The E series range comprises all the
usual suspects: a full-size M16, M4
Carbine, M4 Tactical Carbine, CQB and
more recently some railed versions of
these models too. That said VFC has
now added some very nice-looking and
awesomely-named M4 variants – including
the Dagger, Warrior, Quake and Lancer.
The main thing is that the E series is
more affordable with model prices
falling between £220-£300, representing
extremely good value for money.
M4 ES Baby
The Baby is not just the smallest M4 ES in
the range (perhaps the smallest available!)
– it’s also the cheapest. It comes in a plain
black box with just a couple of VFC labels on
it. When you open the box up, however, you
are presented with a great-looking compact
M4 along with a bolt-on PEQ-15 style
battery box. Also included is a 120-round
magazine, and my one
criticism is that VFC M16
mags are so light they feel
toy-like, which is out of
tune with the rest of the
build quality. Taking it out
of the box for closer examination you can
feel how solid this AEG is. There is no
barrel wobble thanks to the aluminium
body and the one-piece 155mm (6.5in)
outer barrel. The whole thing is just 400mm
(16in) long from barrel to butt, but still weighs
in at a respectable 2,070g.
As there is no stock or stock tube the
rounded-off bu tt plate does have a steel CQD
sling swivel mount. The lower receiver is very
familiar, with all the controls and selectors
exactly where you would expect them to be
on an AR.
There are a couple of particularly nice
touches on this too, such as the ergonomic
pistol grip and trigger guard and the working
bolt release catch. As it’s a standard flat-top
M4 receiver you have a rail running across the
top, allowing you to mount optics, but it does
come with flip-up front and rear battle sights.
The hop adjustor is located in the usual place
in the ejection port chamber. Despite the
front end being so short it still has a RAS,
although it’s only 90mm in length! Just
enough to add a front grip, the battery
box and perhaps a tactical illuminator.
What else are you likely to need
though? Personally I really like the flash
hider – it’s chunky and
looks quite aggressive, but
should you want to change
it just unscrew it to reveal a
14mm CCW thread.
Internally this little AEG is fitted with a
VFC (CNC-machined) 8mm V2 enhanced
precision metal gearbox. The blurb tells
us it is fitted with a high strength piston,
8mm steel bushing and steel gears. As
with many modern day AEGs, especially
the more compact stuff, the Baby is set
up to run on 11.1v LiPo, although you
should be able to run it on a 8.4v NiMh
cell battery pack (albeit a custom
made one to fit in the PEQ-15 style
battery box).
In Use
Once I had finally fiddled about fitting the
battery into the PEQ box (still not a fan of
battery boxes!) and attached that, away I went
to give it a blatt. The selector switch is smooth
and easy to operate, flicking from safe to semi
and then again to auto. On the first burst you
cannot help but be impressed with the rate
of fire. In a CQB scenario you will certainly
be able to keep the oppositions’ heads down.
The range is good but obviously, with such
a short barrel, accuracy
suffers somewhat. I
used Blaster Devil 0.20g
BBs on the test and the
hop unit worked really
well. After firing around
1,200 rounds I put it
through a chronograph.
Impressively, for an AEG of its size, it was
achieving readings of between 245fps-265fps.
Considering that this is designed for use in
close quarters this is more than enough and is
comparable to an MP5K or similarly compact
weapons. You soon forget that it’s made of
aluminium and start using it one-handed like
a pistol – my skills at arms instructor would
have a fit!
Summary
This is another AEG with a wide appeal
– even my Mrs called it cute! And it’s the
perfect back-up weapon for snipers, while
folks with M4s that want a CQB weapon
060
February 2012