I ordered my magazine fed conversion kit back in February of 2011 thinking that I was going to have it just a few months later in may, but no rap4 pushed it back two months saying that it will be released at the end of July. No one received there kit, so rap4 released a schedule stating that x7 owners would receive there kits the first week of august. Then 98/Project salvo/Alpha Black/BT owners. The following week would be A5 owners and the last week of august would be X7 owners. After weeks of miscommunication and no communication at all the kits did finally start to come out. I received my kit the first week of October almost 9 months after I preordered my conversion kit, I was not happy with the lack of communication on the status of the kits, If they would have only kept people informed on what was going on with their kits they would have saved a lot of grief in my opinion.
So after the long wait I got home from the post office eager to put my conversion kit together so I did just that. I unwrapped the box with the many labels from customs and rap4 like I was a kid on christmas all over again. I checked the parts list that was supplied with the kit. ( and that was the only piece of paper that was supplied with the kit no apology letter or even a manual with the kit)
With the kit I received Left and Right clam shells (and I will get to what I though of those I a little bit) 1 mag well, 1 cocking handle, 1 cover for the breach 1 "meat hook", 1 cover for the bottom of the marker (if I ever want to put my cyclone back on) 1 20rd smoke magazine, some small screws the clam shell screws and a longer push pin for the mag well. All parts were there nothing missing.
So I started by taking the screws in the clam shells out to inspect the inside because they came together. I read and heard people saying its made out of cheap metal and I call bull on them, the body AND mag well are of solid construction I see no problem with what they are made out of.
After I removed the screws this is what It looked like.
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| Left and Right clam shells ( a bit rough) |
As you can see there wasn't that much over spray on the inside and I was very happy with that I don't see how anyone could be disseminated with it. The internals were rough inside and did need polishing, I was not to happy with that but I didn't expect them to be that nice inside anyways. so after a quick polish I proceeded to take parts from my old A5 and install them into my new mag-fed version. The parts went in flawlessly kudos to rap4 for having everything; from what I saw anyways to match perfectly inside. I also noticed that there are valleys molded into the inside of the body for air in-stock/air thru stock options again kudos to rap4 for that add-on I like that a lot will be using that in the near future for sure.
After the two sides went together I installed the mag well and breech cover, also went together with out a problem. Mag well clicked in perfectly not to tight not to loose, maybe on other kits it might be but I had no problem with the mag well fitting or the pin that hold it in if anything the pin is too loose. The new cocking handle also seems to be of solid construction and went in great.
I went ahead and installed all my add-ons and other cool stuff to my marker from my old A5 all went in perfectly.
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| All done up and good to go |
My shroud went on great nice and tight I have no complaints with it at all. I installed my stock and it fits so tight that I had to give it a little tap to get it in but once it's in it fits way better then it did on my old A5 I mean there is no wobble to it what so ever I was impressed with the tolerances on the Kit all together, all the pins fit great not to tight not to loose.
Well now I have this brand new kit I have to use it...... of course, so I took it out to my local field a few days later for some field testing. Over the course of 2 days I fired around 700 rounds through the marker with rap4 20 rd magazines, There is a little wobble with the magazines but its such a little bit you will never notice it, and although I haven't had a chance to test it the milsig mags won't fit if they made it any tighter. For the first little while it was firing great but as the day went on I had a couple double feeds I know now that it wasn't the marker that was causing the double feeds but in fact the mags with a very strong spring that is causing it to double feed. ( I will be writing a review on the rap4 mags soon enough ill get into more detail on them then). Rap4 should supply a stiffer detent with the kit to compensate for the stiff springs in the magazines.
With the exception of the double feeds the kit fired like a dream my buddy that I play with just got his T68 gen7 and my marker was firing better then his with less problems. The last issue that I had was how fast it was firing, I did manage the get it up to 285 FPS but I also have polished internals, if I had not done that I doubt that it would have gotten up that high, the velocity screw is out all the way as-well. But it does shoot within 10 -15 FPS from 270 to 285 which isn't that bad and it hits the same spot every time from a fixed position.
Rap4 needs to work on the mag springs to stops the double feeds also I would like to see an extended mag release its to far right now but I play left handed so I had no problem with it, it just would be nice for others so they don't have to take their hand off the trigger. What I would like to see is a left side mag release and extended that would make me a happy camper.
All in all I think that the kit is a great buy for any milsim lover who wants to play mag-fed, but a manual in the box would have been nice to see not just a parts list and instructions saying look at you makers instructions and figure it out. I had no problems putting it together but not everyone is going to have as easy time as my self putting this kit together. One last thing that would have been nice is a brochure of up and coming products being released from rap4, I remember when I was younger I always loved looking at what companies were coming out with and what I would plan on getting as time went on, just one of those added things that makes me (and maybe you too) feel better about the company you are ordering from.
My final score for the magazine fed conversion kit is going to have to be a solid
8.5/10
I give this score based on how the marker fired which was great other then the double feeds. Rap4 should do more testing on the marker before they started production they should have found this problem (don't leave it to the costumer to find out) and supplied a stiffer detent, just my opinion anyways. The marker went together very easily and the valleys for air thru stock are there so a bonus to that. There was only a parts list supplied with the kit no manual or installation instructions supplied with the kit, just some videos posted on you tube, and again it was fine for me but others might have needed it (not everyone has internet in today's day and age). Lastly the internals did need polishing they were rough on the inside and to get it to shoot past 280 they will need to be polished for sure. But at the end of the day I'm still happy with it and think it was worth my moneys worth, good job rap4 way to be on the ball with milsim markers just need a little more QC.
All in all I think that the kit is a great buy for any milsim lover who wants to play mag-fed, but a manual in the box would have been nice to see not just a parts list and instructions saying look at you makers instructions and figure it out. I had no problems putting it together but not everyone is going to have as easy time as my self putting this kit together. One last thing that would have been nice is a brochure of up and coming products being released from rap4, I remember when I was younger I always loved looking at what companies were coming out with and what I would plan on getting as time went on, just one of those added things that makes me (and maybe you too) feel better about the company you are ordering from.
My final score for the magazine fed conversion kit is going to have to be a solid
8.5/10
I give this score based on how the marker fired which was great other then the double feeds. Rap4 should do more testing on the marker before they started production they should have found this problem (don't leave it to the costumer to find out) and supplied a stiffer detent, just my opinion anyways. The marker went together very easily and the valleys for air thru stock are there so a bonus to that. There was only a parts list supplied with the kit no manual or installation instructions supplied with the kit, just some videos posted on you tube, and again it was fine for me but others might have needed it (not everyone has internet in today's day and age). Lastly the internals did need polishing they were rough on the inside and to get it to shoot past 280 they will need to be polished for sure. But at the end of the day I'm still happy with it and think it was worth my moneys worth, good job rap4 way to be on the ball with milsim markers just need a little more QC.
