THE FINAL PIECE?

WITH SO MANY SUPERB GBB ARS ON THE MARKET NOW IT’S SOMETIMES HARD TO DECIDE BETWEEN THEM, SO WHEN A MODEL APPEARS THAT SCREAMS “UNIQUE” FOR ANY REASON IT’S DEFINITELY GOING TO BE WORTH A LOOK; THIS MONTH BILL GETS DOWN TO THE RANGE WITH WHAT COULD WELL BE THE FINAL PIECE OF THE PUZZLE WITH NOVESKE-LICENCED N4 MODELS COURTESY OF DOUBLE EAGLE AND EMG!

The plot continues to thicken when it comes to the multi-partner program that has resulted in a number of

“N4 GBBs” being released by different manufacturing partners in collaboration with EMG in the USA, and this mash-up of different creators working on what is effectively the same carbine with the same overall Noveske licencing agreement has actually resulted in a lot of choice for the player!

Why do I say this? Well, if you look at the price of GBBRs overall this has been following somewhat of a trend downwards, and this in turn has offered a cost-effective way for new players to “buy into” the world of GBBR ownership, more so than ever before in my mind. With prices of GBBRs landing at the same level as a decent AEG there’s a lot more choice, and this has to be a good thing. Gas magazine prices too, although they’ll never be as cheap as the AEG equivalent, have moderated, and whilst this aspect of GBBR-ownership will only ever be viewed as an “investment”, owning a gas carbine or rifle has never been more of a budget-friendly option than right now.

EMG of course have a portfolio of licence agreements with real firearms companies in the USA (and indeed further afield) that means we can all own AEGs and GBBs with the correct trades and all the correct setups, and for the “purist” this is solid gold! I and only where, necessary, keeping the design clean and uncomplicated while ensuring that precision engineering and attention to detail create a winning combination that cannot be beaten.

Now this is all somewhat ancient history, and I’ve written about my personal love for “things Noveske” on many occasions in the past. Times have moved on; Noveske Rifleworks has of course continued as a firearms company following the sad demise of the founder to release new rifles, carbines, PDWs, and PCCs that are available in 300 Blackout, 5.56mm, and of course with their “pistols”, 9mm. With barrel lengths of 7.94 inch, 8.5 inch, 10.5 inch, and 16 inch (and more!), and all offered with M-LOK or KeyMod free-floating front ends and premium parts, the choice in their range is mind-blowing!

Finish options include Bazooka Green (yeah

The fully licensed Noveske replicas of course have all the trademarks from the original (ie real) rifles, carbines and PCCs, which can be clearly seen on the receivers and rails. In the case of the Double Eagle N4 the receiver setup mimics the real-deal perfectly in relation to fire selector, mag release and bolt release.

The fore-end again replicates the Noveske NSR-9 M-LOK Rail System and this is also trademarked. In the case of the N4 you also get a 3-prong “suppressor-ready” muzzle brake on a 14mm CCW thread; the 3-prong is an industry standard for quick installation and removal of a suppressor, and there are numerous adaptors out there to make this work with your can of choice which is a very cool touch.

When it comes to the receivers and front end, all metal parts are perfect recreations, with every joint completely seamless and beautifully finished like too. All in all it’s a very attractive and tidily finished package that gives me all the right vibes!

Everything is finished in a really, really crisp and totally even FDE colour and just like the more expensive CYMA every single part is perfectly colourmatched; M-LOK fore-end, upper and lower receivers, pistol grip, and sliding stock are the same tone giving the Double Eagle a really cool “OPR8R” appearance. Again like the CYMA the silver barrel and black muzzle brake/buffer tube just act as counterpoints to this, giving the entire carbine a quality-feel. Weighing in at a very usable 2260g, and at 705/790mm the Double Eagle is very slightly shorter and lighter than the CYMA, probably due to the standard of alloy components used externally and the fact that it doesn’t appear to have all the steel parts internally that the more expensive N4 versions do.

BCG/bolt, hammer, and valve knocker, but additional improvements have been made here to include a steel bolt-locking-plate which addresses a common issue with standard gas AR systems where the bolt stop suffers from accelerated wear and quickly loses the last round bolt locking function!

This shows even further collaboration between manufacturers, collaboration that in the end results in a better, more competitively-priced, and more durable gas platform for us to buy and own! To me it comes under the heading of a “very good thing”, and can ultimately only mean that everyone benefits. We get a great GBBR that we can actually afford to run regularly, the manufacturer sells more, and that in turn leads to more money for them to put into further development… which means even more solid, affordable, and long-lasting platforms for all of us… total, 100% WIN WIN as far as I can see…

Downrange

Having said much the same about the CYMA version of this carbine, externally the Double Eagle ticks all my “Noveske Love” boxes, right down to the trades on the BCG and the “Super Badass” charging handle, and the “300 BLK” marking on the inside of the dust cover. Internally there’s a LOT of stuff going on to increase both performance and longevity; it’s a totally neat package that looks awesome, but how does it fare when you start hammering that trigger?

