As regularly as he can, Yas of the Japanese airsoft blog, Hyperdouraku, reviews the latest airsoft products coming out of the Japanese manufacturers, and which will always be ahead than the rest of the airsoft world as he has easy access to these. In his latest review, he gets up close and personal with the latest Tokyo Marui rapid firing AEG, the Steyr High Cycle (HC) Custom.

-------------------

THE REVIEW BY HYPERDOURAKU

The 5th of the High Cycle AEG Series  Tokyo Marui presented this during the  Shizuoka Hobby Show in May 2011  The HC series boasts high cycle with a short crisp trigger work. Armed with high rpm, the unit can easily penetrate bushes, and it may become a handy weapon in airsoft games where high rates of fire matter a lot.

This model is Tokyo Marui's airsoft version of the Austria's Steyr Steyr AUG assault rifle. The Steyr AUG is a bullpup rifle with an innovative style that was officially adopted in the Austrian Army in 1977. The bullpup is a grip that is positioned behind the gun mechanism, with this design you can put in a long barrel and still maintain the compactness of the rifle.

The TM Steyr HC Custom is based on the Steyr AUG A3 9mm XS model which is the latest variant ot the Steyr Aug series. However, this sub-machine gun XS model uses 9mm rounds in a pistol magazine whilst the TM version still maintains the 5.56 magazine design to put it a high capacity magazine that this high ROF AEG will require in spitting out BBs.

Getting rid of the top carrying handle, the receiver was extended to the center of the mounting rails of the BullPup stock, and short barrel allowing good maneuverability style which gives it a more more polished form of the futuristic Steyr AUG.

The Flash Hider is made of aluminium and shows the high quality of workmanship. A silencer can be fitted and a 14mm reverse screw can be removed as well to allow the fitting of such. It is not easy to install the silencer as it is recessed rather than extended to attach the muzzle adapter.

Top rail of the body has a depth of 2.6mm, width 20.7mm, pitch 10mm. The Picatinny standard depth is 3.0mm, the width of 21.2mm so slightly different in size, and options would have little practical as it cannot be fitted in properly. Top rails are intended to achieve the flat top are of 325mm in length and made of glass fiber reinforced resin.

The Front Sight is made of plastic and can be adjusted with the adjustment tool that is supplied in the package. Plastic also makes up the rear sight which is a two-stage switchable type L, left and right windage adjustable. Both the Front and Rear Sights, of course, can be removed from the rail.

Getting rid of iron sights, you can place a C-MORE quick reflex sight. Since the front portion receiver is also equipped with short right side rail, accessories such as weapon mounted lights, etc. can be put and would make it a more powerful weapon in CQB, indoor games.

The AEG Also includes a mounting rail at the bottom front. The under-mount rails are standard with a short foregrip.  This can be removed if you want to put other accessories that you buy separately.

The peculiar shape of the grip as there is no trigger guard, as the trigger guard has been designed together with the grip showing a big guard-grip style which is very handy when using thick gloves. When you pull the trigger half way it fires in semi-auto, it becomes fully automatic when you pull all the way, and this is the same in the real gun.

Directly behind the trigger is a selector switch as seen on the left side of the receiver. Full  auto firing can be achieved when this switch is full protuded, and protruding half way it becomes semiautomatic, and when pushed all the way inside the body puts it into safe. When in Safet position a button button pops out on the opposite side which you will push to activate the firing modes.

The Bull Pup Rifle Stock is characterized by large compartment that incorporate parts of Steyr HC. The butt plate is covered securely by a rubber when plate which can be removed by pulling the pin that holds into place. The battery compartment can hold a Mini battery.

The A3 Type Cocking Handle for new designs can be moved by twisting and pulling upward towards the rear end of the rifle. The action then opens the ejector port, revealing the hop-up coaxial dial. It's a bit difficult to adjust the hop-up to fine tune how the AEG fires as it's a little recessed inside the body.

The bullpup compartment is way too close to the shell-ejecting port making it close to the cheek of operator when in firing. Though this is not a blowback rifle, it still conveniently allows you to remove a cover and put it on the on the opposite side, especially if you're a left handed shooter.

The TM Steyr HC also features an easily removable barrel. Pull the pin and slide to release the bottom rail mount and draw the front end and outer barrel forward, that easy. The hop up chamber at the end of the outer barrel is not compatible to the older versions as it is positioned forward slighly to accommodate BB feeding of the HC and it shows a long nozzle.

You can then continue doing a full takedown of the AEG by pushing the latch just below the ejection port and pull the the rest of the upper assembly to the front.

Taking down the Steyr HC Custom is the best fun as it's easy to take it apart. Do you already feeld the villain's hair in the movie "Die Hard"?

The magazine has a capacity of 330 BBs. It is a see-through translucent magazine which you can confirm your ammo level. It has the winding gear at the bottom magazine just like in other high capacity AEG magazines. Since Tokyo Marui has adopted the 5.56 magazine rather than the 9mm magazine type, it can accommodate more BBs to feed into the high cycle AEG.

If you prefer a 9mm magazine, you will be left with a lower capacity magazine that can be emptied fast as the AEG spews out a high number of balls than the regular AEGs, so it's reasonable that TM stuck with the 5.56 magazine. Good luck in waiting for a 9mm-type magazine that is adopted to be used by this AEG.

The weight of the AEG with magazine and a mini battery is 2.920g, which is light enough. It feels nice and easier to manoeuvre. However, due to the nature of bullpup rifles, petite women might find it hard to handle it given the distance of the end of the buttstock to the grip.

In shooting with the AEG, using a 1300mah NiMH battery and pouring BBs into the 6mm BB magazine, inserting it behind the grip, I started first aiming in semi-auto at targets. The trigger gave quite a good response. Then I went for full auto to experience the high-cycle shooting and pulling the trigger, it gave a pleasant shooting experience.

With an X3200 XCortech Chrono, the ROF is approximately 1,400 rounds per minute or 23.3 rounds per second. It can go to 25 rounds per second, and you still not have to worry much about the stress on the gearbox.

The initial velocity was 85m/s then with the following series of shots the high cycle settled at 80 - 82m/s, which is the standard for AEGs.

The TM Steyr HC Custom can be used in indoor and outdoor games, making it a very versatile AEG.

In recent years the Tokyo Variation Line has few AEG models, which was started with the Type 89 released in 2006 then followed by the M933 Commando in 2009 and they just stopped. From there, they went to the High Cycle line. I want to get more models and with the strong yen, it is much cheaper to buy other AEG models made by other companies abroad.