Tokyo Marui FN P90

Tokyo Marui FN P90

Postby Matt » Sun Feb 12, 2012 11:32 pm

Published on: Mon 28 Feb, 2005

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Image Courtesy Redwolf Airsoft.

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"TR" Model.
Introduction

A lot of great things can be said about the Tokyo Marui FN P90, it's a very solid package and it's served me well in the past. A lot of people aren't comfortable with the shape of the P90 and the way it holds, but each to his own. For the right person, this can be the right tool. Both the real P90 and the Airsoft P90 are completely ambidextrous, with the cocking lever and iron-sights on both sides and the selector switch in the middle. The real FN P90 was originally developed in Belgium by Fabrique National Herstal as a personal defense weapon. They were designed to be a compact alternative to small arms for troops who primarily can't use long-arms, this included tank crews, vehicle drivers, and so on. It's used primarily by Saudi Arabia, Peruan Special Forces, and some special units of Thailand. It's popularity has spread a great deal to law enforcement agencies in the United States.

The Interior

The Version6 gearbox is one of my personal favorites, as I've yet to see it have as many problems as Version2 or even Version3 boxes. The P90's stock internals allow it to fire from 850 to 900 rounds per minute. At times the safety would lock into place and I'd have to remove the gearbox to reset it, that's really the only problem I've had with the gearbox of the P90 and that was on the exterior of the box. The stock gearbox runs so efficiently, you can expect to run the P90 all day long on an 8.4v mini type battery. I had several spare batteries for my P90, but I never needed to use them. Also note, the Version6 gearbox has an EG1000 motor integrated into the gearbox.

Hop-up adjustment on the P90 is very tight and easy to fine-tune, unlike the wheel system on M16 variants. With those systems, it seems like your hop-up is either all the way on or all the way off, it's really hard to get it just the way you like it. Well, with the P90's hop-up package you'll be able to fine-tune the hop to get it just how you like it. It's easily accessible via a sliding port on the bottom of the stock.

Take-down on the P90 is extremely easy, it's done with the push of just 1 button under the magazine, the entire outer barrel and hop-up assembly separate from the stock. The take-down procedure is very similar to the take-down of the real-steel model. The gearbox is also easily accessible, all you have to do is remove the butt-plate and the 2 screws holding the plastic plate inside. The entire gearbox will easily pull right out of the back of the stock.

The Exterior

The flash-hider unit is really one of the only metal parts on the gun, aside from the cocking lever, it can be removed to reveal a 14mm thread for a CCW silencer or other accessories. The cocking lever serves no real purpose for the replica, it's only for looks. The integrated red-dot is a very small 20mm dot scope with 2 brightness settings. It has 2 adjustment points, a special adjustment tool is included with the P90 to adjust your red-dot sight. It uses 2 AAA batteries. I could get mine pretty accurate, although because of it's small size and my tendency to fog up red dot optics, I feel this is the weakest point about the standard P90. If you want to use it indoors with a laser, that's one thing, but for outdoor skirmish you might find yourself wanting the TR so you can put a larger dot sight on it. The standard P90 also features a single weaver rail on the right side of the stock for laser or light mounts.

The iron-sights were surprisingly quite accurate when tested, although they're hard to line up from a prone position and it can also be hard to snap to targets while using them. The selector switch is found conveniently right underneath the trigger. The trigger can operate as a 2-stage trigger, a half-pull will fire 1 shot while in full auto while a normal pull will operate fully automatic.

The magazines for the FN P90 are one of the largest Airsoft magazines on the market, thus they are a bit pricey compared to other types, and they're a real challenge to find pouches for. The standard magazines come with fake plastic dummy-rounds inside for that realistic look, and hold up to 70 rounds. The P90 hi-cap is built in such a way that when you wind it, the BBs inside won't rattle. Unfortunately the winding wheel is on the bottom of the mag and is inaccessible while the mag is loaded on the P90. For this reason, you want to always make sure you have P90 hi-caps completely wound before using them.

Durability

The exterior of the P90 is very durable, after extensive use you'll notice some creaking noises from the stock but nothing too serious. Under the butt-plate you'll find a single plastic plate held in with 2 screws that hold the gearbox into place. The screws are small and the holes can easily be stripped, we recommend not taking it apart unless entirely necessary. If the plate can't be tightened down, the gearbox may move back in the stock, causing the nozzle to not push forward enough upon firing. Your shots will have little power, and BBs may fall back into the gap between the nozzle head and the gearbox. The exterior parts are pretty solid, although I've lost parts of the red-dot sight adjustment, it's important to make sure these are tightened. Unlike my experience with MP5s, the butt-plate and flash-hider on the P90 are very hard to loose.

Upgrade Options

Internal upgrade options can be more limited for the P90, often times it's harder to find specific internal parts for the Version6 gearbox, unlike with version 2 and 3 upgrades which seem to be common. Just make sure that upgrade parts you buy will work with the Version6 box. Externally, there are more and more aftermarket parts being released for the P90 every day from metal uppers to wicked RIS systems. There's enough external upgrades available for the P90 that it will end up looking like something from outer-space when you are done with it. How useful they actually are is up to you.

Tactically Speaking

The FN P90 makes a great entry / CQB type weapon, but users may find it's not as comfortable for outdoor skirmish. It's hard to snap to a target with the small 15mm red-dot as your primarily optics, and the iron-sights can be very hard to line up on short notice, especially while prone. You won't notice a problem with this at CQB ranges, and it's nice 900 rpm rate of fire will help nicely to stitch your opponents. However, a lot of times I've noticed that players who use P90s in open outdoor type environments often miss with their entire initial burst of fire. Users of other weapons systems have the benefit of barrel lengths that allow them to "point and shoot" at targets, and high iron-sights that may easily be used while prone or ducked. Remember, this a tight and compact package and should be used as such.

The Bottom Line

The Tokyo Marui FN P90 is a very durable and compact package, both inside and out. For CQB it's one of the best choices due to it's very slim profile and compact bull-pup design. The red-dot sight might leave much to be desired in an outdoor environment, when not used in the tactical firing position it can be hard to line up enemies in your sights. If compact is what you want, then it'll be a great choice.
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Matt
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