armoury
G&G PIRANHA MK1 GBB
MODERN STRIKER
I’ll get this out of the way first… The Piranha is most
definitely not a replica of a “military or police” pistol but
something far more interesting! It’s a unique design that
G&G
have created in-house and, in my opinion, it
shows the very
best of the
current
drive
for airsoft
manufacturers to play with
their own concepts, ones
that feature all their latest
technology all wrapped
up in a pleasing and
ultimately very usable
finished product!
The Piranha, to
me
looks, like a “Striker
Fired”
pistol but one with
some
super features.
For those
of you confused
by the
term “Striker
Fired”,
just picture the
rear end of
a Glock, where
there is no
visible hammer
and nothing
to catch on
anything.
In a real firearm,
what makes
a gun striker fired
or hammer
fired? The differences come from the parts that make up
the action, the mechanism of the gun that loads, fires, and
ejects a round and how those parts work together.
With a “Hammer Fired” semi-auto pistol your first
trigger pull is in double-action mode and every shot
following is shot in single-action, as the cycling of the slide
cocks the hammer. Having two different trigger pulls has its
pros and cons; while some find that the initial “trigger pull”
is safer, others find it difficult to adjust to a lighter trigger
pull following the first shot, which is reflected in their shot
placement.
Glock are still probably the prime example and the
striker fired pistol has become extremely popular with many
shooters. The striker fired pistol does not rely on a hammer
hitting a firing pin to ignite the primer of the cartridge.
Racking the slide to chamber a round partially cocks an
internal spring and when the trigger is pulled, this cocks the
spring the remainder of the way, which causes the striker
pin to hit the cartridge and fire the round.
Although this has little real bearing on an airsoft pistol,
you could still argue that by mimicking the action of the
real world “Striker Fired” concept, it allows you to get
your follow-up shots on target more quickly and efficiently
and the rest of the Piranha follows this ethos. Like many
“Striker Fired” handguns, the Piranha has
a
polymer
frame which consists of a one-part front
rail section, trigger guard, and grip. The
grip angle is more “Glock” than “Colt”
which personally I like.
The slide is all alloy which gives the
pistol a nice weight (773g overall) and balance, but
again there’s something a bit different about it in that it’s a
two-piece design. The front section of the slide housing the
barrel is semi-fixed which should aid accuracy and it’s only
the rear section that moves, which, in principle, means that
if only 50% of the weight of the slide is moved during the
shooting sequence, then gas efficiency should be optimised
for faster cycling but more on that later!
Controls are simple and easy to use, with a Glock-like
“safety trigger”, slim slide release and a chunky magazine
release. In addition to this is a large, ambidextrous take-
down lever and that, basically, is all she wrote! But what
more do you need?
The hop design is one that I’ve seen on the new line
of G&G pistols and one that I like immensely, with precise
adjustment an easy task; this super external adjustment
means you don’t need to remove the entire top slide, which
is a really cool feature! Fine-tuning is very straightforward
and requires only the included “bullet tool”, which comes
with a key ring so that you can add it to your keys for easy
retention, or dummy cord to you or your gear. Simply insert
the “bullet tool” into the muzzle to make tiny adjustments
and by turning it you are pulling the inner barrel tighter into
the outer barrel, which presses onto the hop rubber itself.
Simple, ingenious and works perfectly!
With any gas-powered platform you need to keep an
eye on the action if the temperature starts to drop and the
Whirl Cylinder Valve that G&G have created will certainly
help you when things cool down, or when you’re “having
at it” in earnest! With a light slide weight and spring the
Piranha is already very gas efficient, but the ceramic “Whirl
Valve”, which spins when you shoot to break up any ice
deposits inside the nozzle, takes performance further still.
“ALTHOUGH THIS HAS LITTLE REAL BEARING ON AN AIRSOFT PISTOL, YOU COULD
STILL ARGUE THAT BY MIMICKING THE ACTION OF THE REAL WORLD “STRIKER FIRED”
CONCEPT, IT ALLOWS YOU TO GET YOUR FOLLOW-UP SHOTS ON TARGET MORE
QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY AND THE REST OF THE PIRANHA FOLLOWS THIS ETHOS.”
www.airsoftaction.net
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