Author: ORCA

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Manufacturer: STTI/KJW
Type: Gas Non Blow Back
Street Price: $70.00
SOLD! Hope I'm now over my "I wanna check out KJW guns" syndrome.

The STTI/KJW Mk23 and USP Tactical

The STTI/KJW Mk23 NBB is a copy of the TM MK23 NBB I already own. This is yet another curiosity in the quality and performance of a KJW gun compared to the usual Japanese mfg guns I usually buy.

First impressions… The quality is very "rough" compared to the TM. The plastic slide is made of Blaze Orange plastic, painted black… And there are NO trades at all on the gun. Trigger pull is even heavier then the TM and it feels like theres grains of sand in the action.

The silencer which is not a silencer at all but an inner barrel extender. You get some added fps when attached. See below for results. But not the ultra quiet shot as you would with the TM MK23.? The barrel extension is all plastic including the threads, so over time this may be an issue.? And as we all know, higher FPS doesn't equal better accuracy.

The STTI/KJW Mk23 Silencer Attached

But at $70.00 is it that good of a deal? Considering I bought a TM MK23 by itself from Dentrinity (They had a deal where you could buy the gun w/o silencer and LAM for $58.00 + Int'l Shipping),?I would have to?say no on the STTI/KJW.

This should be the last of my "I wonder if KJW is any good" comparisons.

Chrono Results (FPS)
Green Gas, Barrel Extender Attached
.20 BB's
Min: 420..43
Max: 473.43
Avg: 436.90

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Manufacturer: Western Arms (Japan)
Type: GBB
Date Acquired: 03/2004

Western Arms – S.C.W. Para-Ordnance Doberman .45 Limited

My 2nd WA!!! (Although I purchased this from WA before the first WA I received shipping direct from Japan took a while..). This is the Western Arms – S.C.W. Para-Ordnance Doberman .45 Limited, yet another WA 1911 modification.

This gun includes the following:

• Barrel Shroud/Meat Tenderizer
• About 1 inch longer then standard Inner Barrel
• 30 Round Silver High Cap Magazine
• 20mm Lower Rail
• Slide and Shroud Compensation Cuts
• Silver outer barrel
• Competition Style Oversized Ambidextrous Safety
• Competition Style Oversized Slide Stop
• Competition Style Magwell
• Lanyard Nub

Western Arms – S.C.W. Para-Ordnance Doberman .45 Limited

Quality of this replica is top notch. It weighs a little over 3lbs so nice and heavy There's still a little magwell wobble, but not near the wobble the Para Prokiller has.

I also bought an extra mag, which it was told to me uses the standard 30 round WA high cap mag, but the spare doesn't work with this specific gun. It works fine in my Prokiller, but it keeps the slide from returning properly on the Doby.

Performance of this gun , out of the box is really good. It slide kick is hard and crisp. At this point I haven't messed with the hopup yet , so the accuracy needs to be tuned a bit. With Green Gas, fps results as follows:

Chrono Results (FPS)
Green Gas
.20 BB's
Min: 325.26
Max: 340.13
Avg: 331.21

Not planning on doing anything else on this gun, More info to be posted later as I play with it more.

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Manufacturer: Western Arms (Japan)
Type: GBB
Date Acquired: 03/2004

Western Arms – Prokiller Para Ordnance 14-45 Combat

Well… suprisingly with the amount of airsoft I own, this is my first Western Arms gun. I must say for quality, weight, appearance and performance, it lives up to what all WA owners say. These guns are top rate replicas and top rate performers,

This specific gun is the Prokiller Para-Ordnance 14-45 Combat which includes the following:

• Barrel Shroud/Suppressor
• 8 inch Inner Barrel
• 46 Round High Cap Magazine

NOTE!!! Even though this gun is called a Prokiller and it ships with the High Cap mag, it is NOT select fire. This replica is semi auto ONLY (Which I found out after purchase, but that disappointment was countered by it stock fps performance. See Below)

Western Arms – Prokiller Para Ordnance 14-45 Combat – Regular Para-Ordnance Magazine

Quality of this replica is top notch. Other then the plastic slide it looks and weighs almost the same as it's unloaded, real steel counter part. The only gripe I do have is a little magazine wobble, meaning there's a little space in the magwell.

