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We've already talked about thrill of existing "Science Fiction Airsoft Guns" available in the commercial airsoft market. What can be more thrilling than that? How about having an airsoft rifle that is completely unique? How about building your own science fiction airsoft gun?
It's easy with airsoft parts. There are so many ready to assemble component and style. They are all off-the-shelf, so you don't have to fabricate your own. It makes the project fun, quick, and painless. In this article, we will showcase one of our projects to demonstrate how easy it is to make a rifle that no one else have. It'll be the cynosure on the airsoft field.
You can always start from scratch by purchasing receivers, stock, front rail, external barrel, and all of the internal components. But why not start with a gun you already have? Or how about starting with a gun that resembles your vision?
In this article, we start with the APS ASR107 M4 URX Raptor (see photo below). The URX Raptor has a lot of high quality components. Therefore, our final product will be competition ready. But aesthetically, it's just another M4!
It does have some scifi aesthetics traits that will help us achieve the look we wanted. Therefore, it's a good platform to start with.
First the collapsible M4 stock has to go. That looks way too modern for it to be anywhere near the look of scifi. Instead, we ordered the APS Aluminum CQB Patriot Stock (see photo below).
We have seen this APS buffer tube before on the APS ASR106 Mini Patriot M4. It's unlike anything we have ever seen.
The package contains the buffer tube, screw to attach to the receiver, and a sling mount. Photo below shows these components. The sling mount is the same as the one that is already on the URX Raptor.
It's easy to replace the buffer tube, since it's just one screw. But it's not easy to remove the M4 stock. Because the buffer tube on the M4 stock is so long, you'll need an eight inch #2 Phillips screwdriver to remove it. The photo below shows an eight inch screwdriver is just long enough to clear the tube and allows you to see the screw head in the tube.
After removing the M4 stock, it's a matter of installing the Patriot buffer tube. Luckily the Patriot buffer tube can be unscrewed into three sections, making the installation a piece of cake for any #2 Phillips screwdriver.
Next, we want to make the front end of the URX Raptor a lot more aggressive. The stock mock silencer is very passive looking and a little too long for indoor CQB arena. We want something shorter, but really fearsome. That's a job for the Matrix Shark Muzzle Flashhider.
The Matrix Shark Muzzle Flashhider is an airsoft version of the real steel version. The design has rearward slots to counter recoil of a real firearm. And the six pronged tips is designed to breach wood, sheet rock, and glass for various tactical situations. Of course, you won't be using any of these features on an airsoft battlefield. But it sure make this muzzle flash hider a menacing front end for your airsoft gun (see photo below).
The package comes not only with the shark flash hider, but also shims (see photo below) to change the rotation and distance slightly.
The Matrix Shark Muzzle Flashhider comes in 14mm positive and negative thread version. The positive thread screws onto the external barrel in a clockwise rotation. The negative thread screws onto the external barrel in a counter-clockwise fashion.
The URX Raptor comes with a 275mm stainless steel inner barrel for the matching mock silencer. That is way too long for our needs. Our flashhider needs to stick out only slightly from the front of the quad rails. Based on empirical test, the 175mm inner barrel from the APS ASR106 Mini Patriot M4 is just about the right length (see photo below).
However, we could not find a replacement 175mm barrel. But Evike had the 110mm Angel Custom tightbore barrel on sale for half price. Based on the testing performed in our "Angel Custom G1 Stainless Steel 6.01mm AEG Inner Barrel (110mm) Review", we see no CQB performance difference with short barrel length. So we use that instead.
The 110mm pistol inner barrel only covers half the length of the external barrel. Adding the flash hider in front only extended the external barrel by about two inches. The Shark Muzzle Flashhider is exactly flush to the front of the quad rail. You can use the included shims to make its teeth stick out a quarter inch or so.
The bigger diameter of the external barrel, compared to the short inner barrel, causes it to act as a sound amplifier. On the field, this scifi rifle's sound has a bite. It even scared my own teammates when it fired. It's a great attribute to suite it's menacing look.
All science fiction guns have to have a name. So I name this gun the Shark Raptor. It give tribute to the APS ASR107 M4 URX Raptor as its base. The aggressive teeth up front and the biting sound it makes lives up to its name.
From the side, the Shark Raptor looks very different from any other gun. But it still have the M4 receiver and M4 magazine that is highly recognizable. You can easily replace the receiver from a different type gun to make it look even more unique. Let your imagination go wild. Build something different, something scifi.
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