19 minute read
ARMOURY: VFC Mk48 MAXIMI LMG
MAKING YOUR MARK
IF YOU ARE A LONG TERM FOLLOWER OF AIRSOFT ACTION YOU MIGHT HAVE CAUGHT OUR LIVESTREAM PRESENTATION AT THE VFC BOOTH DURING MOA2020 WHEN VEGA FORCE COMPANY SOMEWHAT DOMINATED THE SHOW WITH THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF NUMEROUS EXCITING UPCOMING RELEASES; RAY CHANG, OUR GOOD FRIEND AND MARKETING MANAGER AT VFC, WAS SHOWING OFF A SOMEWHAT GAME CHANGING AEG IN THE FORM OF THE MK48 LMG, AND NOW STEWBACCA GETS A CLOSE-UP AND PERSONAL FIRST LOOK AT A ANOTHER VERY EXCITING MODEL!
Along with their epic gas blowback 7.62x51mm rifles such as the PSG-1 I acquired and reviewed in the Christmas issue, and the upcoming LAR I’m eagerly awaiting along with everyone else who’s a person of good taste, Ray Chang – Marketing manager at VFC at MOA2020 was also showing off a somewhat game changing AEG in the form of the Mk48 LMG AEG!
Now, you might think, LMG AEGs are nothing new as such, and, as I was relaying to Ray earlier when I visited the VFC Pentagon Service Centre a few MRT stops away from my place on the way home from work to pick up this latest release, I had hands on with such things way back in the winters of the mid 2000’s when my teammate had a full metal M249 at First and Only Matlock, running around in the snow with it for a round or two.
The difference that all those years have had, is a great deal more design and innovation squeezed into the latest LMG that VFC are offering; with a greatly reduced overall weight compared to longer serving competitors, contrasting a ridiculous heavy weight of fire brought to bear, the amount of ammunition that can be laid down in a single loading of the deluxe VFC Mk48 LMG AEG is equal to around half the weight of the gun itself! Boasting an overall weight of around 4 kilograms ‘dry’, the ease with which the Mk48 LMG can be wielded compared to its typical counterparts cannot be understated; indeed if you saw the livestream Ray was happily waving it around single handed with ease and even threatening to dual wield them in future, and he’s a much slighter and less portly fellow than myself!
This ultra-light-weight is achieved through the extensive use of aluminium for the construction, with the majority of functional controls or fixture components being steel. The bulk of the receiver and barrel bodies are aluminium that is specially surface finished and anodised in a manner that closely resembles parkerised steel, giving you all of the look and luster of the heavier construction of the real steel counterpart, without the actual real ‘steel’ and associated weight. Some may see this as a disadvantage or adversely affecting the realism or heft and user experience of the Mk48, but on the contrary!
The intention, as with all VFC products, is to provide a quality replica gun which is not just a wall hanger to
be appreciated, but a genuinely useful and enjoyable reproduction that brings great firepower capability without crippling or exhausting the user. Suffice to say all those years ago I’d had my fill of the other full weight M249 after a round or two of running around with it in freezing miserable conditions and my back would undoubtedly give out if I were to have to deal with that kind of load over a whole game or MilSim weekender.
Thus, the VFC Mk48 LMG offers a step change in performance and user experience. Great attention to detail is apparent in the external appearance and realism, to the point where the pistol grip and butt
stock and associated fixtures and receiver geometry are identical to the real steel ones, allowing users to replace them with genuine furniture if they have it available. Furthermore, there’s ability to interchange the fixed butt stock with the paratrooper version that rotates and telescopes down the sides of the receiver to provide a much shorter package. This is not yet available as a VFC-produced accessory, but it might be made in future depending on the success of the product and perceived user demand. The same is true of any difference in barrel length, but judging from the news that Ray told me regarding their initial run of 600 odd units intended for Asia only already being spoken for with confirmed sales, and at least a six month wait for the other undoubtedly salivating users in the West or elsewhere, it seems the Mk48 has certainly caught the attention of the appropriate fan base.
RUNNING AND GUNNING DELUXE
It will also be made available in two pricing bands of standard and deluxe; the latter ‘DX’ model will include some additional creature comforts that not only vastly improve the functionality and field-usefulness of the Mk48 but also the user experience and realism. With a drop-in unitised recoil simulation hammer unit that engages with the main piston of the gearbox and can be slid into engagement from the rear opening above the gearbox shell itself when the butt stock is removed or pivoted downwards, the realism is increased with a juddering of the mechanism during firing which is in perfect time with the gearbox operation; this unit can however be readily removed rearward if at some point its functionality is not desired for any reason.
