Reviews

Tokyo Marui Hi-Capa Xtreme .45

OptimusPrime

Full auto .45 pistol anyone? Personally, I would decline if I get offered one for a very good reason. The recoil of a full auto .45 would just be too bad for my arms and wrists and I would never get to hit any target when using a pistol at full auto. Just imagine it. Only those who have tamed the power of .45 in full auto while maintaining or increasing accuracy were able to do it not in a pistol form, the TDI KRISS is just one example.

But offer me a .45 full auto airsoft pistol, I would be glad to, more happy than you know it. Since it’s airsoft, the 6mm ammo ,and the make is Tokyo Marui, it’s a no-brainer. With their highly successful line of Hi-capa airsoft blowback pistols, they just upped the ante by introducing the TM Xtreme Hi-Capa .45 full auto pistol which just made us blurt with “AWESOME!!!” when we saw the first videos made by Hyperdouraku. Gotta have one! Gotta have one! is all we can say (together with the TM M4 SOPMOD Blowback which we shall post here next month). It’s a wet dream come true for Saicho.

I had mine ordered from Elite Airsoft Essex, which they had the last one in stock. But after some texting between me and Saicho, I decided to give him the honour of owning it. He has maintained a good collection of Marui pistols, the last being the TM MEU. For him, having this Xtreme Hi-Capa is a matter of priority and a great addition to his collection.

To start with, the Xtreme Hi-Capa .45 is not a 5.1 variant, but rather the shorter 4.3 Hi-Capa. Perhaps Marui settled for this as having a pistol with a high ROF at 5.1 would just be torture to the slide, and a 3.8 length would not emphasize much on its selling point --- the extremely fast sliding movement of the pistol slide the pistol and having a great blowback effect. It’s a good decision, I don’t want a pistol slide flying to my face in case it decides to decouple from the rest of the handgun.

As it says, it’s a full auto airsoft handgun. Its ROF is extremely high, that having a single full squeeze of the trigger would leave you with an empty magazine. Just be gentle with trigger, you might still have a chance for a second blast of bbs leaving the barrel. Just imagine 30+1 rounds leaving the barrel in just one trigger squeeze. Though tests give you approximately 25-rounds in a single burst.

Since it went straight to Saicho, I requested him to give me notes on what he found about it and email the notes to me. Funny thing, with all these e-mail, PC, electric notepad, easily available to us these days, he took time to scan his paper notes and emailed these to me with some of his photos. It could have taken him faster if he just typed in his notes with his laptop and clicked the “Send” button. Anyway, knowing Saicho, he’ll do the opposite thing.

Do read the his notes. It gives you some of the highlights of the Xtreme Hi-capa. I hope his writing is legible for you.

Speaking of the plastic slide. It does not slide back to the maximum extent to keep up with the high movement and it doesn’t lock for purposes of higher Rate of Fire (ROF) so if you just keep on squeezing the trigger, it will continue on sliding until you run out of gas. This means that in the heat of an airsoft battle, you will experience dry firing episodes without immediately knowing that you have ran out of ammo. Unless you know how to count the rounds by the mere feel of the metal sliding, you should realise that you’ll need a fresh magazine after 2 or 3 short trigger squeezes.

Now, would you use this as a good backup pistol? It depends on how you use your pistols. I highly recommend this as a backup gun for airsoft snipers who need a quick firing weapon without carrying a shorter AEG. Just imagine when your position as an airsoft sniper is about to be overrun and a burst from your pistol would surely keep the assaulting group’s heads down, giving you some precious seconds to bug out. Just imagine their thoughts that you might have a full auto gas blow back rifle instead of a pistol.

Or for CQB scenarios when the area is just too tight for an AEG, it will work wonders. You can clear a room that might just be good for two persons, like in my experience for CQB room clearing, a fast firing short airsoft gun would really do the job for you.

Before you start hating full-auto, no single shot option pistols, like some people shooting out comments in airsoft forums putting it down faster than the ROF of the Xtreme .45, try it first before you make conclusions. Any weapon can be put to good use, it’s just a matter of your creativity. That is, if you have some.

You can get more daring and try to be like Christian Bale in Equilibrium and go for a two-pistol assault. But you won’t get far with just two magazines, only in the movies (this page contains a movie snap shot, but it’s not what the Xtreme .45 Hi-Capa is based on. It’s called a Grammation Cleric sidearm.).

Therefore it means you need to have more magazines. Which can be a subtle ploy from Tokyo Marui to make you purchase their magazines more, rather than being stuck with just around two or three pistol magazines. If you’ll have fun firing it, then it means good business for the Japanese company. Don’t forget the extra pistol mag MOLLE pouches too.

