ARMOURY: APS MANTIS X

COMP READY!

JIMMY IS, BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, AN OUT-AND-OUT SKIRMISHER, BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN HE WON’T TURN HIS HAND TO ANY KIND OF AIRSOFT GIVEN THE CHANCE! AS A “PISTOL FANATIC” WITH AN EVER-DEEPENING UNDERSTANDING OF THE TECHNICAL SIDE OF AIRSOFT THOUGH, WE THOUGHT HE’D BE JUST THE MAN TO TAKE A LOOK AT THE NEW MANTIS X RMR PISTOL, PUT IT THROUGH ITS PACES, AND TAKE A GOOD LONG LOOK “UNDER THE HOOD”!

APS is a name I have heard of but alas to date I have had very little experience with their products and up until very recently had never seen an APS pistol, so for me this is virgin territory. I purchased a used RIF a couple of years back which was chock full of issues; having never seen an APS rifle from new and served any time with it I couldn’t say whether it was a result of the user or if in fact it was a result of bad quality (probably the former); however I fixed it up and sold it on so that is the extent of my experience which actually makes my

life a bit easier making this review more factual and unbiased. APS Limited, formerly known as APS Airgun Ltd was established in 2001. APS specialize in designing and building Simulation Training Equipment (Real Action Markers and Powder Balls for training simulation). APS – the three letters stand for Accuracy - Pneumatics – Shooting; with the knowledge and experience that has been gained from making Real Action Markers and Projectiles, APS launched new lines of Electronic Blow Back (EBB) products to meet the demands of the “APS – THE THREE LETTERS STAND FOR ACCURACY - PNEUMATICS – SHOOTING; WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE THAT HAS BEEN GAINED FROM MAKING REAL ACTION MARKERS AND PROJECTILES, APS LAUNCHED NEW LINES OF ELECTRONIC BLOW BACK (EBB) PRODUCTS TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF THE AIRSOFT MARKET.”

airsoft market. Even though their products are made in China, all the designs, quality control and Board of Directors are managed by Hong Kong Staff.

That means their clients (us!) can purchase airsoft products at a low price (China made) but are also guaranteed a high quality item (Hong Kong production). Alongside the line of EBB products there is a stunning new line of pistols to match every airsofters needs whether it be plinking in the garden or the rigours of competition.

Back to the matter in hand we have received from the lovely people of iWholesales a fantastic looking bit of kit in the form of a pistol but not just any old pistol, a pistol designed with purpose and a pistol aimed at the competition market or IPSC shooters to be specific, although it would also be at home on the skirmish field (not in the UK sadly due to power limits, more on this later!). For those looking to make the transition from regular skirmish days to competition shooting there is a chance that you have done some research or even attended a meeting of sorts only to discover that these people take it very seriously and you will instantly notice that the equipment they use to be far different to that you will see at a skirmish!

PRACTICAL USAGE

I remember last year myself and fellow Legionnaire Jon “Posh” Mills attended a little club meeting as Jon was covering a series regarding the transition into competition shooting, so naturally we needed to experience it for ourselves at the sharp end. One of the first things I noticed was the tools of the trade being used, heavily modified and sometimes highly expensive fully customised pistols. Now before I go any further I want to put this out there, you do not need to go and spend upward of UK£1500 to go and have fun and enjoy competition level shooting as a regular out of the box pistol will suffice, trust me, and ask Posh! As you progress through such a sport you will no doubt start looking to make that out of the box pistol operate better to be a little more competitive.

The club we attended, Xsite practical shooting club is organised and run by Tim Wyborn and his son Paul Wyborn, Paul being the UK’s #1 in his discipline! The equipment these chaps are using is phenomenally good and is hand fettled by themselves; these guys know their onions and I was gobsmacked when I learnt that you can put almost THREE GRAND into competition pistols! That said as I mentioned you don’t need to go that far down the proverbial rabbit hole to get started, and this is where APS come into it as they have produced an entry level pistol with competition in mind at a reasonably respectable price coming in at around UK£220 and it is my opinion that there is a lot of pistol here for your money!

When I first pulled it from the box my first thought was that it resembled a G34 on ‘roids and it does carry a few “Glocky” characteristics. However although it looks fantastic I did find a few little problems one of which is the heavy trigger at over 4lbs with around 7mm of travel before breaking point; it is hardly going to allow the user to get quick follow up shots and after a fashion a heavy trigger will fatigue the user which will result in slower reaction times, not something a competitive shooter needs, though no doubt though this can be fine-tuned in order to make it lighter. It would have been a nice idea to make it adjustable.

