Magpul PTS Masada ACR review
 

I found this review on acme airsoft.

http://www.acmeairsoft.com/showthread.php?p=95361


:D

nice

u getting one ? =]

YUP!!! :D What about yourself?

Oh hell yes, I'm getting one, mmuuhhhaaaaa
(just need to sell something off! or Loan)
:rolleyes:

Where to get?
 

Apart from possibly Pacific Mall, where can I get this ACR in the GTA?

Inb4 rage for underaged MW2 fanboy wanting a ACR.

would be nice to know when Canadian retailers will have these in.

Reviews on Arnies shows many flaws.

yea i found out about it a long time ago.

And most of them were there on the first A&K versions... for such a price it's kind of a scam...

I still love my A&K with my short & long barrel.

And the RAS handguard coming out (finally) for the A&K... Hell yeah, I'm keeping mine!

off the classifieds when your 18 and age verified

Yes, I am waiting for it.

Should be in soon. How do you like yours?

Received the first shipment. Those guns are top notch. The build quality is really impressive. Nice work Magpul.

We're not living in the UK. And it's not worth dealing with the CSBA agents directly. Better to buy from retailers.

Tada....Canadian Retailers (or at least one) has them. I just bought one from Imperial Airsoft in Calgary and although I have only had it two days, here is what I can tell you...

Rifle is EXTREMELY well built, no wobble, rattles or other annoying noises.
It is wicked light.
It's got some serious accuracy.
Hop up adjustment is a breeze.
Chrono'd at the shop when I bought it and it shot a surprising 420 fps.
Trigger response is like buttah...so smooth
Magpul spared no expense on this bad boy.

I haven't gamed it yet but I must say...I am in love with this weapon. It's build quality, materials, performance are what every AEG should be like. Only complaint from me is the price. You will have to part with some substantial cash to own this rifle....but it is WORTH EVERY PENNY.

Was this the Magpul PTS version or the A&K version?

Swampslayer i think its the pts version as the reviews states that it is stamped with logos

Have they mentioned anything about releasing spare parts for what is proprietary to the gun itself? It'd suck if anything proprietary broke and won't be able to get a hold of it to fix it :(

PTS. You can tell by MBUS sights, flash hider and the gas...tube, regulator? You know, that part above the barrel :D

i had to modify my team mates PTS ACR and remove that shitastic switch assembly. it now has a normal (modified) V2 switch and trigger. im sure that horrible switch works fine on a stock setup with just a plain battery, but MOSFETs HATE! that switch.

i just could not get the damn thing to fire in full auto yet alone semi without it hiccuping. that switch does not take shock loads along its operational axis well at all. which is why it doesn't work well with a MOSFET.

with a normal setup, the switch arcs and sticks in the closed position when you pull the trigger. due to the low voltage of the trigger wires on MOSFETs, there is no arcing, so the switch gets bumped open when the piston slams forward cutting power to the motor, causing the hiccuping.

my team mate even bought new switches with stiffer internal springs to see if the stock switch just had a weak ass spring, turns out that even the strongest switch still could not keep the circuit closed during full auto. after replacing the switch with a normal V2 switch assembly, all issue concerning cycling went away. his ACR now runs on a MOSFET with 11.1v Lipos without any problems.

this was just one of many issues i had to fix on his ACR. there was a major issue with the gear box it self and its internals. the metal piston tooth on his stock piston was too long and scraped two nice deep groves along the full length of the cylinder. this not only completely screwed the airseal, but also FUBARed the piston head o-ring. the only reason why i even bothered to check the piston was due to the crap load of metal filings covering the gears.

that brings me to another problem. the stock gears were all oversize when compared to other brand name gears. so much so that the sector gear would wedge the piston against the top inside surface of the gearbox.. that was a fun day trying to unjam that..urg.. also the spur gear was warped..looked like an old vinyl record that was left inside a car parked all day under the sun on a 42*c summer day.

anything i could replace from that nightmare of a gearbox i did, some stuff had to be modified and or fabricated and now his ACR runs perfectly.

if i ever decide to get one for myself, i think it would be to make a GBBR.. as the first thing i would do is toss out that POS gearbox.

Stuff is slowly trickling in. You can see most of the bits and pieces if you search magpul on redwolf. So I'm sure by fall they'll have all the bits and pieces. Apparently the internals aren't too different, so you can just rely on what's out there.

The barrels were the big thing a lot of people were waiting for, and they've released the cqb and rifleman versions of those. Stocks are also easy to come by.

