WE Hi-Capa 5.1 - 56k warning - large pics

[Crunchmeister]

I purchased this pistol in the ASC Classifieds and received it today, so it's time for another one of my first reviews

The gun comes comes in a rather non-descript cardboard box and includes the pistol, 1 magazine, and a manual. No other tools are included. It's a rather bare package compared to what you usually get with a new GBB - hop-up tools, loading tools, BBs, etc. For a budget price, you certainly get a bare package.

Removing the gun from its box, the weight was instantly apparent. This is a very heavy gun, weighing in at 1.1 kg. The main part of the lower frame is metal with an ABS plastic grip and trigger guard. The checkered grip plate is very comfortable, and doesn't feel as cheap as the grip plates on my WE Luger.




Finish across most of the gun is impeccable. The gun is devoid of any trademarks or markings. The only "marking' that came on the gun was the tiny "Made in Taiwan" sticker that peeled off nice and easy without leaving any adhesive residue. The 2-tone slide looks pretty sharp. The paint looks like it will be a lot more durable than the Luger's paint too. It was very apparent that the finish on the Luger would wear quickly, and it did. This paint looks like it can last for a while.

The only real cosmetic defect I can find is at the very end of the outer barrel and guide rod. As can be seen in the following picture, they didn't polish the metal at the tip of the barrel to a perfectly smooth finish. The metal is sort of pitted. Also, there's sort of a rough spot on the guide rod that can be clearly seen in the pic below. But other than those 2 cosmetic defects, the gun is cosmetically perfect.



In terms of construction, all the parts seem very well made from a visual and general inspection. However, there is some play between the slide and the frame. The fit could have been tighter and still allowed smooth motion of the slide. Shaking the gun side to side produces the rattling sound from the slide movement. None of my other GBB guns have this type of play in the slide, even my "cheap" KJW M9. I demonstrate this slide movement in the video at the end of this review.

The inner barrel seems to fit inside the outer barrel fairly snug with no more movement than my other pistols. The outer barrel has very inimum wiggle inside the slide when locked back, and next to none when in firing position.

The gun has a fixed blade front sight, and a rear sight that's fully adjustable for both windage and elevation. The sights were pretty bad out of the box, but it was a quick fix to get them lined up. I'm really liking this feature, as none of my other pistols have adjustable sights.

This gun is a beauty to handle and shoot. The action of the slide and parts is smooth, and the heavy metallic sound of the slide really gives the impression of a real pistol. I've never fired a Hi-Capa before. I like the Colt 1911 design, but always found the grip of the 1911 a bit thin and uncomfortable for me. This grip is the perfect size and is quite comfortable to hold and shoot. The gun is very powerful, and its sound makes it quite apparent. On all my other GBBs, the sound of the gun's action is usually louder than the report of the shot itself. Not with this gun. It has a really loud pop when fired. And by loud, I do mean relative to other GBB guns. And the kick on this thing is most impressive. It's listed on the box as the "hardkick" model, and it doesn't disappoint.

As demonstrated in the video, the gun is both quite powerful and accurate. In the first part of the video, I'm shooting at a target about 20 feet away. I empty the last 1/3 of the mag with some pretty quick firing, and still, I manage to get a grouping of about 2" with only 1 real stray shot. This gun is very accurate out of the box. Despite that, I've already ordered a Nineball 6.03mm tightbore inner barrel for it, which should drive up both accuracy and power.

In terms of power, this gun is quite impressive. I'm currently out of .2g BBs, so my test fire and chrony tests were done using BB Bastards .25g BBs. As can be seen in the video, the gun chronies pretty consistently in the 300-310 range, with a couple of shots out of that range. I don't know what that translates to with .2g BBs, but I think that's pretty good power, and is quite consistent to put the BBs close to the same spot with every shot.

