Airsoft Snow Wolf Barrett M82 Upgrades

Snow Wolf Barrett M82 review past Booligan
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Tabular array of Contents:
Introduction
Existent Steel History
Ordering
Bones Gun Information
Showtime impressions/Packaging
Included
Gun Specifications
Externals
Trademarks
Magazines
Performance
Internals
Modifications
Pros/Cons
Overall

Introduction
One Barrett .fifty caliber replica is unremarkably more than enough for most people, but I'm not near people. When I got the opportunity to get my hands on one of the beginning Snow Wolf Barrett M82s in the The states, I couldn't say no. This review is of a pre-product sample of the gun, merely the final production should be more than or less identical to the model beingness reviewed today!

Real Steel History:
The Barrett M82 family of sniper rifles is legendary both in military and law enforcement circles as being 1 of the well-nigh accurate and deadly sniper rifles available. Firing the .50 BMG round at over 2700 FPS, it has an effective range of over one mile. If you lot've played a military machine themed video game in the last ten years or watched a mod armed services themed pic, odds are that you've seen this gun.

US Army soldier manning a Barrett "Light Fifty" - Image from Wikimedia Commons

Ordering:
I was sent this gun from Airsplat, who will be 1 of the first retailers conveying this gun once information technology's officially launched. Pricing is looking to exist extremely reasonable, with my sources pegging it in the $300 range, about 1/3 the cost of the next cheapest Barrett M82 replica; the SOCOM Gear M107. As plumbing equipment with my experience shopping with Airsplat, the gun was shipped promptly and arrived safely, even using their free UPS footing shipping option. Airsplat has always been at the summit of my acme iii retailer list, and I foresee them staying there for quite some fourth dimension.

Basic Gun Information
The Snow Wolf M82, which I'll just refer to as the M82 from hither on out, is a complete AEG, based on the Hurricane M82 "body kit". First and foremost, the Hurricane kit was an $i,100 chunk of metal that you shoved the guts from a TM uniform M4/16 within, giving you a very expensive, but not 100% authentic replica. Unfortunately, this gun suffers from the same inaccuracies, which I'll cover in full in the external section. Snow Wolf previously manufactured a bolt activeness M99 replica, and this is their first attempt at an AEG based clone. One affair to notation is that this is not the same as the SOCOM Gear version, which is its own blueprint. There are no major compatible external parts between the ii.

First impressions/Packaging:
My gun was stopped in customs on the fashion to Airsplat, and was pretty manhandled. The cardboard box was more or less destroyed, and taped up in the ominous green "Homeland Security" tape, but the gun inside escaped major damage. It did suffer from some scratches, specifically located on the magazine well, and the acquit handle was "misplaced", most likely by customs, somewhere along the style. Airsplat informed me of the impairment before they sent it, so I was expecting information technology when it showed up. This was most likely a once problem, so I would look futurity SW M82s to show upwardly in nice and pristine condition.

As for the packaging, it's a basic paper-thin box, which is quite large every bit the gun comes fully assembled. The gun itself is resting in cream finish pieces, protecting it during shipping.

Included:
The entire package includes the gun, 1 metal high chapters magazine, a 3-9x50 illuminated reticle scope with rings, an 8.4v 1500 mAh sub-C sized battery with mini connecter, a trickle charger, bipod, manual, and a small bag of Bbs. My model did non include a behave handle, which got lost somewhere on the way from People's republic of china to Airsplat, in its brief layover with Community.

Gun Specifications:
Weight: Nearly fourteen lbs
Length: 56.75"
Width: 4" (at cocking handle)
Superlative: 8"
Sight Radius: Varies depending on sight placement, rail is 22â€ long
LOP: 14.25"

Externals:
The Snowfall Wolf M82 can be considered a total metal replica, aside from a few plastic/condom pieces. The grip and cage brake are made of plastic, and the butt pad is made of thick safety. It's quite a bit lighter than the SOCOM Gear M107, mainly because that gun is predominantly made out of steel, whereas this is a zinc alloy.

Starting with the back, you will see the aforementioned rubber barrel pad, which is fastened to a metal frame and fastened to the receiver using pins. It is removed by taking out both the upper and lower pins, which is how yous admission the battery compartment, as well as disassemble the gun. The butt pad and lower back up are based on the older M82 design, as opposed to the SG model which is the newer lower back up with integral grip. The battery compartment is pretty spacious, easily holding the included eight.4v large battery with room to spare. A sling mount is located on the right side of the receiver, just in front of the butt pad.

