ARES Airsoft Full Size L1A1 Battle Rifle Airsoft AEG (Color: Synthetic Furniture)

"Purchased the ARES full size L1A1 AEG with synthetic stock on 6 November 2024 and finally bought a 9.6v, 1600 mAh nunchuck NiMH battery/charger. I like the way the spring loaded butt plate pulls out and rotates to expose the ample size battery chamber in the stock. I find this to be the easiest battery install of any AEG that I own.

Mag loading is easy with the supplied tube/rammer. It was too cold to shoot outside, so I only test fired it at a range of about 25 ft in the basement. It has a nice semi-auto trigger and good power; the shots cut a ragged hole, which impressed me greatly. The only thing missing is the .308 recoil. I look forward to testing the range and accuracy, which isn't really critical for my purposes. I have quality scoped springer pellet rifles in .177 and .22 for accurate distance shooting.

The beauty, weight, and feel of this rifle is as others described. The one letdown is the threaded orange plastic muzzle and lack of any available flash hider for it, which leaves an otherwise faithful example of the L1A1 look unfinished. The actual FN FAL or a variant has been on my list of actual firearms; however, my state bans the sale or transfer of the variant. Therefore, the airsoft model is as close as I will get to owning one of these iconic weapons. I'm totally satisfied with the purchase and service from Evike.

This rifle fills a niche in a collection of historically significant firearms ranging from revolvers, semi-auto pistols, submachineguns, semi-auto rifles, squad assault machine guns, that covers late 1800 through modern firearms. In addition to the collector value, the realistic functioning allows me to use them as training aids for instructing marksmanship, as well as to safely demonstrate of disarming and weapon retention techniques.

"Reviewing based on the wood version.

This gun is stupidly beautiful. It's ridiculous. Pictures do not do it justice. I wanted this gun for months before buying it, and I watched tons of videos and drooled over pictures the whole time.

But I was still not prepared for how gorgeous it is. The wood they chose is perfect - rustic and textured. I swear it even smells like an old firearm, the scent you find at a war museum. Slap a scope and flash hider on it and you'll be inundated with compliments. It also feels solid, from the mags to the stock to the weight balance.

If you want a really beautiful gun, it's hard to do better than this. The visuals alone are worth the price for me.

That said, the dirty rumors about the internals are mostly true. They're about what you'd expect in a $200 AEG. When I took it to my first game, my rounds weren't hopping, and I found that the barrel was seated sideways, so the nub was missing the barrel window. The hop up wheel also doesn't have a lot of friction, making it hard to hold its position if you're using lighter ammo. The nub itself was horribly cheap. The battery compartment is tiny (though slightly larger in the black version I hear). The selector switch got loose after two days. The trigger isn't as bad as some people say but also not great, and the gearbox isn't reinforced, despite the gun being a likely candidate for DMR builds.

But these have all been worth the hassle to fix. I even went further and HPA'd it with a PolarStar F2 - Rodd from PolarStar helped me take measurements and determined you can do it with the Ares M4 F2 kit, replacing the nozzle with an F2 #15. Now it shoots like a dream.

I realize that most people will want a high performing gun out of the box when spending north of $600, and that's fair. This isn't the gun for you in that case. But if you want a sexy L1A1/FAL that'll take your breath away, it's worth the extra work.

Side note: The FN FAL scope mount that Evike suggests does NOT fit correctly, and will wobble. You have to buy the one that Ares makes.

"It’s a beautiful gun, wondering if the gear box will be ok with a LiPo battery,

"A mostly look at the outside, which is 9/10

This wood version just arrived. It is so good it`s hard to believe it`s not real, and in another life I used the " real" ones, which naturally had a bit more weight. The wood furniture is superb in fit and reddish/brown finish color, far better then the " real" aftermarket stuff put out over the last 30 year's.. The numbering is mostly in the right places. The sights are correct even to the gray/black metal finishes.
I predict that even at this somewhat high price it will go out of stock fast.

"I purchased the wooden version a few weeks ago and I must say that this rifle is amazing. Superb accuracy and a ton of range using .28g G&G bbs. The motor and gearbox are both relatively quiet and sound very crisp and smooth. The external parts feel and are constructed well. The wood is some of the best I've seen on an airsoft gun. Over all it is worth every penny, no need for any upgrades out of the box.

Some notes:
When you get the gun the first thing you will want to do is deactivate the takedown lever to tighten the upper receiver down by using a very long flat head screwdriver to disconnect the stock from the back of the gun. Taking the butt plate off the gun will help make this easier. Once the stock is off there is a small Allen screw that you will want to tighten down to fix this issue.
The wooden version does not fit 9.6v stick batteries. Just get a few Echo1 7.4v lipo sticks and they will fit inside the stock nicely.
The wooden version also comes with a black metal flash hider.

Once again this is worth every penny if you're looking for something unique and that is ready to go out of the box.

"screws are bit lose so you may need to tighten yourself, dust cover replacement guide can be found on youtube, they are not hard to do. You may achieve a faster rof than a full auto rifle with a quick trigger finger but the gear may jam on you, so make sure don't pull the trigger too fast.
a really powerful rifle, heavy as hell in a good way.

