Magpul PDR-C review
 

This is an in progress review by my brother Noveske as I know many members are not on arniesairsoft forum so here we go.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps96bbc839.jpg

Box set comes with:

1 x PDR-C
1 x PMAG 20 with dust cover
1 x Dummy Round
1 x Instruction Manual
1 x Warranty Card
2 x Packs of Silica Gel (BONUS!)

To be honest I was a little disappointed that the package contents. For the price, I would have expected at least a pair of MBUS.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps002f2ea2.jpg

Front Flashider comes off and is 14mm CCW (-) As mentioned by Noveske in a post

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...pscda55b4d.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps0725d3ba.jpg

Size Difference compared to the KWA Kriss Vector

http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...72011957_n.jpg

Upper disassembly, 10.5" barrel tucked away:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psfe3e4b59.jpg

Proprietary Gearbox:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps49f646d9.jpg

Dial Style Hop Up Chamber:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psfcd7f5b0.jpg

Short Motor and Quick Change Spring Hatch

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psf94702d5.jpg

Battery goes into the grip will only take the short 4" Lipos (for the record, the PDR-C comes standard with a mini Tamiya plug, but I changed mine to a Dean's):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps3d64be79.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps90b42346.jpg

Magwell. Mag-catch is metal:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps28c4235d.jpg

Removing the cheekrest reveals the hop-up adjustment knob:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psd80b66f3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psf2ccdeba.jpg

Shoots about 330FPS out of the box (1.25J with 0.25g):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps3698e1f3.jpg

Overall, I'm really not that impressed. Polymer is well made as expected from PTS, however, fake weapon features (ambi charging handles, ambi ejection port) do not function or have any purpose. Balance is rear heavy (as a bullpup should be). The only sling attachment is the hole behind the magwell (not a QD) which is also polymer (not sure if it's reinforced inside). Gun seems too simple? Or is it just me? I guess it's the design of the PDR-C but I like my guns with more detail.

On that note, I wish the cheekrest was actually adjustable. Seems they designed it to perhaps have optional cheekrest pieces at different heights they may or may not release in the future. But an adjustable one would've seemed more intuitive (like their ACR stock).

A note on ergonomics: I've noticed the pistol grip is very short (even for my small Asian hands) and holding the PDR-C with one hand can get quite uncomfortable as my wrist keeps pressing into the rear bracestrap. I believe for most people, you'll only be able to wrap your middle and ring finger around the grip while leaving your pinky to fend for itself.

Also, the mag-release is very stiff. May take some time to loosen up.

ALSO PTS POLYMER FAIL!!

Turns out one of the retaining tabs that hold the upper and lower receiver together snapped off before I even opened the box. I noticed that there was only 1 retaining tab and thought i had broke it perhaps when opening it (which didn't make any sense to me), but upon closer inexpection, i noticed that the break was clean (which is odd since I thought PTS polymer would be much more ductile and less brittle). Furthermore, I found the broken piece floating around in the box. VERY VERY disappointed.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps8a372dc0.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps2ede16a8.jpg

Insides:

Here is the fake charging handle/bolt mechanism. The handles can be removed with the two small switches on each side: Bolt is really not a bolt, but more of a bracket:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps989e0041.jpg

Hop-up Mechnism:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps0d1ec790.jpg

Front trigger/mag-catch mechanism. The trigger/mag-catch are controlled by 2 rods on each side of the PDR. Left side is connected to the selector plate/firing mechanism, right rod controls the mag-catch which is located on the left side of the gear-box but mechanically operated from the right:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psd4c6a091.jpg

Mag-catch mechanism (right side):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps5ac80f19.jpg

Here is the PDR proprietary bearing gearbox. Note that there is a bb feed tube built into the gearbox:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps95eb33b6.jpg

Right Side

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps10a386fe.jpg

Left-side. The selector plate moves half length on a semi-fire pull and full length on a full auto-pull:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps16ff5872.jpg

One really nifty feature on this gearbox is the spring release button. This is accessible even when the gun is assembled on the bottom of the gun near the magwell:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psa85e7212.jpg

Inside the Gearbox

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps49edada8.jpg

Gears stacked vertically

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps56bda3ef.jpg

Piston

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps37430ac4.jpg

Spring

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps3b95fa58.jpg

Micro Switch Trigger

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...psfd3ba5a5.jpg

BB Feed Tube

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps16ab3c33.jpg

Pros:
-Neat/innovative/compact design by Magpul (ie "cool" factor)
-Ambidextrous mag-release controls
-Uses standard Stanaz mags or equivalent
-Easily accessible hop up adjustment
-Quick-change spring design on gearbox
-Spring release mechanism
-Gearbox internal parts standard/replaceable.
-8mm Bearings on gearbox

Cons/Could have done better:
-Short pistol grip / limited room for battery
-Non-adjustable cheek rest
-Long trigger travel
-Heavy, proprietary gearbox which makes the entire gun very rear heavy.
-Proprietary hop-up nub
-Selector plate design not reliable and can slip easily
-Very stiff mag-release
-Unintuitive sling mount
-Thin polymer tabs for upper/lower retention. Should've had thicker tabs or metal tabs molded into the polymer.