From here on, click all pictures to overstate

Rear of the gun

Butt pad

Sling mount

Battery compartment, showing mini plug. My wire has a slight pinch, and needs to be repaired.

Moving forwards, the next thing that you will hitting is the fire control department, which houses the grip, trigger, mag release, and safety/selector switch. The selector gear is styled after an M4/16 trigger group, so it'll feel right at home if you've ever shot/handled 1. The grip is a standard M4 motor grip, with a ventilated base of operations and apartment head aligning screw. Information technology tin can be replaced with a dissimilar grip if you so desire, merely some grips with extended backstraps may not fit due to the divergence in lower receivers. The selector switch retains a prophylactic-semi-full auto pattern, which is something the Hurricane did not practise. Now, I'm an advocate for keeping full auto on "sniper rifle" styled AEGs, strictly as a way to clear semi-machine lockups easily.

Fire controls

Ventilated base

The magwell is located straight in front of the trigger assembly, and has an integrated paddle style magazine release lever. Magazines rock into the magwell from the front to the rear, like an AK or Sig rifle. To a higher place the magwell on the correct side is the charging handle, which pulls back about 4", exposing the hop-upwards adjuster.

Magwell and charging handle, note the scratches on the magwell

Shot into the magwell

Moving forward still, you volition hit the ventilated handguard also as the bipod. The bipod is not a QD design, unlike the existent gun and the SG replica, instead being attached by screws. The pivot placed in the front is purely decorative. The bipod is longer than the SG 1, and props the gun up pretty high; higher than I prefer. The legs are a petty wobbly, but information technology is quite solid when decumbent. I'one thousand spoiled past the real steel quality of the SG bipod, so I may be more harsh about this bipod than the average user. Another sling mountain can be constitute on the front left side of the fore terminate.

Fore stop

Bipod

Bipod attachment method

Sling mountain

The receiver is well-nigh ii" shorter than the SG model, one of the inaccuracies from the Hurricane design, but the barrel is longer, making upwards the lost length. The barrel itself is about 30" long, not counting the muzzle brake. It is a nicely fluted design, and is secured to the receiver at 2 points, making it very stable. The muzzle brake is a bespeak of contempt on this gun, as it is synthetic entirely out of orange plastic. It is non easily removed, merely can be painted quite easily.

Butt

Muzzle restriction

In that location are no fe sights on this gun, instead having a long rail on height. Sadly, information technology's non canted like the SG rail, simply hey, nosotros can't accept everything. The included scope is quite squeamish, being a 3-9x50 illuminated model. The runway on mine was a little out of spec, and the scope wobbled a bit. I fixed this past putting some velcro on the scope mountain, closing the gap and firming things up.

Runway

Scope

Scope fix

Overall, the externals are fantastic, considering the relative price of the gun. Mine has a few cosmetic blemishes, most likely due to manhandling by Community, but it makes information technology a corking candidate for custom paintwork! The gun is front heavy, like ALL M82 replicas are, simply information technology isn't likewise hard to run with, due to information technology'due south relatively low-cal weight. Information technology does take differences with the SG model, which I'll testify here:

Trademarks:
This gun is devoid of any trademarks. Not even a "Made In China" tin be establish on it.

Magazines:
The magazine is one thing that I have mixed feelings about, mainly due to my having been spoiled by the SG model. The mag is a clone of the Hurricane 1, all the same the Hurricane one was designed way out of spec. It'due south smaller in just about every regard compared to the real/SG ane. Now, if yous've never handled a real/SG M82, you'll likely never notice, but it is a off-white bit dissimilar.

The magazine is but a shell housing a VN hicap, which holds almost 190 rounds and feeds pretty well. Information technology locks into the magwell extremely well, with no freeplay at all. The winding wheel is easily accessed at the bottom of the .50 cal mag shell, instead of having to stick your finger in the bottom like the SG mag.

