Classic Army B&P Mp5a4/a5 Lighted Foregrip Review

Classic Army B&T Mp5a4/a5 Lighted Foregrip

Weight: Approximately 5 lbs. unloaded, no battery
Length: 570 mm / 700mm
Gearbox: Version 2 pre-upgraded by Classic Army
Velocity: 305-310 fps
Price: $315 shipped (AirsoftGI)

Pros:

- Metal upper receiver
- Flash light with similar brightness to Surefire flashlight
- New design hopup chamber
- Easily upgradeable gearbox
- Solid Construction
- Moving ejection port cover, when you pull back charging handle
- Quick takedown receiver
- Steel sling mount on mag well



Cons:
- Questionable cocking handle strength (hasn't broken yet)
- Gearbox caked in grease stock
- Quick takedown can present problems if wired to the front (easily fixable)
- Stock has to be modified to fit 9.6v battery

First Impressions
I ordered it on January 10th, 2007 from Airsoft GI. Used the free shipping coupon and threw in some other oddities. PRAYED and prayed that it would be here in time for Takedown: Reloaded.

January 17th finally rolls around, and of course I miss the delivery of the package. Luckily enough I have a girlfriend who loves me enough to go and pickup a 30 lb box that is almost the size of her from UPS and bring it home for me.

TD: Reloaded was on January 20th, and 21st, and I was leaving on the 19th... I had two days to get this thing hooked up with deans ultra T connectors. Easy enough right? Yeah, try doing it in five minutes time.
So that finally came to and everything was set ready to go for the game in Michigan.

I popped it on my chronograph, waiting to see it only say that it got like 150 fps, and that I'd have to gut the thing and rework it for the Op.
First shot.. 311 fps
Second shot... 315 fps
Third shot... 316 fps
Fourth, 314 fps
hmmm.... Could I finally have gotten a NON CA LIMON!? Sure did!! Imagine the look on my face, pretty much a delayed present for Christmas. ** Yeah, my paid vacation bonus paid for this, which conveniently comes the week before Christmas. **

So I get it all ready and pack it up for its long journey to Michigan, after all, it was the first trip out of state it'd be taking, lol.

Construction
When I opened the box of course I was mesmerized, it was a brand new toy gun! Something I could pop Downslide with in the ankle!!!

I picked it up and noticed that it did in fact have a little heft to it, and felt impressively sturdy. Keep in mind, I am the guy who has been through about 10 different Mp5s before, from UTG, to ICS, to Marui. NEVER liked a single one of them until I felt a CA.
You can just feel how solid it is. No flex in the body at all, you don't have to worry about dropping it, or falling on it really. It feels solid enough that I could support my own weight on it when I needed to get up off of the ground. < Yeah tried that, and YUP YOU CAN!

The CA hicap that came with it is almost junk to me. It's just in the box as a "backup" magazine if all else fails and I need to pray while I'm sprayin'.

One thing that amazed the heck out of me is the metal body, new design hopup, and the ejection port and how it moves.
The metal body has its own stamped serial number, authentic (or so they claim) B&T logo, and is quite solid. Better feeling than an Armalite body, if I may say so myself. I will NEVER go back to a Marui for just the fact of the metal body.
The new design hopup is simliar to a Armalite hopup unit mixed with a bit of Ak hopup. Instead of a wheel that you spin back, you pull a slide back to set the hopup. Oh, not to even mention the fact that is a one piece, MEATAL hopup unit.
The ejection port cover / charging handle motion is something neat, but the only real use the cocking handle has on the gun is to expose the hopup. More than enough reason, right? For all of you aesthetic nuts out there, you'll love it. You can actually see inside the gun when you pull back the charging handle. All you can see is the hopup unit, but still, it something!

Performance
So I've had this gun since January, right? January 17th to be exact.
I bought it for a specific game, Takedown: Reloaded, to have a CQC weapon to use. Something a bit more compact than my M4 CASV (at the time).
Well I never even used it. I let Downslide used it pretty much when he needed to, and that just so happened to be almost the whole day.
What I can tell you though, is WOW! We ran a 9.6v 3000 mAh battery in the gun, with a 30 amp discharge to it. The sucker spit bbs down range faster than the MAG midcaps could and would feed.
I'm not kidding you when people literally stopped firing to see what the heck the noise was coming from behind them as Downslide was laying down on the trigger for 20-30 round bursts.
25-28 of those rounds the intended target absorbed into their skull, yet never called themselves out, but thats a different story. We shall not go there.
So day one of TD: Reloaded was over, and the only thing coming out of Downslide's mouth was, "I've GOT to get me one of those!!!" I guess you could say he was a little impressed.
Keep in mind, the main reason we ran a 9.6v 3000 mAh , 30 amp discharge battery on the gun BONE STOCK was to put it through a test. A test it passed with flying colors.