Thank you!

Thanks for sharing.

It is very personal taste - I think they are really very ugly. But congratulations to you !

I'll agree that they aren't very pretty, but they do look extremely functional.

Ill be keeping an eye on this thread, thanks for posting!

Hmm might have to pick up one of these. But its an ares so I don't know good its gonna be in the long run. The fact you cant find replacement parts is gonna be a hassle. Also no side rails meaning no flashlights or side attachments. I know it has that hole in the front designed for a light to be intgrated into the body but can't seem to find that flashlight anywhere.

There WAS supposed to be a flash light mount on the Real steal, but since that was scrapped and its only an airsoft gun I think its going to be a while until we see a company make a light for it.

the feed tube for the BBs must be long as fuck. what are we talknig about here? 10 BBs in there alone?

when i see the PDR open like that, i swear i can hear it cry out "GBBR!"

I look forward to more of this review. Ive had my eye on this gun. It will be nice to see how it holds up in game and if it can run outdoor.

It has a quick change spring? man i gotta read more..

Its an ares gearbox all ares gearboxes have quick swing swap.

Is there room for a threaded barrel or adapter? Or will this be another gun when I gotta buy 60 dollar barrel to get threads? :)

the compensator/flash hider is threaded onto the barrel so it's safe to assume it'll be threaded.

Yes the barrel is threaded 14mm CCW

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...ps0725d3ba.jpg

I played a game with a PDR-C on Friday night.

Notes:

Incredibly light and small in my hands(I am about 190lb 6'2)
Trigger felt really nice, the feature for Auto and Semi based on tactile input is awesome but not sure how long the mechanism will hold up under regular abuse.
The particular gun I was using had an upgraded spring set(1.3 j) it shot very crisp and reliably fed both a regular M PMAG mid cap and a mini PMAG.

It had a 11.1 LiPo powering it, placed inside the pistol grip.

i want this gun now sooooo badly....

Ccw? Sweet. Acr is cw. Guessing I'd just need an extension.

I preordered one off ehobby. After discount I'm paying 345 shipped.

Updated

Thank you for taking the time to share this with us! Okay the gb shell is proprietary but what about the pieces inside? V2/V3 compatibility maybe?

It seems i'll stick with my tm p90 for the time being...

Thanks again,
Fong

Ouch!

5 or 6 BBs lost in the feed tube...I would'nt recommend using realcaps in that.

Not a big problem, you just put 36 bbs or whatever quantity is required to get 30 shots out of the M4 mag.

That feed tube is going to be a pain to clean since the gb has to be opened to do it properly...

I was interested until I saw that feed tube and the plastic tabs. Let's hope that the APS UAR is better... though considering APS is making it, my expectations are somewhat low.

Yes, with a mid cap or low cap. But I was considering changing to real cap mags. It's a big loss when you're using realcaps.

lol broken tab out of the box.. way to go Ares.
magpul PTS should have dropped Ares with all the issues they had with the ACR.. a real shame they left the PDR to Ares. this thing it going to be a nice wall hanger if anything.. really disappointed.

I reckon it's much heavier than it needs to be. There's a lot of wasted space in the gearbox.

Don't forget the price point for the PDR-C. Do you guys reckon it's worth it?

Not sure how or why you would want it lighter, it is already extremely lightweight. I guess it is possible, but from handling it it feels lighter than my secondary. Almost to the point where it feels too much like a toy a d not a gun.

As a side note, I found aiming it to be uncomfortable due to its small size and my large frame.

Hi Moss,

Since you love it, did you want to buy mine? LOL!

haha

Noveske, how much are you planning to sell your PDR-C?

MB1

You do know he's in Hong Kong right?

So. What lipo is working size for this thing? They say 100.18.18. But having a hard time finding that size

It's not a common size but you can find it. They say it can support 11.1V in stock form, but I have my doubts if the gearbox can handle the speed or if the microswitch won't burn out after a short period of time without a mosfet.

Yes but where can they be purchased?

Apparently I should clarify. I wasn't asking where to purchase the pdr. I want to find the proper batteries.

Thank you to everyone who pmd me retailers though.

You'd have to solve the trigger bouncing issue with the FET.

