Post by Spencerman I am sure that most of you are familiar with this particular gun. In my opinion it is models like this that make modelguns so much more rewarding than other types of replica. Here is what you get by the way of the box.
As far as I know, there are two different versions available, and whether this latter one is released from Marushin I couldn't confirm, but it certainly seems to be a popular choice.
As for what is in the box...as usual there is the gun of course. Then there are six .44 Automag cartridges (these are different from the usual .44 Magnum cartridges) very neatly lined up under the gun, and underneath those is the loading tool. There are also the instructions. I think that the presentation in the box of this model is much better than most, if not all other models that I have encountered. Here they are.
In the first box I have used the standard Marushin rounds that come with it, but in the wooden box I have used Mulberry Field real look cartridges. The gun itself is the same one. The cartridges and their components differ quite considerably between the two. The Marushin ones have a solid base into which the piston with the rubber seal sits facing upwards, then you would place your cap, and then there is an insert to go in afterwards, then the top half screws onto the bottom half. There is also a small hole either side towards the top. The Mulberry Field cartridges unscrew at the 'bullet'. The piston with the rubber seal sits in the end facing downwards, then the cap, then the 'primer' section which pokes through the base of the outer casing. Also on the base is engraved like a real bullet. I find this unusual as it is the complete topsy turvy way from the original cartridges. Here is a picture showing the order, minus the caps.
The gun itself is one big beast of a gun, and this model being full metal has a good heavy feel to it, probably also helped by the fact that its huge barrel is also solid. I was very pleased with the accuracy of the details except for a couple of points. The hammer is the wrong shape. It should be more like the mgc version, more curved across the back rather than as flat as it is. Also there is no sight material in the front blade (the little red piece usually) which there should be. Also I thought that it was a shame that bolt face was not replicated a bit, like the M16 series and the Desert Eagle, the .44 Automag uses a rotary bolt which doesn't look too dissimilar at the end to the M16 or Desert Eagles, yet no attempt has been made to do this on this model, which although not the end of the world, would have been a nicer touch. These points are only minor points of disappointment for me personally, and certainly do not spoil the gun like some of the changes made on other models can do. They have remained pretty faithful to the original in many aspects, although the magazine is slightly smaller in its width though.
The finish on this gun is great. I really do not like the gold finish that it comes in, so mine has been polished silver, and it looks fantastic. This is one gun that really is suited to being silver, and as I said, the finish is fantastic. The barrel is nice and smooth, as is the body, and the engraving is as crisp and as clear as it should be. It is also correct, with the exception of the Marushin SMG engraving on the right hand side, but it is nice to see the correct logo and the right words all in the right place with nothing else to detract from it. As I mentioned, the Marushin engraving is on the other side. The grips are real wood and not plastic. Ok, so they are a far cry from walnut, but they are decent enough that you need not worry too much about replacing them. Another little point that bugs me slightly is the screws that hold the grip plates on. They are flat tipped as opposed to hex screws, but that could quite easily be sorted out, and really isn't a huge deal.
In order to strip this gun down, it is the same process as the real deal. You simply lower the lever at the front left side of the gun, similar to the Beretta 92, but unlike on the Beretta there is no button to press first to release it. Once this is done (obviously with the magazine removed) then the whole barrel and top section slides forwards and off the gun. Stripping out the rest of the trigger mechanism on this is very fiddly, so I am not about to do that again any time soon, sorry, so no pictures of that, but here is the basics.
As you can imagine, this makes cleaning the detonator pin so easy. As for the function of the gun, it is also very different from most other semi automatics, in fact, it is more like a rifle, which I would imagine at the design stages had something to do with the fact that the .44 Automag cartridge is actually a shortened down version of a rifle cartridge (.306 if I remember correctly, although I am sure that I will be corrected soon enough if I am wrong). As I mentioned earlier, the real thing uses a rotary bolt action to lock the receiver into place, but this Marushin model uses a straight blow back action to operate, just like the M16 model from them. The main body stays exactly where it is, joined to the barrel, and the bolt moves inside the main body, along with the back part of the gun. The whole back portion of the gun is a big solid lump with finger and thumb grip plates either side. This is attached to the frame with two recoil springs either side, similar to the principals later used in the Desert Eagle. Just look at the size of that ejection port!
On the left hand side of the gun is the safety catch/decocking lever at the back, and the slide release in the middle. The button at the front is the takedown lever.
From the front end you can clearly see the barrel blockage as it is blocked quite close to the muzzle.
But if you get the gun at certain angles it becomes very less prominent on the polished gun as the gold inside makes it look deeper than it actually is.
So how does this gun fire? I have to admit that it had me flinching somewhat with anticipation of that big heavy kick etc. It obviously is not that bad being a modelgun, as we all know they do not kick hard, but this model certainly does jerk you a bit when you fire it. This is probably down to the big metal parts that make it up. It is also fairly loud I thought compared to many others. Do not misinterpret that as this gun being loud, it is just louder than I expected. I usually find that the smaller guns sound louder than the bigger ones, but this doesn't disappoint. The other thing, and this is probably down to the size of the cartridges and the momentum when fired, but it can fire auto bursts. Where these are pretty fun, they can lead to many expletives being uttered as you fire a burst of hell fire quite unintentionally. I would be interested to see if anyone with a Desert Eagle .50AE has that problem, although I would suspect that being made by Hudson, they probably don't fire more than the first round.
In order to put the size of this gun into context for everyone, I have taken these next pictures. Bear in mind that when Dirty Harry got pissed off, his model 29 6" wasn't big enough, he resorted to the Automag. It certainly does have much higher firepower than the standard .44 Magnum round. I thought that it was only fitting to picture it next to the larger 8 3/4" barrel model 29 as used for promotional purposed in the Dirty Harry films, although he only ever used the 6" version in the film.
And then here it is pictured next to your standard run of the mill average sized firearm Colt 1911. Tiny ain't it!
My collection certainly wouldn't be complete without one of these, and there are also other variants available too, such as the TDE model 180 version with the shorter barrel and different markings, which is also nice to see, although I personally prefer this bigger more manly one.
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Wed Aug 13, 2008 10:17 am
Ye the full auto tends to happen way to often although with the mulberry rounds its fine aslo the marushin rounds get ejected far stonger and further than the mulberry round. 
