G&P USMC SAM-R (Squad Advanced Marksmen - Rifle)

G&P USMC SAM-R (Squad Advanced Marksmen - Rifle)


Weight: Approximately 7 lbs.
Length: 1005 mm / Approx 40 inches
Gearbox: Version 2 pre-upgraded by G&P
Velocity: 385 fps .2g / 350 fps .25g (118 meters per second average .2g bbs / 108 meters per second average .25 g bbs.)
Price: $470 shipped

Pros:

- All metal construction
- Full RIS/RAS unit
- Long inner barrel
- Easily upgradeable gearbox
- Solid Construction
- Stock is not shiny and plastic feeling, rather a composite look and feel
- Free floating RIS/RAS design
- One piece outer barrel


Cons:
- Lacks body tabs, top rattles a small amount
- Screw for stock removal is far inside the sock, hard to get at
- G&P hopup unit, a bit finicky
- Outer barrel wobbles when pressure is applied (not the biggest of deals, whose going to sit and torque it anyway?)


First Impressions
I ordered it on a Thursday night from RedWolf Airsoft and got the last one in stock. It shipped out immediately Friday morning, I was stoked, I would have it by Tuesday! Oh But wait! They have had problems with UPS and FedEx shipping their guns,� they ship it via Speedpost / Express USPS. My mood suddenly changed from happy to, dangit!

So alls well, it ships and gets to Chicago O'Hare Intl. Airport, and goes inbound into customs on Monday early morning. Well usually customs takes about a day to clear, right? Nope! The package took three and a half days to clear, I thought I would end up getting the gun seized, luckily enough, Thursday afternoon while I was at work, it arrived, thank god the girlfriend was home, otherwise I would have had to wait another day, and we all know the anticipation kills!

So I get home, happy as all hell, to see the girlfriend mainly, and then I see the gun sitting on my couch. I threw my stuff down, and ripped it open.

The gun was packaged in a brown box with G&P Laser Product written on it (their standard logo) and just two pieces of foam holding the gun in place. One on top, one on the bottom, not much protection, but the gun was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I could not have been happier. Looked, saw the RIS/RAS covers with it and just fell in love with it.



Construction
Well, I'm not one to judge, because I think it feels weak because the top flexes due to no body tabs on the upper half of the receiver, but others think differently. But hey, its nothing really noticeable unless you are sitting there TRYING to make it flex.

Trademarks were your standard USMC logo, covered by grip tape (skateboard tape). They turned out beautifully! The RIS/RAS front end even has the Knights statement and fake number on it. The free floating RIS/RAS though is a beauty. Nice feel to it and its rock solid. The lower half of the gun is incredibly solid. From the stock to the feeding nozzle, it just feels invincible. The upper half though, the inner barrel slides right out of the gun with no problem. That worried me, but honestly, when am I going to be field stripping the gun in a battle, and have to worry about that happening?

That brings up another good point, when you do need to take it down, since there is a lack of rear body tabs for the upper receiver, all you do is pull out the forward pin, and slide the top right off. The cocking handle doesn't catch on the nub on the top of the gearbox, because there is none! Kind of cool if you ask me!



Performance
Alright, so with the recent Blackhawk Down 2: Back to the Mog game, I had a great opportunity to test it out.

Charged up the batteries the night before, packed all my shaz, and left at 6 a.m. to get to the field. I was so antsy on the way down there just because I could play with my new gun! So we go through the game briefing, and get everything going, and game starts. SWEET!!

My first problem of the day, gun is TOO long with silencer on, lol. Well I got rid of that right away. Moving through the woods with the SAM is actually quite easy, with the silencer off. I'm not big, average height, and I could maneuver quite easily. Very comfortable to hold I might add, as your walking through the woods.

Well time comes to, and I find my spot and just start watching guys about 350 feet from my position. I moved in a little closer and so did they, not noticing where I was though. It got to the point where, I just wanted to see how far this thing can shoot. A guy moved within about 250 feet, and so it was time. I pulled off the first round, it plopped onto the ground; hit something inside of the silencer. Second shot followed suit, and I was getting angry, luckily enough the enemy didn't hear a thing, yet. Then I pulled off the third shot, and it seemed like it was guided on the wings of an angel, right into the head of the opposition. BOOM! HEADSHOT!! Wow, I had never pulled off a shot like that using NO aiming devices at all. I was impressed, greatly. Not only was it quiet enough, but it had some nice range and accuracy to it.

Flipping to full auto fire was a thing that most people would dream of. While I did not calculate the exact shots per second, on an 8.4v 1500 mAh battery, the G&P M120 hi speed motor really spits out the bbs, FAST! The rate of fire is identical, if not better, than a stock TM gun.

The rest of the day I used it, I noticed every few shots would just not have the power behind them that they should have, come to find out, the fps just bottomed out every few shots, and then just jumped right back up there. But it rocked everyone socks off. Good 'ole Guppy even loved it. I am in the process of finding out why. I just need an 18 inch screwdriver to detach the stock.

Range Performance
I have yet to actually sit down, and range the gun. I do plan on doing so, but I would like to fix the gearbox first, if there is a problem with it. I have recently moved from my country house with a huge backyard, to a nice urban area, so I do not have any place to test it out really.

Versatility
I will find out once I get that screw driver, just how nice the gearbox is on the inside, but for a stock gun (yes folks, those fps calculations were stock) with a Head 1950 inner barrel, it rocked! Being a version 2 gearbox though, it should not be too hard to upgrade it.

Only thing upgraded right out of the box was the inner barrel. I was dieing to put in my Head 1950 509mm inner barrel.

What I will say, from just noticing from the exterior of the gearbox though, is that there is a metal feeding nozzle already installed, G&P polyecetal piston, and metal spring guide installed already. And the gears have to be somewhat reinforced� to handle the fps that it puts out at the speed it puts out.

Conclusion
For the price tag, the gun is well worth it. What it would cost to just build the exterior of the gun, you would have paid over the price that I paid for the complete gun. The quirks just have to be worked out (as with every new non TM gun) and fine tuned.� The range on the beast is awesome, and accuracy is just what you would expect.



Reviewer : A-Ron
Reviewed : 23 Oct 2006