ARES New Version Full Metal L85A2 Airsoft AEG Rifle (Metal Gear Box)

"Andrew, if you are looking for an nice L85, get the G&G one!

The star model is outdated, thats why evike don't carry it anymore too.

Maybe thats why some website in asia is trying to dump it.

Keep in mind tho, if you order it from asia, shipping will cost you $70~$100 per gun. If custom decides to examine it, there will be some more fee.

Then you need to pay for duty and tax.

Then, if you are un-lucky, the gun is seized or destroyed (if your shipper don't paint the gun very ugly with a lot of weird last minute orange paint job).

Thats why, always buy from a U.S.A. retailer due to the nature of Airsoft products. Evike has great services and products, the pricing is very fair, I recommend this site.

"Bought this rifle last year and it has been the best airsoft gun that I own. Its very heavy(STAR claims its very near the real steel's weight) and I often get tired keeping it shouldered for too long. It shoots 390 fps right out of the very nice gun case that was included(Don't use .20 bb's with it, my first mag of bb's just went wild in every direction, .25s work best with this gun). It uses most major brands of M4 magazines(I've found that the Echo1 $18 mags work especially well).

It fits a small type battery well enough, but I would recommend having a custom 8.4 volt large battery made for it. Which is one of my gripes with this gun, to get the battery out is quite annoying in the field, although not near as annoying as my mp5k-pdw, but it still requires a srewdriver(or your special l85 adjustment tool). Oh and be sure not to store the adjustment tool in the hand grip during a game. I did very good about keeping it in my pocket until 1 game I forgot to take it out and lost it ___''.

The rail that the carry handle is on is NOT a 20mm rail, if you put a 20mm scope on this rail it might stay for a while but it is not designed to hold a 20mm accessory.

I have heard very bad things about STAR's SUSAT scope for this rifle, so I opted for the 20mm mount base from an overseas website and installed a 4x Leapers scope. It really compliments the gun well.

Here lately I've had a lot of problems with my hop-up and finaly I decided to install a new hop-up, BE WARNED: To remove the hop-up unit you must take apart the gearbox(although some people have been able to fix the hop-up without taking down the gearbox, I have not). The gearbox is plastic, but it is very strong and reinforced plastic unlike all the lower end guns and shows no sign of wear and tear after one year. Since I have installed a new tightbore barrel and an assortment of different hop-ups trying to find which one is best for me.

I just ordered the grenade launcher yesterday and will review that when I get it.

All in all an excellent gun right out of the box, a bit pricey yes, but I believe its worth it in the fact that you wont' have to upgrade the gun(although a tightbore barrel does wonders for accuracy), and the case it comes in(while not a pelican quality) is a very nice case that has held up to lots of abuse.

I would recommend this gun to anyone who is tired of the same old m4/m16 variants and has a few extra coins in their pocket ;)

P.S. after comparing this rifle with the G&G and the Army Armament rifles I'm convinced that this rifle is MUCH better quality than the other two. Plus it doesn't come with the blowback system which breaks very easily and when it does break the gun is useless until you fix the gearbox!

"some website in asia is offering this AEG at $290 if I'm not mistaken.