A&K SR-25

A&K SR-25

Postby Cloudyrains » Tue Feb 21, 2012 8:10 pm

*Please excuse the lack of pictures of the actual gun, I will do my best to get some when I can get the gun in a presentable state*

Gun Info:

Manufacturer: A&K
Gearbox: Elongated Version 2 (compatible with Classic Army CA-25 parts)
Accuracy according to manufacturer: 120 feet (Always take this with a grain of salt)
FPS: 340-360 with .20 gram BBs according to AirsoftGI, varies from website to website. (Mine chronos the same with .28s)
Full metal RIS System
retails approx. $275
Comes with detachable barrel extension + 1 450 round magazine
http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?products_id=3436

I am running the gun without the barrel extension with a masamune 509mm 6.01mm and madbull ultimate hop up chamber and bucking. The gearbox is so far stock. I use Camp R&R's .28 bio BB's in it, haven't tested anything else in it yet.

I am known amongst the people that I play Airsoft with for breaking everything. Period. Whether it be bad luck, or just holding the wrong gun at the wrong time, something usually goes wrong. That's why at a recent game I ended up borrowing an A&K SR-25 from a friend of mine, after my G&G M14 motor's started smoking.

402307_2551430991995_1440500844_31806922_853228304_n.jpg
SR-25 at Camp R&R #1
402307_2551430991995_1440500844_31806922_853228304_n.jpg (63.28 KiB) Viewed 8515 times

At first impression, I loved this gun. It was sleek and deadly looking, long, and maybe even a little intimidating. The paint job my friend had given it was, putting it nicely, pretty questionable, as all he had done was given it some strips of red and green mixed with the black finish. But paint job aside, the finish looked great. There were no signs of wear (even on the RIS) and there were few to no scratches. The body looked great, and everything just felt right in my hands. I knew I was going to have fun with this gun.

So after reloading his mid cap P-mags, I stroll out onto the field (Camp R&R). I walk up to the village, and am immediately engaged in combat. I got propped up on a barrel and start letting BB's fly at people running to cover. With my 4x32 I was able to watch the BB's pelt whoever it was I was aiming at, and hear the glorious follow up call of "HIT". This thing was just deadly. By the end of the game I had racked up at least 10 kills in the village. The scope allowed me to know where the BB's were going and adjust accordingly, and time shots just right to hit people peaking around cover. After the game, I knew I had to have this gun. I convinced him to trade for a couple of old Bolt action sniper rifles I had lying around, and went home happy with my new gun.

Around the end of the game the gun had stopped firing, due to debris in the selector plate. I stripped the gun, and got everything cleaned up. I discovered that my friend had put a nice Masamune 6.01mm tightbore in it, and a madbull ultimate hop up chamber. Admittedly the engagement distances I had used this at gun weren't that far in the short period I had it, but it definitely had a pretty good shot grouping and range. After clearing the debris out of the selector plate the Gearbox was cycling just fine, so I began to put the gun back together. Everything was just peachy, and I was thrilled with the barrel and bucking.

But that's when everything went sour. While putting back the charging bolt into the receiver, the spring for it decompressed and turned into a pulled out mess. This wasn't that big of an issue, especially since it is easy to get a similar spring from household things, and hey, that can happen to springs under a lot of stress. I got the charging handle into the receiver without the spring, failing to find a replacement at the time. To make sure it was locking into place, I pulled it back, releasing the dust flap. The dust flap went flying back as intended, but was accompanied by an odd sound. A split second later I heard something hit my floor. Inspecting the dust flap, I found that a part had rocketed across my floor to never be found again. The dust flap would not lock into the Receiver anymore. I was a little annoyed that I had to find a replacement now, but the gun was still functioning great, so I put it out of my mind until I could get a replacement part.

409056_2551432232026_1440500844_31806929_2140679234_n.jpg
SR-25 at Camp R&R #2
409056_2551432232026_1440500844_31806929_2140679234_n.jpg (59.42 KiB) Viewed 8515 times

After getting everything back together, I decided I wanted to paint it. This is a long, not very relevant story, so I will keep it short and to the point. In short, I didn't buy Krylon, didn't know what I was doing, and paid dearly. A can of Goof Off later I had an SR-25 that looked like it had run through a garbage disposal and survived. The finish was worn and scratched on the upper and lower receiver, and the stock was to say the least not aesthetically pleasing. All in all this was all my fault, I payed for it, but definitely learned from my mistakes. The plus side now was that I had a gun that was ready to be repainted by someone who knew what they were doing.

