2 adaptor

Bemused

Thought I would post my initial experience of testing these before use in a skirmish.

First off the SThunder shells are easy to reset by pushing the pin in to the point of clicking. A 3-4 second fill of propane seems to be sufficient. I filled them with about 80bbs and then sealed them not with the plastic red stopper but with a small square of packing tape that I put on the top and then twisted around the edge to form a good seal.

I found no difference between the red stoppers and the tape in terms of firing performance. I had a friend fire this at me from a EGLM angled at about 30 degrees and the bbs quite readily reached 60 feet (tape measured)although impact was quite light.

It is a bit tricky to replace the core with the CO2 version. The ball bearings easily fall out and it took a couple of attempts to get it together with the bearings in place. Once the base was screwed on all was fine though. The CO2 adaptor works like a charm and can achieve a maximum pressure of about 750psi. It's important to keep the adaptor as vertical as possible while filling to avoid loss of gas when filling. With the CO2 bbs were reaching out to 120 feet and impact was more noticible. You can fill 3 grenades with one cartridge leaving about 400psi for a fourth charge if you like.

Spread was significant in both cases, probably more so with propane but I will report back on this after lining up a few volunteers.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised and look forward to using them in a skirmish.

bullets

Did you buy these recently? SThunders seem to be out of stock on the few
places I've looked. (Will be looking for nades myself in the near future and want to balance
whats good vs price)


~B

Bemused

I got the grenades about 3 months ago when they were in stock for a limited time. I then managed to pick up the last two CO2 cores in stock. I'm hoping there will be more available soon.

NakedDex

Pro-tip from a 'nade-lobber. A smear of Vaseline in the holes for the bearings will hold the bearing in place if/when you need to remove the core again. I do it out of pure habit with all of my grenades, as well as smear around the threads. Keeps them from oxidising too.

Bemused

Thanks Dex,

And for the advice on CO2 grenades that led me to buy them. I know you have mostly used MadBull - did you ever try any of the SThunder equivalents? I would be interested to know how they compare.

I meant to note in my original post that I also noted a difference in results depending on how you pulled the trigger - a sharp pull (oo-er missus!) was definiately more effective than a,.....circumspect(?) one.

NakedDex

I've tried the S-Thunder grenades with green gas on a warm day. Results were, well... they left quite a bit to be desired when compared with an equivalent Madbull, but they were a damn sight easier to fill. I machined an adaptor to fit over my Madbull grenades to allow me to fill them with a speedloader, but there was still a serious convenience in the S-Thunder filling.
Their spread and general power was lacklustre at best. I found myself having to arc abnormally to get reasonable range, and it was often guesswork. Now this could also be just because I'm not used to them, but they didn't seem hugely consistent. Normally I can dial in effective ranges after a few shots, and I know the limitations of each Madbull I have, but the S-Thunders just didn't have it.

That said, I do want to try one with a CO2 core. I'm hoping that would make a big enough difference for me to warrant investing.