They have incorporated a manual safety just above the trigger on the lower frame which is ambidextrous and can be operated by both trigger finger or thumb, but having compared it to a Hi Capa (still the favoured choice of the “comp shooter”) it is too low profile to be effective. I can draw a Hi Cap, remove the safety and get a shot off and acquire the next target faster than with the Mantis tbh. I feel the safety on the Mantis needs to be a bit wider so you could get a better purchase on it. This thing is gas hungry, and due to the C02-driven operating system you get an incredibly prominent recoil effect and a snappy slide… but try and rapid fire and the Mantis just goes very weak. This I believe to be down to the aluminium jet nozzle getting too cold, so maybe a hard polymer jet would solve this. If left for a few seconds it will pick up again and operate as normal but the problem will persist.

There is a need also for a tad of loctite on the RMR plate as due to the impressive recoil it shakes itself loose an easy fix; niggly, but still easily dealt with during personal setup These are the only problems I see and could be remedied no doubt, but for a relatively expensive pistol it is a little disappointing,

so maybe a little contradictive of my initial ‘a lot of pistol for your money’ statement but then many pistols come with small flaws, don’t they so perhaps I’m being overly harsh; what one shooter sees as a problem another may not.

SHOOTER READY

Out of the box the Mantis looks exceptional I must admit, with the RMR, cut-lightened slide, gold accents, stippling and laser etching it looks very “custom” and most would think it to be aftermarket, but the fact is APS have done a wonderful job with the aesthetics. The addition of the RMR is a nice touch and it isn’t a part still commonly seen with an out of the box pistol; it is a well-constructed red-dot utilising a 3.25 MOA dot which has adjustable brightness and the ability to power down for storage. Made of aluminium it is a durable piece which is perched on an aluminium plate so must add to the “build cost” of the pistol in production; with fibre optic irons included which sit high enough should the red dot stop working for whatever reason you have a backup, so this is well thought through… we like “sight redundancy”!

The rear irons line up perfectly with the front fibre optic iron. I prefer iron sights to be honest, as it makes it easy to find your target. All this sits very nicely on top of the CNC metal cut-lightened slide which is of alloy construction and it appears to be very strong, ensuring longevity and resilience against the powerful recoil. Coming in at 220mm it is quite a long slide with serrated details for extra grip when cocking the pistol. Encapsulated inside the slide is a 150mm gold metal threaded outer barrel which houses a 125mm steel inner barrel for added precision. This all sits very snugly on the polymer ergonomic frame which is very, VERY “glock-esque”.

The grip is very comfortable and gives you the choice to swap out the back strap depending on feel and size of your grip. Sporting some well placed stippling where needed it leaves room for quite unique laser etching and the etched APS logo. As standard you get a flared magwell for easy, fast reloads. To reload you will need to release the mag and this is made incredibly easy by way of the extended mag catch which isn’t too long to present any problems. Talking of reloads the C02 mag has quite a hefty weight to it; on the bottom of the mag you will find a base plate which is easily removed by way of a nice thumb tab, giving good access to the C02 housing .via a large brass cap which seems to have an adjustable inner section; whether this allows you to adjust the output, I didn’t see any difference after adjusting.

Coming in at around 1.33 Joule/380fps this soon drops off after about 10 shots and sits around the 1.2 Joule/360fps mark on a .20g. On the range this pistol has no problem lifting a 0.30g but that is the hop unit maxed out to the limit, but for simple, entry level competition use you don’t need to go crazy and run heavier BBs than that in my honest opinion. Shooting at around 10mtrs on a recognised size IPSC target the hits were a tad scattered and grouping could have been better but I would put that down to human error and not enough time to master the recoil effect, so I do believe the accuracy would come together with time served.

My overall thought on this new platform is that it’s a great concept, and a lovely looking pistol! Would I buy one? I’m still on the bench with that. Do I think it worthy of the price tag? Possibly, maybe, given that you do get the RMR included, but it is certainly step in the right direction when it comes to having a “compready” handgun from the box. Bottom line though, would I be comfortable using it in a competition environment? I most certainly would give it a run out!

My thanks as always go to the guys at www. iwholesales.co.uk for letting me have this striking pistol to test, and please do check out their website to have a look at all the models and accessories they provide! AA