Tippmann M4 post game review

[akey]

I was lucky enough to get hold of one of the first production Tippmann M4's in the UK and took it to the Stirling 'Old Enemy' game at the weekend which gave me a really good feel for how the gun performs. I am currently running this gun in true out of the box mode with no 3rd party modifications at all.

I'm not going to go into all the inner workings of the gun here but I will be happy to answer questions where I can or point people in the right direction, but there is a wealth of information already on forums and the Tippmann Airsoft FB group. I have been waiting for this gun for 4 months or so and have been watching and reading reviews and updates on the prototypes that have been out in the hands of dealers for a while now.

Naturally as soon as I got the gun home I did some 'garage' testing with the CO2 mags to see how the gun ran. I adjusted, FPS and ROF as per the manual (you need to read the manual on this gun, it is really detailed and tells you how to deal with adjustments to solve most problems) and then set about testing how the CO2 mag performs. I chrono'd a full mag on CO2 and the FPS varied from 310 - 270 on .25s over the full mag, while I haven't tested any other CO2 powered airsoft guns I would assume a similar FPS drop as you are changing a liquid to a gas from a diminishing supply. The temp for this test was approx 5 deg C. As there isnt a ready supply of these mags available I needed to run HPA for the game weekend.

So what's needed to convert the Tippmann to HPA? A tank with either CO2 or HPA - any paintball tank and a remote line, thats it. Please note this needs to be a paintball remote line, it will be running 800 PSI from the tank as there is no need for a secondary regulator like an SMP or P* systems. So total cost for me to convert to HPA £64, including a fill of Air.

Once on site it took me about 10 min to set up the gun ready for use, this included setting the Hop, FPS to 305fps on .25g and setting the ROF. As a comparison I was getting around 3-4 FPS variation over 10 shots, but I only did this test once so this isn't conclusive.

I want to be clear on something, I am not going to quote any figures on range for this gun, mainly because there was no decent way to measure effective range and there was no time to mess about setting something up. That said, I was consistently hitting the same targets as my team mates who both use CTWs with MDD hop units and at no time did I feel outranged. As this gun uses standard AEG inner barrels and buckings hop improvements should be easy to achieve if you felt the need, but personally I am happy with it as it is, range and consistency certainly feels about the same as my personal CTW with MDD hop unit.

There is good feedback from the gun, I'm not sure how best to describe it, but there is certainly good felt 'recoil', I would say more so than any electronic recoil I have felt including the TMs. I cant really compare to WE or other GBBR as I dont own one, but I would say its certainly equivalent to those that I have had short test fires with although it does feel 'different' to a GBBR. Oh the noise, amongst pretty much an exclusive AEG field (I assume due to weather) this thing really turned heads on full auto, and I was happily emptying mag after mag using 3 or 5 round burst after burst (sorry I cant just keep my finger on the trigger, it feels wrong). Every time I pulled the trigger I was grinning a combination of the sound and noise was addictive, the same as a GBBR but without worrying about cooldown.

Over the weekend I estimate I fired somewhere between 2000 and 2500 rounds maybe more and I pretty much used up my tank of air (48cu/3000PSI) which tallies with most estimates I have seen elsewhere. I didn't experience a single problem with the gun and the temp range for the weekend was 0-5 deg C, which really impressed me given I am used to either GBB SMGs or AEGs. The only niggle I know others have mentioned is the buffer tube spring noise, but in my experience I didn't really notice it once in game and concentrating on targets and where my BBs were going.

Overall I am hugely impressed with this gun, it feels solid with no rattles, has good performance as standard, easy to set up and tweek and the finish is really nice. At no time did the remote line snag or get in the way and I was using a cheap RAP4 coiled remote and this included crawling through some pretty tight mouse holes in the buildings and through hedges, gaps in rubble etc, in fact it was barely noticeable, but then I tend to leave my gun attached to the sling at all times so maybe that helps.

Ownership hints and tips

If you are going HPA get a remote line with slidecheck, I didn't and it means you have to turn off the tank, then fire off the remaining pressure in the remote line before you can disconnect the gun. With a slidecheck you just pull back the slidecheck and then disconnect the gun.

Do some research before you go HPA, not all dive centres or paintball fields will fill cylinders but persevere, air gun shops, some dive centres and any paintball retailer can usually fill tanks. It took me about 20 min of internet research and phone calls to find a local place to fill my tanks.

READ THE MANUAL - this isn't a typical airsoft manual it really does have some good info in it and provides solutions to common set up issues (like burst fire rather than full auto, and the rear bolt jamming).

[akey]

Re: Tippmann M4 post game review

Quick update with some of the niggles people are finding, so far all quick fixes if you find them. I haven't experienced any issues but I did do the measurements of the stock tubes.

It would appear that AEG stocks dont fit the Tippmann, so as I happen to have a G&G AEG, a Celcius CTW and a Tippmann in the rack upstairs I thought I would measure each and here is the result.

Tippmann - OD of tube 29.3mm, width of the land, 12.45mm
CTW - OD of tube 29.6, width of the land, 12mm
G&G - OD of tube 29.1, width of the land, 11.8mm

it is the land (where the pin drops into) that is the issue here and as the Tippmann is 12.45 which equates to pretty much 1/2 in and the Eastern made systems are 12mm. Given that the AR is a US designed system I am inclined to believe that the Tippmann is based on RS dimensions and the eastern made systems are a metric approximation and therefore will not fit.


ROF adjustment, this is proving to be finicky for some, it is based on the Tippmann Response Trigger and requires some fairly delicate adjustment (1/8 turn at a time) to get it spot on, if you over adjust it can cause the gun to fail to fire properly on full auto. It is an easy fix but something to be aware of.

a couple of people have noted that when converting to HPA the air nozzle doesnt sit correctly due to a small air pipe being off centre the fix is again simple and to use allen key to move the air pipe from the magwell side.

[RitchieTheBrit]

Re: Tippmann M4 post game review

...given that the AR is a US designed system I am inclined to believe that the Tippmann is based on RS dimensions and the eastern made systems are a metric approximation and therefore will not fit.

Tippman states on their site that the the buffer tube is real-steel compatible.

[akey]

Re: Tippmann M4 post game review

Ritchie, yep just had it confirmed on the Tippmann owners group as well

- - - Updated - - -

Pictures as requested:











mag well set up for HPA









finally with an Element M500a foregrip fitted