This unit also engages with a pawl on the feed tray which shakes the fake belted ammunition upon firing to give the visual impression of the belt feeding rounds through the top cover from the box magazine! The box magazine itself is also an additional benefit of the DX variant, and not only rounds off the visual impact of the Mk48 but carries a ludicrous amount of additional ammunition, 8000 BBs, which can be fed electrically by the integrated motor which is also be slaved to the same battery in the butt stock which drives the main gearbox. Two small springloaded contacts protrude up from in front and behind the main mount locking lever and connect with corresponding contacts on the underside of the receiver to feed battery power from the buttstock to the motor and worm gear in the base of the box magazine. This then feeds the rounds from the box itself up a typical flexi-spring style hose which terminates in a face plate that can be slid down into an engagement slot on the front left of the main receiver just behind the pivot point of the top cover (which is covered by a lever style side plate when not in use) and this then feeds BBs into the top of the integral magazine space that is the main body. 800 BBs can be stored within the internal volume of the main receiver and the cosmetic gas piston
and cylinder that extend forwards out beneath the barrel, all of which are then fed into the hop unit from beneath, and can be manually filled from a latch at the rear of the body beneath the top cover. Even without the DX variant box magazine, 800 BBs is still a decent amount without even having to worry about an external magazine box or bag; the top cover is raised by pressing in the twin retention buttons at the top rear of the cover and lifting it up until it engages with the retention pawl on the front end which provides enough resistance to keep it in place ag unless you move the gun around a lot and cause it to close inadvertently.
The top cover hides the upper end of the integral magazine space, with a reasonable sized sliding hatch at its rear end that can be manually opened against its return spring using the slider in front of it, allowing you to pour BBs in from a bottle or bag; once the filling operation is completed the user can either manually trip the return button to the rear of the hatch, or alternatively a swift closing of the top cover will automatically trip this button anyway. The BBs themselves feed down through a small opening in the front right opposite the box mag hose port, and when filling it might require you to tilt the gun forward on its bipod and even shake it a little to make sure the BBs pass through the side channel beneath the cosmetic ejection port and fill the front storage compartment.
The cosmetic ejection port cover also has a small fin on its inside face that blocks this channel when closed, preventing feeding of ammunition from the upper magazine space as well as, by extension, the external box mag, and while I would not advise relying on this method as a safety feature, it does seem to allow you to at least empty the front magazine space and prevent further BBs feeding in. Thus the cosmetic charging handle on the right side of the receiver which opens the cosmetic ejection port cover must be cocked to open the port cover during use and allow BBs to pass through, then it is advisable to close it at the end of each game, to prevent anything getting in through the small opening that the blocking fin protrudes into.
The box magazine itself is mounted onto a fairly typical lateral lug under the receiver that the dovetail on top of it slides into from the left hand side, with the sprung tongue latch on top engaging on its underside to keep the box magazine in place. Although it is naturally a little stiff anyway, it’s advisable to support the whole gun on its fully extended bipod if you are fitting or removing it. In reality, however, aside from storage or carriage to and from game sites, there is no real reason to remove the box during the course of the gameplay, aside from perhaps instances where its physical height impedes your playing style or getting very prone, because the box can be topped off easily by loosening the lowest fake round of the ammunition belt from under its retention nub at the front end to reveal the filling port
beneath. Ammunition can be easily poured into the box through here, although be warned it also pours out easily in transit if not blocked off somehow! My only complaint really, and something a 3D printed plug or factory installed sliding cover would solve, otherwise a tight pouch or bag for transit should avoid spills.
EXTERNALLY COMPOSED
The bipod is comprised of entirely CNC machined components and affords the user three levels of adjustment, actuated by pressing in the spring steel protrusions that pop out through the three cutouts in the outer lower stanchions of the bipod legs to allow them to slide up or down into the other positions. Deploying the bipod from either the front or rearward stowage positions merely requires pulling down into the vertical position, and the legs will spring outwards naturally and lock, albeit with a little flex built in to allow movement during deployment and prone firing. To store them is the reverse; grabbing both legs within your hand, easier with bear paws like mine, and squeezing them back together then raising them forwards or backwards and up into either stowage positions and then releasing them to lock in the upward position.
Atop the receiver and main barrel body is the carry handle, which is well placed to allow the whole gun to be carried around with ease. This can be locked in the upward position with a nub that latches forwards when the handle is lifted; pulling the whole handle rearward disengages this and allows it to drop to the either side out of the line of sight of any optics mounted on the integral Picatinny rail of the top feed cover. VFC were good enough to provide me a sample with an excellent replica ELCAN already fitted, an ideal optic of choice.
The handle also allows the barrel itself to be removed; the large swinging latch behind and above the barrel root collar is pressed and the barrel itself pulled off forwards with the carry handle. This allows for ease of maintenance as the hop unit, rubber and top adjustment grub screw as well as the rear end of the barrel are all readily accessible, allowing changing, cleaning or adjustment at leisure, although the hop unit can also be adjusted through the small hole at the front of the receiver underneath the opened top cover as well if preferred.
