Part two - Internals and performance
Having been extremely impressed with the quality and construction of the ICS L85s external features and body, I had high hopes going into the replica's internals and looking at it's performance. I began by stripping the replica down to its gearbox before then proceeding to carry out an accuracy and range test.
Disassembly
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| 1. Push through TMH pins |
I was impressed as I dismantled the weapon as to how ICS had tried to keep the take down process similar to that of the real steal. The body of the replica breaks down into two main parts, the top receiver and barrel with fore grip and sight and the lower receiver including mag well and trigger assembly. To break these two parts down, two TMH or Trigger Mechanism Housing pins need to be pushed through, just as on the real steal. Whats more, ICS have even included the small clip springs on the pins that prevents them from falling out when they are pushed through. Although they are of much lower quality that the real clip springs, they still serve a purpose and prevent you loosing or misplacing the pins.
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| 2. Split receiver from rear before disconnecting spade connectors to the motor and sliding the gear box out |
Having pushed through the pins and separated the two main parts, the gear box can be found in the rear of the replica. Before removing it, the spade terminals to the motor must be disconnected. Once disconnected, the gearbox can then be slid out of the replica. It should be mentioned that one detail that is different from the real steel other than the airsoft internals, is that the shoulder pad at the rear of the replica should not come off without undoing extra fixings and would usually remain attached to the lower section of the receiver. The replica can be disassembled right down to the individual components very easily, but as this is the most common disassembly I have not gone any further.
Having carried out the simple disassembly, we are left with the gear box, upper receiver, lower receiver and rear butt plate or shoulder rest. The shear simplicity of the take down is great and with an adjustable spring guide also featuring on this replica, FPS changes can be made in under a minute!
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| 3. L85 A2 broken down to the gearbox |
Internals
Gearbox
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| ICS L85 A2 gearbox |
Ok, so now we have got the replica in pieces, lets have a look at its internals. The gearbox is very interesting and is unlike any other I have worked on or seen. I can only assume that it is unique to the ICS L85 series or at least to the L85 replica design. That said, the case is extremely solid and appears to be made out of a very good quality casting metal with extra strength and support incorporated into the design, so I have no reason to see why it won't last for hundreds of thousands of rounds. But if for whatever reason you are able to break it, Firesupport have a range of replacement internals including full replacement gearboxes.
From what I can tell the gears are a standard v2 set, they are very good quality made of steel and very well formed, they are shimmed nicely and extremely smooth in rotation. The cylinder head and piston also appear to be universal, but the spring guide, and tappet plate are unique to the ICS L85. All however, are very good quality and are made to last.
ICS have also included their very nice "Turbo 3000" motor into this replica. I really like this motor it is extremely smooth, pretty quite and provides very nice speed while being able to pull up to a 180m spring before a drop in rate of fire is noticeable. However, the motor height adjustment spring on this gearbox is different to standard adjustment springs in that it is shorter and bigger. The motor sits in a detachable cage, meaning you do can keep the height adjust set when removing it and also allows separate cages to be added. This means if you chose to do so, you could quickly switch motors if you wanted to increase torque or speed while on the field of play.
The gearbox's crowning feature however, is its adjustable spring guide that allows the adjustment of the fps in a matter of seconds. After stripping the replica down to its gearbox as already seen above, the spring guide is adjusted as follows.
Hop up unit
The hop up unit is specific to the L85 design, but works very well. It is made of a very solid plastic that is more than strong enough to survive the rigours of play. There is a nice big hop up wheel that produces a very solid click and the amount of hop that the unit produces is easily enough to lift a 0.28g bb at 320fps. However, the cross head slot on the wheel, can get stripped out pretty easily so using your fingers is probably a better choice, even if a little fiddly. Once bedded in, the stock bucking and unit is more than enough to give you good range and accuracy. Its just a shame its let down by the barrel a little.
Performance test
From what I can tell the gears are a standard v2 set, they are very good quality made of steel and very well formed, they are shimmed nicely and extremely smooth in rotation. The cylinder head and piston also appear to be universal, but the spring guide, and tappet plate are unique to the ICS L85. All however, are very good quality and are made to last.
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| ICS Turbo 3000 a brilliant motor |
The gearbox's crowning feature however, is its adjustable spring guide that allows the adjustment of the fps in a matter of seconds. After stripping the replica down to its gearbox as already seen above, the spring guide is adjusted as follows.
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| Release spring clip that holds adjustment pin in place |
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| Remove pin and allow spring guide to come out |
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| Choose one of the three power settings holes at the front, middle and rear of the spring guide. Replace spring guide and pin |
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| Hop up adjustment wheel |
Barrel
A slight criticism of the ICS L85 is that they did not fit a tight bore barrel, I think given the length of barrel that the bull pop design of the replica allows (509 mm) just fitting an un ported brass 6.05 barrel is a little frustrating. The accuracy of a 509mm 6.03 for example would maybe have made a serious difference in the replicas performance which I will come onto shortly. This is something I'm looking to upgrade in the near future.
Performance test
- Tests carried out using 0.25g excel bbs
- FPS set to 320fps (mid power setting)
- Tests at 10, 20 and 30m
- 10 single shots
- 2 bursts
- Shot from standing
- Light wind conditions
- Head sized air gun target used
Results - 10m
10/10 single shots
All rounds from both bursts hit target
As expected of all high end replicas at this range, very accurate with an estimated 1 inch grouping
Results - 20m
7/10 single shots
Nearly all rounds from the bursts struck the target.
Still pretty decent accuracy, beginning to see the drawbacks of a standard barrel. More erratic grouping 3-4 inches
Results - 30m
4/10 single shots
Only a few rounds from the bursts struck the target
Still respectable given the target size, large improvements could be gained with the addition of a tight bore barrel.
Conclusion
Price 7/10
Build quality 10/10
Ease of use 8/10 (right hand only)
Performance 7/10
Although the cost is slightly steep when compered to alternative models from G&G and AA it is in my opinion that this ICS model is the better choice. The build quality is sensationally good and the attention to detail is stunning. Alongside a real A2 the differences are almost impossible to spot. It performs very well straight from the box with lots of nice features such as a locking cocking handle, fake gas parts and adjustable spring guide and although let down slightly by the lack of a tight bore barrel, I feel that this offering from ICS is a very good AEG that with a few small upgrades is, if you are after that British army look, the best version of the L85A2 to have.
