Umarex Tactical Force Combat CO2 Airsoft Gun Review

The Umarex Tactical Force Combat is a GBB (Gas Blow-Back) airsoft pistol. It’s mostly made of metal, with the exception of the grip, and in many ways resembles a Glock. It requires standard 12 gram CO2 cartridges to operate.

The Tactical Force Combat is a GBB (Gas Blow-Back), as mentioned before, meaning that the slide jolts backwards every time you pull the trigger, just like a real gun. However, the Combat’s slide only blows-back about 3/4 of an inch, making it look and feel less realistic. It’s also a little clunky, meaning that the slide doesn’t blow back in a single, smooth motion; it’s almost feels like the slide is shuttering back and forth. This not only makes the gun feel sluggish, it makes more difficult to keep your sights on target when you’re shooting.

GBB’s are known for their ability to “shoot as fast as you can pull the trigger”, but the Tactical Force Combat can easily malfunction when being shot too fast. Often times it will dry fire and then fire two BBs on your next shot if you shoot too rapidly. This isn’t a huge deal, it just forces you to slow down and take your time, which is usually a good thing anyway. However, it’s still a hassle for the times that it’s necessary to put BBs down range at a fast pace.

The Combat also isn’t one of the more accurate pistols out there. At 15-20ft with .20 gram BBs it can hit a 12-inch Gel Trap with decent consistency. However, at ranges over 25 feet, the BB starts to sink and is very inaccurate.

The sights are both good and bad. The front sight consists of a little white rod stuck through a standard black blade front sight, giving you a sort of white-dot sight. The back sights are made of a little bent green rod that is also stuck through a standard back sight, giving you a sort of green-dot sight. The contrast of green on white dots makes aiming and acquiring targets easy and fast. However, if you looked at the sights from the side, the green and white rods stick all the way through the standard sights, popping out the other side, making them look sloppy. But this is only a cosmetic issue, and doesn’t effect performance.

The Combat boosts a impressive 400FPS (Feet Per Second) with .12 gram BBs, and averages between 350 and 380FPS with .20 gram BBs, depending on how new the CO2 cartridge is. Although .12 gram BBs have higher velocity, I’d recommend only using .20 gram BBs because they’re much more accurate.

Through all the downsides, the Combat gets extremely good shots-per-CO2. The blow-back starts wearing down after about 8-10 magazines and the slide stops being blown back far enough for the slide lock to catch, but it still shoots BBs consistently up until 14-16 magazines. This is great if you’re planning on using it in a airsoft war, minimizing downtime.

To put the CO2 cartridge into the gun you simply press a button on the bottom of the gun, directly behind the magazine, which releases the part of the grip, revealing a small compartment. From there, you fit the cartridge into the compartment and screw it in.

The magazine is just like any other GBB magazine. There’s a little metal lever on the side of the magazine that you pull down to the bottom and lock in place. Once locked in place, you pour BBs into a small hole near the bottom of the magazine and then unlock the metal piece, putting tension on the BBs. The magazine holds 15 rounds and is full metal, making it both durable and relatively high-capacity.

One of the more notable issues it the safety. Instead of simply sliding the switch back and forth, in order switch between “fire” and “safe” you must push the switch inwards and then back/forward. It’s very difficult to do this with one finger, forcing you to hold the gun in one hand while trying to manipulate the safety with the other. However, after switching between fire and safe multiple times, it starts to loosen up.

The last thing worth noting is some of the little details. On the trigger itself there’s a mock safety, it looks like a smaller trigger coming out of the normal trigger, which on a real gun you press down along with the trigger to fire; although it doesn’t do anything on this gun, and is just for show. Another cool feature is the slide lock. As soon as you’ve discharged the last round, the slide stays back, indicating you’ve run out of ammo.

In a wrap, the Tactical Force Combat pistol has a lot of issues, but also has potential. It’s great for CQB, but fails to stay consistent at long ranges. It also has a large magazine, and features very good shots-per-cartridge. The blow-back is a neat feature, but ultimately reduces accuracy. It’s really not a bad gun, but just not one of the best.

TSD 1911 Non-Blowback CO2 Airsoft Gun Review

The Colt 1911 is arguably the most world-widely used handgun of all time. Everyone from the US Army to the SAS use versions of the 1911. TSD took all of the 1911’s power, accuracy, and durability and incorporated them into their 1911 airsoft pistol.

