"The gun:
The STF12 shotgun from BO manufacture seems to be a fairly well-thought out, well designed piece. It weighs enough to feel solid in the hand, but without making it uncomfortable to carry as a sidearm. It is made of decently high-quality ABS plastic, with rubberized grip and pump. The stock features a nice, high-density rubber recoil pad (those springers really kick). There is no wobbly cheap feeling, and it shoots fairly well for a shotgun. The accuracy was surprisingly good, as far as shotguns go. The range that I could effectively hit a person-sized target was around 50 feet, once again good for a shotgun under 100 dollars. Still, the best feature was the rail space. This thing has more rail space than some AEGs. There is a rail on the pump, but I wouldn’t plan on using it. In order to get enough grip on the pump to rack it, you must grab the pump at the front, which means you’ll cover the rail with your hand when racking. Also, the trademarks are cool and highly visible (I love trademarks).
Now for the cons:
When I first unpacked the gun and racked it, it was STIFF. After racking and firing about 100 times, it started to feel smoother and became much easier to pump. The pump out of the box was very tough. Another issue is that of the barrels. If pumped too fast, one BB will come flying out the front end (I don’t know which barrel. I’ve never looked down the barrels while racking). This is unfortunate, since it is supposed to be a tri-shot shotgun. While it does not do this every time it is pumped, it does it often enough to be annoying. Also, when the gun is tipped muzzle-down after chambering a round (or three), it will drop one BB out.
Also, I noticed something that is probably a small fluke, but still annoying. The loading gate is made of metal and mostly relies on gravity, and not a spring, to make it drop. There is a spring, however, to stop its fall. This spring sticks out about an eighth of an inch out from the gun. It is a tension spring, so the end is like a little fishhook. I accidently ripped my finger open on this taking it out of the box (my fault, I wasn’t paying attention). It also snags on everything. I snagged it on my glove, shirt, my vest, and the sling. Honestly, this was the most annoying thing about the gun.
Yet another issue I encountered was the fact that I had to run about 600 rounds through this gun to get it to the point where racking it didn’t pull a muscle. The first three shells, I had to brace it against my leg to get it to pump fully. Unfortunately, 600 rounds is a lot of wear-and-tear on a shotgun. But, after a few cleanings and some silicone spray on the area the pump runs on, it was good as new.
The only other issues I have noticed are small. One is simply an aesthetics issue. The top of the stock has a wide seam running down it (at least on my gun). Probably just a manufacturing error, nothing to worry about. The other issue is the rear fiber-optic sight on the gun. It was so far off out of the box (the fiber optic beads were slanted to the left) that a shot aimed using that sight would land about 6-10 feet from where you wanted it. Since it can only be adjusted up and down, it is useless. However, since most shotguns don’t come with any sights at all, I suppose I should be thankful for what did come (the front sight is really cool).
The app:
I bought my gun with the phone mount and Bluetooth shell. The phone mount is awesome. You could use it to video airsoft battles (if you found a way to protect the lense). The Bluetooth shell works well and connects quickly. The app, on the other hand, is kinda junky. The idea is there, the technology simply hasn’t caught up yet. It has potential, but right now you’ll have to content yourself with fighting glitchy virtual people. Not only do you have to line the camera up exactly in order to make them appear, but they move around, get bigger, spin, and then just disappear. Other than that, it is worth buying it just for the phone mount (and the shotgun).
Comments:
Overall, this gun is a great spring shotgun (especially is you like Fabarm). It looks awesome and shoots well. I still don’t think, given the range, that I would field it as anything but a sidearm.
Another thing I noticed is that there was a Youtube review and the guy said it had cheap plastic sling mounts. Mine are definitely metal and not cheap-feeling at all. Maybe it is an updated version? Or the model with the Bluetooth shell is different in that regard? The video was from December of 2018, so BO may have changed that about it. Who knows.
Also, if you can get it on sale, like I did, it’s a steal (I got it for 50 dollars). I personally do not think it is worth the 90 dollars Evike normally sells it for, but it is a nice gun.
I would give it 4 stars for the gun, but the disappointing performance from the app, was, well, disappointing (I was expecting it would be, but sometimes things surprise me). I would give it 3.5 stars if I could, simply because the app is pretty sad.
"The Action is ridiculously stiff, seriously, Ive had CYMA m870s and they feel like a charm compared to this thing, Im not a weak kid either, Im a full grown adult and the "pump" action of this thing is so crappy you wont even be able to tell its cocked most of the time. build quality seems decent but the action is ridiculously hard to operate, all that for a measly 300 fps. if youre considering getting this as a present for a child, dont, they wont be able to cock it.
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