EMG Colt Licensed Historic Models M16A1 Vietnam Airsoft AEG Rifle

"This AEG is really the bee's knees. Although the product states that it is an M16A1 the features of the lower receiver and three prong flash hider makes this rifle the XM16E1 variant. It is the only one like it on the market and it is perfect for use in my local interactive museum. Playability wise it is an excellent airsoft rifle as the build quality for the receiver is very very durable, and truth be told I almost mistook it for my actual real steel XM16E1 clone rifle. One slight issue is that the magwell is kind of tight but all my magazines that I have tested do drop free without issue. But other than that slight issue it shoots well and it shoots at about 340-360 FPS with .25 gram BBs and a 9.6v butterfly battery.

"For $219, it's a good deal. Couldn't pass it up for the newest version of the XM16E1, always wanted one and this one will definitely do. Glad I waited for this one instead of getting the other older models.

I gotta say, this is a fantastic gun. It feels amazing to handle and the metal is really good. It's not like the pot metal feeling on the Cyma platinum series mlok rifles (the new versions). If you own one, you know that metal on that rifle feels cheap and it almost feels like it would break if you slam it against something. Anyway, this M16 is by far the most sturdiest and quite well built. Combining EMG's quality with the new CYMA gearbox, it's going to last for some time.

Few things to note about the new Cyma gearbox:
- plastic trigger box
- MOSFET will burn out very quickly if you're using a very high voltage battery. I would not recommend full autoing on a 11.1v for a long time because that will burn out the MOSFET. It's a cheap MOSFET but that doesn't mean it's not good. The ROF is about 25-28 rps, give or take, on a 11.1v and 16-18rps on a 7.4v.
These are the two major problems but with a little upgrade along the line, you'll get a great performing gun.

Pros:
- Well built, sturdy, handles great!
- Metal quality is absolute and fantastic.
- Awesome trades on the receiver.
- Correct flat barrel nut and flash hider, true to the RS. (Note: this version is the XM16E1, not M16A1)
- Amazing ROF.
- Magazine feeds all the way.
- True to the RS XM16E1: partial fence, 3-prong flash hider, rotating sling swivel.
- Large battery compartment in the fixed stock.
- Selector switch is tight and have enjoyable clicks to it.

Cons:
- Somewhat "weak" MOSFET unit, upgradable.
- Plastic trigger box. Again, upgradable.
- Wrong name, not an issue though, might bother some people. This is the XM16E1 model, not M16A1.
- It's deans, unfortunately. I prefer my guns with the tamiya connector instead of deans. If you only have tamiya, you need to get a deans to tamiya wire. Again, not a major issue, just a gripe for me.

Overall, it's a great gun! I did considered giving this a 4 stars, but the cons are really just minor issues. This one is definitely a 5 stars in my book.

"Had it for a year when I first got it out of the box it didn't work so I sent it back to evike and they fixed it and ran it all last year airsoft season and let it sit for 3 months and after that I charged the battery and it didn't work but in all when it did work it was an amazing rifle shoots great has a good rate of figher and I enjoyed it will try and get someone to see what happen to my rife

"I mostly bought this rifle because I like to collect historic rifles, and have a particular affinity for Vietnam era guns. I bought the Helios line XM177 for a special forces kit, but I wanted this one as well for a basic grunt kit.

Pros:
-The EMG Helios line has stellar performance, and like the XM177, this one has fantastic performance.
-High quality Internals.
-Durable construction
-Historic markings and attention to detail set it apart from other M16A1 clones

Cons:
-Not technically an M16A1 (Though most of the details that separate it from an XM16E1 are not present since this is an airsoft gun), but this still historically acceptable for an early to mid 'Nam kit
-Handguard feels lower in quality to the rest of the parts on the rifle, and the spacing does not allow for a real steel triangle guard to be dropped in (I know, I tried).

Overall this rifle gets a 9/10 from me, it's good, it's not overly expensive, and best of all it's more reliable than the real life version. The only point it loses is that the handguard doesn't have more heft, but that's a personal nitpick from me, who admittedly is a bit of a hard-to-please gun nerd.

"Pretty good overall Vietnam Era replica. I love the Engraved Colt trades and the attention to detail enough to include the gray metal VN short midcaps that came with them during the actual Vietnam War back when these replicas were just getting issued. The polymer triangle hand guard and the polymer full AR stock and the A1 pistol grip are the details that make owning the EMG/Helios over a JG, A&K, Classic Army version.
My biggest complaint is with the stock Compression parts and SHS 13:1 Gears and Mosfet Lambada 6.03 tbb 500 mm inner and the SHS piston and motor pump out an eye popping 29rps on a fully charged Titan 11.1battery but unfortunately the internals that make the gun so clean sounding it shoots. The range on the gun is where I found myself struggling to adjust the hopup enough to lift. 25s more than 125ft. Immediate upgrades: Steal 6.03 tbb 500mm
PROWIN hopup chamber and a Madbull blue bucking with an AOE correction it got the shot consistency much more acceptable. Before it was shooting 200fps-365fps and everywhere in between. AND after those slight changes and a better barrel bucking combo its right around 370-380fps and .28s get lift well beyond 200ft.
I like the Colt trades so much that I actually just ordered the XM177E2 as well and I am very happy to have them in my collection. OVERALL GRADE: 7/10 if EMG/CYMA QC teams would've done their job before they started selling these they could have easily fixed the issue and now with proper AOE correction and hophp replaced the gun would've been more
Like 8.5/10