The final point in this review I think is the one that's the best part about this gun - 100% Tokyo Marui compatibility. Any replacement of performance upgrade parts that fit a TM will work on this gun. Even TM mags work in this gun. WE mags are known to leak easily, so to Hell with them. Just order some TM mags from one of the Asian suppliers for about $25-30 a piece, and you're laughing. And since the TM Hi-Capa series seem to be one of the guns with the most available after-market performance parts, this makes this gun a good platform to build a hot-rod pistol. You start out with a solid metal frame (it's no CNC aluminum, but it's solid and heavyweight), a very heavy metal slide (that gives it a really hard kick), and excellent performance out of the box. Upgrading this with




PROS:

• Very heavyweight
• Beautiful look and feel
• Exceptionally good kick
• Excellent accuracy and crazy power for stock
• Price
• 100% TM COMPATIBILITY

CONS:

• Poorly finished tip on the outer barrel
• Rough spot on the tip of the guide rod that looks bad
• Fit of the slide and frame could be tighter

This is a beauty of a gun at a price that won't strain your wallet too badly. While it has its flaws (to be expected in a low-end gun), they're fairly minor in nature and seem to have little or no effect on the performance of the pistol itself. I would almost consider this thing as being the "Kraken" of GBBs, only better inital quality and useability. Although NOTHING needs to be done to this gun to have an instant ass-kicker, its TM compatibility makes it a perfect upgrade platform to build a high-speed, low-drag hot-rod pistol that you can get decked out for maximum performance and accuracy. And all this for just a bit more than the price of a stock, plastic TM mode. And since parts are so readily available, and broken parts can be replaced easily and fairly cheaply.

All in all, I would recommend this gun to anyone looking for a full-size Hi-Capa for a good price.

Here's a link to my YouTube video of the gun in action:

YouTube - WE Hi-Capa 5.1 Hardkick


EDIT:

Here's another good review I found of this gun. The review is of the original version of the WE Hi-Capa, whereas mine is the newer generation.

http://www.justpistols.co.uk/metal_hc.htm

[Ktown Militia]

Good review. Nice and thorough!

[Crunchmeister]

LOL At the 20-foot range, I don't usually use the glasses (even though I should) when I'm not shooting with my son. Can't stand those shitty glasses I have.

However, when I did the chrony test, I had moved my backstop (2' x 2' wooden box fabric loosely hanging at 45º) since at that range, the possibility of a nice rebound is quite possible.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by Crunchmeister

In terms of power, this gun is quite impressive. I'm currently out of .2g BBs, so my test fire and chrony tests were done using BB Bastards .25g BBs. As can be seen in the video, the gun chronies pretty consistently in the 300-310 range, with a couple of shots out of that range. I don't know what that translates to with .2g BBs, but I think that's pretty good power, and is quite consistent to put the BBs close to the same spot with every shot.

You can't really convert energy/FPS with gas guns. They perform much better, and impart more energy on a BB with heavier BB's. So good idea with using the .25's .

[mcguyver]

If you like this gun with the stock mag, get a CO2 mag. It's a whole different game then.

On a warm day, I've chrono'd the WE's on CO2 at over 400 fps, and they kick like a mule as well.

But, I'm not so sure that Marui mags will run that well with the heavy slide of the WE. I had one and the Marui just couldn't sustain a full mag worth of shots. The WE mags dump alot of gas, and suffer pretty good cool-down, just like other mags that use high-flow valves.

I've found in the past that the QC on finishing with the WE left something to be desired, but they used to be real cheap. My favorite one was the AE 5.1 Striker, but they don't make that one anymore.

[The Saint]

As far as I've seen, WE does not use hiflow valves. In fact, my experience with WE1911/2011 valve is that it's inferior to its TM1911/2011 counterpart.

[mcguyver]

Different mag though. WE guns dump alot of gas, and when you look at the internal volume of the mag compared to a KSC Glock for example, you are getting 2x + the number of shots with the KSC for about the same volume of gas stored.

With some WE's that exihibit cycling problems, they will dump enough gas to fire the BB, move the slide about 90% of it's cylcle (but not enough to catch on empty), and dump a shitload of gas all over your wrist (and leave it nice and greasy too).

[Crunchmeister]

Originally Posted by mcguyver

If you like this gun with the stock mag, get a CO2 mag. It's a whole different game then. On a warm day, I've chrono'd the WE's on CO2 at over 400 fps, and they kick like a mule as well.

...
I've found in the past that the QC on finishing with the WE left something to be desired, but they used to be real cheap. My favorite one was the AE 5.1 Striker, but they don't make that one anymore.

Yeah, I've considered the CO2 mag as well, but I'd prefer get away from CO2 just for the cost issue. I may eventually pick one up just for kicks though. Sounds like fun.

Other than the small cosmetic glitches I mentioned, the finish on this gun is quite nice. No real problems anywhere.

And I'd love to get that Striker 'meat tenderizer' front end for it. That looks pretty badass, I think. I have a Troy-style flash hider on my HK416 with the meat tenderizer end and I think it looks badass.

