Reviews

The Amoeba Airsoft AM-013 "Honey Badger"

Master Chief

PART 1: The Amoeba Airsoft brand from ARES Airsoft have released a new airsoft rifle that boasts of high quality make and design that I’m sure will become very popular among modern warfare airsoft enthusiasts or other FPS video games as the design will be very familiar to those who have been playing some of the popular FPS video games in recent years.

At first glance, the Amoeba AM-013 is a real eye candy of an airsoft rifle. The design is very modern and is very similar to the design of the AAC Honey Badger 300 Blackout Gun. The main colour of the rifle that was supplied to us is DE or Dark Earth with black accents on the button rail, modular front and rear sights, charging handle, stock release buttons, fire selector switch, bolt release, magazine release catch, ejection port dust cover, trigger and pistol grip and foregrips/handstops.

A LOOK AT THE EXTERNAL FEATURES

The main outer barrel of the rifle only goes halfway through the CNC handguard and a big diameter suppressor completes the length of the outer barrel. The inner barrel though, extends all the way into the suppressor. The suppressor’s diameter occupies the entire inner diameter of the handguard and sticks out about an inch longer than the handguard.

The handguard is CNC'd and has a high quality feel on the build. On the front, a new design pair of foregrips/handstops are attached to adapt to the new or modern rifle shooting method seen in the likes of Chris Costa and Travis Haley. This is the first time that I have encountered these and although I am not a fan of the new way of shooting rifles as I find it very uncomfortable, I think it is a good addition and gives a cool look to the rifle. Midway through the  top of the handguard is the folding front battle sight. This is a unit in its own and is screwed into the handguard. A rail is attached onto the underside of the handguard where the user can attach a longer foregrip or tactical light.

The upper and lower receiver are made of nylon fibre material and plastic. On the upper rail, the rear battle sight is attached. Another good feature of this rifle is the enlarged magazine release catch. This makes magazine change a lot quicker. The fire selector switch cycles through the fire modes easily. There is no wobble or any unnecessary movements.

The extendable stock has two length positions. It is spring loaded so the buttstock springs out when the release button is pressed. The only negative thing is that the spring is quite strong that it can push the buttstock all the way out and can accidentally detach itself from the rifle.

The battery is housed on the buttstock. To access the battery compartment, detach the buttstock completely and remove the end bit of the remaining part of the stock by pressing a release latch on the underneath. The battery compartment is small, just about two inches in length and one and a half inches in width. The rifle does boast that it is Lipoly battery ready and can accommodate a Lipo battery 70x42x17mm in size. If this rifle is lipo ready, it is safe to assume that the internal parts are of good quality and strong enough to withstand the power that Lipo batteries give.

The rifle has ARES Airsoft’s improved 3rd generation Electric Firing Control System or EFCS that is a feature in the Amoeba Airsoft series which should give the rifle a better firing cycle. And from what I have read about this, it is basically a programmable MOSFET. There's not much information if the firing modes can be programmed on this model but if it does have the EFCS installed then it is possible that this can be done. I will go through this in part two of this review.

The magazine that came with the rifle is a 300rd hi-cap polymer magazine. Same as the rifle, the magazine is made of good quality material.

All in all, the Amoeba AM-013 is a very impressive bit of airsoft kit. It provides a modern feel to the sport which is what most young players are looking for especially those who came from a video gaming background.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATIONS

  • Material: Nylon Fibre Plastic, CNC Handguard
  • Mode: Full Auto / Semi / Safe (Programable)
  • Battery: Lipo ready (Maximum Battery Size: 70x42x17mm)
  • Magazine: 300rds magazine\Motor: High Torque Motor
  • Colour: DE (also available in black)
  • Length: 630-735mm
  • Barrel Length: 300mm

PART 2 will follow shortly.

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