9 minute read
ARMOURY: SPECNA FLEX
PRICED TO ENTICE!
SPECNA ARMS HAVE REALLY BEEN DRIVING FORWARD HARD DURING THE PERIOD OF THE COVID PANDEMIC, AND IT STILL SEEMS THAT EACH MONTH THEY ARE RELEASING MORE NEW MODELS OF AEG, AND HEADING IN MANY EXCITING DIRECTIONS AT THE SAME TIME! BILL HAS SPENT SOME TIME WITH ONE OF THE LATEST MODELS TO BE RELEASED, THE “ENTRY LEVEL” SA-F01 FLEX, AND NOW BRINGS IN HIS FINDINGS…
As I’ve said openly before I honestly think I’d be hardpushed to think of another AEG manufacturer that has consistently released so many models and variants in such a short space of time, as although Specna Arms have been knocking around for a while now, their recent output can only be described as “full-on”!
I remember seeing the brand appear on the Gunfire stand some years back with a small range of “ARinspired” models, and now they seem to cover off some absolutely righteous models whether you’re new to airsoft or an old hand! I believe it would now be impossible to make that same mistake, as Specna Arms have become an “airsoft household” name, with a wide range of retail stockists throughout Europe, and further designs on expansion worldwide if I read what I’m currently seeing right!
And the fact is that they have the goods to back all this up, and they continue to innovate and inspire with new models to suit any, and every, airsoft player out there, models that are well-built, well-priced, and perform from the box. This, ultimately is what we, the players, truly want if we’re honest, as although we are bombarded with words, pictures, and videos from folk telling us to “fettle, change, and upgrade” our AEGs and GBBs what most of REALLY want is to get out and play a game with an AEG that, you know… works!
Although we have been constrained over the last couple of years in our ability to actually get out and use our airsoft kit in earnest, the fact is that in my opinion we are living in “halcyon airsoft days”, where most firearm models are available as really quite excellent airsoft replicas, and our choice is bigger and wider than ever. And that to me is where manufacturers like Specna Arms (there are others!) have stepped into the ring with gloves raised to take on all comers in a thoroughly professional way.
Not only are we seeing the “business model” of airsoft changing, but as I have said before we are seeing airsoft manufacturers going their own way to pursue design concepts of their own, and turn those concepts into reality. The future of airsoft looks sunny for sure, and with many new players coming in, especially after the pandemic, there’s always going to
be a need for entry level models and the new FLEX series from Specna Arms has been designed purposely to fill that slot!
NEW FOR THE NEWBIE
I personally hate the term “noob” as it has such negative connotations, and although some new players really don’t get the whole “airsoft/honour” thing to start with (and frankly some never do!), there are many that do from the get-go, and they charge into the game with energy and enthusiasm, and are a pleasure to play alongside! I recently saw a
post by a young man who’d just played his first game and it was full of praise for the site, the marshals, the game, and above all, the friendliness and openness of all the more seasoned players he’d met! This is what I love to see on social media, rather than the toxic rantings of some poor deranged “chairsofter! And of course new players are going to need their very first AEG, aren’t they? Everyone that’s been playing airsoft for a while knows what a money pit it can be, and for those just starting the outlay can be daunting, not just in relation to their AEG but in terms of accessories and gear! And this is where the FLEX series come in, as the two current models available, the F01 (SBR) and F02 (carbine) are priced VERY keenly, with the shorty being sub-UK£100! So, if you are looking for a lightweight and reliable AEG to get you rolling then the FLEX series of AEGs have been designed just for you, and after thorough testing of the SA-F01, I have to say that these really are super little AEGs that will get you going, or keep you going in a pinch, and at the price they’re certainly not going to break the bank!
Although the FLEX models are super-cheap in terms of price (and that should make any airsofter cheerful!) that’s not to say that they are in any way deficient when it comes to doing their job… okay, they ARE pretty much 100% polymer as the receiver set, free-float rail system, buffer tube, CRANE style- stock, “iron sights”, and the pistol grip are made of polymer reinforced with nylon fibre; this reinforcement makes the structure more durable than other polymer structures. The barrel is alloy, as are the flash hider, enlarged charging handle, and controls. All screws, pins, ejection port cover and dummy bolt are all metal.
