BORELLI CONSULTING: Tactical Equipment Reviews

TeamSD M4 AirSoft
By: Steve Forgues, 26 December 2005

While surfing about the internet one day, I came across the TeamSD line of airsoft guns. Although TeamSD does have the inexpensive toy type airsoft guns like what you see in your local department store, they specialize in realistic guns like what military and law enforcement typically use. Some of them, like the one I am reviewing are licensed replicas of an actual weapon. This gun is part of their Auto Electric Gun (AEG) series.

It made me start thinking about how one of these guns would fit into force on force (F.O.F.) training. More and more departments around the country and world are starting to do this type of training. There are several options available when it comes to F.O.F. training, such as Simunition, Paintball and now Airsoft. Here is my view on the options; I don't know everything about Simunition, but from what I have seen, it is very expensive, plus you have to modify the weapon or change out the barrel. Paintball is inexpensive, but the guns are not like what you use on duty or with a tactical/military unit, unless you spend a considerable amount of money. Airsoft on the other hand is inexpensive in comparison to Simunition, realistic to what you use, plus you can also get marking rounds. I'm sure that you have, but have you ever heard the saying, "train the way you fight, fight the way you train." With this in mind, I feel that the TeamSD line of products allows you to do just that.

Obviously there is going to be some differences, such as magazine capacity and no recoil. TeamSD has guns that replicate H&K MP5's, M16's, M4's, AK47 and many others. In the case of this review, it is a licensed replica of an Olympic Arms M4 with fixed stock, collapsible stock version is also available. For those of you that are not familiar with Airsoft, they shoot a 6mm pellet, generally made of plastic. As I looked into Airsoft further, I found that marking rounds are available, which are basically the same as the common paintball round but much smaller, and then I also found that there are aluminum pellets available. I have in the past participated in paintball games, and have heard of Airsoft games, but started to wonder what in the world the aluminum pellets would be for. I have no idea what the manufacturers had in mind for aluminum pellets, but starting to think of possible military/law enforcement (LE) uses for these rounds. One thought came to mind, and that was for units requiring a stealth approach where there is light present at night. I have heard of units using sling shots to take out lights in a yard, but as I see it, you would need more practice with a sling shot than your weapon to be that accurate. Suppose it is night time, moving in for a raid under the cover of darkness, but there is a floodlight in the yard that needs to be taken out. One officer is carrying an Airsoft gun with aluminum rounds, from roughly 30 yards away the officer takes out the light with minimal noise. Airsoft gun is slung or dropped to ground and lethal weapon brought up to shoulder and ready to move on. How often this happens, probably minimal, but it's another option available to you.

Enough about the ammunition, lets get on to what this review is really about. This M4 measures 34 inches long and is 7.25 pounds empty. As stated above, this is a replica, the length and weight are the same as a real M4, but comparatively the Airsoft version is heavier in the butt stock due to it also being the battery compartment. Speaking of battery, it uses an 8.4 volt 1800mAh rechargeable battery that is similar to what is used in radio controlled cars. The magazine capacity is 450 rounds; that is a lot of shooting. Action wise, you have SAFE, semi-auto, and full-auto. In full-auto, you have a 400 round per minute rate of fire. Now before I list the specifications for velocity and energy, you must understand that Airsoft guns are classified as toys*, and due to that they have a relatively low velocity and energy for safety reasons. This gun shoots in the range of 310 to 330 fps (feet per second), with an energy transfer of roughly 1.5 Joules. Most of you are probably like me and don't understand what Joules mean, so I had to look it up. If you convert it to foot pounds you would be looking at just over one foot pound of energy. Like I said, it's not much, but let me tell you, it will leave a nice welt on someone even with the plastic pellets, and sufficient to take out a light as described above.

Like the real thing, this M4 has a flat top receiver with included removable carry and adjustable sights. Both front and rear sights are adjustable. It also has the round forearm grip that is removable. As you can probably start to see, everything is in the same location and functions in the same manner that the real thing does. There are two things on this gun that do not function like on the real thing. The first is the bolt catch, which is basically there for cosmetic reasons. The second is the forward assist, which doesn't function in that capacity. When the forward assist is pressed, it releases the tension on the electric motor. It is used when you are done using the gun.