Out of the 5 masada I've modified their metal piston tooth were the correct length... The only one that damaged the cylinder as you have described was due to a loose piston head (they didn't loctite these things)

I'd also encountered the piston wedging effect. (reinforced pistons are no no)
A switch debouncer circuit was used to solve the MOSFET Hiccup.
Started machining new nozzles out of Delrin to get a closer seal.
1 of the CQB barrel had a thicker paint job that interfered with the barrel clamping mechanism which caused lose seating and an FPS loss of 80.

Mind sharing what else works and what doesn't work with the PTS ACR mechbox?

PS
Switch info if anyone cares search up google: VMS15-01N pdf

Maybe you could make some nozzles up and sell them on the forum here so we can get replacments.

Cheers

the piston head on this ACR was on nice and tight. when i swapped out the metal tooth with another one from another manufacturer, it no longer scrapped the cylinder. after putting in new gears, the piston wedging issue was mostly solved. Magpul should have never contracted Ares to make the gearbox. what Ares did with this gearbox is retarded, they should have designed it to be compatible with after market parts. a proprietary gearbox shell is fine as long as it lasts, but having all these internal parts that cant be replaced with off the shelf replacements, it's just stupid.

Still better than the A&K blunder that I had the unfortunate request to work on.

I got both my PTS Black and A-Tac masadas tuned perfectly on the dot now with:
Systema Energy - piston,head,cylinder, AK type magnum motor, hopup bucking trimmed and 120spring.
Other - APS selector chip, custom made o-ringed nozzle, Madbull 6.03 AK length.
438+-2fps between shots, less than 5 inch grouping at 100ft
PTS' stock gears are holding just fine.

I could if there is enough request n time on my hand.

mean while, here is a bit of file info for machinist out there. (Solidworks2011)
http://www.3quip.com/Mods/PTS%20Masada/

Hey Dynamo, can you post some pics of the modified v2 trigger switch?

Thanks for the info appreciate it.

No problems with my ACR so far. Shooting 445fps +/- 5 out of the box. Changed it to an S100 spring because 450 is to hot for my field, now getting 363fps +/- 5.

You can buy some of the propriety parts. I just got the hop up adjustor (B25) and nub today, after weeks of haggling with Magpul PTS they pointed me to the right direction :D

It's true they stop the masada PTS at Hk ? i have 2 friends who told me that... ;(

Wouldn't know, but I just got my PTS Masada and haven't had any problems about 360ish rounds in.

I sent a email at Ehobbyasia about that (was a bit surprise too), they told me that they did not and that magpul PTS have problem with production/too mutch demands ... might be a try from the canadian shops to raise prices ...

I just received my PTS today. So a quick comparison between the A&K and PTS versions.

The PTS version is lighter than the A&K and has a thinner pistol grip. Also the charging handle is in a more forward position. I personally think the A&K version has nicer trades as well as a nicer finish. Internally there is no comparison, the PTS blows the A&K away. But as the A&K has a 100% TM compatible gearbox and inner barrel it can easily be made a true competitor. The A&K's only true weak point is its proprietary hop up unit which is made of brittle clear plastic. And if it breaks you are pretty well fucked. A&K released a metal nozzle and hop up parts but you still need to use some of the stock parts and the machining is very poor making the metal hop up useless.

I recently picked up a new Magpul Masada PTS, out of the box accuracy was moderate, fps was consistently good but BBs hooked left and some right, put a Maddbull AK length Barrel (stock barrel a little short for a full length Cyl loss of some fps ) with Guarder hop rubber, now accuracy is good, not a tack driver but good, I found the hop adjustment rod has not enough adjustment to get full hop on ..025 BBs (this was with stock rubber and new one) I cut a small piece of the stock rubber laid it on top of the new hop rubber with a very thin layer of liquid tape (as to not effect the hop but keep it in place while assembling) it now will adjust a .025 BB but almost at its full adjustment, I would not be able to run say .028s! it also has barrel wobble, not a lot but the quick detachable barrel system is not rock solid when you twist the bbl in, I may use some Teflon tape to take up some thread tolerance but it doesn't seem to be effecting accuracy ..yet?.

I have used the gun in three games and dumped approx 4000rds with no inturnal issues, trigger issues, the gear box sounds fine, motor whines a bit even after adjustment, it shoots 390fps and I use a 9.6 Ak battery.

I feel the gun has some great features and built with good materials, its balance and feel are great, I am a little disappointed in the out of box usability though, for the price they are they should be ready to go, especially when you look at some other manufactures that sell guns for $150-$200 less and your accuracy and dependability are similar??

At this point though I like it very much, had to spend to much time tuning and extra money to get it there but oh well I have confidence in it now so we will see! next part to replace will be the motor as suggested by Kampfer.

Yea the AK batteries fit very nicely in the handguard. No movement nothing I keep both of mine in there during games, 1 for use 1 for backup.

A&K or Magpul?
 

