Finally! Something new to write about after being bombarded with news of the Magpul PTS Masada AEG. We haven't heard for ages about Top Airsoft Japan since their last product that we know of is their M249 SAW. Well, they may have been stucked in their lab planning for something that we might all welcome and they do have one which may just come out very soon: a shell-ejecting full metal M4A1 electric blowback AEG! Yep, that's right, not a gas blowback M4A1, but an AEG.

Sorry for the photo that you see, that's a real deal M4A1 firing. We do not have any photo of the product to show you.

Bancha tipped us on this item, and did some translation into English. According to Top Airsoft, this is an AEG that can shoot BBs that are mounted on shells/cartridges. The bolt will stop after the final shell has been ejected, and you can eject a cartridge via the ejection port  by just pulling the charging handle.

Furthermore, you can shoot the AEG like any normal AEG without the need to use cartridges so you can have the option of playing in any normal airsoft skirmish game and use the shell ejection system for role-playing in milsim games, movie props, or for practical shooting. We haven't gotten confirmation if TM-compatible magazines can work with it.

We emailed Top Airsoft Japan for more information such as pricing, availability, capacity of the magazine, shell costs, and whatever question that we can think of. We were able to grab a video they made demonstrating its capabilities. It's low-quality but the AEG looks convincingly real and it seems that it does not have recoil on the same level as the Tokyo Marui recoil engine. This however looks better than the M4A1 shell ejecting cap gun that was retailed for US$40 in the US.

I like this development, as Top Airsoft's approach in the development of this product gives us more options in its use. Realism with the shell ejecting system for role playing and practical shooting, and normal airsoft gun mode during regular weekends playing at the local airsoft skirmish site.

Hopefully it gets released this year. Just be ready to have more spare cash than the usual if you intend to use the cartridges.

Hat tip to Bancha for spotting this for us.