I gassed up the mag with green and loaded up the 35 BB mag with .20g then happily put some BBs down the 30m range, the chrono giving me a mean of 0.96 Joule/323 FPS. The trigger is nicely crisp with a very positive reset, and just a nudge sends BBs downrange; on semi you really can get shots away super-fast, and the full-auto function works brilliantly with good gas efficiency even on a mild day. As my TM MWS mags are now back from servicing I was able to try these too, and they all fed well, with equally good gas-usage.

The flip-up sights that come as standard are more than adequate, and indeed are sturdily made, so the Noveske is ready to roll straight from the box just by adding gas and some BBs! Moving up to .30g and resetting the hop, the N4 handled the increased weight easily and it genuinely felt like you could run this weight all day long, if not heavier! At 30m unsupported it was easy to get hits on a torso-sized target with each BB flying straight and true. As always with a CQB-focused “shorty” I also tried the N4 on the 10m “short range” and it performed superbly in rapid, target-to-target transitions, again in reality down to the responsiveness of the superb trigger.

As I said when I looked at the CYMA GBB version of the N4 “Now I have to admit being somewhat (read MASSIVELY!) envious when Stewbacca got his hands on the RATech version of the Noveske N4, the carbine model that appears to be turning up in the hands of DEVGRU and others in the US Special Operations community if the images coming out are to be believed! The RATech N4 though really is a cutting-edge, high-performance and top-of-the-tree

“I GASSED UP THE MAG WITH GREEN AND LOADED UP THE 35 BB MAG WITH .20G THEN HAPPILY PUT SOME BBS DOWN THE 30M RANGE, THE CHRONO GIVING ME A MEAN OF 0.96 JOULE/323 FPS. THE TRIGGER IS NICELY CRISP WITH A VERY POSITIVE RESET, AND JUST A NUDGE SENDS BBS DOWNRANGE”

GBBR and no mistake; the more he writes about it, the more I WANT ONE, even with the hefty pricetag!”

I then went on to say of the CYMA version “would I recommend the EMG/CYMA NOVESKE N4 GEN III? So far, it’s an unqualified YES. If you are looking to step up your playing style, especially for MilSim, then take note as this might well be the GBBR you’re looking for.”

And this is truer too on a cost-basis when it comes to the Double Eagle, as it shatters the magic “GBBR £400” barrier, the cost that I personally feel starts to put things into the “highly affordable” category. The Double Eagle N4 in the UK looks to be sitting around the £350 mark which most definitely makes it competitive against a good AEG, but mags are still expensive. I know that there are other mags out there now that will work with the MWS system, but I’m still hearing that there are issues with the performance, especially in relation to the bolt-lock function… until I get the opportunity to try some of the non-TM mags I would advise that you stick with the EMG HELIOS versions or TM.

So, this means that in reality you’ll still be looking at somewhere iro UK£675 to run a Double Eagle N4 with a MilSim load of mags;, not too shabby, but this is before you add any accessories or optics which you are most definitely going to want to do! It’s still not quite “stock AEG and a bunch o’ mags” territory, but it also ain’t far off… and I know that a lot of you spend considerably more that this on your AEGs!

Again however, the Double Eagle N4 starts to put a GBBR out there that looks fabulous and works well, placing it easily into the mix for those of you that want a dedicated platform for their journey into the realms of MilSim; this is another platform you could run all day with, and perfect for the “hi-speed, lodrag” amongst you.

Ultimately if you want a GBB N4 though, what YOU pay will be what YOU want to spend, and I hope that between Stewbacca and I we have outlined the models available sufficiently well to give you an insight of what you’re going to get for your money. With the Double Eagle version though what you’re going to get is a solid, great-looking “mil-style” carbine, one that’s based on a very much tried, tested, and fully-supported “OS” that offers a solid level of performance, and one that makes use of GBBR mags that are pretty easy to get hold of these days… and all at a relatively sensible price.

Is this the final piece of the EMG-GBBRcollaboration puzzle? Honestly I don’t know, but I’d be hard-pressed to think of how they might produce this carbine any cheaper. The fact is that the collaboration process across different manufacturers under one licence has undoubtedly worked, and our big old world of airsoft is all the better for that!

My thanks go to www.iwholesales.co.uk for supplying the test sample, and you’ll find the EMG “Noveske” models on their regularly updated website, and with all their retail partners throughout the UK and Europe. AA

IT

INTO THE MIX FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT WANT A DEDICATED PLATFORM FOR THEIR JOURNEY INTO THE REALMS OF MILSIM; THIS IS ANOTHER PLATFORM YOU COULD RUN ALL DAY WITH, AND PERFECT FOR THE “HISPEED, LO-DRAG” AMONGST YOU!”