Performance of this gun , out of the box, is really good. This is my first WA 1911 type of gun and I had forgotten 1911's were Single Action, but yet another area where WA made a great reproduction. With Green Gas, fps results as follows:

Chrono Results (FPS)
GBB
.20 BB's
Min: 382.65
Max: 410.21
Avg: 393.54

I figure the much longer inner barrel is giving the added power, but it is more then I expected. I have a new Hogue grip on order and so far that is the only upgrade I'm planning on this gun.

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Manufacturer: KSC (Japan)
Type: GBB

Project Update 03-22-04

KSC – HK MK23 Heavyweight – Project Gun – Tamiya Acrylic Paint

Hooray! Metal Slide is now painted and works great!

Well I ended up stripping the Powder Coating and wet painting the slide with Tamiya Acrylic. The powder coating was just too thick to be used on a slide and barrel. But after abotu 3 coats of wet paint, it came out great and I need to take Guinness' advise on taking pics . I'll post better pics later. The metal slide functions as it should. Decreased my ROF about half so may need to get an upgraded valve.

Project Update 03-15-04

KSC – HK MK23 Heavyweight – Project Gun – Powder Coated Slide

The Powder Coating Experiment…

Luckily my parent's own a powder coating factory, so I put my bare aluminum slide on the line today after carefully masking the slide grooves.

Why Powder Coat? Outside of the fact for me it's free, powder coating is a very durable way to coat metal (So durable it's a biyatch to sand!). Very scratch and ding resistant. The process involves the powder paint and a 400degree oven, so anything that will melt needs to be stripped.

My biggest concern with the slide was that powder coating is alot thicker then regular liquid paint, so I was concerned about all the TM. The picture doesn't show it well (I'm going to use Guinness' picture taking techniques during the day sometime) but the TM came out fine. The biggest prob was due to the base metal used on the Zeke slide. I was a very pourus aluminum casting adn outgassed during hte process, which reulted in the texture effect on the slide. I dunno now, I kinda like it But I'll probably strip the slide and barrel tommorow adn try some other paintng technique next.

Stay Tuned…

Project Update 03-12-04

KSC – HK MK23 Heavyweight – Project Gun – 2 Tone ROFL

I scored a Zeke Metal Slide and Barrel for $50.00. The only problem with it was the finish was wearing off. Above are pics of my initial cleaning for the parts. I will probably be sand blasting and either powder coating (the best powder coating shop – Gemtech ) or painting the slide and barrel.. Now I just gotta make up my mind what to paint it… Marpat???

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KSC – HK MK23 Heavyweight – Project Gun

I came across an ad on AirsoftPlayers.com for a KSC MK23 Heavyweight gun in need of repair for $75.00, so I just couldn't resist taking a look at it for the price and seeing how far I could get fixing it.

KSC – HK MK23 Heavyweight – Project Gun

When I recieved the gun it looked as if it had been submerged in water or something since there was rust on all the metal parts. Luckily a little dilluted pholic acid and some Gun Bluing I have for my Real Steel guns took care of that. The gun fired, but the trigger stuck and you were lucky to get the hammer to lock and slide to return back to position. To top all that the magazine did not release or sit properly in the gun.

Comparison: Tokyo Marui MK23 NBB (top) KSC – HK MK23 Heavyweight – Project Gun (bottom)

I lucked out and purchased 2 parts that fixed the guns operations:

• Shooters Design 150% Recoil Spring Set For KSC Socom Mk23
• KSC MK23 Magazine

And everything works great now!!! I don't think i even needed the spring set but it really gives the gun a nice crisp return on the slide.

With the success of the base guns fixes, I've added the following:

• Wolf Industries M97 LAM Unit (review here)
• JUST Delta Force Silencer ( 30mm x 110mm )
• First Factory MK23 Silencer Adapter (Converts the 16mm Clockwise adapter to a 14mm Clockwise Adapter)

So far everythigns great on the gun. It's really heavy, loud report, crisp action and to top all that it shoots well too!

KSC Assembly Guide

KSC MK23 Parts List