Maple Leaf Airsoft "Tornado" Valve for WE-Tech Gas Blowback M4 Series Airsoft Rifles

"Using it with a heavy recoil m16, gas efficiency is improved drastically.

"First impression:

The build material is made out of brass, the same material the stock one is made of. It seems to be well made and the “plunger” has a lighter spring in it making it easier to push. It’s not much of a difference and you can only tell by having the two side by side. The o-rings are of slightly better quality rubber than stock it seems as well.

I originally purchased this not for gas efficiency but to see if it would help increase FPS consistency. I only purchased one to use as a tester.

Performance:
This is where I wasn’t impressed. While using a RA-Tech Steel Bolt and RA-Tech Buffer/Spring (inside the WE M16A3), the gas efficiency acted worse than the stock one (also using a full RA-Tech steel trigger box assembly). I noticed larger puffs of gas being spewed out in full auto compared to the stock and semi auto felt as though the system was struggling. It cycled, yes, but the felt recoil was dramatically decreased and ROF suffered tremendously. FPS consistency was also unchanged.

The recoil was dampened and felt spongy. The stock one is very crisp. I also used more gas in the RA-Tech one and barely got one mag out of it in full auto. Whereas with the stock, I can get two full mag dumps in full auto.

If you read on RA-Tech’s website, it stated that it’s best used with their “light strike” hammer spring. So that may be a factor here to increase the full potential of the valve. I don’t have that spring so I cannot attest to this. If you want to know where to get this light strike hammer spring, get it from their shop website directly (or from another Asian site if you find it).

For $15 before discounts, if you want to get this to test out, go ahead, but from my personal experience, the stock valve performed far better.

It gets an overall 2/5 because of build quality and a 1/5 for performance—mainly due because it’s a supposed “upgrade” component.