I don't know who OEMs this gun but the internals screams ARES! Use of Micoswitch trigger, quick change spring, the look of the gears, etc. The overall look of the gearbox reminds me of the Tavor gearbox, which is NOT a good thing IMO.

Cause it is an ARES.

http://www.popularairsoft.com/news/a...aeg-sneak-peek

The last sentence of this new news story implies that the PDR isn't made by Ares. I wonder who did.

yeah so they say.....but we all know the truth even if they deny it :P

The shell itself isn't ARES IIRC but the internals are definately ARES.

The only thing keeping this thing from being a replica is the fact that it was never made as a real firearm. 330fps isn't a concern, too bad the polymer doesn't seem to be any better than that. Thanks for the review.

I always see all these pictures of people using these 100x18x18 stick lipo's... but i can still see loads of space in the grip? it also looks like there's bucket loads of space to put the wiring and the deans in the receiver and/or front grip, so could anyone please tell me if you don't store and wire or connectors in the pistol grip could you fit a larger battery equivalent to a standard mini sized batt?

these are normally 100mm long and 15-19mm tall so this should be fine, but they are often about 34-36mm wide, this is the part im concerned about.

please could someone measure the max width of the batt space in the pistol grip? I'd really appreciate it as this is the main thing holding me back from getting one right now...

Dude… I'm so envious of you. The PDR-C is my favourite submachine gun but can't afford it lol :P I'm a fan of bullpup/unique looking weapons lol

PDR isn't a sub machine gun. It's a bullpup style assault rifle.

A sub machine gun uses pistol caliber round, as this uses 5.56mm assault rifle rounds.

That's also kinda not true for one this gun never made it into production atleast not yet so it ain't going to be firing anything and since its a magpul its probably going to be designed to be able to switch calibers.

Its also more of a PDW that so happens to fire 5.56 rounds.

Plus magpul only used the 5.56mm round cause they didn't want to create a proprietary round which most pdws use.

Being a PDW doesn't make a gun a submachine gun.


And the prototype fires 5.56 rounds.
Magpul PDR Wiki

I wasn't calling it a submachine gun hence why I called it a pdw...

Also being a pdw doesn't make it an assault rifle either.

being a Personal Defense Rifle kind of sort of does. a rifle capable of full auto fire is an assault rifle.

What about an personal-defense-assault-machine-gun-compact-rifle!!!!
They sell it a a PTS PDR-C so for me its a PDR-C ( Pre Discontinued Rifle )
Joking!
I like the look and I want one but I wait until more reviews, or just the good reviews or comments that gonna convince me.
For me,
the pros:
- very compact
- light
- M4/16 mags
- Quick change spring
- quick acces to everything
- the trigger action (semi/auto/safe)

the cons:
- The recessed flash hider
- The undetermined reliability of mechbox
- The price vs other product of higher quality
- More a bad than a good reputation for the moment

just got mine from milsig, didn't get to be main weapon, prob for night games as my m14ebr long is too hard to move around in the bush in the dark. as well as any cqb games. have to say rof isn't anything to write home about on a 7.4 lipo but decent for what i want the gun for. had to "tweak" my old mags to work but simple filing fixed that. love it for what it is, oh and far easier to aim than my tar21 or even my old p90(and no feed issues).

When it comes to space in the pistol grip, what is preventing you from cutting out a hole into the innards of the gun to fit a longer battery? What is preventing a custom-sized battery from a hobby shop being dropped in there? Seems like plenty of space for a LiPo to me.

That Ares micro-switch is all that has me worried really. Are there alternatives that could be used?

for those worried about the lost bb's from the feed tube i think if you dremell a notch in each side of the tube (on each side of the gear box) or the front and back of the tube (in relation to the rifle) you could put an oring around it that would retain the bb's in the tube like a madbull hop up

like so cut where the white lines are on both halves of the gb
http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/a...norm/gbmod.jpg

my 7.4 1600 lipo fits snug but a small 11.1 should fit fine too. there is supposed to be an extended battery cover coming out soon, allowing for larger battery and larger hands to comfortably grip the gun. i don't understand what the issue is with losing a couple bbs? just chrono'd mine at 395fps, rof 12 with 7.4

You could just hold it with your index finger along the lower reciever and use your middle finger for your trigger finger with the ring and pinky on the grip. For those who have played "Time Crysis" the old finger banging the trigger cuz your trigger finger got tired method.

This would be an instant sale for me if I could throw out the microswitch and have a large battery enough cavity somewhere for something like this, at least:

http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/s...alog/19123.jpg

So here's what I'm thinking...

The fake bolt has removable ambidextrous charging handles. Take one off, drill a couple of holes in the body and install a side rail. Install PEQ battery box and wire to there.