Looking at picking one up, soo, which would be the better bet, A&K or Magpul?

I honestly like the A&K better. As it is almost 100% TM compatable you can build it into whatever you want.

Magpul one, I have heard many a bad thing about the A&K version.

Comparing the two based on price alone, the A&K wins. From what I've read the internals aren't really that different.. I'm a magpul whore normally so I'm leaning that way I'm just wondering if it's really worth it.

What about going with the PTS for the nice externals and replacing the mech box completely?

Are the PTS mags fitting well are they loose?

the gearbox of the PTS ACR is made by Ares.. i think that says it all.

I heard some good things about the gearbox, but having done a little more reading found that it's pretty ganky "( The A&K would be cheap enough to upgrade too, I already have an m4... A&K's looking better all the time

hmm PTS masada has a problem not sure what it is though. But I don't have a day off or time to look at it till Wednesday. I'll keep everybody up to date.

this should be good. can't wait wait to see whats up.

To clarify, is the hop-up the only proprietary part that can't be replaced by something TM compatible?

Nevermind fixed it, tappet plate was just too tight. I guess I thought 'Oh Noes my new super expensive masada just became a paper weight' and panicked. lol.

Yes.

a&k you can pick up a metal hop up chamber and air nozzle on ebay, there is a store there that custom makes them

on my team we have 4 of the A&K masadas and one pts one now. The a&k are blowing the pts one away mainly because we put proper upgrades in them right away. The gears stripped on the pts one already, but luckily our guy was able to get it fixed.

I dunno, just seemed a better idea to get the A&K ones and put the money saved into upgrades. Thats just my opinion though.

Are not the hop up on the A&K, G&P, PTS, and Cybergun all the same? I thought they where all part of the Barrel?

the A&K and PTS have different hop ups, they might both be part of the barrel but they are not interchangeable.

Most guns use a TM style hop up. The A&K Masada does not.

I found a metal hop-up kit for the A&K, that seems to be the only real issue on that one. Tappet plate, gears and a few other things on the PTS have issues apparently. I found a fairly critical review lastnight. I'll post it later when I get to my comp.

I purchased said hop up. It requires the use of some of the stock clear plastic parts. The machining is very poor and does not function. The stock hop up works better than the metal upgraded replacement.

Since you have seen both A&K and PTS side by side, does the A&K have a good external fit and finish compared to the PTS?

Yes it does.

PTS fit and finish is better, but the A&K's isn't bad by any stretch thats for sure.

If I get the PTS ACR, can the ARES mech box come out and another brand more TM compatible drop into its place?

or .... can all the proprietary parts in the ARES mech box be swapped out for TM compatible parts?

Proprietary means that they have a certain fit that isn't reproduced in a TM, therefore it cannot be replaced by anything other then (usually) a factory part.

So can I swap out the mech box completely?

Can you tell if the plastic is polymer or ABS?

As for the body the PTS has polymer and I think the A&k (and its clones) do to. I know that Cybergun has one with polymer (still wouldn't touch it) But if your going to A&K version. I'd recommend getting the G&P one they basically took the A&k one and added the reliablity of G&P parts.

Good luck finding the G&P version, they were hard to find while they were still in production.

I sure hope you're not referring to the gears.

Well yea G&P gears need alot of shimming, but I mean there better than A&K parts.

Occasionally a not so great company makes a gem, such as the Cyma Thompson or the Army R27. The A&K Masada is one of those gems, while it may have deficiencies so does the PTS version. And for the price you can basically get 2 A&K's for the price of one PTS. I really can say enough good things about the A&K Masada.

Looks like it's the A&K then ") thx all.

Looks like A&K is the best choice or the G&P version if you can find it.

Remington has made some really cool changes to the ACR.

- fixed retractable stock
- new rail system
- fluted barrel
- new charging handle
- new advanced ACR lower

i can also see a new brass deflector and trigger guard. Too bad an airsoft version of this will never be made :(

http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2...remington-acr/

I really like the looks of that. Maybe somebody will make a body kit?

Remington is actually going to submit that to the Army Improved Carbine competition

"It features a magnesium lower, with standard AR-15 grip and trigger guard, adjustable but non-foldable stock, carbine-length gas system, no quick change barrel (it has a new barrel nut), folding charging handle and new metal finishes. These changes help shave 1.8 lbs of weight from the gun."

what about doing it in pieces?

Lets not derail this thread.... It is not recommended that you import them on your own. Get Av'd.

good buy
 

So, overall, is the PTS a good buy overall if you cana get it used?

Its a pretty good buy. I've had mine for over a year. Love it. NO problems as long as you don't run a strong lipo like a 11.1 and use a 400+FPS spring. People have had their gearboxes crack because they were using a spring that was too strong.