Back on topic, another game was coming up. I got my gun put back together, and although pretty ugly, was working just fine. I got on the field (R&R again) and went to go chrono. Using .28s, I was getting anywhere from 320-360 FPS. Obviously there was an issue with the compression. The worst part was, the gun, although being an SR-25, had full auto. Luckily, switching the gun to be a true DMR would be easy, as all I would need is a new selector switch, as the stock one had a hole in it allowing it to pass the notch on the receiver allowing it to switch into auto. I was let into the game, but under the rule that I would be kicked out if I was caught going full auto. This was no problem, as I wanted to use this gun in its intended role.

During the game I had fun with the gun. It was pretty nasty out on the field, since there was snow, mud, and a good amount of pouring rain mixed with snow. The weather rendered my clear eye pro and scope useless due to the fogging, so I switched to my mesh and just did the whole "Glance-down-the-barrel" aiming. Around the end of the game, I was low crawling with another guy in the snow towards an entrenched position. Everything was going fine until I went to shoulder my gun. that's when I discovered that the stock had fallen off, and was being dragged by the wire connecting my battery. At some point, a washer in the stock had just pulled away from the plastic. I hadn't done anything weird with the stock, and was pretty surprised that this had happened. I guess it is possible I over tightened the screw holding it to the receiver, but it was still pretty disappointing at how cheap the stock was. I decided to keep on playing, keeping close eye on the stock and moving a little slower to accommodate it. 5 Minutes before the game ended, I wound up back in the village. I saw some guys moving from cover, so I shouldered my gun and started firing away. BB's were getting out to about 10 feet, then flying skyward. I tried adjusting my hopup, but to no avail. Obviously my hopup had gotten dirt in it. At that point I just called it and went to go pack up.

When I got home, I cleaned the barrel and hopup, and decided to inspect the gearbox due the the wonky compression. To my surprise I found a large amount of dirt brown gunk near the motor and spring guide. This was probably due to the conditions I was using the gun in, especially since the dust cover was open the entire game. For this reason I can't report on the grease job, but honestly I have my doubts considering it's an A&K. I cleaned up the gearbox with some Q-tips and isopropyl alcohol. Most people use mineral spirits, but I didn't have any readily available. After getting the gunk out, it was time for an inspection.

394114_2551432512033_1440500844_31806930_1694489555_n.jpg
SR-25 at Camp R&R #3
394114_2551432512033_1440500844_31806930_1694489555_n.jpg (39.53 KiB) Viewed 8515 times

The motor was the first thing I noticed. It is obviously a beefy motor. I can sweep it across my desk and pick up everything that is metal, including my screw driver. I see no point in replacing it, as it work's just fine and trigger response is fine with a 9.6v 5000Mah NiHM. The wiring is just your average boring old wiring, approx. 16-18 Gauge with a small Tamiya connector at the end. The gears seem fine, and would probably stand up to a much higher tension spring (SP130/SP140), but don't take my word on it. The piston and cylinder are your standard stock piston and cylinder, only a little longer to fit the extended gearbox. The shell doesn't seem to have been finished or polished, and although a little ugly/dirty looking, should work just fine. The nozzle is just an average nozzle, although I don't know if it is proprietary to the elongated V2 design or is a standard V2 nozzle.

Then we get to the lemons. The piston head is ported and creates a very bad seal, and needs to be replaced if you want any sort of consistency in this gun. As dumb as it may sound, with the cylinder head I originally thought it had no O-ring, thinking instead it just had a plastic bump molded to create an air seal, although I just recently discovered it is in fact a clear O-ring. Considering how bad the air seal was, I wasn't very surprised when I thought it was molded on. The O-ring itself is very weak and cheap, and should definitely be replaced. I seriously had to claw at it to get it out of the cylinder head, and it sits so low in the cylinder head that it barley creates any resistance trying to get the cylinder head into the cylinder.