"i love this rifle i bought it and its an amazing replical of a fal real wood full metal fantastic gun if your starting your vietnam collection this is an awesome one 5/5 i will get it if i were you bc this ares rifle is hard to get these day

pros full metal real wood comes with flashhidder :)

cons - mags are hard to get unless evike stocks them one day . stock can be wobbly so make sure you have a long flat head screw driver to tight it up if its loose make sure you have one bc it can be very loose when you get it

if your looking for a FAL replical this is the one to get at 460$

"i fired this gun at a field recently i didnt buy it but its heavy slap a scope mount on and a x4 scope and it is a excellent sniper

"wears the wood kit it looks so good with wood

"Update:
Once again I fielded my L1A1 with a modified top cover with rail. If you plan on using this gun in the assault role just be aware that it shoots very hard and it's huge.

I use mine as a sniper rifle and it's deadly with .25's and .30's.

Be very careful of the selector switch because it can wiggle into full auto or burst. To avoid this issue I use a programmable burst wizard, programmed for single fire only.

All in all this rifle rocks, if you're man enough to hump it!

"I have this SLR from a different retailer and I have to say WOW! First off it is very long and unless you know how to maneuver with a "long gun" I'd suggest staying away from this gun. I fielded mine a last weekend and it performed just as it's reputation... " The right arm of the free world ".

To get the most out of it I got the 650mm Matrix SS tightbore for it and now it can also double as a DMR!

When Evike gets the railed top cover you will be able to mount a scope but the rail is very short and can cause some eye relief issues.

The magazines are all proprietary mid caps and all metal...:D

It does shoot on the "hot" side so buyer beware as most fields will not allow it unless you're in the "sniper" role.

My final take... get your SADF/Rhodesian/British uniforms out and appropriate web gear and rock on!

"Really nice gun overall (definitely a collector or impression gun over amazing performance and ease of customization however). I bought the gun twice and when I bought it the first time I was kind of underwhelmed with the performance but it was favorite style of gun and wanted it for an impression so I got it anyways. However the second time I bought it I was greatly impressed by the improvements, the trigger response was better, the fps and joules increased substantially, and the air seal was improved. The overall performance of the gun is well out of the box but the major downside is the hop up unit needs a little work but it slightly improved overtime and the gearbox is tough to work on so I would recommend someone with experience work on it for sure. The wood is nice quality and sturdy and the polymer is excellent and not cheap flimsy plastic and the texture is nice for gripping when your hands are wet or have gloves.

"Overall good. The only thing I can recommend is not trusting the Evike website when It recommends the 9.6v butterfly type battery for the wood furniture. It won’t fit inside the stock unless you carve the stock out more. Luckily my friend had a battery that fits but it was a disappointment that the recommended batteries WILL NOT FIT in the stock. Also, the wood furniture option does not include a flash hider.

"THIS GUN IS A B S O L U T E L Y T A N T A L I Z I N G!!!
but....

WAIT FOR A SALE!!!(god willing...)

I would highly recommend it IF...

-the price wasn't through the roof (due to few sales or downright price gouging)
-the flash hider wasn't sold separately (a d**k move by ares in my opinion)
-buyers we're not limited to HI-CAPS only (probably from lack of purchases)

"Got one of these used for $400 dollars. The shell is solid and very high quality, no creaking or wobble at all. The upper and lower are solid as well, juts an absolutely amazing shell. This is also the only L1A1 AEG you can currently buy new. $530 dollars is way too steep for this gun though as that's where the good things end. The gearbox is proprietary, and when I say proprietary, I really mean it. You can't really upgrade the thing and its close enough to a version 3 to look like you can swap it out, but I highly doubt you'd be able to. I'm going to experiment with it and get back you. The trigger feels awful because it's not standard and relies on a hunk of metal depressing a contact outside the gearbox so it super clicky and does not feel good. The high torque motor while a nice addition is proprietary as well so if you want to experiment with a version three, you'll have to replace the motor as well. The gearbox shell is so thin you could easily crack it. The small concession on the gearbox area is that if you do decide to try your luck with one of these, the spring is quick change so the gearbox is easy enough to get apart for more inexperienced techs one other person on here suggested putting in an Ares f2 Polarstar HPA motor, but I'm not confident that the gearbox shell would hold up for very long since it's so incredibly thin and that's a lot of money to spend to find out the thing doesn't work, and you're left with a proprietary shaped Polarstar motor if it doesn't work. The selector switch has already kind of worn out as I don't have safe on it anymore either. Just shoddy parts that you can't really replace and you're only sort of solution is to spend over $500 more dollars on an HPA motor that may or may not work. It also ships with a proprietary hop unit that wiggles left and right so it might mess up your accuracy. The hop up buckings Ares ships with these things is the flimsiest piece of rubber that has been known to tear very easily. The rotary wheel on the hop up wheel is also way too easy to move and I suspect that it will move on you in game and throw your shots off by a mile. I cannot recommend this to anyone, the only reason I'm willing to try and work with it is because I'm trying to put together a Selous Scouts Rhodesian Special Forces kit and this is literally the only gun you can get that has the correct form factor for the build. All in all, the shell is amazing, but it means nothing if the insides are lacking. I'd recommend tuning into negative airsoft's videos on this gun as he explains everything better than I can and has been essential to informing me about this gun.