armoury
SPECNA ARMS SA-249 PARA CORE
output to suit the requirements of different indoor
(where they allow full-auto) and outdoor fields.
Changing the spring takes literally seconds, as all
that’s required is to take out a single pin, pull away
the stock latch and take out the spring guide along
with the spring through the opening in the gearbox
frame.
The replica is powered by a full-size, metal and
heavy-duty M249 gearbox that is characteristic for
its high durability and good reliability as stock. I’ve
seen some comment that this is the exact same box
that you’ll find in another popular brand and from
my external observations, I’d have to say that it is
VERY similar. That said, so many parts are coming
these days from a select and finite number of
factories in the Far East, if Specna have chosen their
gearbox because it’s the best currently available
at this time given the price, then in all honesty I’d
have to tip my cap and say “well done”! Frankly, if
they’ve put in a gearbox to their own specification
that WORKS and will continue to work then
personally, I don’t give a flying feck where they’ve
sourced it!
Please note, however, that I say “to their own
specification” as they’ve openly stated that “the
mechanism is prepared for further tuning and ready
for stress connected to providing covering fire”, so
I’m willing to bet they’ve done what they set out to
do - and given the number of you that have bought
an SA-249 to date, you have bet the same!
What I can tell you, is that inside each SA-249
you get, as standard, an M120 main spring (easily
changed for sites that require sub-350fps on a .20g
as stated earlier), 8mm bearings, bearing spring
guide, a set of steel gears and an easy to adjust (if a
little stiff at first) rotary, metal hop chamber. There’s
nothing earth-shattering here about the tech but
it’s all solid, workmanlike and durable which I for
one want in a support gun that’s going to spit BBs
regularly and at pace. Of course, you also get a
green polymer box magazine with a capacity of
2,500 BBs that allows you to keep the BBs coming
and these are fed automatically thanks to an
electric winding mechanism powered by two easy
to source AA batteries (you’ll need to buy those ya
tightwads!). The box can be filled from the top as
per a regular magazine via a port, or you can simply
pop the side of the box itself should you need to
reload “fast and on the fly”.
ROUNDS DOWN
After a couple of minor “hiccups”, which we’ll
put down to a new spring being fitted, the test
sample chrono’d very nicely and pretty consistently,
at 1.07 Joule/340fps on .20g RZRs (Sapper had
already changed the spring before loaning it to me).
I was very pleased to find that the box mag fed
very evenly, as this can sometimes be a downfall of
even the most expensive support AEGs. In terms
of accuracy, I was actually more than happy just
on the iron sights. This is supposed to be a “fullauto
support-beast” and be able to spit out BBs
consistently and give an area-dominating effect,
rather than being nail-on-the head accurate but
it’s no slouch in this respect, as at 30m prone I was
easily able to put all my BBs on steels - and it was
kicking them out past 70m without a problem too!
“Walking” the SA-249 from target to target with
controlled bursts gave me a good idea of what it’s
capable of - and that’s a LOT when it comes down
to suppressing your opponent’s fire and movement
capability. At just 920mm long with the steady as a
rock PARA stock extended (790mm with it stowed),
this is a support gun you can manipulate easily but
with the bipod down it gives a super-solid platform
to help you get “rounds on” when you most need
to.
If you fancy going to check out the real M249
on the FN website, you’ll see they say “the M249
SAW is designed to be used on the front lines
where it really matters, providing crucial support
at the infantry squad/fire team level by providing
highly accurate fire plus the maneuverability to take
the objective”. They also say of the PARA that it is
“optimized for airborne, armored infantry and close
quarters combat (CQC) operations with a shorter
barrel and collapsible buttstock” and I have to say
that Specna Arms have done this description proud
with what they’ve created!
They have also stayed 100% true to their
statement of intent, that CORE models should be
in reach of ALL airsofters and the performance and
price have lived up to that too! Having now had
one in my hands and on the range, I believe I may
well add a PARA to my own personal collection…
just as soon as they come back into stock and if
they don’t sell out again before I get one!
My sincere thanks go again to Sapper who kindly
loaned his own AEG (lucky blighter!) for testing
and if you fancy an SA-249 for yourself then simply
keep an eye on https://gunfire.com for restock
alerts. AA
www.airsoftaction.net 17