Externals:

The gun itself is pretty solid. The receiver, RIS system, and barrel would have to take some serious abuse to break. The problem is with the smaller parts like the charging handle and dust flap. Keeping in mind everything breaks for me, it is possible I have just had bad luck, but from what I've seen with A&K, it is a crap shoot. You either get something built like a rock or soggy toilet paper. With some solid replacement externals, I could see this thing being pretty tough. My friend did replace the stock, so I am not going to count that against the gun.

I give the externals a 6/10, only for the issues with the smaller parts.


Internals:


The internals of this gun really leave something to be desired. With most guns, people replace the barrel and bucking right off the bat because they have so much influence on the accuracy of your gun and are the easiest things to replace. In my mind, not replacing the stock barrel in an AEG, especially a DMR, is like cooking a nice Steak and not putting any seasoning on it. Ya it's a nice steak, but it just isn't all it could be. Granted, there are some times when you don't need to upgrade an AEG's barrel, but in a gun like this, it's a must. Because of this (and the fact I haven't gotten to test the stock barrel and hopup) I am going to exclude this in the overall score.

The main problem with this gun is the inconsistency. Out of the box it just isn't what it should be. Normally this would be okay due to being able to completely overhaul the gearbox if you want, but since this is an extended V2 only certain parts fit. And those parts are expensive and hard to find. I just cant justify spending $70 on a bore up kit for this gun when it could go into other projects/gear, especially just to get it to a point where it is not erratic. Add in a tightbore for $30-$40, possibly a bucking for $6, and even maybe a spring for $8 and you are looking at easily $110 just to have a gun capable of calling a DMR. On top of that, who ever heard of an SR-25 that was capable of full auto? That adds just another part to replace if you want an actual DMR platform.

The internals get a 5/10, because of the horrible compression and quality of the stock parts.


Overall:


This gun is just not worth it. By the time it's at the point of being worth it's title of an SR-25, it's already cost you as much as a Classic Army CA-25 or G&G SR-25, so why not just save up some more and get one? I for one will be avoiding A&K like the plague after having dealt with this gun. Admittedly though, this gun has some decent parts to it. With the tightbore and bucking, I was getting good range past about 170 feet with decent shot grouping. After about 200 feet, BB's would curve off into one direction or another, which could be a million different things. The consistency was definitely wonkey, which as said is the main issue with this gun. Yes, I could pour the money into this gun to make it a semi auto lazer, but at this point I just don't feel like wasting my money on this. Knowing me it is going to sit on my shelf in pieces for a long time.

Overall I give it a 6/10, but still feel this gun is just not worth the purchase over other brands, unless you get a stellar deal to compensate for the overhaul it will need.


402307_2551430991995_1440500844_31806922_853228304_n.jpg
SR-25 at Camp R&R #1
402307_2551430991995_1440500844_31806922_853228304_n.jpg (63.28 KiB) Viewed 8515 times
Last edited by Cloudyrains on Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:16 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby Matt » Tue Feb 21, 2012 11:16 pm

Good review, thanks for sharing. Despite the fact that you don't have many pictures, you obviously had some issues with the gun and that's very important information for anybody considering making a purchase.
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby Cloudyrains » Wed Feb 22, 2012 1:06 am

Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to doing more of these as I get more guns :)
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby Bic 101 » Wed Feb 22, 2012 11:39 am

Good review. I would agree with Matt though. If you do take apart the gun again take some pictures up close.

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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby BigBearBob » Wed Feb 22, 2012 7:46 pm

The camo on it was a crappy job, also the barrel wasn't a prometheus 6.03, it was a masamune 6.01 the stock hopup on it is metal, and the hopup in it is a madbull ultimate hopup. The problem on the dust cover easy the screw on it fell out so I put some black tape over it. Oh yea I was the previous owner of it.
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby Cloudyrains » Thu Feb 23, 2012 10:36 am

Thanks for the reply, I will update it.
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby greatman78 » Thu Jul 19, 2012 5:43 pm

good review Cloudyrains just like your post though i need to see more of your pictures..keep it coming :D
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby Switchback » Thu Jul 19, 2012 6:50 pm

Nicely done. I looked into one of these a little bit ago... glad I didn't buy it ;)
Great review.
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Re: A&K SR-25

Postby Sir Stubby Eyre » Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:07 pm

Nice review Ian. Now if you have time do a review of Camp R&R :lol:
See you at the next game.
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