M14 SOCOM Combat Report,

While FarEast takes you through the looks, the break down and build of the M14 I am going to focus on the game experience of the M14 SOCOM on my home turf; CQB and CQC.

As with all the latest TM’s this gun is very nicely built.  It is also very very distinctive.  Many people gaze at your gun the safe zone and I was answering all sorts of questions from newbies and old timers.  One point everyone liked was the flash hider, which was universally loved and coo’ed over.

My notes here come from playing with the gun for the night and experiencing both victory and defeat, which is as good a test as you will get for any new item.

• The gun is long.  Even though this is the cut down version of the full M14 we all know and love it is still a long gun.  Longer than my guarder gun bag, longer than my metal gun case and longer than my sports bag.  This is really only a transport issue as the gun when in play does not suffer from its length.  It is similar on length to a M4 Rifle.
• The Rate of fire is very nice indeed.  It looked to me to be at the top end of TM stock guns.
• The FPS was 290 approx.
• The BB flight was fantastic and very very straight.  You can immediately tell that this gun shoots differently than an M4.
• The noise level was a happy surprise. This is one of the quietest guns I have ever used.  The noise was more of a thunk than a bang.  With the possibility of attaching a silencer, then you have what is perhaps the best possible Counter-Sniper setup.
• The high caps are massive.  440 rounds goes a loooong way.
• The accuracy of shots is very good.  I was hitting a hanging chain at 15 meters consistently.
• Range was excellent with little drop.
• The weight of the gun is the same as a full metal M4.  It is not light and this means that single handing is out, as is holding an extended aim position for long periods.  By this I mean leaning around a corner, etc.
• I used my Walther Red Cross sight on the top built-in mount and found it to be very easy to scope in.  All in all accuracy was a total joy.
• Slinging the gun was not so easy.  I tried out a 3 point sling, my Chalker and in the end went with a single point bungy attached to the grip behind the trigger (where your palm would go.)  However, due to the problem of having to swap to left and right shoulders I eventually took the sling off. I am going to mod my Chalker to take the gun and enable me to kneel with the gun slung (IE when pistoling.)
• The mags don’t like CIRAS M4 pouches very much.
• Playing the rifleman was a new experience for me and not yet one I have mastered.  I have better range and accuracy but I don’t have the crazy charging ability I commonly use to my advantage.  This is great.  I was stuck at the top of that game with nowhere to go and now I have another hill to climb skills-wise.  In CQB the rifleman hangs a little back from the front and uses his range to his advantage, providing cover alongside the M249 players.  He is about finding the best locations and defensively attacking.  I hope to be able to expand this role to include more assault tactics, but at Electrowerkz I am limited so this will have to wait until I go back to Longmoor or another more wide ranging Urban site. 
• Purchased from UNCOMPANY with 2 highcaps and delievery was £230
• In straight Urban, like say Spectre, this gun will rule them all.

That’s it,  a full review will come after I have pimped it and played in Urban as well as CQB.

Basho