NightStalker: Star Airsoft UMP Review
NightStalker
14 Sep 2007
First Impression
The first time I held Star airsoft’s UMP reminds me of the movie The Matrix Revolution® and the movie sequel Bad Boys 2. Impressed by its strikingly “angas” (mean) look and its slow rate of fire that denotes a heavy firepower, I wondered how much more “angas” can an AEG look like.
More than words can say, I was so impressed by its size, comparing how it looked like in the movies being held by actors with heavy build and standing more than six feet tall makes the UMP look like an MP5 PDW.
Nevertheless, UMP’s overall size is seemingly a bit longer than the MP5 A4 and a bit shorter than the G36. Its front part is narrower than the G36 and weight is obviously lighter, if you are an MP5 series lover, the UMP may be a bit of disappointment for you with regards to length and weight.
The UMP’s “angas” look may have been complemented by its humongous… or maybe just huge magazine. Long, straight and seemingly a relative of the classic .45 Thompson sub-machine gun, the magazine adds a character to the UMP of which the stand alone MP5 series is short of.
The UMP’s overall look is still eye-catching for me… I just wonder how it feels…
The Gun
After my impression on this AEG, I was excited to take it to the game site and do my first testing. Fortunately the weekend weather was good enough to cooperate and I was able to complete a whole day's game and literally finished off my bag of BB.
Big, huge or bulky as you can see it is, the UMP is a muscle SMG in real life, but in the game site, it's a head turner for almost everyone who saw it for the first time. Still stock and out of the box, the UMP was tested to shoot at 272 feet per second using a .20g BB from Tokyo Marui.
I was lucky to have 2 stock magazines which can hold 110rounds of bb each and a 460round hi-cap magazine which I bought at Airsoft Philippines at a friendly price. I was skeptical at first with the hi-cap magazine, but to my surprise it never "mis-feed" at any occasion during the game, well of course when the mag went dry... How much more realistic can it get? a window on the side of the magazine so that you ca see how much more bullets you have, unfortunately not the bb.
The weight of the UMP is the only downside I have expereinced at the moment.. Running and crawling made it more difficult because of the long and huge .45 magazine in real life. Also, shooting at a prone position was very difficult because of the magazine.
Folding Stock
The folding stock is one of the most convenient feature of the UMP. CQB or assault, this folding stock is so convenient that you can hold the aeg with one hand in a CQB game.
Convenience is my best judgement for the UMP's folding stock.
The Front and Rear sights
The front sight is a direct copy of the G36's ring sights which is very sturdy, although the UMP's front sight is made of plastic, you might want to upgrade to a metal in the future.
The rear sight is exactly of the same size and feature as that of the TM G36C, but again still made of plastic, I hope that there will be an aftermarket metal upgrade soon!!
I was able to obtain a used TM G36C rear-sight and got curious if it was similar, I installed the latter and was surprised to find ot that it fits exactly with no modification at all! There was only one difference though, the spring retainers to lift the rear-sight from the TM G36C was smaller in diameter while the Star UMP's rear-sight spring was bigger in diameter, use the TM G36C spring when installing the TM G36C rear-sight into the UMP.
The Hop-up assembly
A direct copy from Marui's G3 series and the G36C, UMP's hop-up adjustment is very precise at little increments. I like this hop-up design better than my MP5 and my previous M4 series.
Due to the absence of a working or simulated c*cking-lever, opening the simulated bolt door is not as easy as it may seem, a slippery or wet fingers will give you some difficulty keeping the door open.
Adjusting the hop-up took me quite awhile maybe because there was still some presence of silicone oil inside the hop packing which made adjustments erratic and difficult, but as soon as I fired up 460rounds of .20g bb, the hop setting was at its constant trajectory.
The Gearbox
Although I don't open-up gearboxes just to have a look at them, I took the chance to see what's outside them... Here the photo depicts the un-screwed bolt which pry-opens the whole gearbox system, or should I call it the lower receiver?
A single allen head bolt will detach the whole lower reciever and gives to the access to open-up the whole gearbox. Again similar to the Marui G36 system, the gearbox is now easy to operate on in the hands of the expert.
Don't loose those screw-bolts!! Stick it in the folding butt's holes which is actually desighed in the real steel to hold those screw-bolts during field maintenance.
The Battery
This beginning to be expensive! the battery I got was a KR-1500 NiCd by Sanyo, priced moderately I decided to go for the 1500mah rather than the 1700mah which is also available but much pricier.
Mounting the battery is no hard work, slip it in, connect the terminals and voila!
Thank you for reading my review on Star Airsoft's UMP... if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send me a private message if privacy is deemed necessary.