Originally Posted by Styrak

You can't really convert energy/FPS with gas guns. They perform much better, and impart more energy on a BB with heavier BB's. So good idea with using the .25's .

Yeah, I didn't try to do the energy conversion because of that. I'll just chrony the damn thing with .2s when I get some. I know the difference in weight isn't as great with gas guns as with AEGs, but still, I was impressed with the velocity.

I plan to use .30 in the field with my pistols, actually. I stocked up on a several bags of .25s for my AEGs, and a couple of .30s for the pistols. I'll have to try them out to see how they work out in this gun and how fast they chrony.

Originally Posted by mcguyver

Different mag though. WE guns dump alot of gas, and when you look at the internal volume of the mag compared to a KSC Glock for example, you are getting 2x + the number of shots with the KSC for about the same volume of gas stored.

With some WE's that exihibit cycling problems, they will dump enough gas to fire the BB, move the slide about 90% of it's cylcle (but not enough to catch on empty), and dump a shitload of gas all over your wrist (and leave it nice and greasy too).

This mag seems quite a bit bigger than my Glock 17's mags. I can get 2 full mags' worth of shots out of a propane fill with my KSC G17. I managed to get about 35 shots out of a full load on the Hi-Capa. That sort of speaks about how much gas it uses up, I guess.

Yeah, it dumps a lot of gas for sure. Left my wrist covered in silicone oil after shooting it. It's really got a serious high flow, regardless of what kind of valve is in it. I'll try out the TM mags I ordered for it and see how they work. If they don't work with the stock valve, I'll throw in some high-flow valves.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by Crunchmeister

Yeah, it dumps a lot of gas for sure. Left my wrist covered in silicone oil after shooting it. It's really got a serious high flow, regardless of what kind of valve is in it. I'll try out the TM mags I ordered for it and see how they work. If they don't work with the stock valve, I'll throw in some high-flow valves.

TM mags work just fine in a WE gun, just FYI.

[Crunchmeister]

Originally Posted by Styrak

TM mags work just fine in a WE gun, just FYI.

Yeah, that's the info I'm going off of from other reviews and stuff I've seen on this gun. That's why I chose this gun. I have little faith in WE's mags after how fast my Luger's mag developed a leak. TM mags should work out fine. And as I said, if for some reason they don't, I'll just install hi-flow valves, something I'll probably eventually do anyway.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by mcguyver

Different mag though. WE guns dump alot of gas, and when you look at the internal volume of the mag compared to a KSC Glock for example, you are getting 2x + the number of shots with the KSC for about the same volume of gas stored.

I thought we were comparing WE2011 mags with TM2011 mags, with regards to whether TM2011 mags can properly power a WE slide.

Basically, I don't think TM2011 mags dump less gas than a WE2011 mag, unless the different fill valve design significantly alters liquid gas capacity and gassification. Otherwise, I've compared and tested WExx11 valves with TMxx11 valves, and the WE is pretty shoddy.

[Crunchmeister]

Originally Posted by The Saint

I thought we were comparing WE2011 mags with TM2011 mags, with regards to whether TM2011 mags can properly power a WE slide.

Basically, I don't think TM2011 mags dump less gas than a WE2011 mag, unless the different fill valve design significantly alters liquid gas capacity and gassification. Otherwise, I've compared and tested WExx11 valves with TMxx11 valves, and the WE is pretty shoddy.

2 things I knew before buying this gun was that WE mags suck, and that TM mags worked. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought this gun in the first place. I don't want to have to constantly fuck with leaky mags. I already ordered 2 TM mags earlier today before I even had the gun in hand.

[The Saint]

You're right to do that. If one factoring in the cost of making a WExx11 mag reliable (i.e. release valve replacement), it comes to about the same price as a TMxx11 mag. With WE1911, you don't have a choice to use TM mags. But with WE2011, you really should, unless you're just sticking with CO2 mags. Heck, even in that case, it'd probably be a good idea to replace the valve with TM. I think WE CO2 mags use the same valve as the propane mags.

[mcguyver]

Originally Posted by The Saint

I thought we were comparing WE2011 mags with TM2011 mags, with regards to whether TM2011 mags can properly power a WE slide.

Sorry, I had 1911 on the brain for some reason.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by The Saint

I think WE CO2 mags use the same valve as the propane mags.

Nope. Much strong springs.