Airsoft Canada - View Single Post - Review

ThunderCactus · June 8th, 2014, 16:04

Just finished working on an ARES AW 338
They certainly live up to their reputation of making poorly designed guns.

The feeding system is downright wasteful, and yet still as flimsy as the marui style loading fin.
The mag pours it's ammo into a long tube, which feeds directly into the hop chambers. Major issues being you always need 15 rounds in the gun or it doesn't feed, those round can deteriorate over winter if left in, and there doesn't seem to be anything positively securing the feed tube right underneath the hop chamber. Just seems to hang there....I figure it rests on some part of the stock that prevents it from flexing back.

The hop chamber is just plain ridiculous. The actual cantilever system it uses to apply hop is good, however they use a 3mm set screw only 4mm long to adjust it up and down. And of course like every chinese thread it's really loose, pretty much makes it useless without application of blue loctite.
The inner barrel wobbles slightly within the barrel bushings, and worst of all it actually rotates slightly within the hop chamber, despite having a VSR style hop rubber that should prevent that.
According to reviews, it's supposed to use AEG barrels and rubbers, but this one evidently uses VSR style barrel and rubber.

The outer barrel is fastened to the receiver by means of a compression sleeve, with no accurate way to indicate proper rotation. Meaning it's easy to screw up and mount the barrel on an angle.
There are two bolts on the bottom of the receiver that tighten the receiver around the outer barrel.

The trigger box is what you'd expect from a stock rifle, no adjustment for stroke or resistance. Has about 4mm of stroke before shooting with no perceivable trigger break.

Word on the street is the piston, spring guide and spring are VSR compatible, but the cylinder is not. Unsure about the cylinder head and trigger mechanism.

Despite being quite bulky, and heavy, those are just personal preferences. What really kills this gun is it's lack of upgradeability and it's poorly engineered base components.
This thing could be good with a few home made mods and better barrel spacers, but overall not a very good base to start with.

June 8th, 2014, 16:04	#1
ThunderCactus Not Eye Safe, Pretty Boy Maximus on the field take his picture! Trader rating Join Date: Feb 2007	Review - ARES AW 338 Just finished working on an ARES AW 338 They certainly live up to their reputation of making poorly designed guns. The feeding system is downright wasteful, and yet still as flimsy as the marui style loading fin. The mag pours it's ammo into a long tube, which feeds directly into the hop chambers. Major issues being you always need 15 rounds in the gun or it doesn't feed, those round can deteriorate over winter if left in, and there doesn't seem to be anything positively securing the feed tube right underneath the hop chamber. Just seems to hang there....I figure it rests on some part of the stock that prevents it from flexing back. The hop chamber is just plain ridiculous. The actual cantilever system it uses to apply hop is good, however they use a 3mm set screw only 4mm long to adjust it up and down. And of course like every chinese thread it's really loose, pretty much makes it useless without application of blue loctite. The inner barrel wobbles slightly within the barrel bushings, and worst of all it actually rotates slightly within the hop chamber, despite having a VSR style hop rubber that should prevent that. According to reviews, it's supposed to use AEG barrels and rubbers, but this one evidently uses VSR style barrel and rubber. The outer barrel is fastened to the receiver by means of a compression sleeve, with no accurate way to indicate proper rotation. Meaning it's easy to screw up and mount the barrel on an angle. There are two bolts on the bottom of the receiver that tighten the receiver around the outer barrel. The trigger box is what you'd expect from a stock rifle, no adjustment for stroke or resistance. Has about 4mm of stroke before shooting with no perceivable trigger break. Word on the street is the piston, spring guide and spring are VSR compatible, but the cylinder is not. Unsure about the cylinder head and trigger mechanism. Despite being quite bulky, and heavy, those are just personal preferences. What really kills this gun is it's lack of upgradeability and it's poorly engineered base components. This thing could be good with a few home made mods and better barrel spacers, but overall not a very good base to start with.