"Overall I love this M16, now that it's actually working. When I first received the gun, it performed terribly, to the point of being completely unusable. This isn't the first time I've had issues with CYMA Platinum line guns, by the way, so beware if buying anything form that line, or from another brand advertised as having a CYMA Platinum gearbox, such as this one, that you're likely to run into some issues. Strange considering their standard aegs have been so solid for me over the years.

Anyways, right out of the box it seemed to shoot ok for the first test mag in my house. Maybe a few skipped rounds but not bad. But then I tried to use it in an actual game and it pretty much fell apart, metaphorically speaking. On semi it was skipping the majority of rounds, and in full auto it would maybe feed 1 out of 5 or 10 rounds. Additionally, the hop up was complete garbage such that even if rounds did fire, the gun had legitimately about a 50ft range. On top of all that, the functional mock bolt got stuck open after just the 2nd or 3rd time using it. Based on that initial impression I'd give the gun a 1 out of 5.

I RMAed the gun though and after a few weeks I got it back, and I'm quite confident Evike gave me back the same gun, but fixed, for the most part. The mock bolt was still sticking open, but I was able to find my own solution for that and it's now working fine. Internally I'm not sure if they installed a sector delayer chip and a new hop up rubber or what exactly they did, but it's functioning just fine. I used it this last weekend and probably put around 1,200-1,500 rounds through it and it didn't skip a single round. The hop up, while still not as good as some of my best guns, is now functioning and gives the gun moderate range. I got a couple kills with it of around 150ft so it's acceptable. Though ill be upgrading the barrel and hop unit to bring it up to the standards of some of my better aegs.

So why am I rating this gun 4 stars overall despite the issues? Because now that it's working, I love it, and it does exactly what I hoped it would. By looking at the size of the thing, you'd assume it would be unwieldy, but the truth is it's extremely light for its size and well balanced too. For comparison, it feels lighter than my Krytac PDW MKII-M, which is absurd. I fielded it all day with absolutely no fatigue, and it points very quickly, though I do wish there was a way to attach a single point as I hate 2 point slings. But that's hardly CYMA or EMG's fault as that's the way the real steel gun is designed.

The trigger response is absolutely fantastic with an 11.1 and the battery space is so massive I had to wrap a spare glove around my biggest lipo to stop it rattling around in the stock. Full auto has a crazy rate of fire for a stock gun as well, though I can't use that in my local games anyways.

The best part is, it looks gorgeous and it got a ton of attention, despite being yet another M16/M4 variant. I had at least half a dozen people come up and compliment the gun throughout the day. The handguard and stock do feel a little light and cheap, and there's some mold lines that are a bit sharp for my liking, but that's probably not entirely unrealistic. Overall though it looks really cool and is a lot of fun to use.

So do I recommend the gun? In the end, yes. I believe it's worth the hassle I had to go through and now that it's working I'm in love with it. Just expect that if you buy this thing, you're probably going to have to either send it back for some fine tuning or open it up and fix it yourself if you're confident in your teching skills. Whether that's worth it to get a sweet Vietnam-era replica is up to you.

One final note: The metal shorty midcap that comes with the gun is awesome and I seriously hope Evike starts stocking them separately so I can buy more.

"I'm fairly impressed with the quality. Really crisp markings, tight fit and finish. It certainly passes first inspection, but if you're a collector you will notice some very obvious inaccuracies. I understand they did this to streamline production with other models, and to reduce cost. But for what it's worth, pretty nice example of a XM16E1.

"Great gun out the box. Feels godly in your hands. However, the plastic handguard feels cheap as hell compared to the stock. Overall you can feel the power of America surging through your hands as you handle this beast.

"Bought this gun for vietnam airsoft events and it's a very accurate replica. The gun looks very good and is true to the original- and the receiver has proper engravings! (That's a big deal for me- the cyma has some stupid skull and crossbones). However, after about a year of owning, I have yet to find a mag that feeds. So basically it looks great but you can't really use it for airsoft. Maybe a new hop up chamber or something would help, but expect to mod this gun to make it shoot.

"The external build quality is honestly really,really good.

However mine had terrible compression issues (apparently common with CYMA Platinums) and the mosfet burnt out very quickly.