Overall this means that the FLEX, well… doesn’t! There’s absolutely zero movement between the upper and lower receivers, and no wobble in either the buffer tube or the rail system; everything is solid as a rock, and feels sturdy and durable… more than you could say for some “full metal” AEGs out there! All I can say is that I wish that my first “plastic AR” had been this solid!
Everything internally is very workmanlike too, obviously designed to meet a pricepont, but again not deficient in any way because of this, and it just shows how far even “entry level” AEGs have come! The FLEX models come with a rear-wired V2 gearbox, a decent standard motor, 8mm bearings, steel gears, a polycarbonate piston with steel reinforcement, and the guys at Specna Arms tell me that everything is rated still to handle up to an M140 spring… if you’d put that spring in one of my old “polymer ARs” back in the day it would have just climbed back into the gun case in defeat before I’d even squeezed
the trigger! You also get an easy-to-set rotary hop adjustment and a good 6.03mm inner barrel so if you want to tweak things it should be easy to do so!
And the FLEX models still have one of the Specna Arms “standouts”, the ESA quick spring change system! This lets you easily (really easily!) adjust your power level for different sites/fields so for new players it’s a kind if “one ring to bind them” kind of deal! The FLEX models have also been designed to to work with LiPo and LiFe batteries so you have options here too, although I think perhaps Specna Arms missed a trick by not adding a battery to the basic AEG; this of course would have meant the pricepoint would suffer.
GETTING WORK DONE
The SA-F01 FLEX is a really simple AEG to work with due to its compact size. The battery is housed inside the mock buffer tube that forms part of the stock assembly, and the compartment is easily accessed by removing that CRANE-style stock. I fitted an 11.1V LiPo (although you’ll get more-than-adequate performance from a 7.4V, and probably keep your new AEG alive just a little bit longer too!), and this gave a really crisp, positive shooting experience. The F01 comes with a Hi Cap S-MAG magazine which has an unusual but visually appealing look as it features an amalgam of the Specna Arms logo; I’ve used these mags for a while on and off in testing and they’ve proved to be excellent, although like other Specna Arms AEGs the F01 appears to function smoothly on many brands of magazine!
So, on a sunny morning it was off to the woods range for me, and the F01 performed just as I’d hoped and that was very well indeed; it is a Specna Arms AEG after all! It’s a great little carbine to work with, with great ergonomics and a good weight at just 2130g; this is heavy enough to feel right, but light enough that you could run with it all day long. Adding a short foregrip to the URX-style rail makes it very easy to drive the muzzle from target to target, and the overall length of 735mm (full extension, 650mm compressed) for me, makes it easy to work with, even in tight spaces so it would be ideal for CQB use. The F02 has a longer KeyMod URX-style rail, and both have a 14mm CCW thread on the muzzle if you want to add a suppressor or tracer unit.
Once the rotary hop was set, an easy control to adjust, the F01 was shooting a straight shot out to the end of the 30m range initially at 1.36 Joule /383fps but changing the spring brought that down to a more site friendly 0.99 Joule/328fps average on a .20g RZR BB; Specna Arms very thoughtfully provide an M90 spring in the box if your local power limits dictate lower rather than higher. The trigger is light yet crisp, with very little lag so it’s easy to get consistently accurate shots away time after time and they’ll beon target thanks to the pre-fitted, flip-up “irons”. Switching it up to full auto sends a nice stream of BBs downrange sharpish, and it’s easy to fire away for a while without emptying that Hi Cap.
At the end of the day I have to say that the “entry level” area of airsoft is still VERY competitive, with some great choices available for not much moolah! Many of the models in this price-range these days are “all -polymer”, but as I’ve said many times before, so are many real firearms these days so that shouldn’t put you off. The SAF01/F02 FLEX models are certainly most worthy of your consideration, as they are both great looking replicas (even better when you add a few accessories!), available in
both black and black/tan, are solid as a rock, shoot straight and far, and are indeed priced to entice… what’s not to love?
Many thanks indeed to Gunfire who kindly provided me with the AEG sample for this review; you can check out more details on the FLEX models and the rest of the extensive range of Specna Arms models by simply visiting www. gunfire.com AA
