In March this year i got the oppertunity to test and review a new Core line gun from Specna Arms. Here is the review I made back then:
Specna Arms Core (SA-C04)
In the box:
- Specna arms broshure and the guns user manual
- Metallic Specna Arms Hi-cap stanag mag
- Plastic vertical front grip
- Battery charger and Specna Arms 9.6 v 1100 mAh Ni-Mh battery
- Specna Arms Core key chain
- Specna Arms M90 CQB main spring
- The Gun itself, Specna Arms Core SA-C04
First Impressions
The first impression of the guns material was a surprise. I realized the material was a plastic or polymer compound when I removed the buffer tube from the upper reciever. After I discovered this I searched for more info on the internet about this and found that it is infact a nylon reinforced polymer that is tested to be very durable and can take a hard beating.
External parts
The external parts, lower and upper reciever and buffer tube are all the new core polymer. The finnish is a matte, metal like feel that totally blew me off. The markings include Marine Env M-4, painted on.
The front is all metal, the idea seems to be to cut down on manufacturing costs and at the same time try and keep the polymer at a high quality. The internal parts however are one of the best in a stock gun i’ve seen so far.
The Main spring change system works pretty well. The spring is taken out of the upper reciever directly under the buffer tube. The buffer tube needs to be removed the old fashioned manner: remove the stock and remove the screw and washer that holds the buffer to the reciever.
Gun disassembly
- The buffer tube is easy to remove, as mentioned before, by removing the screw and washer inside the bufer tube.
- The upper and lower reciever comes apart with the fron pin, that in this case has a screw keeping it secure.
- Mag release is removed with a small Philips screwdriver.
- The bolt release button is just decorative and is now fastened in any way.
- The rear pin is also kept in place with a screw.
- There is also one pin that keeps the gearbox in place, that needs to be removed with a spindel or mandrel.
- The pistol grip is a very basic pristol grip, cap is removed with 2 Philips head screws. They are machine screws though. The grip itself is screwed to the gearbox with 4 scres not the typical 2.
- The gearbox scres are machine screws with Philips heads.
Internal parts
On the inside I find a rotary style hop up chamber, wich feels really nice allthough it is made out of plastic. The only down side is that the O-ring underneath the hop adjustment wheel could be a little thicker / stiffer, feels like the hop can adjust quite easily. The C-clip was on really tight and is of an odd shape (not standard m4 C-clip). Need to be careful not to break it.
Gearbox
The shell is of good quality, very similar to the SAEC family gearbox shell. The shell has been radiused by machine and seems to be quite nicely done also. The shell comes with 8 mm slide bearings. Inside the shell the spring guide, tappet plate, nozzle, trigger mechanism, selector plate, piston head, piston and hop-up are all blue in color.
The cylinder is of type 2 and feels very light (aluminium). The cylinder head is plastic and has one O-ring and nozzle also has one. The air seal is good with the part combination. The grease inside the gearbox was a little dry, cleaned it and put in new grease as a went trough part by part. The Piston is light plastic but has steel all 14 teeth. Gears are cast iron and the sector gear has a delayer.
Gun usage / functionality
I used the gun for the first time at a CQB training session hosted by national defense training association in Finland. I left the gun stock, except the clean-up I did when breaking through it internally. I attached an Noveske amplifier, flashlight and a camera mount to the rail system.
During the training session i used 6 Specna Arms standard stanag mid-cap, metallic magazines.
As a CQB gun this proved to be quite nice! The model (SA-04) is short and due to the polymer compound it is made of it is also very light. The hop up i got adjusted previously on a gun range where the bb’s flew 40 – 50 m in range and on a torso sized target. During the training session you can’t see the bb’s, but I got some hits with it even during the training.
Summary
As a one line summary: I recommend this gun to any new airsoft player just starting out. The guns body is made of a polymer, but it is a nylon reinforced polymer. The internal parts are in my opinion of high grade to the price tag on the gun, also taken into account the rotary style hop-up.
As a main weapon to a more experienced player? No, not as it comes out of the box. I think my mil-sim background and mindset stops me from appreciating this gun to the fullest. I like a weapon to feel more realistic, be heavy to carry around. The internal part on the other hands are pretty good, maybe if the recievers were changed to metallics? Maybe…
To all this I still need to add the price tag, that crowns it all. In Finland you can get this gun for 180 – 200 €, shops even in Europe sell them closer to 150 €.
This review was sponsored by Specna Arms
This and many more Core models available from Gunfire.pl