Marushin
M1910 Secret Agent Man by Wege
Contents:
1x SAM manual (generic for series, not specific for the M1910)
BBs
Silencer non-assembled nor functional
Target
Aquired via Twitch from a random post in arnies. Price worked out at
67$NZ including shipping, which is excellent.
Introduction.
This is the Marushin M1910 (with silencer), in case you were un-aware
of
what this review is about. It is modeled on the FN-Browning M1910
that fires 9x17mm (.380 ACP) ammunition. This pistol has the notoriety
of being the handgun that was used in the assasination of the
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in Sarajevo, which led to the start of World
War 1. This, however, may not be the reason for Marushin to have
made the M1910, but rather something far more innocent...
TRANSFORMERS! Apparently in 1988 there was a Decepticon called
Browning... based on the M1910! Apparently... Take this
with a grain of salt though, as some of the information I have read
seems to be contradictory.
In Brief
(for those who do not want to read a lot of boring words)
Good
points
Pimpy
Uncommon/rare
Gas
efficient
Quiet (with
silencer)
Reasonable Accuracy
Has
hop!
Low
price.
Can be used legtimately in re-enactments (WWI and WWII)
Bad points
Small (for my hand)
Shiny- not really for tactical situations
Silencer is non-functional (until modded)
Low Power for a NBB (but hey! its older than a fair few
airsofters!)
Finish seems to attract some sort of ‘bleamish’
Grip safety does not work, it is merely molded.
Kentucky Sights - give me post and notch ala the M1908.
Initial
impressions.
Well, my first experiance was via Twitch's photography, which makes
this appear to be rather pretty piece, and impressive looking. As you
can see from the photographs. (you can see more pics, and a review on
the KSC
Cz75 here)
It arrived and I was suprised at how small this M1910 is.
I was mentally expecting it to be a bit closer to the
M1911A1 in size, which is a bit of an annoyance. Take note of the
pictures with the size comparisons above. Even the KSC Glock 26 stands
'taller'.
Of course, the first thing you do(when getting a new gas pistol)
is get out the gas, load up and let rip. I was using initially HFC134a,
and probably (on the whole ) will use it too, but for recent times, I
have been using ET1000.
A visual
impression
A few missing markings, such as the information on the left frame-side
and slide. (Proof marks). (See above pictures). Owing to
difference
of manufacturing over the years, with changes of markings, I have no
idea on what year/model M1910 this replica is based on, as I have seen
images with different markings in different areas of the slide and
frame as well. I have also handled an M1910 with more proof marks
on the chamber cover too.
-The grip safety is non-existent, and is merely a piece of molded
plastic.
-The sights are Kentucky style (image of the sights) and have a weird
shape at the far end. It can be annoying to sight in on targets, but
you do get a bit used to them. However, it is hard for rapid the
acquisition of your target, and its even worse when you have to
re-acquire after the initial shot. Made even worse with the
silencer attached, as you have no clear sight picture.
Thankfully, this being airsoft, there is no great issue for this.
The sights on the real gun are the same, but are marginally clearer. I
wish that Browning had used the sights from the M1903 – think a
slightly smaller sight image/sights of the M1911.
-There is a hopup! The adjusting hole is located on the top of
the slide.
-The body is in two pieces, with the mold-line making the M1910 a
couple of vertical moldings.
-The silencer is made from shiny plastic, which looks ghastly.
Also has a molded seam line running across it, so I will have to
carefully sand those away, and then finish the entire thing again in a
flat black paint.
-There is no magazine catch present, as the is merely held in by a
spring and friction. Once again, Marushin has done a nice job on
the ‘impression’ of a magazine catch, but unfortunately, owing to where
the internal gas reservoir is filled from, the catch cannot be made to
work, as it would block the valve entrance. Of course, this would
not be an issue if this M1910 were to have it's gas and bbs carried in
an insertable magazine.
-10 BB rounds are carried in the stick magazine, and can be whatever
weight you prefer, as there is an adjustable hopup. Ejecting the
magazine without using all 10 rounds, will cause the unused ones to go
free, as the spring of the stick magazine will cause them to be ejected
from their enclosure.
How does
it fire? - Pop!
This thing in my opinion, is even harder to fire accurately than the
KJW mk1 NBB. reason? even though the trigger pull (double action only,
btw) is lighter (maybe not by much) than the KJW Mk1, it is a smaller
frame, and does not allow one (me at he least) the ability to pull the
trigger naturally. The trigger action on this is far stiffer than a
real M1910. Accuracy we will come to in a bit, but on ET1000 gas
at about 23deg c (a bit of a guess) the M1910 fires about 240fps. Not
much, but better than expected. Similar though, to the USP Compact from
KSC :O Now to try the silencer.. Crap..
