King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

[crasstoe]

King Arms Blaser R93 Tactical LSR1

Only a short review as I have not had enough time to test this thoroughly yet, or at long range, however initial impressions are good!

Overall 7/10
Build Quality 8/10
Performance 7/10
Exclusivity 9/10
Price 10/10
Features 9/10
Upgrades 4/10

Build Quality
This is not your average rifle. A metal frame lies underneath that polymor body, and being a frame it is far lighter than the likes of an M14 EBR, but heavier than a VSR, think CA M24 and you are close. The body has a nice textured finish and is easy to hold. You hold it in a similar way to an L96, meaning your right arm (in my case being right handed) is farely close to your chest. I would like a slightly longer stock but I am investigating using pads to extend the shoulder pad. There is no rattle, and everything is held together extremely well, and it is very well balanced. The only issues here is the mag is visible when inserted between the barrel and receiver, and the flash hider is plastic and not exactly pretty... although I doubt this will be staying on for very long.

Performance
There is some variance however stock mine averaged 460fps over 10 shots, not bad. You can easily hit a can at 30ft, and not miss, however I will be updating the Performance section in more detail in the near future with target scans.

Exclusivity
This is not a rare replica, King Arms are making hundreds however they are not proving popular in the UK. Most retailers don't stock the Blaser and probably never will meaning this is (for the time being) fairly rare. The only other Blaser in the ******* ***** was a limited kit made by Asahi, however you are more likely to see a unicorn than one of those!

Price
At £230 RRP it is a steal.

Features
Rear Monopod as standard, Scope Rail as standard, Bipod Lug as standard and a 50rd mag (yes thats right, 50!) make this packed out the box. The straight pull bolt is a love or hate affair and I love it. There is no time wasted by lifting the bolt handle, simply pull and push. The adjustable stock gives you a cheekrest and shoulder pad which are fully independant of each other, and are very comfortable. The quick release bolt is a sign of things to come, and rumour has it that the CO2 version being released will be released along side a stand alone bolt which can simply be placed into the stock of the Spring Version.

Upgrades
Now this is a sore spot for the Blaser. There are at this moment in time no official King Arms upgrades available in the UK, however parts from other systems do fit, but only some. A VSR Spring Guide will fit beautifully and is a must IMO as the stock plastic Spring Guide is asking for trouble. The Inner Barrel and Hop Rubber are AEG ready, and a 7/9mm spring can be used.

King Arms have an Air Seal Cylinder Head, CNC Piston, Silencer Adapter and Spring Guides on the way, however there is as of yet no UK release date.

In summary an excellent rifle which is skirmish ready out the box, however if you are on the path to build something exceptional this will not be easy, and will require some work. Whilst upgrades are not available some parts do fit and being AEG compatible the inner barrel is an easy upgrade along with the hop bucking.

I have fitted a Deep Fire 6.02mm Tightbore Inner Barrel and VSR Steel Spring Guide, with grouping appearing to be tighter, and fps whilst only increased by 6fps, it is consistent to within 2 fps, which is far more consistent than pre upgrade. I have discovered air leaks in the Cylinder Head and Hop Chamber, I shall be fitting PTFE Tape and will post my results after I have tested.

Pictures

Front Right



Left



The Bolt Release is just in front of the trigger


The Bolt



Plastic spring guide



Cylinder Head



Unscrews for easier disassembly (o ring to keep a decent seal)



The Piston and Piston Head



VSR Steel Spring Guide



Stock Hop Rubber



Hop Chamber



Stock inner barrel, not crowned



End of the outer barrel has a single barrel spacer, this will need to be expanded at the end to allow a longer inner barrel to pass through


The new tightbore barrel just pokes into the flash hider



Chrono Average

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

PTFE tape on the cylinder head, the spout on the cylinder head and the hop rubber has seen the fps hit 468-470 consistently. Only thing I am not happy with is the Stock Hop Rubber, it cannot put enough spin on the bb's even with the hop cranked right up. Replacement rubber on the way.

Just a word of warning, be careful when you remove the C Clip from the hop chamber as it is plastic and very fragile. I have snapped mine in two! I have superglued it back together on a sheet of tin foil and it seems to be holding up with no issues.