With this M4 being built just like the real thing, with exception to the internal electronic and mechanical items making it an Airsoft gun, you are able to rig it out just like you would on an actual M4. Whether it is forearm grip with integrated rails for accessories, forearm grip light kits, lasers, optical sights, etc. you can install them. Take your accessories off your real M4 and put them on this for training, then you training with everything that you use in battle, with exception to using Airsoft.

Besides the sights, there is one other adjustment, and it is called Hop-Up. It is an internal mechanism that has to do with how the round fires, in terms of what would normally be called bullet drop. As with any long gun, you do test firing and sight adjustments. I played around with this one for awhile and made some minor adjustments to the Hop-Up so it would fire pretty flat until it's range limit, then I took a lot of time adjusting the iron sights. I found that it will accurately shoot in range of 30 to 40 yards with the standard plastic pellets. No testing was done with the paintball or aluminum rounds.

Loading the magazine is quite simple. All you have to do is slide open the cover on the top of the magazine, pour in the pellets to its capacity, close the cover. One additional step, on the bottom of the magazine is a little wheel that you wind up, which basically puts pressure on the rounds so that they will feed. You will notice that on the top of the magazine there is a small hole slightly larger than a pellet, with a little black tab. This is where the rounds feed from, and the tab prevents the round from pouring out until the magazine is inserted into the gun. Upon inserting the magazine the tab is automatically disengaged, and reengaged upon removing the magazine.

Operation of the gun is much like it is with a real M4 with a few exceptions. Load magazine, charge magazine by winding the wheel, insert magazine into gun, pull charging handle back fully and release. Select rate of fire (semi or full auto), point gun in safe direction and fire.

I found that this gun was built very well and can take the abuse of military/LE training programs. Everything operated as it should and was very happy with it. It was fun to play with, especially with a 450 round capacity, but a 450 round magazine obviously is not practical for military/LE purposes. I have not seen them, but I have heard that there are 30 round magazines available.

I mentioned above the velocity and energy, don't let those numbers fool you. It does have quite an impact. While testing I was primarily shooting cardboard. It had no problem punching throw one layer of cardboard, so I doubled it up and it still punched through with ease. I added another layer and it still punched through, but lost most of its energy doing so. Unfortunately I did not have an opportunity to do any FOF training with it. I did have a fellow officer volunteer to be shot with it. He was wearing body armor when I shot him. He stated that he felt the impact, but no pain, sting or any other discomfort associated with being shot. Anytime that you are conducting FOF training, whether it be Airsoft, Simunition or Paintball, you should utilized protective equipment, such as body armor, full face mask and any other additional padding that you desire. The additional padding is not as important as body armor or face mask, but you'll be glad you did after getting shot.

One advantage to Airsoft is that the plastic rounds are reusable. This applies more in an indoor training facility where the round would be contained and could be vacuumed up with a shop vac. The rounds would still need to have a round shape to them. Any rounds striking a hard surface such as concrete or brick will have to be discarded due to being deformed, and you want to only recycle clean or semi-clean rounds.

Cost wise, your looking in the neighborhood of $400 for gun only and an addition $50 for battery and charger. Although not inexpensive, it is more cost effective in the long run.

If your looking to start a FOF training program or looking for an alternative to Simunition, I would highly recommend that you check out the TeamSD line of products. They can be found online at http://www.airsoftcqb.com.

Be safe!

I have a comment on this article.

Also, don't forget to read the Recreational Equipment Evaluations:

BlackHawk CQC Tactical SERPA Holster-----26 December 2005
Plus others!!!

Check out this week's Highlighted Training Article about the value of High Intensity Tactical Police Flashlights. This article is a rebuttal to an article that recently appeared in the FBI Bulletin.

For a listing of reviews in chronological order, GO HERE.

New American Truth eMagazine
Dedicated to ALL citizens who oppose terrorism and injustice.
Subscribe Today!

Subscribe To New American Truth