In Smith and Wesson M29 Airsoft Replica Gun

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Smith & Wesson M29 .44 Magnum half-dozen.5" Midnight Blueish - Tanaka

I really retrieve revolvers are great. Some years agone, on a trip to the US, I had the chance to fire a .38 special Smith & Wesson and a 44 Magnum Smith & Wesson.
The '44' is the gun made famous as "the most powerful handgun in the world" by Clint Eastwood's Muddied Harry character in the film of that name. The fact that I was staying in a property on the very site of the quarry where that film ends, gives the Model 29 an added cachet for me.

Tanaka Smith & Wesson M29 .44 Magnum 6.5inch barrel.

I'd admired the reputation of the Tanaka revolvers for a long time having read the reviews at Arnies Airsoft, merely their very high prices had always put me off.
Having sold my UZI and a few springers, I'd set aside some money for a KSC Beretta M93R, merely Guns Northward Guys were dragging their heels a chip in sending me a quote and getting Paypal payment sorted out and then I spotted a midnight blueish Tanaka Due south&W M29 half-dozen.5" barrel version on Tokyo Model's site for "just" $130, which wasn't much more than the KSC Beretta. I ummmed and ahhed for a few days, only when they give me a skillful price for a TM Southward&W PC356 springer, I flake and placed the order.

In the Box

The guns arrived promptly (two days, pretty much like any other Hong Kong delivery) and I opened up the package to notice a plainly grey box alongside the TM one. I opened it upwardly and in that location was the well-nigh beautiful airsoft gun I've ever seen.

In the box.

Commencement Impressions

6.5 inch barrel

I like woods grips on a revolver and, although these are actually plastic (Existent steel grips are a straight swap, unlike on the UHC and Marushin revolvers), they look and feel great. Some parts of the gun are metallic (lower grip, trigger, hammer cylinder and spindle, I'thou told) and others are ABS, but information technology all looks and feels similar metallic, due to the 'midnight blue' finish (actually a shiny black) and has an impressive weight for its size.

Closer Look

Before I gassed the gun up I examined it and was generally very impressed, except for ane issue. Firstly, the grey box turned out to be a very nicely printed box, turned inside out (easily resolved and a sensible shipping policy, which I at present remember someone else did in one case). The mechanism is very sweet and the grips don't suffer the 'empty' feeling that the rubber grips on the Marushin Raging Bull exercise.

Left side detail

However, the midnight blue finish, which I'd heard was 'easy to scratch' is IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO!
Just working the cylinder release or firing the gun causes metal parts of the gun to scratch away the cease and I'd have been VERY annoyed if I'd paid a premium (which most suppliers demand) for the terminate - It strikes me that the stop can only stay pristine if you NEVER burn down the gun, which actually would be a shame. At that place was even a modest scratch on the barrel which (due to its position) looks like information technology was acquired when the gun was assembled - and so much for Japanese quality command...)

I have no uncertainty the cease makes the gun look much more realistic than a typical blackness ABS airsoft gun, simply stick with the black model if you are worried about scratches on your guns. I'll live with it, real guns get scratched besides and if information technology gets likewise bad I'll respray the whole thing.

Gassing the gun upward was fairly like shooting fish in a barrel, although information technology requires feeding gas through a special adapter (provided) into the cylinder, which (unlike my other revolvers) has fake rounds concealing a 14 round magazine and the gas cylinder and valve . I only pushed vi rounds into the open up cylinder holes (from the butt end, non terribly realistic) and took aim.

Cylinder contains FIXED fake rounds hiding magazine and gas mechanism.

Shooting Impressions

BLAM! - This is the noisiest BB gun I've EVER heard. It'south retort is quite like a .22 pistol, but zilch (thank goodness!) similar a existent 44! I was also astounded by the power - I was expecting powerful, but this gun punches through a Coke tin can (BOTH sides) at 5 feet! My NBB Mauser can do information technology too, but my SOCOM can't, and I suspect the Tanaka can do two cans as hands as one! This was using American Eagle Winter gas, which is a chip more than powerful than HFC 134a.

I've read reports on poor accuracy (due, it seems, to poor aligned barrels causing the Hop Up to Hop Right! - This is fixable), simply mine placed BBs exactly where I aimed them.

I carried out the 5m test. As probably the highest quality airsoft gun in my collection (at any fourth dimension), I had quite high expectations of this gun.

Click on image for bigger version in separate window.
I wasn't disappointed. 5 of the 6 shots vicious within a 7cm (3 inch) diameter (the 6th being wide to the correct - My mistake, no dubiety). 3 of the five were inside a three.5cm (1.5 inch) diameter and dead heart on the target.
All of the v 'on target' shots, hitting within the heart of the target, which was pretty impressive. The sights on this gun are very sharp (certainly not true of most of the other NBB guns) and that helped no end. The double action mechanism didn't seem to cause whatsoever noticeable problems, so I didn't bother trying a set of unmarried action shots, across the first shot.

Over ten shots, the half-dozen.5" M29 averaged 411 fps (using Cybergun Winter gas) outdoors (around 20C).

Shot	FPS
1	431.5
ii	414.five
iii	413.iii
4	412.i
5	409.five
6	405.9
7	415.4
eight	407.7
nine	398.ix
ten	400.vi

The trigger pull weight test produced a figure of i,550g (54.vii ounces), which is a heavy weight trigger pull and approaching twice the weight of the PC 629, which seems, techincally, similar.

Conclusions

Overall, this gun Nearly lives up to Tanaka's reputation. The quality of build and finish IS incredible and the ability is astounding, just the midnight blue cease'south fragility makes you wonder if the price for that realistic advent is too loftier. On the whole though this is the replica of that 44 I fired that I wanted. It feels good in the mitt and is very powerful, all it lacks is the fearsome kick of the real matter.

Hammer cocked - Feel lucky?

"What you're wondering is did I fire xiii shots or 14? Well y'all know, in all the excitement I kind of forgot myself. What yous've got to enquire yourself is 'Practice I feel lucky'..."

The loveliest airsoft gun made?

Addendum : Well, if this revolver looked wonderful earlier, it really is the business now that I've added some real steel oversize Cocobolo wood grips.

Wood grips.
$20 from eBay

They expect fantastic (picked them up on eBay), add weight and accept that lovely tactile feel that but really wood has. A tiny amount of Dremeling (God bless Dremel!) was required and I had to source a grip screw (God bless old-fashion hardware stores!), but they were pretty much a perfect fit.

After a while, I decided I really preferred the original look and spent another pittance on eBay to get some original forest grips.

Wood grips.
$13 from eBay

I at present have the selection of Plastic grips (why would I?), Oversize woods grips, original wood grips or Hogue rubber grips from the viii" M29.

Weight : 780g

Realism : *****
Quality : **** - only allow down past the delicate stop
Ability : ***** - 6 or seven actually!
Accurateness : ****

Real Steel link at World Guns

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