I Chih Shivan MP5A2
I used to have an MP5 that was, IIRC, a Tokyo Marui SD4 with an older Classic Army metal body on it converted to an A4. I sold it off when I was weeding out the collection as I hardly ever used it, and kind of missed it.
I wanted another MP5 mostly as a wall hanger/plinker/show piece, and maybe as an end-of-the-day-my-scrawny-arms-are-tired game AEG/loaner. As such I really wasn't willing to pay $500 for a new one and as a show piece an unmolested metal body was required.
My first choice would have been a Classic Army B&T MP5, but $500 for a BNIB AEG that I'm hardly ever going to game is pretty impractical. I'd heard decent things about ICS AEGs, the only one I own is the L85 and it doesn't work, but the externals are impressive enough so I thought I might try one of those. Online reviews of ICS guns in general seem to be pretty lacking (in quality of review and quantity).
Ordering & Shipping
Mach1 Airsoft is the ICS distributor in Canada and their prices on ICS AEGs are very reasonable for the Canadian market. ICS's full metal MP5 line sells for around $220-240 in the US market, so $340 in Canada is pretty darned good.
I wanted to make sure I wasn't getting a halfbreed or plastic body MP5, so I e-mailed Mach1 asking about the ICS-07 (MP5A2). They replied within 24 hours confirming it was a full metal gun.
I ordered this online from Mach1, and I have two complaints: First off, the ONLY payment option Mach1 gives you is Paypal. You can use either debit or credit, but you have to do it through Paypal. This wouldn't bother me except Mach1
also charges you the 3% processing fee. Really? No other options. Worked out to about $12 on my order. Not a lot but still. Most retailers will just hide this in the overall price.
My second -and much larger complaint- is that Canpar is used as the shipper. Basically, if you're not at home during the day, Canpar is fucking terrible. They have few depots and you can only pick up your package between 17:00-18:30. You have to call them to see where your package ended up (they actually tell you to use e-mail.. 8+ hour response time, yea, fuck that). Their depot closest to me ended up being on the other side of Hamilton (every tried driving westbound on the QEW at 17:20?). Shit, it would have been faster for me to drive to Toronto to Mach1's store than to have it shipped (closer too). While shipping prices are fair for a package of this size, I will not have a package shipped from Mach1 again unless I can guarantee I'll be home or they use a different shipper. If you have the option of shipping to your workplace you'll be fine. Unfortunately that wasn't an option for me. Anything else I buy from Mach1 I'll just drive to their store and get it.
Basic Overview
BATTERY: 8.4v 1500Mah mini.
MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 230 rounds.
FIREING MODES: Safe/Semi/Full Auto
MATERIAL: Zinc Alloy + Standard Industrial Plastic (ABS)
HOP-UP: Adjustable
WEIGHT: ~2,200g
VELOCITY: 430+
MECHBOX: Standard Version 2
What's in the box?
The ICS MP5 comes with a whole bunch of goodies. In the box you'll find the standard ICS plastic insert that holds the gun fairly well. You'll also find:
-An MP5A2 airsoft gun.
-An instruction manual with Canada-market stamp on it (manual is generic for all of ICS's MP5 series).
-A CD that includes information on airsoft, ICS, and diss-assembly videos for all of ICS's current guns. This is pretty handy for those unfamiliar with ICS airsoft guns.
-A 1500Mah 7-cell (8.4v) Ni-Mh battery with small connectors.
-Two metal tactical maracas.
-A bottle of what appear to be decent quality 0.2g Bbs.
-A spring (I'm assuming this is the “standard” spring that ships with ICS guns).
-A small-to-large battery connector.
-A wall charger (power adapter).
-An unjamming rod.
First Impressions
-Lightweight. For a metal bodied gun I expected a little more weight from the MP5. The older CA bodied one I had was definitely heavier.
-There was a strange white powder on different parts of the gun, likely caused by rubbing from somewhere.
-Looks good. Despite the lighter weight body it looks very good. I especially like the texture on the foregrip and lower receiver. The stock is pretty standard.
Weight:
Lightweight! This is one of the lightest AEGs I own. Maybe just slightly heavier than the Echo1 P90.
Sources put it at about 2,300g. Sounds about right.
Build Quality
Very good. Despite the lighter weight there is no movement or flexing anywhere. The magazines lock in very tight and don't wobble at all in the magwell. The lower receiver and foregrip are very nicely textured and don't shine at all. The stock is pretty standard for what I've seen on other MP5s.
Metal parts include the upper receiver, front and rear sights, trigger, selector lever, all three sling mounts, body pins, mag release lever, and cocking handle.
Like the RS MP5 the lower is plastic but still looks very good, along with the stock and foregrip. On this replica the cocking tube assembly is plastic, and thus looks a slightly different colour than the rest of the body. It looks good enough and is strong with no flex but marks easier than the metal. A new, full aluminum cocking assembly will run you about $100. The cocking tube spring isn't too strong, but like most MP5s I'd still shy away from doing the “HK slap” until you replace it with one made of reinforced mithral. I did it a couple of times because it's awesome, but no more. One disappointing thing was the flash hider (or I guess thread protector on this gun) -it's plastic and does shine a wee bit. It also has no threads.. so there won't be any suppressor attached to this gun. It can be easily removed by removing the hex screw under the foresight.. and replaced with one that doesn’t suck.
