Putting the Double Eagle M83 Airsoft Rifle through it's paces

Straight out of the box the first thing you'll notice is the M83s weight, this a good indication of the guns quality and it looks awesome. It would be easy to think of the M83 as a real gun, a full size replica with a stunning orange and black finish to make it UK legal. 

Putting the main body to one side it's time to scrutinize the Tactical Pack and there's plenty to behold including an aesthetic red dot scope, silencer, flashlight, goggles, carry strap, charger, loader and one of the easiest front hand grips we have ever come across which unscrews at the bottom for quick fitting. It's time to get this fine gun assembled.

Within a few minutes the tactical pack accessories are fitted in place and we have elected to keep the RIS connected because lets face it, we just want to fire off a few rounds before we do any serious testing. Fortunately there is a small amount of charge in the rechargeable power cell (battery) enough for a quick test. Loading the magazine is simple with the bullet loader and we have opted for 0.28g bb's for our test, generally we never use the bb's supplied in the box as they don't provide a baseline for our performance test. Lets get on with it.

We are using the warehouse for this quick test which is just over 40 meters in length. The M83 has a safety switch which we unlock and set to semi automatic mode and let off a few rounds as expected the bbs richochete off the far wall and dissapear amongst the shelving much to the surprise of the warehouse staff. We like good acoustics on our guns and the 'clack' is very audable, we should point out that the warehouse staff have moved into the canteen! Fully automatic mode is just as impressive and bbs are now flying around us as they ricochet of the walls, we should point out that the M83 has a button on the handle that needs to be depressed for the trigger to work, another safety feature that reduces accidental discharge. Now for the variable hop-up.

A variable hop-up compensates for different bb weights and puts back spin on the pellets to make them go further under certain conditions. That said the cars parked outside the warehouse have inadvertently become new targets and bbs are bouncing off the windscreens, it's time to finish the test before anyone notices.

In summary, the M83 is awesome not only for looks, features and performance but sound as well and if you have arms like Mr Tickle the adjustable stock can be extended by four inches too. Do we put this back in the box, nah I think we'll have a bit more fun with this gun at the end of the day.