Cybergun Colt Licensed XM177E1 Airsoft AEG Rifle by G&P

"Picked one of these up recently, for nostalgic reasons, and also the low price point. I've owned the G&P M177 before, (or just CAR15 as we called them when I was in the Army...I know, I'm old as dirt.) and there are some key differences between older models and this 'Cybergun' version. The full metal and nicely trademarked receiver is a little grayer in color than previous models, which were slightly more black. A subtle difference and it's still a nice shade, but the 'blacker' color was more authentic. Previous models included a true steel copy of the long flash hider that the M177's were fitted with; this one did not come with a metal flash hider of any kind, only the orange plastic one. Be aware the metal one in the pictures is not included. The stock and handguards are ABS plastic, not polymer as with previous models. Really, G&P? I guess this is how the low price point is achieved, as ABS is much cheaper to produce. Still surprised though. The provided metal mid cap simply does not fit in the magwell. Well technically it does, but I don't appreciate having to put my knee on my rifle to get the mag out. Otherwise it's a G&P and after a bit of careful hand weathering, has that satisfying G&P, full metal, retro rifle glow and realism, and the price is very attractive. I look forward to re-building everything in the internals and making it another field worthy addition to the collection. I'd give this guy a 7 out of 10 stars.

"The gun shoots great, the mag it came with hardly fits and I had to use a bench grinder on it to get it to fit. About 25 rps with an 11.1v lipo. The trigger response is decent but not the best but the full auto makes up for it. Very accurate with. 25 and .20s out to about 50 yards

"Follow up to last review for an evaluation of the internals, now that I've actually shot the gun. I knew the i5 gearbox has gotten mixed reviews, but I was still surprised at what I experienced after...oh, maybe 20-30 rounds. I plugged in a small 1000mah, 11.1v lipo that fit in the buffer tube nicely. Gun was quite snappy and shooting about 1.3 joules out of the box. I had to replace the bucking and nub since the factory one was badly installed, so I upgraded to a Modify flat hop, soft. Great results, and that snappy trigger...nice. Next morning, pulled the trigger...nothing. Hmmm. Put in a new battery and it fired right up. First lipo battery was drained flat, wouldn't take a charge. Played with it a bit more, chronoed consistently, snappy trigger, good accuracy...yada, yada. Next morning, second dead lipo. Drained flat, no resuscitation. That's 2 brand new lipos, KIA. Wires are all good and what we have here is a confirmation of the problems with the i5 gearbox electronic trigger board: it fails and/or drains batteries. I'm hoping this will be taken care of by Evike. I love the gun and want to keep it, but it needs a traditional gearbox like G&P's trusty former 8mm gearbox, my go-to standard. It's disappointing because the XM177 is such a hard platform to find in a truly well rendered copy of the real steel, and this one has a problematic gearbox.