So if you are suddenly approached by a guy claiming his name is Morpheus and tells you that this whole reality that you live in is all a lie, total rubbish and all crap and offers you freedom by choosing between the blue pill and the red pill. The big question is: will you make the right choice?

"What is "real?" How do you define "real?" If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then "real" is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.

Morpheus, The Matrix

The Matrix movie has been very influential in a lot of action, martial arts and firearms fans. And that includes airsoft players especially those who play in urban and CQB settings. And the Matrix theme will not be complete without probably one of the most popular submachine guns used in the movie, the HK MP5K.

Neo with the HK MP5K. The Matrix Movie.

Real Steel Deal

The MP5K, a Maschinenpistole in the purest sense of the word. 'K' in German stands for Kurz, or 'short.' Introduced in 1976, the MP5K was designed at the request of HK South American sales rep, which saw a market for dignitary protection and increased firepower in a small package.

The K saw relatively insignificant sales compared to the full size MP5.  That is until the advent of a shoulder stock addition and a new variant name called PDW in 1991. PDW stands for Personal Defense Weapon. The PDW shoulder stock is manufactured for HK by Choate, and the stocks are applied to the K models in the United States. With the new shoulder stock, sales of the PDW soared, mainly due to the new controllability of the MP5K. It was now on a par with the full size MP5 in controllability.

One other difference of the PDW over the K model is the threaded three-lug barrel reminiscent of the MP5 series. Now sound suppressors could be fitted to the K in addition to any other MP5 muzzle accessory.

-www.hkpro.com-

The Well G-55 is a clone of the Maruzen MP5K GBB for only a third of the price. Surely that is a much easier choice than the red or the blue pill.

First Impressions

When I first read the description of the Well G-55 on the RSOV website, I was a bit doubtful about the reliability and durability of it. Not because it was an ACM, but largely because of the material that was used, which is plastic. And we all know the kind of plastic ACMs use, brittle. So when Optimus Prime went to Hong Kong and emailed me that RSOV was sending some stuff for review, I asked him to get me one of these just to satisfy my curiosity on the durability issue.

The G-55 was packaged very neatly on a brown carry box and well supported with soft foam inside. Very similar to how G&P package their stuff. When I first held the gun, the weight was very interesting but expected; it was very light, probably around the 1 to 1.5 kg level or even less. What was very evident as well was the plastic material used. It feels cheap and thin. The good thing that Well did was they textured the plastic very well that it does not look cheap. It did not have the shine that some cheap plastic ACMs have. It may feel cheap but it definitely does not look cheap, which is very good since only the user can feel that anyway and nobody  will notice it.

The G-55 is not purely plastic externally. Some of the metal parts are the front site assembly, charging handle, magazine release assembly, the moving part of the rear sight, the trigger and the buttplate.

The weight of the gun is greatly improved when the magazine is attached. As with most GBBs, the heart and soul of this gun is the magazine. Sadly, after just one full load of BBs, the magazine decided it has had enough and decided to leak. The leak was so bad that it cannot hold any gas at all. Luckily I was able to chrono it on the first load.

The fire selector switch is ambidextrous meaning it can be adjusted on either side of the gun. The selector cycles very well from safe to semi auto to full auto mode.

The G-55 also bears some markings. Aside from the usual HK markings on the fire selector switch, you will also find the marking: “G55 Cal 6mm BB” and “Made in China” on the left side of the gun just above the magazine well. On the other side, you will find the marking: “Kal. 9mm x 19”.

Takedown

As with most GBBs takedown is rarely necessary unless you need to clean the internals of the gun. But if ever you need to break this gun apart it should not be any problem as the gun is held together by three pins that can be removed manually by hand without any tools. Two pins are located by the buttplate and one by the magwell. Once all three are removed, simply slide the lower receiver off. All the internals can then be easily picked out one by one.

I’m very familiar with GBB internal parts so I opted to skip the part when I try and take every internal bit to their simplest form. Although by just looking at these parts, I can say that they are surprisingly well put together.

Performance

My very short but worthwhile experience with the G-55 gave me a good impression on how this baby will work in the field. The rate of fire of this little monster is astonishing. It will empty the magazine of 30 BBs before you can say “Wow!”, well not really, but it is very fast. Velocity was at around 300 to 315 fps using green gas at around 15 Celsius room temperature.

Handling the gun is very comfortable either with two hands or one hand. Thus, no problem in using two of these simultaneously if you want to do your “Neo” impersonation.

Overall

Surprisingly a very well made and well functioning (except for the magazine) SMG at a very cheap price. It will make a perfect weapon for those CQB battles with easy maneuverability and lightweight, it should not be a burden for the user.

I give the Well G-55 a rating of 7 out of 10 with the magazine working (if it works consistently).

Many thanks to Keith of RSOV for sending us this unit for review.