Airsoft Action 04 - Xmas 2011 | Page 13

THE ARMOURY upper and lower receiver and outer barrel are made of CNCed steel. The handguards and crane stock are both made of heavy duty ABS and help give it a solid, robust feel. The Celcius logo is laser engraved on the receiver (which I know will not be to everyone’s taste) along with the weapon’s unique serial number, as well as safety selector markings. The pistol grip fits nicely in the hand because the motor is much slimmer than in a normal AEG. So the overall feel is of a very robust piece of kit – you could easily be mistaken for carrying the real version. Internally, the polished stainless steel barrel is 6.00mm dead so I would definitely only use high quality BBs in this rifle. Its barrel length is 374mm. The CTW I had for this review came fitted with a standard cylinder and spring. Like on the Systema PTW these are quick and simple to change to raise or lower the power to the right level. The magazine is basically a direct copy of the Systema PTW magazine. Both are the same size and weight (if loaded with 30 rounds of 5.56mm) as the real version. It says 120-BB capacity but once I got to about 100-odd it got hard to load up any more. Then again, that is pretty much the same on all mid-cap mags, no matter what make. I used both Celcius’ own magazines as well as couple of Systema mags I had borrowed. Both fitted fine and neither had any feed issues to report. On test I also used a Vanaras Polymer magazine, which fitted in and fed smoothly (not quite as smooth Inside the lower receiver, showing exposed part of the gearbox and ECU as either the Celcius or Systema versions admittedly, but I doubt that will put many people off using them considering they’re much cheaper and lighter). The CTW is set up to run on 11.1v Lipo batteries. I received two for testing, both Celcius branded. The first one, an 11.1v 1200mAh 20C, is for use with the standard cylinder/spring set up. The other was a much larger 11.1v 2400mAh 20C battery for use with the upgrade M130 spring set up. Fitting the battery couldn’t have been simpler: just pop the two clips on the butt plate of the crane stock to expose the large Tamiya connector. Slide a battery into the stock, hook up the connectors and replace the stock. Ready to rock and roll! Something else I really like is the little blue LED inside the receiver that appears when switching the safety selector from safe to either semi- or full-auto. This is on constantly while your battery has enough charge to power the weapon. When your battery starts to run low the light starts to flash so you can stop firing and complete a quick battery change, thus preventing any possible damage to the gun or battery. It will also flash, when attaching the battery, if it is low on power. I’ve bored you enough with the overview, so what’s it like to use? First things first: I thought I had better chrono it, just to make sure that it was within the site limit. Out of the box, using Madbull Precision Grade 0.2g BBs, this MX2 was SPECIALIST TACTICAL TRAINING SOLUTIONS STTS is the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor and importer of Celcius products. STTS assures me that it is keeping a good stock of spares and accessories, in terms of both range and quantity. The boss even told me that Systema owners are already asking for Celcius replacement motors, as well as Celcius 120-BB Hi Speed magazines. The company is offering the Celcius cylinder/springs upgrade as a set, which will cont