Suggestions are also welcome
Thank you!
One more picture:
The first time I held Star airsoft’s UMP reminds me of the movie The Matrix Revolution® and the movie sequel Bad Boys 2. Impressed by its strikingly “angas” (mean) look and its slow rate of fire that denotes a heavy firepower, I wondered how much more “angas” can an AEG look like.
More than words can say, I was so impressed by its size, comparing how it looked like in the movies being held by actors with heavy build and standing more than six feet tall makes the UMP look like an MP5 PDW.
Nevertheless, UMP’s overall size is seemingly a bit longer than the MP5 A4 and a bit shorter than the G36. Its front part is narrower than the G36 and weight is obviously lighter, if you are an MP5 series lover, the UMP may be a bit of disappointment for you with regards to length and weight.
The UMP’s “angas” look may have been complemented by its humongous… or maybe just huge magazine. Long, straight and seemingly a relative of the classic .45 Thompson sub-machine gun, the magazine adds a character to the UMP of which the stand alone MP5 series is short of.
The UMP’s overall look is still eye-catching for me… I just wonder how it feels…
The Gun
After my impression on this AEG, I was excited to take it to the game site and do my first testing. Fortunately the weekend weather was good enough to cooperate and I was able to complete a whole day's game and literally finished off my bag of BB.
Big, huge or bulky as you can see it is, the UMP is a muscle SMG in real life, but in the game site, it's a head turner for almost everyone who saw it for the first time. Still stock and out of the box, the UMP was tested to shoot at 272 feet per second using a .20g BB from Tokyo Marui.
I was lucky to have 2 stock magazines which can hold 110rounds of bb each and a 460round hi-cap magazine which I bought at Airsoft Philippines at a friendly price. I was skeptical at first with the hi-cap magazine, but to my surprise it never "mis-feed" at any occasion during the game, well of course when the mag went dry... How much more realistic can it get? a window on the side of the magazine so that you ca see how much more bullets you have, unfortunately not the bb.
The weight of the UMP is the only downside I have expereinced at the moment.. Running and crawling made it more difficult because of the long and huge .45 magazine in real life. Also, shooting at a prone position was very difficult because of the magazine.
Folding Stock
The folding stock is one of the most convenient feature of the UMP. CQB or assault, this folding stock is so convenient that you can hold the aeg with one hand in a CQB game.
Convenience is my best judgement for the UMP's folding stock.
The Front and Rear sights
The front sight is a direct copy of the G36's ring sights which is very sturdy, although the UMP's front sight is made of plastic, you might want to upgrade to a metal in the future.
The rear sight is exactly of the same size and feature as that of the TM G36C, but again still made of plastic, I hope that there will be an aftermarket metal upgrade soon!!
I was able to obtain a used TM G36C rear-sight and got curious if it was similar, I installed the latter and was surprised to find ot that it fits exactly with no modification at all! There was only one difference though, the spring retainers to lift the rear-sight from the TM G36C was smaller in diameter while the Star UMP's rear-sight spring was bigger in diameter, use the TM G36C spring when installing the TM G36C rear-sight into the UMP.
The Hop-up assembly
A direct copy from Marui's G3 series and the G36C, UMP's hop-up adjustment is very precise at little increments. I like this hop-up design better than my MP5 and my previous M4 series.
Due to the absence of a working or simulated c*cking-lever, opening the simulated bolt door is not as easy as it may seem, a slippery or wet fingers will give you some difficulty keeping the door open.
Adjusting the hop-up took me quite awhile maybe because there was still some presence of silicone oil inside the hop packing which made adjustments erratic and difficult, but as soon as I fired up 460rounds of .20g bb, the hop setting was at its constant trajectory.
The Gearbox
Although I don't open-up gearboxes just to have a look at them, I took the chance to see what's outside them... Here the photo depicts the un-screwed bolt which pry-opens the whole gearbox system, or should I call it the lower receiver?
A single allen head bolt will detach the whole lower reciever and gives to the access to open-up the whole gearbox. Again similar to the Marui G36 system, the gearbox is now easy to operate on in the hands of the expert.
Don't loose those screw-bolts!! Stick it in the folding butt's holes which is actually desighed in the real steel to hold those screw-bolts during field maintenance.
The Battery
This beginning to be expensive! the battery I got was a KR-1500 NiCd by Sanyo, priced moderately I decided to go for the 1500mah rather than the 1700mah which is also available but much pricier.
Mounting the battery is no hard work, slip it in, connect the terminals and voila!
Thank you for reading my review on Star Airsoft's UMP... if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them here or send me a private message if privacy is deemed necessary.
Suggestions are also welcome
Thank you!
One more picture:
