R-SERIES RELIABILITY!

THE M9-STYLE GBB HANDGUN APPEARS TO HAVE FALLEN A LITTLE OUT OF FAVOUR THESE DAYS, BUT NONETHELESS IT’S A SOLID SIDEARM THAT COVERS AN AWFUL LOT OF AIRSOFT BASES FROM THEMED GAMES THROUGH TO MILSIM, AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN! IT’S ONE OF OUR FAVOURITE “MOVIE GUNS” FOR SURE, AND BILL BELIEVES THAT THE LATEST MODELS FROM RAVEN GIVE IT A WHOLE NEW LEASE OF LIFE!

I’ll come straight out and say it, I’m not really a fan of the “M9”; after so many years using G-series pistols for MilSims and training, and 1911/2011 styles for skirmishes and friendly competition, putting another pistol into the mix, one with a slightly different “OS” and that has different ergonomics again is, quite frankly, a bit of a ballache!

However, in all honesty the classic “M9” really does deserve a place in everyone’s airsoft armoury including my own! Quite apart from it being the service pistol of the US military as the Beretta 92FS (officially entering service in 1990) for some considerable time , if you hark back to those wonderful action movies of the 1980’s, absolute belters like “Lethal Weapon” and “Die Hard”, then firearms in the movies (and therefore the airsoft replicas of them) were actually very carefully chosen to tie into the characters that were using them, and rather cleverly showed a cultural trend in the change from the wheelguns of old to more modern semi-automatic handguns.

In “Lethal Weapon” Riggs choice of the 92F over the revolvers used by most of the cops, including his long-suffering partner Murtaugh, shows a new approach to reliability and “superiority through firepower”, or as Murtaugh states “Nine millimeter Beretta, takes fifteen in the mag, one up the pipe, wide ejection port, no feed jams.” Riggs is also highly proficient with his pistol, able to “draw” a smiley face on a silhouette target at several dozen yards with it, much to the bewilderment of Murtaugh in one memorable scene.

And John McClane in “Die Hard” epitomises everything we love about the “Lone Wolf”. His ability to adapt and overcome, to improvise, take the punches and just keep on going, and of course his innate ability to come up with a cracking one-

“MURTAUGH STATES “NINE MILLIMETER BERETTA, TAKES FIFTEEN IN THE MAG, ONE UP THE PIPE, WIDE EJECTION PORT, NO FEED JAMS.” RIGGS IS ALSO HIGHLY PROFICIENT WITH HIS PISTOL, ABLE TO “DRAW” A SMILEY FACE ON A SILHOUETTE TARGET AT SEVERAL DOZEN YARDS…” liner even when in the midst of a firefight make him the perfect airsoft hero-model… and of course his choice of handgun is the 92F… interestingly the selfsame “prop” pistol in reality that appears in “Lethal Weapon” too!

And then of course there’s one of my favourite game-series (and movie-series if I’m honest!), “Resident Evil” where the sidearm of the STARS is the awesome 92F Custom “Samurai Edge”! In the game universe this is said to be created by the Kendo Gun Shop, smithed by “Kendo, a Nikkei”, and likened to a katana due to its lustrous finish. Several variants of the “Samurai Edge” appear throughout the game franchise, and for me this makes an “M9” style pistol a must have!

Now I could go on and on like this (yes, spoiler, I’m a HUGE movie and game-universe geek!), but I think you get my point; every airsofter worthy of the name should have at least one “M9” in their armoury, and if I come back to my own personal rule of gaining proficiency with as many different platforms as possible, then that’s a good enough reason in itself to own one. In my mind you should be able to turn up at a game and use effectively whatever you’re handed or find in a scenario game…

But all of that aside my personal experience with airsoft “M9s” has not been a happy one; it may just be me, but every single model both gas and C02 that I’ve ever bought in the past (over MANY years!) has turned out to be a complete dog! I largely consigned this model as a viable “as stock” airsoft pistol to wall-hanger status, keeping just my old “Samurai Edge”… until I got my hands on the latest RAVENS!

Good To Go

Back in Issue 138 I took my first look at the then-new RAVEN M9 and concluded that “Overall this is a really first-rate airsoft pistol and is worthy of a place in anyone’s armoury. It looks and feels great, shoots consistently and accurately, and cycles perfectly on “green-bottle” gas” and after a many, many more BBs downrange I stick with that statement.

The R9 has the solid heft of a full-metal handgun, and it weighs in just over 600g; it’s a big, 215mmlong chunk of fully-functional metalwork that, if you’re anything like me, will put a grin on your face! The R9 has a 20mm rail on the lower front of the frame, so it’s a snap to fit a taclite. The controls will be familiar if you’ve ever had an airsoft “Beretta”, and everything is on the left side of the pistol. The magazine release is a button-style where the trigger guard meets the frame, and the slide release can be found just above easily within reach of the stronghand thumb, and in front of this is take-down pin for slide removal, maintenance and for adjustment of the Hop.

Using it with .20g RZR BBs and NP2.0 green-bottle gas the R9 continues to send a full magazine of 25 BBs downrange with astonishing accuracy thanks to the 113mm 6.03 inner barrel, giving excellent groupings at 10 metres; the sights are a simple front

“OVERALL where the trigger guard meets the frame, and the slide release can be found just above easily within reach of the strong-hand thumb, and in front of this is take-down pin for slide removal, maintenance and for adjustment of the hop. pistol, or an R9-4 as a loadout-specific military model, or indeed you just get one as an homage to a pistol that has been a HUGE part of silver screen/game history the fact is that RAVEN’s take on the venerable “M9” is going to serve you very, very well indeed!

The grip angle is actually the same as that of the R9 but with slimmer grip panels and a more “upright” backstrap the pistol feels significantly different, almost like it has a much more modern and straight rake which feels great in the hand. Loaded up with the same .20g RZR BBs and NP2.0 greenbottle gas the R9-4 also sends a full magazine of 25 BBs downrange accurately and neatly, again from a 113mm 6.03 inner barrel .20g ammo and it chrono’s consistently around the same 0.83 Joule/300fps mark as the R9; RAVEN now offer a CO2 magazine as an accessory for both pistols though, and this will raise the power a little and will give greater consistency in the colder months of the year for those of us in “temperate” climates, although results with NP 2.0 are solid even in the chillier weather right now.

As the R9 sits around that magic UK£100, whilst the R9-4 is a little more at the UK£110 mark neither are going to break the great bank of airsoft pocket money either, and you get a lot for your money. I’ve wanted a replica of the iconic “M9” that ACTUALLY WORKS in airsoft form for many years, one that would offer me reliability and durability, and now thanks to RAVEN I believe I’ve finally found the “M9s” I’ve been looking for!

My thanks as always go to the guys at RAVEN for letting me check out the new R9 and R9-4, and you can get more information on all the models they offer by simply heading over to www.rvnairsoft. com. Thanks also to Josh and his crew at www. kriosphotography.com for the awesome shots of the R9-4! AA