Well the new toy arrived and she is very nice!!!!!!!
Here is a brief history of the real steel M110
The M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System is intended to replace the M24 Sniper Weapon System used by snipers, spotters, designated marksman, or squad advanced marksmen in the United States Army. However, the Army still acquired M24s from Remington until February 2010.[1] After witnessing the effects of USSOCOM snipers and extensive after-action reports from SOF snipers throughout the Iraqi theater of operations, the U.S. Army ran a competition involving several designs, including rifles from Knight's Armament Company, Remington, and DPMS Panther Arms. On September 28, 2005, the Knight's Armament Co. rifle won the competition and was selected to be the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System. In April 2008, U.S. Army soldiers from Task Force Fury in Afghanistan were the first in a combat zone to receive the M110. The troops rated the weapon very highly, noting the quality of the weapon and its semi-automatic capabilities compared to the bolt-action M24. The United States Marine Corps will also be adopting the M110 to replace the M39 and Mk 11 as a complement to the M40A5.[2]
It is manufactured by Knight's Armament Company in Titusville, Florida, though the complete system incorporates a Leupold 3.5–10x variable power daytime optic, Harris swivel bipod, AN/PVS-14 night sight and PALs magazine pouches of yet unpublished origin. The rifle has ambidextrous features such as a double-sided magazine release, safety selector switch, and bolt catch.
Now on to the Aries XM110 SASS
Came is a pretty plain box well packed in black dense styrofoam stuff which held it in place nicely.
Came with a 160 round mid cap mag
3 rail covers
XM110 scope mount
and a stick type speed loader.
I also purchased a 300 round hicap mag for it too.
Out of the box it was very impressive, the colour was very nice and very close to the reference pics I have of the real steel (although the real steel has tan controls too)
I took it into the work shop and changed to connector in the stock to a XT60 (which I like better than deans personal preference) and loaded up the mid cap mag with 0.2g BB's and did a quick chrono test.
She was shooting 330fps with a fluctuation of no more that 2fps!!! A little on the low side for a DMR but swapping the spring out with my AK will soon fix that. **After swapping the spring out with my AK she is now shooting about the 385 fps mark on 0.2g BB's (about 350 fps mark on 0.25g BB's) according to the chrono so now I is happy!!**
By this time it was time for me to head off to work so off I went with thoughts of mounting the scope and having another shoot running through my head.
So after dinner I headed back into the workshop and proceeded to mount the scope where I found that the scope mount was too big for my scope so thank god I had some rubber floating round where I was able to shim it up and make it fit good.
I then noticed something else?? Both the retaining pins were in backwards I popped them out and placed them in correctly and now the gun will break down without having to take out the pins completely as they have little locking springs and pins that hold them in place.
Like the real steel this gun has fully functioning ambi controls and also the bolt locks back when you rack it and releases with the press of either bolt release. Also like the RS the stock is adjustable where a round nut on the right hand side of the stock is loosened and the back plate slides back about 4 inches.
The gun came with two quick release sling mounts one on either side of the stock
and one that mounts on to the front rail.
Ares has also recreated quite well if I say so myself the trades on the gun
and also
Internally this gun is running a standard V2 Ares mech box which gives it an awesome advantage over normal V2 mech boxes as it has a quick change spring set up where you take off the stock remove the spring guide from the back of the mech box and there is the spring in your hands. I have had to do this for a club mates Star M4 which has a similar system and it makes life so much easier when breaking down the mech box!!! I wish more companies did this it would save me untold time!!!
Also unlike other airsoft manufactures Ares uses a micro switch for the trigger which makes for an extremely fast trigger response (turned over like it was running an 11.1v lipo on a 7.4v lipo) and a nice light trigger pull (which is an advantage for a sniper!!)
All I need to do now is spend a little time sighting in the scope and get a bipod and MS2 sling and I will be happy as.
More updates will come after the first game or two!!!
Porky out.
