A Gas gun. Why did I purchase it? I hear
you ask. Quite simple really. Having been raised on a diet of normal spring
guns I craved something that had a little more firepower. What do I mean
by that? Faster fire rates! The obvious choice was of course
an Automatic electric, suffice it to say at the time, the prices were a
little out of my league. At £300 a throw It wasn’t exactly an impulse
buy. So I scanned the pages of catalogues and magazines hoping to find
a compromise.
At the time (1997) there were a couple
of pump action sub-rifles about, namely MP5’s with horrendously remodelled
front ends. Although relatively cheap compared to AEG’s I decided that
they didn’t offer enough and looked appalling. So I was left with gas guns.
The first Gas guns I looked at were
the Marui gas guns that were available. The Steyr GB and Desert Eagle,
as well as the Colt Hard baller. But these were all of my price range.
Then a few days after I had given up hope of ever owning a semiautomatic
thing
I found an advert. Uttings, a mailorder company known to british ‘softers,
were selling a gas blow back! Okay I thought. That might be it, I thought
to my self, and then I saw the price, £149.99. Hokay… That’s a little
pricey. I started saving…
A month later they dropped the price
to £69.99. The cheque went into the post.
Omega make a series of different gas blow
backs
Omega make a series of different gas
blow backs. A few of which were being sold by Uttings. This includes The
Glock 17 reviewed here, Which comes in several different forms. There are
two types, The Police version and the caspian version. The caspian version
differs from the police version because it has mock compensator holes drilled
into the top of the top slide. Unfortunetly these are not very realistic
and differ from the pattern that is actually used by Glock. Also on sale
was the Omega Colt 1911 A1. Each of these models were avaliable with either
normal plastic (cheap) or full aluminium top slides (expensive). Omega
also made Colt Mk IV’s, Glock 18’s, Berreta 92Fs, Berreta 93R’s, Berreta
M9’s, Smith and Wesson Sigma’s, and Smith and Wesson M6904’s. Although
I have never seen these on general sale in the U.K.
hefty plastic magazine
I received a black box in the post
a mere week later, an ominous golden eagle crest with a forceful looking
greek omega stared out at me, I flipped open the lid. Inside sat several
items, One I recognised as an ammunition loader, This was a brass tube
with a hard moulded cover at one end, next was the hefty plastic magazine.
The magazine contains the gas resivior. The bottom of the magazine slid
open to reveal the gas filling port. although the bottom of the magazine
also features a cut out so you can get to the port directly. A bag of 0.20
bbs completed the scene. Well apart from the gun itself!
utilitarian design
The Glock has a very utilitarian design,
with very little decoration. Its design barked efficency at me from the
box. The top slide has a very clean finish with no bits sticking out. The
profile is basically a smoothed off square from muzzle to rear sight, The
only thing that spoils the smooth lines are the front post and the rear
sight which is edged with white to aid target aquisistion, The whole slide
is a one piece job made of black smooth plastic built on an internal metal
endoskeleton, which adds to the weight. The slide is mounted on a the rest
of the gun, the trigger mechanism and the hand grip which is made of a
slightly textured black plastic whose colour is pleasing similar to the
top slide. I am told that this texturing, which is continued on the trigger
itself, is very realistic. The two tone texture of the gun adds to its
already rugged looks. Unlike some airsoft guns all of the bits on the gun
such as the slide release catch actually do work, admitidly this is because
the glock has a very uncluttered design. The magazine release catch and
the top slide release catch are both made of nicely anodised black metal.
doesn’t have a proper safety.......well
not quite
The trigger deserves some mention.
This is because the 17 doesn’t have a proper safety. WHAT! I hear you cry,
No safety??? well not quite, The takedown lever acts as a safety in its
down posistion but is really too small to be of combat use. Instead the
Glock has a double trigger, Sort of, The main trigger acts just like a
normal trigger, but in the centre of this is a smaller trigger that sticks
out from the main one. This small trigger must be fully depressed before
the main trigger can physically move. Simple and effective. The gun is
not prone to going off if you drop it, but there isn’t the problem of accidently
leaving the safety on during a combat situation. Nice! You can see why
the Glock has been chosen by lots of law enforcement agencies around the
world as a main sidearm.
Picking up the unloaded Glock The
superb design shows itself off immedietly, Unlike some guns where they
have obvious egonomic whatsits, like guns fitted with pacmyr grips, The
Glock does not have obvious looking smooth bits but it does fit into your
hand very nicely. At the same time though It has a very different grip
angle to other guns like the colt government series, Which some people
don’t like. I do. The centre of gravity is a little muzzle heavy until
the magazine is slipped into the hand grip. The balance is little short
of perfect. Okay well maybe not, but I like it.
The handling of the gun is helped
by the inserts of the hand grip. Unlike the real thing these are made of
a fairly hard and quite grippy rubber. Which I also Like.
good performance and a great kick!
Being a taiwanese gas gun the Omega
was supplied with some Toyjack green gas. The magazine is filled upside
down and gives about four magazines (15*4) worth of BB loads before needing
re-filling. The gas also gives it extremely good performance and a great
kick! Yep before I forget this is a Blow back pistol. The top slide smashes
back and forth with each pull of the trigger, due to the added weight inside
the slide this looks and feels great. In fact this is one of the main strengths
of the Glock, the great blow back action is cosmetically excellent and
adds to the meaness of the gun. In fact the blowback action makes the gun
look extremely realistic. Although not as loud as a real gun, The Omega
Glock tries its damndest to make it look like it is.
