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Introduction:
With CA releasing a multitude of new models lately, one of them definitely stands out among the rest, the SR-25 7.62x51mm Designated Marksman Rifle. This airsoft rifle is an imitation of the Knights Armament Co. (KAC) SR-25 semi-automatic rifle intended for military, law enforcement, as well as civilian use. The real KAC SR-25 comes in four flavors, a 24" barreled match rifle, 20" barreled match rifle, 20" barreled sporter rifle, and a 16" barreled carbine rifle. However, Classic Army has chosen to only manufacture a copy of the 20" match rifle.
Basic Stats:
Length: 49"
Weight: 3.7kg
Barrel Length: 510mm
Magazine Capacity: 470 rounds
Ammo Size: 6mm
Muzzle Velocity: 420 FPS
Rounds Per Minute: Unknown
Battery size: 8.4v +
Gearbox type: Version 2, pre-upgraded by Classic Army
Price: $440.00
Looking at the box, you get the usual box art spiel. An interesting thing to note, is that the LE members shooting the SR-25 on the box have a different RIS system on their rifles than is included on the gun.
Inside the Box
Opening up the box you're greeted with a very large rifle. It's definitely a sight for sore eyes. You'll also note the 470rnd hi-cap as well as the very large SR-25 quick attach/detach suppressor.
The manual includes all of the standard information, as well as displaying a "hidden" full auto option on this weapon. Apparently CA also makes a "CA25 Match" version of this gun that does not include the flip up sights and silencer.
The Rifle Itself
When you first take out the rifle, one thing you immediately notice is its huge size. In fact, without the silencer, the rifle is 39.5" long.
Once you attach the silencer, the rifle becomes a whopping 45" long.
For a size comparison, here's the SR-25 compared to my G36.
For armalite type weapon users, the SR-25 should be a very easy weapon to use. Seeing the receiver, you'll notice all your regular AR controls are there and in the same place. One thing that the SR-25 does lack however is a forward assist. Classic Army makes sure to put all of their pretty trades on the lower receiver and apparently hasn't received KAC's permission to put KAC trademarks on it.
Accessing the hop-up is the same as other AR type weapons. With CA guns, you need to manually flip the dust cover off using your finger. I would not suggest grabbing the magnet on the outside as I've seen many CA guns have that piece break off due to grabbing and pulling that piece to flip the dust cover open. Once the dust cover is open you can pull back on the charging handle to pull back the cosmetic bolt inside revealing your hop-up. As with all CA AR type weapons, the bolt catch is purely cosmetic. The CA SR-25's hop up operates the same as any AR type weapon. This hop-up however is extremely touchy and even moving the wheel a couple millimeters can drastically change your hop. One thing I did not like was that when releasing the cocking handle casually the spring pulling it in did not have enough strength to pull the handle fast enough to fully engage the catch. This requires a slight manual push to fully secure it. I expected the external parts to work flawlessly on a $440 rifle.
The CA SR-25 comes with a standard M16 full length stock. In order to better balance the gun, CA has put weights in the stock butt plate. The RIS system on the front is a free float design, although the inner barrel really doesn't free float. The weapon does feel very solid and has no body flex/creaks anywhere.
Accessories
Included with the CA SR-25 is a 470rnd hi-cap magazine, three RIS rail hand guards, front and rear flip up sights, and a large 12" QD silencer. The magazine resembles G3 magazines, but is not compatible with G3's. One thing that disappointed me was that the hi-cap feed door has no locking mechanism, unlike every other hi-cap out there. I found out that it is very easy to accidentally open the door and have your bb's spill out all over the place. The door also opens when taking out the magazine from your rifle.
The silencer is a massive 12" beast. It has some foam inside, but does not suppress the sound at all. It's decently heavy, but looks great on the gun. It also gives you an excuse to upgrade the barrel to 600mm.
To attach the silencer, slide it over the outer barrel and push it up against the silencer locking block. You'll feel tension as a spring loaded block pushes into the silencer. Once you have it all the way up against the RIS system you can push down on the locking mechanism to secure it into place. Make sure you have the front flip up sight down when you do this or it will impede the locking mechanism. To detach, put the front flip up sight down, pull up on the locking mechanism and slide it off.
The hand guards included are a real necessity and keep your hands from getting scratched/cut up on the rails. They don't secure in place while on the rail and can be slid forward or backwards fairly easily. To take them off slide them all the way forward until they stop. Then, press down on the tab at the front of the hand guards and slide them off. Installing them uses the same method. Slide them on till it stops, push down on the tab, and slide down however far you please.