Now back to CQB games. I have used pistols as my primary in games and they can hold their ground against AEGs in close quarters. It also helps putting self control to your shooting habits. Rather than always going rock and roll or “lacing” a sector in full auto with a high capacity AEG, you conserve your ammo and always think of fire discipline. With the Xtreme .45 Hi-Capa, even much more fire discipline.

What I love about this pistol is hearing a fast “thwack! thwack! thwack! thwack! thwack!” on the OPFOR’s vest at close range without being able to inflict much harm at a lower velocity of 220fps. That’s Xtreme satisfaction.

As mentioned in Saicho’s notes, there’s no ambidextrous safety. So it’s a bit more for right-handed shooters as the safety is on the left for right handed shooters. If you are a left handed shooter, then this might not be to your taste, unless you can live with it. Or you can just stick to the TM Hi-Capa 5.1. The magazine release is not soft with a newer spring, unlike its predecessors. This means that you won’t accidentally do a mag release as it takes more effort for your thumb to push it. I am guilty of this mistake with my Hi-capa 4.3. The good news is that it is compatible with the short-lip or fat-lip Hi-capa magazines from TM. We haven’t tried other TM-compatible magazines from other Hi-capa manufacturers such as the ACMs, WE or KJW.

You can use propane, green, 134a, or red gas (Freon22). Though use red gas at your own risk as you may just push the pistol to its limits in stock condition. But when using propane to save on costs, make sure that you will always clean the pistol right after use with silicone oil. Propane can corrode the inner barrel faster than the other recommended gases.

For those who love to accessorise whatever guns they can lay their hands on, this pistol has an integrated rail system for you to install lights or lasers.

The hammer is crisp and nicely made. The spring itself is just as nicely-made.

As mentioned earlier that the pistol will keep on firing even after the magazine has been emptied as long as your finger is on the trigger. The slide doesn’t lock when the magazine’s empty for reasons that will be explained later. But this has to do with the fast slide movement and ROF.

One other thing, the sight’s fixed, so no adjustments can be done unlike the other TM Hi-Capa models.

If you are already used to taking down Hi-Capa airsoft pistols, then taking apart the TM Xtreme Hi-Capa .45 is a no brainer for you. Just proceed with the pistol takedown. If you’ll notice, there’s a rubber washer in the spring guide with two metal washers sandwiching it. Other TM Hi-Capa models do not have this feature.

Taking out the spring from the guide rod you will then further notice that there are actually two springs: a thinner and longer one; and a thick and shorter one. They are separated by the washer which acts to prevent the slide lock and for the slide to move just halfway through the pistol length, rather than the full extent that it can like in the other TM Hi-Capa models. The shorter and thicker spring also acts as part of the stopper mechanism to absorb the shock. Only the Xtreme .45 Hi-Capa sports this feature, having two springs rather than one spring, and explains the faster slide movement and higher ROF.

The rest of the parts are standard 4.3 Hi-capa parts, nothing much to discuss here. While you can do the half-cock with the 4.3, which is a safety feature, it is practically non-existent in the Xtreme .45. But overall, other than the looks, the Xtreme .45, profile-wise, looks the same as the 4.3.

The Xtreme .45 has a good range, typical with TM airsoft guns. We tried shooting at between 10-13 metres and it can hit a human size target properly. If you do some quick trigger pulls, making around 3 rounds expelled per quick pull, you can have good groupings and accurate shots.

But when you let allow to rip it, pulling the trigger until you empty the magazine, then you’ll be able to shred a paper target fast at around 10 feet. It is even a better paper shredder with two pistols firing simultaneously if you have watched one those TM Xtreme videos made by Marui themselves.

So there you go, our short take on the TM Hi-Capa Xtreme .45. We highly recommend this pistol for those looking for good firepower in such a small package. While inadequate when compared to airsoft SMGs or AEGs, it proves itself to be the fastest firing airsoft pistol in the market today. As always, you can rarely go wrong with a TM when it comes to airsoft blowback pistols.

When you intend to upgrade the Xtreme, wait until PDI-Japan comes out with upgrade parts, especially for the trigger, inner barrel, and hammer. In terms of metal slides, there’s already a PGC metal slide that comes with the exact Xtreme slide design. Apart from PGC, you can get existing hi-capa 4.3 slides from aftermarket sellers, especially if you want an Infinity metal slide on it.

For us, it’s another keeper. Many thanks to Saicho for his cooperation.

The Latest News

Feature Story

Airsoft Guns and Gear Reviews