TEST: Airsoft Surgeon RWA ABS Precision Grade BBs
This article revolves about not very popular pellets presented at -amongst the others - IWA exhibition. We plan to test some more "exotic" BBs.
The purpose of this review is to check the manufacture and performance of Airsoft Surgeon RWA ABS Precision pellets. We will test the precise, weight, texture, cooperation with mid-cap magazines, deformations after hitting the hard target and - last but not least - how they "fly".
TheAirsoft Surgeon company (ASR) is cherished by IPSC players. It is known from manufacturing cusotm GBB replicas and sophisticated accessories to these replicas.
ASR closely cooperates with RedWolf Airsoft (RWA), the fivefold winner of Airsoft Players' Choice Awards for "The best retailer in Asia". Companies presented their own brand of pellets at IWA2014 (and shortly after that launched it to the market) - Airsoft Surgeon RWA ABS Precision Grade. In Poland these pellets are still unavailable.
According to producers promises, only the top quality materials were used for production. The precision of manufacture at the level of 5,95 +/- 0,01 mm and the high level of burnishing are to increase the initial velocity, and ensure very good both range and accuracy. The precision and quality should prevent pellets from getting blocked in replicas (so called "stucks"), what causes damages to mechboxes and barrels. Producers emphasize the ABS addition to pellets ingredients, what is expected to make them softer. It is to prevent breaking and fragmentation - it got a great value for players who prefer mesh eye protection - goggles and glasses where lens is replaced with metal mesh.
The producer ensures the rigorous quality control for precision and globocity od the pellets, what - quoting the product description - "may state about victory or defeat". If it is just a typical marketing trick or these pellets are indeed made with surgeonic precision? We will try to check this out.
Testy conducted by Redwolf Labs:
At YouTube you can find plenty of independent tests. Opinions vary.
The Test - Part 1
Our test will consist of 4 parts. We will try to determine the quality of pellets, shoot targets, examine their behaviours in mid-cap magazines aand check, how this praised lack of fragmentation performs.
The first part of the test are classic measurmentns, shredding and watching.
I decided to check pellets dimensions with a calliper. It's not precise enough, but gives sufficient data for comparisons. I measured 10 randomly chosen pellets. I checked the weight of them with pharmaceutical scale in groups of 10. Pellets were chopped by half (depends on hardness) with wallpaper knife or pliers. Each type of pellets were described. The outcomes are agregated in the form of the chart below.
We have obtained pellets in three weights: 0,2 g, 0,25 g and 0,3 g. 0,28 g pellets were not released to the market. Severeal months ago the producer mentioned soon premiere, yet still nothing has happened. All Surgeon series pellets are white, though may seem to be yellow or creamy at attached pictures. I have spot no blemishes at the surface of any pellet - pits, stitches, holes or scratches.
Airsoft Surgeon 0,20 g
White, ecru shade. Very well burnished, no postproduction blemishes.
10 pellets weigh 2 grams and the diameter of several randolmy selected and measured is 5,95 mm - exactly as the producer claims.
Pellets are hard and slicky. Touched, feel similar to wax crayons. They are hard to grab and break with pilers. Inside is homogenous. In some pellets I spotted air bubbles in the middle of the mass. The package contains 4000 pellets.
Airsoft Surgeon 0,25 g
They are very well burnished as well. No blemishes spotted. The shade of these pellets is slightly darker than 0,2 g or 0,3 g. It's more like beige.
The weight of 10 BBs is 2,5 grams. The diameter of randomly picked pellets veries between 5,94 to 5,95 mm.
Pellets are equally slicky as their lighter friends. They are not that hard, though. Seem to be a bit more ductile - the easiest way to chop them is to squeeze them until they are broken and then slit them along the crack.
Inside they are homogenous. Centrally placed air bubbles are present in practically each cut pellet. The package contains 4000 BBs.
Airsoft Surgeon 0,30 g
White pellets in the shae of ivory, almost identical to 0,2 g pellets. No blemishes outside. Plain and very well burnished.
10 pellets weigh 2,9 grams. The diameter of randomly selected BBs is 5,95 mm - accordingly to the information on a package.
Pellets are hard and the most brittle among tested ones. Still, they are ductile and the easiest way to slit them is to squeeze them strongly and then proceed along the crack.
Inside they are homogenous. In the center there are groups of little air bubbles.
Pellets are packed for 4000 pcs.
The test - Part 2 (shooting)
With regard to pellets weight, we decided to use few replicas of various muzzle velocity. the targets of 40 x 40 cm size were set at distances of 30, 40, 50 and 60 meters. As a comparison we used G&G pellets - currently the most popular ones in the market and by many users considered to be the best.
We counted each shot at the surface of the target. Nonetheless, you can count only these shots, who hit pointed field. Holes were marked with colors for better insight.
The shooting range and the position were identical as during recent heavy pellets 0,36 - 0,43 g test. For various weights we have selected AEG replicas of adequate muzzle velocity. All of them were equipped with stock inner barrels. I am not in posses of three precision barrels of the same producer, but of different length and I am aware oft he fact, that using barrels of many producers would cause a lot of chaos. That's why all barrels are stock with diameter of 6,08 mm.
Moreover a lot of players do not invest in the inner parts. The test conducted with stock replicas should especially valuable for them. On the other hand, players, who upgrade their toys frequently (but not always) can count on longer range and better aim than these we obtained in our test.
Each replica used in the test had only the one element replaced - standard hop-up bucking was exchanged for Systema Energy. We measured muzzle velocity with Virtek 3 chronograph using 0,2 g BBs. Replicas used for the test were fed from low-cap or mid-cap magazines. Tested pellets were compared with G&G ones of the same weight.