Performance
The CA SR-25 comes stock with an M120 equivalent spring. Out of the box this particular unit chrono'd 420fps, although I have seen others do 410 and 430 out of the box. I would expect these rifles to settle in between 390-410fps under normal operation. Since this gun has such a stiff spring, the motor has a bit of trouble keeping up. I found that using an 8.4v resulted in a poor trigger response time and that after one mag of ammo the motor heated up pretty badly.
Accuracy wise, I would have to say I was greatly disappointed. Now technically speaking, you shouldn't expect a whole lot from this rifle out of the box; accuracy wise. It has a 510mm length 6.08mm inner diameter barrel. The same one in CA's other full size M15 series rifles. Pair that standard barrel up with CA's notoriously sub-par hop-ups and every thing's explained. An unfortunate thing is, my stock Marui G36c performed very similarly at the ranges I tested this at. I tested the accuracy with Toytec .2g bb's at 60'. On semi-auto the CA SR-25 shot 6.5" groupings with some wild deviating shots about every 1 in 8 shots. That's 6.5" across (diameter). On full auto the grouping enlarged to 6.75" which isn't that bad compared to semi auto operation. The gun was placed on a stabilized shooting platform to negate any user error in movement. Seeing as this is "supposed" to be a high accuracy weapon, these results were very disappointing.
One very important piece that comes with this rifle are the flip up sights. You get a front and rear flip up sight. Unfortunately neither are spring loaded, but the front flip up sight goes up easily with a quick flip. The rear one is a bit harder. The rear sight is adjustable to 600m, and also has windage adjustments.
Bugs
For all those that claim CA guns are nearly flawless now, and that they have improved to TM near-flawlessness levels, I have some bugs with this brand new gun to show you. Earlier I mentioned the charging handle and fake bolt not locking into place in their proper positions. Seeing as this is a $440 gun, and it's performance figures, you really pay for the body, not the performance. I expected those simple parts to operate flawlessly. One odd issue I had as soon as I tried it out was that the gun wouldn't cycle. I took the gun apart and as I was sliding the upper apart from the lower the hop up unit as well as barrel came out. Apparently the nozzle was jammed so far into the hop up unit that the motor didn't have enough torque to pull it out. Once I separated those parts the gun cycled. Another more significant problem I had with this gun right out of the box was double feeding. On semi auto the gun double fed almost every shot. It wouldn't double feed maybe 1 in 11 times. For $440 you'd really expect them to try and iron out all the little bugs with this system. It really disappointed me.
Conclusion
The CA SR-25 is a very sturdy and pretty weapon, but that's about as far as it goes. For $440 you do get a receiver that barely anyone has, but then again you also get mags that barely anyone else has. This gun really isn't worth the money you pay for it, considering it's sub-par performance, high price, and a bunch of little bugs that have to be ironed out. It's much more economical to buy a new or used M15 series gun and then add a RIS system and M120 or equivalent spring to it and make an SPR Mk.12 mod.1. A sad thing about the CA SR-25 is that my G36 cost about the same, yet easily outrages it and has a lot better accuracy. I will admit this gun does have a lot of potential if you're willing to invest in it. You can stick plenty of high power optics, put in a new hop-up unit, and put in a 600mm tight bore. I just don't find this to be very economical or practical of a purchase. It's definitely a crowd pleaser, but it can't perform up to its name.
Pros:
-Sturdy construction
-Includes many helpful and cosmetic accessories
-Pretty
-Unique
Cons:
-Poor range
-Poor accuracy
-Motor seems stressed
-Poor trigger response
Follow up
So I managed to fix some of the poor accuracy and double feeding problems.
Here's a fine example of shoddy CA workmanship and carelessness:
So as you all know, the gun was double feeding almost EVERY shot in semi auto. So I decided to take a look at the hop up unit and bucking. When I took the barrel out of the hop up chamber I noticed the bucking was too far on the barrel. Not only that it was completely soaked in silicon grease (totally nasty). Also at the same time I saw that barrel was rotated to the right a bit so the hop up wasn't being centered (which would explain why all the shots were going off to the right).
To test my hypothesis that the bucking was the culprit I put it at the correct position (with the butt of the bucking off the end of the barrel about 1-2mm). Then I stuck it back into the hop up unit and centered the barrel. Took it outside and right off the bat single feed! I took about 15 more shots and there wasn't one double feed. Also the shots were going perfectly straight and weren't deviating off to the right. I also noticed the groupings seemed to have tightened up by up to an inch which was a welcome addition.
My original verdict still stands though. A buyer should not have to take their gun apart to fix poorly put together guns in order to make them usable. Now that this gun is usable however I must say it does perform pretty well at 60'. It's performance isn't anything to write home about, but it's not the dismal failure it used to be.
I also decided to do a little .25g testing.
I'd have to say. I was GREATLY impressed. Groupings were 4.25" from 60ft. Very very nice. Gun was supported and was aimed using the flip up irons.
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