Doable? It certainly looks like it should be. I'll probably be ordering one soon.

Alright, my mistake lol I'm not interested in real firearms so I never really payed much attention to the difference but in retrospect PDR is a 'rifle' so that's my bad.

Anyway how does it perform? I'd like to replace my VA MP5A2 with something a little better, so I've been looking around for something that suits my tastes.

so finally got out for a couple short games, got to use the pdr for a round. love it. soo easy to aim, It is so intuitive that after a few rounds i wasn't even really sighting in my target, just aiming like i was pulling a pistol quickly! I did find it pretty loud, might have to open her up and adjust the motor. the recoil is surprisingly noticeable and makes me worry a little about reliability...

played a whole season with the pdr without issue. 11.1 made a big difference for the rof. and even with a small battery, it never died before the end of the day. as far as mag compatibility, you need to "tweak" some mags so they will work, see pic. but they still work in my other guns(tavor and m4). the feed tube is not an issue for me as we usually play hicap or midcap games out in the bush and i just fill the tube b4 putting in first mag. and if you own this gun realistically it's not your only weapon so for lowcap games switch. i love this gun, especially for games that i know are going to involve a lot of running or sneaking around corners or tight spaces.

So what if my PDR breaks
where and what parts can I get?

i'm in a love/hate relationship with my PDR.
things I like.
- size. it's so compact. (P90, eat your heart out)
- weight. it's not as light as I thought, and actually has a nice heft to it.
- handling. snap shooting is super easy, due it's center of gravity being just above the wrist.
- body. the polymer used for the body construction is really nice. (thought the body tabs are a bit thin and may break if lateral pressure is applied to them)

things I hate.
- gearbox. lets be honest here, it's an ares made box and so it comes with ares regular problems. (proprietary parts)
- trigger. two stage design is just stupid.
- battery. very little room for batteries.
- motor. it's weak as fuck, so even on a 7.4v lipo the gearbox over cycles (fires two shoots for each trigger pull.
- AEG. if there ever was a PTS line rifle that needed to be a GBBR, the PDR was it.
- hopup. it's so shitty. the dial is so easy to move, can't see it holding it's setting for long.

I can easily make this list twice as long.

current status of my PDR, completely striped. currently working designing GBBR internals for it.

Have to say I'm always worried about the gearbox too, mainly the proprietary parts issue. That being said, I played all last season without any problems. I happen to love the 2 stage trigger! No having to switch back and forth from semi to full to conserve ammo then unload on a surprise attack. Try an 11.1v lipo, brings up the rof dramatically. Never had any problems firing more than 1 shot with my 7.4v though, just practice with the trigger, remember it's a 2 stage. She does sound weak running on 7.4, so move up to an 11.1 and she sounds nice. The small battery hasn't posed a problem as I run all day on 1 battery, I'd say I've put 4000 rounds through without draining a battery, (always have a spare ready to go anyway). My hop is fine too, I set it once and haven't had to touch it since, 20ish game days...

seems like a lot of those issues can be fixed by:
slight hop chamber mods
ascu or raptor fet with a button switch that bypasses the two stage trigger
o-ring in the feed tube that prevents bbs falling out
new motor

anyway quite a bit of custom work lol

the double shooting started after swapping out the 430 fps spring in it for a 350 cqb spring.
that's right, 430 fps spring. though it was shooting about 370.. so massive airleak that I had to fix. modified a ptw hopup/barrel and made a new outer barrel for it, and got a huge fps boost.
had the gun wired to a raptor fet (had to be creative to get it to with with the lame two stage trigger), but the fet ended up breaking..
with the fet, there was no double shots, but the motor would heat up quite fast due to the active breaking working overtime to prevent over spin.

since my style of play is mainly cqb where full auto is prohibited( I prefer semi auto anyways), the two stage trigger is more of a pain, especially with the over cycling. I let the support gunners in my squad take care of full auto fire.

since it currently can't reliably shoot in semi, I decided to gut it and attempt to make it into a gas gun.

oh, and Ares, you cheap bastards, why was the detent for the ejection paddle not put in? can someone check their pdr's paddle for the detent? the frame for the paddle has two slots that line up with a hole just behind the screw that fastens the paddle to the button. I put a steel bearing, spring and a set screw into that hole. now the paddle clicks into position.

You could potentially make a trigger stop to prevent unwanted full auto though, right?
And what motor did you have in it?

You could use a burst fire mosfet unit to restrict or eliminate full auto no? My pdr is about 415fps out of the box. I play outdoors so never had reason to lower it.

it would double fire on semi with the stock motor as well as the titan A1 I tested in it.
doesn't matter now anyways, as I m hell bent on making it a working gas gun.
going to look at making it compatible with both WA and WE mags with a swap of the bolt.