Shitty thread protector
The selector is stiff and feels kind of funny. It drags on the textured track so feels a bit like it “grinds” when you move it. It still locks into place well and I suspect this will get better as it's used more*. It's similar to the selector on the G3 series, though the TM selector moves much more freely but the track isn't textured like this one is. The markings are very crisp and are the standard German “Safe”, “Economical” and “Fun” trigger groups. The markings are on both sides of the gun so you can easily see where it is set from either side. Be aware though that this is not an ambidextrous selector and is designed for right-handed shooters.
*After working it a bit the selector has loosened up.
Another thing worth mentioning is that the mid sling mount (the one attached to the magwell) is quite stiff. On most MP5s I've seen attaching a sling here would be tempting fate. This one is pretty good in comparison.
Final thoughts on the construction
Overall I'd say there is nothing disappointing about the build quality of this gun. It's definitely gameable without worry, though I'm not sure the lighter metal body would hold up if you fell on it with all your weight.
The metal body isn't as heavy as other more expensive AEGs, but it looks great, the finish is excellent, and is still cheaper than some of the halfbreeds out there.
The Sights
Standard MP5 iron sights. The front sight is fixed (and unlike the ICS MX5-P, you can't change out the front sight post. This is actually a little known feature of the RS MP5. Too bad ICS didn't copy it for this gun as well). The rear sight is fully adjustable for elevation and windage. Although it has 3 holes + full open, all 3 holes are the same size so you in effect only get 2 aperture settings. This is probably fine for airsoft, but if you really want to be accurate replacing the rearsight with a metal Classic Army one might be preferable.
Like all MP5s the upper has mounting points molded in to add your own choice of MP5 specific rail.
Trademarks
The ICS-07 lacks replica trademarks. There is an engraved serial number on the right hand side of the magwell, and an engraved (but unhighlighted) 'Kal. 9mm x19' on the other side of the magwell. I'm not a huge one to care about trades so this doesn't bother me a whole lot, though I understand that older ICS MP5s had more extensive trademarks.
Magazines
The ICS MP5 comes with
two metal 230 round high capacity magazines. The only markings on the magazines is “9mm x19 IF” at the bottom. They lock in the magwell quite well and don't wobble at all. These hicaps take quite a bit of winding.
I'm not a fan of hicaps but to start off 460 round capability makes this gun more than usable out-of-box.
I don't have any other MP5 magazines to test with unfortunately.
Performance, Firing, and Internals
The ICS MP5 comes with a 8.4v mini battery with a small tamiya connector. The gun has a large. It also comes with a small-to-large adapter. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand it's nice to see a higher end gun come with a battery. On the other hand the amount of resistance you'll get through
four tamiya connectors is ridiculous, so even with a low velocity spring battery life will be degraded. On a more powerful spring I suspect you'll get maybe 1,000 rounds through it before the battery can no longer supply enough power to pull the spring.
WIRE FOR EVERYONE!!!
Either way, I tested the gun out-of-box as shipped from Mach1 Airsoft with the included battery, adapter, and hot spring. I tested with BB Bastard 0.20g BBs and an Xcortech x3200 shooting chronograph. Results:
471.3
475.7
430.7
470.1
471.6
Average: 463.8. Rate of fire: 10.8 rounds per second.
Obviously this velocity is FAR above the 430+ stated by the manufacturer. Not that it matters, it's too hot to game anywhere in Canada anyway. And 10.8 RPS for a submachinegun is.. lacking.
Performance after Spring Swap
I swapped in the other spring the gun came with, which is I suspect the “standard” ICS spring.
357.9
361.0
360.6
356.5
355.7
Average: 358.2. Rate of fire: 13.73 rounds per second.
This was again on the stock battery. Velocities are much better and after some use the spring will probably settle down to around the ~350 range. If you're planning on using this gun in doors though a new spring might be advisable just to be sure. At least it's gameable outdoors with this spring. Overall FPS variance around 5 FPS isn't too terrible for a stock gun, but I've seen better. ROF was pretty sad. Considering it's going through 3! pairs of tamiya connectors though no real surprise.
A note about large batteries: The stock for the MP5A2 is rather tight. I can fit a 2,000 Mah large battery in there without too much trouble (although there is a lot of excess wire that is hard to tuck away), however I have a 2,400 Mah and a 3,400 Mah large battery and NEITHER will fit in the stock. Granted my 2.4A battery is rather old so maybe newer ones will fit. If you want to use a 9.6v battery you're going to be relegated to a mini.
Hop-up
While I don't have enough room to gauge the hop effectiveness, I can say that the gun uses the Marui style hop-up. The little lever is black -not white- so it isn't overly noticeable.