“Silence
in Class”
The silencer came un-assembled and the pictures that you see from
Twitch are taken with the silencer held together with some
blu-tac. The silencer is made of 3 components: Shell, Muzzle
connecter, Inner barrel.
With silencer connected, it does change the sound of the
‘report’ a
bit. I was not happy with the sound, however, so I worked on making it
quieter.
Firstly I drilled various holes in the inner tube to try to capture the
expanding gas and the sound from the muzzle. With 134a it is ok,
but the sound changes are more noticeable when using ET1000 without
silencer and with silencer, so for the (sound) checks I used
ET1000. I
drilled yet more holes and it was gradually a bit quieter. I had the
brainstorm to actually put some material into the space between barrel
and shell, so then tried some teflon scrubber stuff which actually did make
a difference. Then someone from this
thread, suggested using
foam. (Also take note of how to hijack a thread
;) ). Stupid of me eh? Righto, a
quick trip to a shop later, and I have some foam. (Less than $2).
Some work with
a soldering iron (to create a hole in the foam, silly ) later and
voila! – The silencer does a far better job now than it was brand
new. A test that I did recently was firing past another
person who was testing his hand gun. He was facing away from me,
and I was shooting past his head. He never even realised that I
was shooting past him. (He was wearing safety glasses, just incase you
are thinking 'you retard!'). Another test (this time inside) was done
with me being the target at about 15m. Boy, I could barely hear
it myself, and this would be far far lower once out in the bush.
And now, considering the price that
I payed for
the M1910, is it any good at shooting?
Accuracy.
Fair to middling actually. Not great, but not bad either. An
interesting thing to see though was that the silencer improved the
accuracy of it. I did have some pictures ready for scanning, but
in the end, out to 15m distance, don't even bother. Go for less
than 10m and you will hit someone (mostly) in the chest (if aiming
at). Less than 5m, and you can definately get into the chest area
with a good chance that they will not hear you either.
Power
Not bad. Here is the data:
237,233,246,247,249,241,233,240
with an average of 240.75 fps at about (estimated) 25deg with ET1000
gas. Considering this is an older design (1988?) and it is 'brand
new' I am quite impressed with it. This M1910 is older than a lot
of airsofters in case you didn't quite catch that. Probably bring
a tear to Antagon's eye. ;)
Update 14/05/05 - I tested
this again, using ET1000, and it fired an average of 263fps. My
only guess is that the reading was so high, was because I had been
holding it in my (nomex gloved) hand for so long. Still, I'm not
complaining.
The End
Well, barring that annoying massive line running the entire
length of the body, and it being too small (really) for my hand for
proper action, this thing is great as a small concealable silencer
airsoft gun. It can be used for themes (such as "secret agent man" )
and can even be legitimately used for a WW1 or WW2 kit if someone were
so enclined (Please, officers only, there's a good chap, what?) . It
has reasonable power, can be silenced well (with some effort) but I do
not think quite as well as the TM Mk23 NBB (although I do admit to not
having one here for a side-by-side relative test). The 'chrome'
or INOX appearance in these images is a bit (ok, a lot ) deceiving, as
there are various marks that do appear on the frame and slide... kinda
like water splotches, but... weird. It would have been far better
for me to have gotten the fully black version, so as I could then
re-colour as required. This INOX-life finish is going to be a
devil - the first scratch, and it will be toast! That will not
prevent me from using it at skirmishs though, as I feel this is
supposed to be used.
I am pleased with my purchase, and look forward to actually using it on
someone. <evil grin>
Update 14/05/05 - Not really
skirmised per se, but used on people walking back to base at the end of
a game. I did aimed firing at chests and some people had no idea on
where the shot had come from. Woot. Distances were 5m to 15m. :)
Mucho thanks to Twitch, once
again, as the 'professional' looking shots of the M1910 with the
clarity that they are, are his, prior to him posting the M1910 to
me. It really shames my crappy little Minolta Dimage 2300, which
has been universally panned in all sorts of reviews.
More
information and sources:
http://world.guns.ru/handguns/hg95-e.htm
Some information about the
M1910
http://www.loni.hr/browning/brow1922/brow1922.htm
Information on
the M1910, 1x pic used from there.
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~kurogane/page030.html Transformers.
http://www.trypticon.nl/page4a88.html
Transformers.
http://megatronofcybertron2.homestead.com/browningcollection.htm
Yeah.. I know.. enough of the bloody transformers already :)
www.wgcshop.com - For the images of the
Gases. Also some good sales too.
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