Marushin M16 A1

I managed to do a trade and acquire a Marushin M16 A1 through a local dealer. On arrival in Wellington, the Customs Officer thought it might be a real gun, so he confiscated it and sent it to the NZ Police Armoury for evaluation!

Duh! Six weeks later the Police officially confirmed it was a non-gun and returned it to Customs; who a week or so later delivered it to the dealer; who checked it over for damage etc. - it was all good!

I took possession last Thursday! Yee-ha!

The dealer bought it from Japan, so I advised him to have a letter of explanation included in future if possible - along the lines of the FYI Customs letter available on this forum!

I haver never had any long delays like this at all over the years because I have send the exporter such a letter to be included in my Modelgun package. ... and have imported from Japan, USA and the UK. The delay was a minor nuisance, and now has confirmed to NZ Customs these Modelguns are not a problem in this country!

I'll post some decent photos of this lovely modelgun shortly.

Kiwigunner

Hi kiwigunner,
What a nice piece!

Merci Mon ami Dronne! It sure is a lovely Modelgun!

I am posting these photos with a note on the flash-hider differences that are sometimes observed (I have a 3-prong version on my M16 .22 lr Armi rifle - an excellent firearm to plink with - it has a laser attached to it!).

There are plenty of experts on the M16 variants here on this forum, who are more qualified than I to speak about this model - suffice to say that I LIKE it and it's similarity to the real steel rifle (which the MGC version differs from).

Hope folks enjoy seeing the photos

Kiwis and Aussies fought alongside the Americans in Viet Nam - with all the associated protests and war casualties - part of the ANZAC treaty (as it was then) but Kiwis used the L1A1 SLR weapon, not M16 A1's. NOW THAT WOULD MAKE AN AWESOME MODELGUN!

As you can see it's a nice addition to my collection (posted elsewhere) and is a piece of more recent history - 50 or so years ago!

Kiwigunner

Hi guys!
I really like it too, when i was in the army, i had the opportunity too spend some m16's magasines. And i have a very good remembrance.
It's a wonder full shooting toy!

Thank you for the pictures.
About your replica, i'd like to know which materials are used, is it zinc alloy or ABS?

About the L1A1, i agree with you, it's also one of the most beautiful rifles ever designed.
I got one from the 1960's years, but deactivated.

You can find some airsoft replicas, but they are really fragiles. The barrel, flash hider, included is about 20-22 inches long.
Andwhat about the joint pin/screw sytem used to assemble the two main parts of the rifle.

Yes guys,

It is an awesome rifle - I owned a real one for hunting for about 20 years! Then I sold it (foolishly). But it was too LONG for me (I am a short person) - and would have prefered the shorter barreled version used by our Navy and Air forces in NZ.
Maybe we could all write to Marushin and request they make a L1A1 SLR Modelgun in the near future.!!

Kiwigunner

Hi,
ARES, and King Arms produced an airsoft model :
http://www.armamat.com/airsoft/p/fr/L1A1-SLR-Ares/4295/131/
http://www.armamat.com/airsoft/p/fr/FAL-Full-Length-King-Arms/11417/183/