DBoys M4/M16 Airsoft 500rd Extended Magazine Review

The DBoys 500-round Extended Magazine fits onto most M4 and M16 airsoft AEGs. It’s an upgrade from the average 300-round magazines that come with the average M4/M16 AEG, giving you a 66% (or 200 BB) increase in BB capacity.

The DBoys Extended Magazine works just like any other AEG magazine. You load the BBs into a little plastic sliding door on the top of the magazine, filling up a large chamber. You then slide the little door shut and insert the magazine into your gun. From there you wind a wheel on the bottom of magazine (you can see the wheel in the picture above, at the bottom of the magazine, in the bottom right corner) until it gets hard to turn and starts to make a distinct clicking noise.

Having 500 rounds is great because you can just keep shooting without having to reload. However, about half way through the magazine, BBs will stop feeding and your gun will start to dry-fire. When this happens you need to wind the wheel on the bottom back up again. It’s not a huge deal, but it can be a chore if you’re in a actual airsoft skirmish and you have to stop to wind your magazine back up, especially when the whole point of a extended mag is to not have to stop to reload.

The DBoys Extended Magazine also claims to work with M4s and M16s from JG, AGM, DBoys, Classic Army and Echo 1, but that’s not entirely true. With my personal JG M4 2010 Upgraded Version I have to wiggle the magazine back and forth to get it to slide into my receiver and then forcefully slam the bottom of the magazine with the palm of my hand to get it to click into place (kind of like what your avatar does on Call of Duty: Black Ops when you close the top of the M60 after reloading it). The problem is that the magazine doesn’t go with the slight turn that M4 receivers have, making the back of the magazine scrape up against the M4’s receiver. Although slamming the bottom of the magazine does make it click into place and allows it to work normally, it makes reloading much slower and also causes some cosmetic damage to the magazine as well as inside receiver.

The magazine is very durable, however. It’s made completely of metal, excluding the wheel on the bottom, the plastic door on the top and a couple other little pieces. Even after upwards of 20 times of slamming it into my M4 it still works fine.

The last thing worth noting is that the little plastic sliding door that keeps the BBs from falling out of the storage chamber is very loose. This means that if you tip the magazine forward, unless it’s already inserted into your gun, the door will slide open, letting BBs fall all over the ground. Therefore, keeping spare magazines outside the gun (in a vest, backpack, etc.) is not a good idea without taping over the door first. However, this isn’t a huge problem because, being an already extended magazine, you may not need a spare.

In a wrap, the DBoys Extended Magazine is great for extended shooting. Even though you have to stop about half way through the magazine to re-wind it, it still beats having to carry a whole other magazine with you. And also just keep in mind that you might have to put some effort into getting the magazine into your gun.

Also note that this attachment is for AEGs (Automatic Electric Guns) only. It won’t work with spring rifles.

JG M4 S-System Airsoft Gun Review (2010 Version)

The JG M4 airsoft rifle is one of the most popular airsoft AEGs on the market. It’s battery powered and has full and semi-automatic firing modes. It’s also almost completely metal making it feel sturdy and durable.

One of the first things you notice about the JG M4 is the Weaver rails. As you can see in the picture above, there’s a rail that runs along the whole top of the gun as well as one on the bottom. It also comes with two smaller rails that are meant for the sling mount, but you can place on either side of the hand guard and use for mounting accessories. The iron sights are also folding, so that you can have a unobstructed view of a scope or sight. It comes, like I mentioned, with sling mounts, too, that you can install and uninstall with a couple screws. And being built around the M4 design makes it compatible with most M16/M4 airsoft magazines and accessories.

You can also upgrade it internally. It comes with instructions on how to disassemble it so that you can easily upgrade springs, gears, etc.

The JG M4 shoots .20 gram BB’s at a blistering 420 Feet Per Second (542 FPS with .12 grams). That’s about as high as you can get from a AEG without modifying it. From 50 feet away you can shoot right through a Crosman Gel-Target. This makes target shooting a lot of fun, but it might hurt a little too much for a friendly backyard skirmish. Plus, most airsoft fields won’t allow guns over 400 FPS.

The accuracy is also very good. Right out of the box you can easily hit a person-sized target from over 90 feet away. You can also adjust the front sight, back sight, and the hop-up to make it even more accurate.

There are a lot of moving parts on the JG M4 which adds to the realism. When you pull back the charging handle a dirt-flap springs open and reveals a wheel to adjust the hop-up. And there’s also a “front aim assist” button on the right side of the gun that you can press in. On a real gun this would help unjam bullets,  but, on this airsoft version, it doesn’t do anything and is just for decoration.

The battery is really the only big problem with the gun. It’s 8.4v 1100mAh and takes about 4 hours to charge. But the main problem is getting the battery into the gun. The battery compartment is inside the hand guard where the Weaver rails are. To get to it, you turn two screws and the the lower half of the hand guard will fall open. But there’s only a little bit of space for the battery to fit into, and when you start to close the hand guard back up, the wires connecting the battery to the gun get caught in between the lower and upper half of the hand guard, making it impossible to close. It almost takes two people to keep the wires out of the way while trying to keep the battery from falling out.

But even when you do get the battery in, it drains very quickly. Within three or four magazines, you need to recharge again.

The magazines themselves are basically just like any other AEG magazine. You pour the BB’s into the top of the magazine and then wind a wheel on the very bottom to get the BB’s to feed into the gun. Although, they only hold 300 rounds, which isn’t a lot when you’re shooting on the fully-automatic setting. But, like I said before, the JG M4 is compatible with most M16/M4 magazines, so you can buy spares.

The last thing worth noting is the Rate of Fire. On the fully-automatic setting it honestly doesn’t shoot that fast (maybe about 500-600 RPM on a good day). It doesn’t shoot slow by any standard, but my $99 Crosman Pulse R76 out shoots it considerably.

Overall, the JG M4 S-System airsoft rifle is pretty nice AEG, with one of the highest velocities that you can get. It’s fully customizable with tons of Weaver rails, as well as upgradable internally. The ROF is fairly low, but the accuracy, velocity, and durable metal build more than make up for it.

Specs:
Feet Per Second: 420 with .20 gram BB’s (542 with .12 gram)
Accuracy: Great
Power: Battery
Caliber: 6mm
Recommended BB Weight: .20 grams
Magazine Capacity: 300 BBs
Manufacture: Jing Gong