Magazine

Winding bike

Functioning:
Baseline performance after a 500 round suspension in period is as follows:
FPS (Recorded using Airsplat .20g Bulletin board system shot through a Madbull V1 chrono):
High: 378.2
Low: 366.4
Average over 10 shots: 374.eight

Range and accurateness was right on par with my expectations, given the mid-range FPS coupled with an M16 length butt. I performed my tests using .28g biodegradable Airsplat brand BBs, outdoors from a 10' elevated position relative to my target. I was able to put ninety% of my shots onto my standard torso sized target at 160', which certainly isn't stellar, but is a adept place to commencement. This gun isn't designed to be a full on sniper rifle right out of the box, just can hands be upgraded using standard V2 gearbox parts, equally well as AEG cut barrels and standard hop-upwards components. With this gun'due south relatively low starting cost, upgrading information technology is an piece of cake fiscal decision.

Internals:
The Snow Wolf M82 uses a V2 gearbox and M4/16 fashion hop-up assembly to function. The gearbox is a rear reinforced vanquish with an interesting interlocking front end portion. The metal composition looks like standard ACM fare, but with nicely machined portions. The initials "SW" are molded into the shell. The bushings appear to be 7mm in bore, and are metal. Wiring quality is good, especially considering this is Snow Wolf's start try at electric components.

Metal gearbox

Bushings

Interesting interlocking front end

Air nozzle

The gears and AR latch are XYT stamped pieces, and a sector flake is pre-installed. The whole gearbox was over-coated in thick brownish grease, and the shimming wasn't very well done, notwithstanding, this is SW's first AEG to date, so I wasn't expecting perfection on the starting time fourth dimension out. A reshim and regrease will piece of work wonders with this gun. The piston is fabricated of red plastic, with a black ported piston and cylinder caput. With about 1000 rounds through the gun, all on an xi.1v lipo battery, I was expecting to see a picayune bit of wear on the piston teeth, and sure enough, there was some. The airseal was splendid, especially considering the nasty grease that coated everything. Cleaning and regreasing the compression parts yielded an even improve, Virtually perfect airseal, even through the air nozzle. The spring guide is a solid metal piece, and is plenty stiff enough for any spring that I tin can think of.

Gearbox overview

Gears

Piston

Piston head

Spring guide

The motor is a plain black unmarked medium-loftier torque unit. Information technology'south fairly hard to rotate information technology by hand, but not the strongest magnets that I've seen.

Motor

The hop-up is a standard M4/xvi style unit, which is made of metal. The bucking was extremely greasy, and so cleaning that upwardly will increase consistency. I would recommend swapping out the bucking and nub ASAP, if you programme on tweaking this gun for acme accuracy. The inner barrel is interesting, in that it has a butt spacer c-clipped in place almost halfway down, which is something I take not seen on a manufacturing plant AEG. The butt length is 650mm long, and at that place is plenty of room to grow with this gun. At the cage of the inner barrel, SW installed an aluminum extension in order to go along the barrel centered. This extension just barely sits onto the inner barrel, and tin can easily get misaligned with taking down the gun. I remedied this by taping the extension to the inner barrel with some electrical tape.

Hop-up

Inner barrel, barrel spacer and aluminum extension visible.

Overall, the internals are a decent starting indicate for a high performance buildup. Y'all tin can throw all the standard V2 upgrades in in that location, add a long tightbore butt, better hop-upwardly components, and have a pretty formidable and unique DMR, for non too much greenbacks.

Modifications:
I will likely be turning this into a bullpup M82A2 replica in the near futurity. Information technology's a V2 based AEG, and then functioning is only capped by how high your upkeep allows. For extreme loftier FPS buildups, a high force gearbox crush is recommended, such as the new Torus or Bravo gearboxes.

Pros:
Cheapest M82 to engagement - near $300
Full metal structure
Relatively light weight
Hands upgradeable
Included scope is very nice

Cons:
Not 100% accurate proportions
Orange muzzle restriction
Runway slightly out of spec
Bipod feels a piffling cheap

Overall:
When comparing this gun to the SOCOM Gear model, plainly you will find differences in quality, merely you lot will also find extreme differences in toll. You can buy three Snowfall Wolf M82s for the price of one SOCOM Gear model, and well-nigh of the cosmetic differences betwixt the two are pretty pocket-sized. If you are looking at building up a perfect scale, full steel Barrett M82 replica, and toll is no object, go with the SOCOM Gear; information technology'south a improve gun overall, only at a much higher price. If you're looking at building a skirmishable Barrett M82 replica, and don't heed some minor external inaccuracies, or if you lot're on a budget, the Snow Wolf M82 is the best place to start, and volition serve y'all well!

Many thanks again to Airsplat, Deadrag Airsoft Radio and of course, AirsoftRetreat!