The pistol grip and buttstock are fibre reinforced nylon in construction similar to the real steel equivalents, with the fixed butt stock having a rotating butt pad that allows access to the internal battery space. The leads provided terminate in Deans / T-Pugs which are becoming somewhat of an industry standard thankfully, although an adaptor lead for use with mini Tamiya is also included. VFC recommend an 11.1V LiPo battery to ensure responsiveness of the gearbox especially when the electric recoil hammer unit is also a load upon its piston and the battery is also used to drive the box magazine feed
motor too. An integrated electronic cutout battery protection unit is included and the ‘C’ rating of your battery should be appropriate to its overall capacity, although the butt stock storage compartment will limit your options to some extent. The internals reflect the same attention to detail as the excellent looking externals; the gearbox is the latest design, and the DX variant even sports fully CNC machined gears over the typical offerings used in the standard version and other products, ensuring superb smooth running and durability especially considering the additional load of the recoil hammer unit and ammo belt.
The iron sights reflect their real steel counterparts with an elevation adjustable shielded front post which requires a real steel tool to adjust…not included! As well as the diopter rear sight with a left side windage adjustment dial in front of the range adjustment dial behind, beneath and rearward of these are the large retention knob that unlocks the butt stock for access. Finally, should you find yourself possessed with the need to create an expensive discotheque the barrel is in fact threaded as standard for tracer units to be fitted, which would be admittedly impressive for night operations, one assumes! The rate of fire of the Mk48 is deliberately limited to 800 rounds per minute in order to prevent the gearbox outrunning the feed mechanism and also reduce the wear and tear on the DX version’s hammer recoil assembly.
DOWNRANGE
So, with all this waxing lyrical about the ins and outs of it all, how does it shoot? The gents were good enough to give me a full box load and internal magazine brimming with 0.2g BBs and not only let me have a blat at the Pentagon centre, but also take the Mk48 away over Chinese New Year to field it for some outdoor range testing to see how it performs.
We were fortunate enough to have a team outing coming up the weekend of Chinese New Year, so after picking up the Mk48 from Ray and the Pentagon Centre team on the Thursday afternoon beforehand, we made our way out that Sunday to the same abandoned incinerator site you may recognise from my PSG-1 review photos; it has an excellent massive internal hall ideal for sheltered target practice and testing, which was good as the weather was fine sideways rain all day and we stuck to playing inside of the buildings.
After some initial setup and fiddling to make sure everything was in order I started stretching the legs of the Mk48 using abandoned office chairs with spent green gas cans on as targets at roughly 20, 30 and 50 metre distances; the floor was also waterlogged due to the derelict nature of the building and all its leaking ceilings, which was actually useful for picking out the BBs peppering the floor when they missed the chairs or gas cans. At the first chair around 20m away and using 0.2g BBs the Mk48 was easily carving out a group within the seat section of the chair and can easily engage a torso sized target at that range; even stretching it out to the 30 and 50 metre chair targets the BBs were reaching out there albeit with some walking in of the fire; using the ELCAN or a similar 4x magnification optic is ideal for this platform as it allows you to follow the arc of your fire and adjust drop over distance.
Nonetheless, the range was impressive and even out at its limit the size of the beaten zone I could see through the scope and with the hits on the water causing splashes, you can easily use the Mk48 in its intended harassing or suppressing fire role out to a good distance; heavier ammunition and some tweaking of the hop would no doubt improve things, along with a properly bedded in hop bucking, if you really feel the need to tighten the grouping for some reason.
All of the team tried their hand with the LMG and loved the recoil function, range, added realism of the belt feed shaking unit and the obvious performance the Mk 48 offers, and we’re seriously considering clubbing together and buying one as a team gun we can all share and make use of, particularly in MilSim games where we like to use more realistic squad roles and tactics together. The only minor issue I had was what appeared to be a failure that took some time to remedy; we had a stoppage, with the alarm sounding on the onboard electronics, I changed the battery a few times with no luck, then I realised the barrel was slightly forwards out of battery. It seems I’d lifted the top cover a bit too swiftly at some point and tripped the barrel release lever as a result, but it’s a good indication that the onboard diagnostic system does its job well; I removed the barrel, shook out some loose BBs that had gotten in between it and its trunnion, and we got back to emptying the magazine between us. Huge grins and convinced faces all round, it’s definitely solid, yet lightweight enough to be an easily-wielded piece of kit!
I’d like to once again extend my sincere thanks to Ray and the VPSC staff for their time taken answering all my questions and not only explaining in depth, but also entrusting me with one of the few prototypes to get a first look into this exciting new platform. If you’re looking for a convenient, high quality, ultrahigh-capacity but still easily-fielded LMG, you should really turn it up… to the Maximi! AA