The TSD 1911 has many of the features of a real Colt 1911, including a beaver-tail grip, block iron sights, and the caliber engraved on where the shells eject on a real 1911. It’s also made of mostly of metal, with the exceptions of the grips and the orange tip. Although it does have a hammer, it isn’t a working one; it is locked into place and is solely for decoration.

Since the TSD 1911 is CO2 (a version of Green Gas) powered, you can fire it as fast as you can pull the trigger. There’s no need to cock the slide back every time you shoot, like you do with spring pistols. This makes giving covering fire in a airsoft battle very easy. But, you run out of ammo quickly, so it might be a good idea to invest in extra magazines.

The magazines them selves hold 15 rounds and are fairly easy to reload. They’re made of some type of metal and are very durable. They’re skinny though, because it has to squeeze in next to the CO2.  To reload you have to pull the magazine spring down to the bottom where it locks into place, then you just push the BBs into a hole near the bottom, just like every other airsoft pistol.

The TSD 1911 takes 12 gram CO2 cartridges that go into a chamber that is located right behind the magazine, at the very back of the grip. To take the CO2 cartridges in and out the grip slides backward so that you can access it from the side.

Shooting wise, the TSD 1911 is very accurate with .20 gram BBs. The front sight has a white dot on it so you can aim much more accurately. However, it has a extremely heavy trigger pull, so it’s a good thing if you have a steady hand. You also start losing strength and accuracy when the CO2 cartridge gets low, but that’s to be expected.

It’s non-blowback which means that the slide doesn’t slide back when you shoot. This is both good and bad, because on the one hand blow-back looks awesome and makes it much more realistic, but on the other, blow-back is a CO2 drainer and you’d run out of CO2 in half the time that you normally would. You only get to shoot six or seven full magazines before your CO2 starts running out, anyway, so it’s probably better that it doesn’t have blow-back.

The last thing that you should take note of is the velocity that it shoots. With a new CO2 cartridge the TSD 1911 fires .20 gram BBs at a mind-blowing 400 FPS. Because of this, it might be to hot for friendly backyard airsoft skirmishes. If you wear heavy jackets or airsoft protection gear, you’ll probably be okay, but you just don’t want to be wearing a simple t-shirt or to get hit in the bare skin.

To wrap things up, TSD 1911 is a great sidearm that packs a hard punch. It’s very accurate and holds its own against heavy enemy fire. It also makes a great target shooting pistol. Just get ready to burn through some CO2!

Specs:
Feet Per Second: 400 (with .20 gram BBs)
Accuracy: Spectacular
Power: CO2
Caliber: 6mm
Recommended BB Weight: .20 grams
Magazine Capacity: 15 BBs
Manufacture: TSD Sports

Video Review:

Galaxy G1 Airsoft Gun Review

The G1 by Galaxy is modeled after the Colt 25. It’s tiny build makes it ideal for being used as a pocket pistol or in CQB.

The first thing you’ll notice about the G1 is its size. It measures roughly 5-1/2 inches long and 3-3/4 inches high! This makes it perfect to slip into your pocket. Some people use it as a third gun (if you get captured in a airsoft battle and are forced to give up your primary and secondary, you can hide the G1 in your pocket and when your captors have their backs turned you can whip this out and try to make an escape). The G1’s size also makes it ideal for CQB (Close Quarter Battle) and maneuvering around corners and obstacles.

The G1 is probably best used as a “third gun” or a back up to your secondary because of its small, inaccurate design. It can shoot accurately at short ranges (15-20ft), but is inaccurate at anything more. Using .20 gram BBs will make it much more accurate, but it still is unpredictable at ranges over 30ft.

It shoots 240 FPS, which, for a pistol of this size, is pretty decent.

A down side is that it has no safety. This means, for safety reasons, you shouldn’t keep a round in the chamber until the moment you’re ready to shoot. The down side is, since you don’t already have a round in the chamber, you have to cock it back first. It takes about 3 seconds to cock the slide and get your sights on target, which is plenty of time for an enemy airsofter to see you and shoot you.

The magazine on the G1 only holds 8 rounds and finding spare mags are nearly impossible. But, again, the main purpose of the G1 is to fall back on and give you the chance to try to make a escape when your primary/secondary has been captured, ran out of ammo, or malfunctioned.