In combat the Omega Glock 17 performs
with aplomb. The double styacked magazine holding 15 rounds of 0.2 gram
BB ammunition, provides just enough back up ammunition during a skirmish
to get you out of a sticky situation, for example when your main gun goes
down or runs out of ammunition. Most people carry a spring gun as their
back up weapon, While this is undeniably useful, It does have its limitations,
You can only crack off one round at a time, Alright if you are accurate
then that’s great but a gas gun gives you a much higher rate of fire. In
my opinion that’s what you want. Okay so a springer will have a larger
magazine capacity but I think that a back up gun would only be used in
dire situations where the number of shots fired counts much more then their
accuracy. Oh the Omega Glock 17 has a pretty good range as well! Its range
is close to that of a stock AEG. The Blowback action and the noise that
the gun barks out each time it is used also adds to the effect.
In non combat use, for example simple
plinking in the back garden or even in door target shooting The Glock performs
well. Its range and power are never in question. In comparitive tests the
Glock has a lot of poke for something of that size. In fact It beat a stock
TM XM177e2 ( an M16 rifle dirrevitive) Automatic electric gun on range
and penetration! Make sure you have a solid back stop when you use it,
as it will happily punch through corrugated cardboard with ease.
problems.
All in all the Omega Glock 17 caspian
version is an excellent Gas Blowback airsoft pistol, However This does
not mean it does not have problems. Although fairly solid, The Omega brand
has continuously suffered from bad build quality, Common problems have
centred around the magazine feed mechanism. The Guns internals are based
on old MGC (an old airsoft company now defunct) design. This involves a
double stacked magazine. This is where the BBs, sit in a zig zag pattern
in the magazine. If the BB’s are loaded in correctly and the stack gets
out of alignment there can be problems. This usually manifests it self
as double feeding or jams. Most of this can be avoided by careful loading.
When chambering the first round The
slide must be pulled back and allowed to fly forward. If this procedure
is not followed correctly the gun invariably fails to load the first round.
Quite embarrasing really. The Magazine doesn’t exactly click into place
very slickly either, In fact you have to be very careful and ensure that
the magzine has latchedinto place. This is probably due to the cheap and
cheerful design of the magzine release catch. A one piece affair which
is kept in place by a spring. As such there is never a postiive click when
you insert the magazine, And you have to make sure that it has been rammed
in firmly. On the flip side magazine removal (if you get the magazine to
stay in the gun) is very positive, due to its weight the magazine slides
out under its own steam. However if You press the magazine release catch
a little too enthusiasticly, and hold onto it as the clip slides out, The
stupid thing pings out from the other side or falls out with the magazine.
Doh!
hard working and reletively cheap
Many serious airsoft skirmishers are
disgusted by this sort of behaviour from ther gas Blow backs. Then again
they Happily spend upwards of £200 on the very classy Western Arms
or Tanaka Gas blow back pistols, Which are all hand crafted in Japan. The
Omega Glock 17 does not cost £200 so don’t expect the same sort of
performance that you would get from a japanese gun. If you can live with
the foibles that the Omega Glock 17 has then you will find a hard working
and reletively cheap pistol with great blow back action that does exactly
what it is supposed to do.
Long Term Test results
Well, Fast forward over 6 years! and we find that
the Omega Glock is still firing on all cylinders! In fact compared to the
other glocks that have been released in the mean time, It has actually
held up quite well! If only for one reason... Looks.
The Omega Glock is by the by the most realistic
Airsoft Glock I have ever seen or handled, The finish on the slide and
the frame are virtually perfect. And the fact that it has rubber side panels,
WITH full glock markings, in some ways make it better then the real thing!
since aftermarket rubber panels DONT have the markings!!
Having said that the Omega is no longer a daily
passenger in my skirmish holster as its 15 round mag capacity cant really
cut it when up against the Higer capacity glocks on offer from KSC et al,
After all, Even the TM Glock 26 which is half the size has a mag capacity
of 20 rounds, 5 more then the Omega!!
Its accuracy has also deteriorated, as the HOP rubber
has worn away, Power however remains spot on, If you can actually get rounds
on target! due to the very basic blowback mech.
This is because instead of a blowback unit moving
the slide backwards, the OMEGA uses Very old technology to accompish this..
The gas is vented backwards into a pipe, which slams into the rear of the
slide! luckily, this part of the slide has a hefty block of steel in it.
Still, Blowbak by sheer brute force detracts from the accuracy in a major
fashion, and you need to Hang on for dear life! if you want the gun to
shoot straight! So, just like the real glock, If you dont use a vice like
grip, You wont hit your target!
This manic blowback cycle has also taken its toll
on the plastic slide. and has worn away the slide stop catch a bit too
much, so it no longer locks back once the magazine is empty.
Also sadly, Omega are no longer trading and as such
magazines and spares are rare and hard to get hold of!
Still, If you find an OMEGA Glock, ITs doubtful
you will find a better replica!
Airsoft DolphiNs Southampton.