I also made some barrel spacers out of electrical tape. This was done by unscrewing the outer barrel, and then taping. Make sure you add some lubricant (I used silicone) to the spacers so they slide within the outer barrel, otherwise as you are screwing it back on you risk spinning your inner barrel and hop rubber if your spacers are too tight. The end result of this was zero play in the inner barrel when the outer barrel is screwed on.

[TOBI]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

What rubber have you ordered does it take vsr rubbers?

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

AEG rubbers.

Going to try out a Madbull Blue, I've had success with them in the past so figure I would try it here.

[TOBI]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

AEG rubbers.

Going to try out a Madbull Blue, I've had success with them in the past so figure I would try it here.

Your firing at over 350fps surely a red rubber would be better?

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

Just have to see how it goes. I haven't had any success with harder hop rubbers in the past, if this rubber shreds itself I shall look at a harder rubber.

[dave38x]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

That's a thing of beauty! Is that the rifle that one of the baddies on Homeland uses?

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

It is indeed. Its also used by Australian Snipers (useful for my YOWIE), German Law Enforcement and Leonardio DeCaprio in Inception

I am juggling with the idea of spraying it up... does look good in black though...

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

Madbull Hop Buckings - DO NOT USE IN THIS RIFLE!

The lip on the end of Madbull buckings is not long enough to create a proper seal with the loading nozzle on the end of the cylinder and you lose approximately 60fps due to airleaks.

I will be testing with Guarder Improved Buckings (both hard and soft) in the week.

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

I will admit I was wrong, the reason the fps dropped with the Madbull rubber was there is actually a nub to apply backspin, unlike the "fin" on the stock rubber. Best results are from a Clear Guarder soft bucking.

Bad News! Disaster has struck, the cylinder has cracked where the handle fits, resulting in me punching myself in the face! The handle comes clean out when you try to pull the cylinder back. I have tried nailing through from side to side (saved my old M24 this way) but this hasn't held it together. The Cylinder is made from VERY thin metal and the handle is just crimped on rather than bolted on, which is rubbish to say the least.



It goes without saying I am very disappointed here, and this seems to be the only weakness to the Blaser, everything else has been spot on! I have emailed King Arms and fingers crossed they are able to do me a replacement cylinder and bolt handle, or confirm if they are releasing an upgraded version soon. I hope I have received a lemon from the production line, and they aren't all going to end up like this.

I am very sad at this moment in time

I used the time I had spare to mount sling mounts. These are included in the box with the Blaser, the long screw fitting into the cheekrest bolt, and the short screw with the nut requiring drilling in the stock. I chose to drill in the fake plastic screw on the foregrip. These work fine, and are easy enough to install.

[dave38x]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

OUCH! That is very bad news indeed! It does look rather thin - hope KA sort this one out for you!

[jkerry2782]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

do you know if the cylinder is the same size as a vsr or aps one?

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

It's completely unique, here is a comparison.

Cylinder: bored to 20 mm, is shorter than that of an M24 and the axis of the cocking lever is not compatible



the piston: it is not compatible with VSR 10: too big, kind of like a 96/aps2





comparison: aluminum piston-type 96, blue piston VSR and white is Blaser



Spring Guide: VSR Compatible. Black is VSR and White is Blaser





The retailer I purchased the Blaser from has replaced the bolt free of charge, and is sending my old bolt to King Arms for them to look at. Fingers crossed on a new bolt design! Can't thank the unnamed retailer enough, and it seems that I did in fact receive a lemon from the factory.

Word is the upgrades are being released by Cybergun in drips, but should should be opening the flood gates to the upgrades from King Arms shortly.

[PureSilver]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

So nice to hear of a good resolution to a difficult problem. Thumbs up to unnamed retailer!

[crasstoe]

Re: King Arms R93 Blaser Tactical LSR1

Fitted sling points (found the nipples in the box, front required drilling to fit, and I have added a washer/collar to the rear one), replacement bolt, and tweaked for air leaks, now hitting .25" targets at 75 feet with .2g bb's at 410 fps with only 1 miss in 30 shots... can't argue with that really. Going to test with heavier bb's soon.

Going to fit an M150 spring soon and will post my results.