The sights are pretty bad, but like I said above, it should mainly only be used to buy time in a airsoft battle.

Though, the G1 is made almost entirely of metal (technically it’s called “Zinc Alloy”, but it feels a lot like metal) with the exceptions of the magazine and grips. This gives the gun a really good feel and makes it exceptionally durable.

The last thing that is worth noting is the workings. When you pull the slide back and let it slide back forward, sometimes a BB will get stuck in between the chamber and magazine and won’t allow the slide back forward again. You must then remove the magazine and cock it back a few more times to clear it. This is a big hassle to do when the whole point of the pistol is to buy time.

To wrap thing up, the Galaxy G1 is a okay little pistol, the main attraction being that it’s so small. I recommend that it only be used as a fall back in a airsoft war when your other two guns fail. As for target shooting, it’s a fun gun to shoot, but just know that you won’t be hitting the target a lot of the time. But, if you want a tiny little gun that has relatively good FPS and feels nice and solid, this might be the one for you.

Specs:
Feet Per Second: 240
Accuracy: Good enough to buy some time
Power: Spring (you must pull back the slide before each shot)
Caliber: 6mm
Recommended BB Weight: .20 grams
Magazine Capacity: 8 BBs
Manufacture: Galaxy

Stinger P9T Airsoft Gun Review

The Stinger P9T is a updated version of Crosman’s legendary Stinger P9. Updates include a updated safety, a larger profile, and a larger 15 round magazine.

One of the bigger updates was to the magazine. The Stinger P9T can hold 15 rounds, oppose to the Stinger P9’s 12. But a huge downside it that it no longer has a reservoir. This is a big deal if you plan to use it in airsoft fights. Also, the magazine’s bigger than the old one, so you can’t even use old P9 magazines.

The safety is located very close to the back of the gun so that it’s hard to reach. You have to pretty much hold the gun with your weak hand and then flip the safety forwards or backwards with your strong hand to effectively work it. I don’t know why Crosman decided to do that; probably so that kids with small hands can operate it better. It’s also reversed, meaning that forward is safety and back is fire. This is a design flaw because when you shove it into a holster, sometimes the holster catches it and it switches it to fire.

The old Stinger P9 was known for it’s smooth slide and easy trigger pull, but the Stinger P9T just isn’t the same. When you pull the slide back to cock it it feels like you’re grinding metal on metal. Also, the slide only pulls back about a inch, making it feel like you didn’t cock it all the way. The trigger pull is not for the weak, either. You have to really squeeze it to make it fire. This heavy trigger pull really slows you down when you’re trying to put some plastic down range.

One thing that didn’t change is the stunning accuracy. With .25 gram BBs you can hit a 12 inch gel target from well over 40 feet away. If the Stinger P9 and the Stinger P9T went head-to-head, I’d actually have to say that the Stinger P9T is a little bit more accurate.

Another good thing about the Stinger P9T is that it has a lot more metal than the old Stinger P9. The trigger is metal, along with several internal pieces that are visible with the clear plastic colored models.

With most of the Stinger P9T’s you get a holster included. But the holster is terrible. The old holsters that came with the Stinger P9’s had a Velcro strap on the back so that you could easily take it on and off. It also had a snap thing that you could take the strap that secures your gun into the holster off with, and you could also undo a clip and get the strap off that way. These new holsters just have a loop on the back to put your belt through, meaning you have to undo your whole belt to get it on and off. Also the only thing that keeps the gun securing strap in place is a narrow strip of Velcro.

The last thing that you’ll notice about the Stinger P9T is it’s weight. It is really heavy; unloaded it weighs close to 1-1/2 pounds! This is good and bad. On the one hand it feels very realistic and solid, but on the other it might start to wear on you after a hour or two of shooting.

Through all the down sides, the Stinger P9T can be a good side arm. In my mind, it doesn’t quite stack up to the Stinger P9, although the accuracy is actually a little better. If you make sure to use .25 gram BBs, buy a better holster, and possibly buy some extra magazines, it could make a pretty good spring pistol.

Specs:
Feet Per Second: 275
Accuracy: Great
Power: Spring (you must pull back the slide before each shot)
Caliber: 6mm
Recommended BB Weight: .25 grams
Magazine Capacity: 15 BBs
Manufacture: Crosman

Video Review: