Reviews - Sidearms

KSC - Heckler and Koch Mark 23 SOCOM pistol (Gas Blowback)

Pedro

a Mk23...yesterday

The H&K mk23 pistol was developed for the U.S. Special Operations COMmand , the original specs were for a pistol of a calibre no less than .45 that held 12 rounds in the mag. The gun must have a service life of 30,000 rounds before major maintenance and be capable of being fired when wet, dirty, icy or not maintained. It needed the ability to be carried ‘cocked and locked’ as well as carried safely with the hammer down for a double action first shot, so some form of decocker was required. Also a silencer and laser aiming device were added to the specs, these had to be instantly removable with no tools and upon refitting not have adversely affected the accuracy of the gun.

Two world famous gun manufacturers took up the challenge, Colt and H&K. Early on it seemed both were progressing nicely with the actual firearm although having minor troubles with the contracted work for the silencer and laser aiming device. Both Colt and H&K had each used two separate companies for the design and construction of these ‘accessories’ and after some time each had turned to the others contractor for one of the required units. H&K used Colt’s suppressor supplier Knight’s Armament Company and Colt were talking to Insight Technology who were the H&K aiming module designers. It was the H&K gun that finally passed all the tests and became the MK23 SOCOM .45 offensive handgun.

Well now enough of the history lesson. Ksc corporation of Japan decided that this ‘special forces’ weapon needed an airsoft clone, and I for one am glad they did. I’ve not fired an awful lot of gbb pistols but this one is easily the best. Due to the polymer frame on the real gun this airsoft gun is a very close copy, only the plastic slide belies it’s not so offensive innards. The Ksc gun weighs 980g with the mag in which is plenty for a gbb pistol. It’s a sizeable beast about halfway between a custom 1911 and a Desert Eagle. Also it has a very solid feel to it, a much needed quality if it is to withstand the battering a back-up gun gets in games. All the features of the real steel gun are duplicated, the safety is ambidextrous and only works when the hammer is cocked. Also the slide can be racked with the safety on. The decocking lever lowers the hammer safely on a chambered round and the slide lock keeps the slide open after the last round has been fired and by removing the slide lock the gun can be field stripped in seconds. The mag release is also ambi and is part of the trigger guard, when holstered properly the mag release cannot be operated accidentally. Overall a very satisfying and realistic copy of a rare firearm. My only quibble is with the opaque ivory coloured plastic rods which are the ‘white’ dots in the sights. Considering the quality of the rest of the gun this is an annoying feature. My solution was to push the rods into the sights a little and then apply first a coat of matt white enamel paint and then a coat of ‘glow’ in the dark paint. This is a very cheap and rather successful way of copying the tritium night sights that the real gun can be fitted with. The ‘glow’ paint does need the occasional charge up from a torch but then can be seen in near dark or dark conditions for 15-20 mins before another charge up. These type of sights are very useful for twilight shooting when only shadows and shapes can be seen in the target area and the normal black sights would be completely invisible.

Performance wise the gun really packs a punch. The blowback action is very smooth and ‘recoil’ is good. The mk23 can be fired as fast as you can pull the (very light single action) trigger. For the record with ‘toyjack green gas’ it fires 0.2g bb at 320 fps. I don’t have the figures for 0.25g bb but it is more accurate with these heavier pellets so these are the one’s I use (my guess would be 280-290fps). The hop-up is adjustable without stripping the gun, that is a handy feature as the gun is quite hop sensitive. However if you can get it right the range easily exceeds that of an ‘out of the box’ aeg. As for accuracy I’ve managed some very respectable ragged one hole groups out to 7m or so. At the extreme range of the gun person sized hits are quite possible making this ‘back-up’ a good contender against much more heavily armed opponents. They will certainly think twice about advancing on someone armed only with a pistol if this is the pistol in question. The 28 round mag gives you just over double what the real steel gun would carry which is a godsend to trigger happy merchants such as myself. I’ve counted two mag loads of bb’s from one full gas charge so reloading the mag is feasible in a game if you feel you have the time (always go into battle with freshly charged mags). I personally can’t be arsed to carry gas cans around with me although I do always have a couple of hundred bb’s in pop-seal bags in my pockets during games. 

The gun also appears to be very reliable, an important consideration for a back-up gun. I had a couple of misfires within the first 10 shots or so but a drop of metal on metal gun lube in the trigger/hammer mech seems to have cured it completely and no misfires since. I am chuffed every time my main gun goes down and I can pull the mk23 out of it’s holster and defend my teammates/position/self with it. When presented with room/building clearance it is much more handy than a full sized rifle and can be brought on target a lot faster, it’s also easier to climb in windows with a pistol. As a final testament to the guns capabilities in one game two downed airmen with mk23s (pilots only carry pistols old boy) defeated five opponents all armed with aegs . Not a bad performance and a good enough recommendation for me (I had one within a fortnight).

There are a few accessories available for the mk23, a silencer which is an exact copy of the original Knight’s Armament unit looks very nice and there are holsters and spare mag carriers too. All the real aiming attachments can be fitted to the airsoft mk23 (if your budget allows). There are three in the set so to speak, a light illuminator (that’s a torch to you and me), an infrared designator (can only be seen with special goggles) and of course a laser designator (Sarah Connor??). With all the bells and whistles the real gun would probably be too heavy and unwieldy for general use but would no doubt be excellent for dispatching night sentries on spec ops missions. With all the bells and whistles on your airsoft mk23 you would no doubt be the envy of every gamer in the northern hemisphere, personally I’m just going to buy a couple of spare mags when I get the chance and maybe the silencer for posing , oh and stealthy pistol type sniping of course.

All in all an awesome piece of kit - go out and buy one now! (tell your wife/partner "Pedro made me do it")

accesories not included. the Mk.23 has also featured in the PSX game: Metal gear: Solid

conclusions:

 

appearance	5/5
build quality	5/5
performance	5/5
value for money	4/5
game potential	5/5