The weekend comes to an end, we drive back through a non-exhistant snow storm with burning cars in the ditch, and babies rollin' across the road, people bleeding from the eyes.... Oh wait.. Nevermind, you had to be there for that story too, lol.
So we get back, I get home on the following Monday, January 22nd, and I'm curious to see what the damage done to the gun was.
From the time it took me to open the gun, examine it, fix the problem, and put it back together fully it took me about 45 minutes. This could not have been done on a UTG or Marui where you have to take it apart like ten different times.
So I open it up, and didn't notice anything really wrong until I took out the piston. One of the "guide rails" on the piston had broken off. It was partly chewed up by the gears, and the remaining bit was stuck in some grease next to the sector gear.
That was the ONLY problem with the gun. After sending probably 5000 rounds through it in ONE day, a small piece (maybe one centimeter long) had broken off of the back end of the piston. WOW! I'm really freakin' impressed now.

So that's pretty much the end of January.
Couple games roll by and I bring the gun along with me, but never use it.

April 1st, Path to Glory, rolls around and I bring it along with me once again to the game, only to let Stelthturkey use the Mp5. Take a guess at what his impression was.... Yup! I gotta get me one of these.

Finally APOC rolls around.. Op: Roundup.
My main intention for this game was to carry around an Mp5 under a vest dealy that Ghostbear would make, and just carry magazines in my pockets.
With construction going on right on the main road outside of work, money was now a scarcity for the next couple weeks. That means I don't get a neat fancy costume, and to play the part.
Regardless, I pack up the Mp5, the CASV-SD/203, SAM-R, and the M9 and head out to Poynette. The whole time wondering if I should sell the CA Mp5 or not. I mean I've had it for now four months, and still have not used it a single bit. Its a 300 dollar wall hanger, more with the magazines and battery for it!

Anyway, finally game starts May 6th, and I roll out the M4 CASV 203 and the SAM-R, all the while the Mp5 just sits in the case.
I get approached by a big Hawaiian guy, and I am recruited for the Al Queada. He needs us to get a "bomb" inside of a castle, and we'll get some points. FINALLY!!! Here's my chance!
I grab the Mp5, the magazines I had preloaded for it, and go out onto the field. Bring it up, go to sight in the hopup, dial it in correctly, and go!
Get with range of a few "baddies" pop off a couple shots. I forgot how quiet the thing can be outside. I'd only ever heard it while chronographing it inside of my apartment. Pretty neat.. OH yeah! The baddies. Well they weren't too happy because I had the gun down at my side and I walked by them, then when their backs were facing I pulled up my weapon and shot them. Three guys, five shots taken total. 80 feet out, no sights. Wow, cool, sweet!
It now just became a "use" rather than a wall hanger. The 300 dollars was well spent now, lol.
So to continue the story to the end of my useage of it, I am going into trying to get closer to the castle. I hate running to objectives with weight on, so I dump it off of me again, and guess who picks it up? Yup.. Downslide again. He's of course in heaven again, he doesn't have to break his to own stuff, he gets to play with my ub3r l33t k00l stuff!
With the little bit of usage I finally got out of it, all I can say is, "Wow... Really nice!"

Range Performance
This thing is stock. Haven't touched a single thing inside of it since I got it.
I was easily pulling off 100-120 ft shots at man sized targets.
I could range out to 150+ feet trying to hit a bit bigger target, and arching or over hoping the gun, easily reached.

For a CQC gun, what more do you want really? I mean com'on! How often are you going to need to shoot 100 feet down a hallway? Unless your at Asylum, but there are no more of those.

Versatility
I don't know how much more versatile you could get with a CQC gun. It works not only indoors for those Close Quarter Combat situations, but you could easily hold your own in "typical" extr333m soft game.

I don't really have any plans on upgrading it, or customizing it. So far I have not, it still has the brake off of the piston guide rail on the piston yet. Same gears, same piston head, same cylinder, same EVERYTHING!
The parts are out there, yes, but I just don't fancy them too much. I like the way the Mp5 looks plain. No RIS/RAS, no super long outer barrel and silencer to mask a longer inner barrel, no drum mag to make a "non realistic" replica (imo), definitely not going to throw on a grenade launcher (even though you could)... Theres hundreds of things you can do to it, but in the end... It just does not look the same as if you leave it stock.

Conclusion
For the price tag, the gun is well worth it. I don't think I've ever been as satisifed with a CQC gun as much as I am with this one.
I purposely put this review up four+ months after purchasing and using it, just so I could get a good opinion of the gun.
Sell it? Probably not, its a neat little toy to play with, and even lend out. I think Black_Kade even used it at a game, I don't remember which one, but he did, and I'm certain he loved it too.



Reviewer : A-Ron
Reviewed : 14 May 2007