0,20 g
For testing 0,2 g pellets at the distance 30 and 40 meters I used Scorpion vz.61 replica by JG (250 fps). I was shooting from lying poistion in single mode. The replica was leaning on the backpack.
Targets on 30 and 40 meters distance.
On the distance of 30 meters the focus of G&G pellets is rather worse than Suregons. The latter ones demand stronger HU bucking press though. Almost all of them hit the target below the aiming point. Two of G&G BBs "run away" with the wind. Off the record - at the same distance I used Rocekts 0,2 g pellets and couldn't really hit anything...
Seven G&G pellets and five Airsoft Surgeon's made it to the target on 40 meters. It's practically maximal effective range for Scoropin while using this pellets. However, on 0,25g BBs, vz.61 was able to hit the same target on 50 m).
0,25 g
This time I decided to shoot at 40 and 50 m using G36K by JG (G608-7) with 370 fps on board. Shooting practice was identical to previous one.
As you can see the accuracy on 40 meters is very good. 9/10 G&G and 8/10 Surgeon made it to the target. On this distance you can practically shoot without even touching the hop-up bucking. The focus of shots is fine too.
As for the target on 50 meters, HU adjustment is neccessary. The accuracy is still pretty acceptable: 8/10 G&G and 6/10 Airsfot Surgeons. Less spread and better focus (plus the 10 shot) belong to G&G. Investigatives may ask what is Yuan Jun? That's he next pellets to tested by our portal.
0,30 g
For testing this pellets on 50 and 60 meters I decided to use AK 74 from Cyma (CM.048A) with 450 fps on board. The practice was as in two cases above.
Miałem pewne obawy, czy replika nie ma zbyt mało fps do tak ciężkich kulek. Z moich doświadczeń wynika, że kulki 0,30 g są optymalne dla replik generujących ok. 500 fps na kulkach 0,20 g. Z drugiej strony, replika v.61 ze swoimi 250fps, pięknie radzi sobie z kulkami 0,25 g – dając o wiele lepszy zasięg i celność niż na kulkach 0,20 g.
I had some doubts if the muzzle velocity of the replica is sufficient for such weight. As I know from my experience, 0,3 g pellets are optimal for replicas with c.a 500 fps. On the other hand the JG vz.61 makes it swiftly with 0,25 g BBs with a lot better range and accuracy thain in the case of 0,2 g pellets.
I was stubborn to shoot from stoc replicas and CM.048 is practically the most powerful stock AEG I could find.
MAGAZINES
As I menitioned before, replicas were equipped with low-cap and mid-cap magazines only. In order to check if pellets are getting blocked in magazines I used speedloader to load as much of them as I can and then I was releasing the lock, making the beautiful "fountain". Later I was reloading magaiznes, attaching them to replica and firing all of them with one trigger-hold, counting blank shots.
Scorpion magazine: single-row low-cap for 35 BBs made by WELL company. Surgeons 0,2 and 0,25 loaded in the number of 33 - no blocks neither while releasing the lock, nor during firing them in auto mode.
G36K magazine: double-row mid-cap (80 BBs) Beta Project PMAG for AR-15 (among four I got, I choose the most mischevious for pellets). Airsoft Surgeons 0,2 g and 0,25 g. For 65 loaded pellets - situation the same as with the Scorpion.
CM.048A: double-row mid-cap for 150 BBs from Cyma (so calleg "Romanian waffer"). Surgeon 0,25 g and 0,3 g loaded in the number of 120 BBs - the same situation as above.
FRAGMENTATION
The fourth part of this test revolves around fragmentation (or the lack of it) while hiting mesh goggles or mask. During the test of quality it occured pellets are quite ductile, hence hard to chop in half. Will they flat, break or explode when hitting the mesh mask? Let's check this out.
As professional laboratory equipment we used stalker type mesh mask and orange jelly. For shooting we used G26K (360 fps) from 1 meter distance. 10 pellets of each weight, from the lightest to the hardest ones were fired in bursts towards the mesh.
The best performance was given by 0,2 g pellets. They ricocheted deformed or dented. Some dust made it through the mas, but there was no bigger fragments.
0,25 g BBs got fragmented and dusted during the hit. Quite big pieces made it through the mesh cover.
0,3 g BBs made it just a bit worse than 0,2 g, but a lot better than 0,25 g. During hitting the mask they did not fall aprart, just some little fragments and dust. Because of bigger mass, pieces got stuck in the jelly, while the fragments of lighter pellets simply got stycked to the surface.
As visible, during the hit pellets not only get dented, but also fall apart and fragment.
Declarations and promises of producer about the uniqueness of these pellets in this matter are not very solid. The best way to describe is American colloquialism about a male cow...
THE SUMMARY
In my opinion RWA Airsoft Surgeon pellets are good alternative for popular and cherished G&G BBs. Precision of manufacture and high quality cause these pellets achieve very decent results both in the case of stock and upgraded replicas. They don't stuck in neither precision barrles (6,01 mm and 6,03 mm) nor mid-cap magazines.
Pellets are ductile, when dented got flatten and they are not that brittle as many other 6 mm BBs. This ductability is considered to vastly improve the safety of users prefering mesh eye protection. Unfortunately, as practical tests indicates, we cannot confirm producer's promises.
Admittedly, ASR 0,28 g BBs are still absent on the market, what is a great disadvantage for me, as many owners of replicas with muzzle velocity of 420-470 fps prefer this particular weight. There is nothing else to do, but hope that producer will be able to fill this gap by the end of the year.
If any of Polish stores felt tempted to import these BBs and the price would be similar to G&Gs, I would be personally interested in acquiring greater amount of Airsoft Surgeons.
Best Regards,
Mendi
