Ares ms338 & ares ms700!
 

http://img.redwolfairsoft.com/upload...MSR-010-1L.jpg

http://img.redwolfairsoft.com/upload...MSR-012-2L.jpg

http://img.redwolfairsoft.com/upload...MSR-013-3L.jpg

http://img.redwolfairsoft.com/upload...MSR-013-1L.jpg


http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwol...ES_MS700DE.htm

http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwol...S_MS338_BK.htm

All I can say is too bad they don't ship to Canada, anyone else interested?

Don't do it.

Watch the video review of it on redwolf.

The mag system is rip of the Marui's L96

Lol, just did now and I think I'll wait for now.

Check out this video whoever might be considering to buy this gun. >> Modern Warfare Snipers Rejoice MS338/700 has arrived -- RedWolfTV - YouTube

I have a ms700 on the way. I should have it in canada in 3 weeks. Although I wont be home for a month and a half for a review

It sure is a nice rifle in a nice chassis. Not a bad price considering it is CNC'd too (for the .338 that is.) When it comes to bolt action rifles though I've never been the biggest fan of the modem chassis systems for the classic rifles, just hand me a nice Rem 700 and I'll be happy. That is why I have been keeping my eye on the Modify mod24 over the last year. I just hope it comes out soon.

Ill be waiting for your review.

Has any one got one of these yet? I really want to get the MS700 but want to see a decent review of it first...

That's a good thing as the magazine will be in the right spot. Ares usually makes a solid gun (not including AEG internals), but other than that it says it's VSR compatible, and the MS 338 will have a gas conversion coming soon.

what do you guys think of the precision at 25m in the vid?

Anyone know what all vsr parts this takes?
Laylax air seal chamber? Steele sears? Piston & cylender?
Thanks!

I orderd the MS700 from Redwolf yesterday so im hoping for it to get to me by this Friday. I will try do a review of it. I have a game at my local field this Sunday so will run it stock and see how it does.

Once I figure out how to take it apart I will post some pics of the trigger box and hop up etc. This will be my fist VSR 10 rifle so Im not sure what all can be upgraded. Previously had two L96's and one SVD.

Everything about the rifle I like except the magazine system which Ares had to ruin.

Unless the magazine is fully loaded, you won't be able to chamber each bb properly unless you tilt the nozzle to the ground each time you re-cock.

Looks like the bbs are ejected into a tube when it is placed into the mag well and the chambering of bbs from this tube and no longer from the magazine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=YrdOrPYzqRM

Please give us a full review (lots of pics). I have a ASW338LM and would like to pick up the MS338 if it is really VSR10 and the magazine feeding system really works.

I dont see why that is a problem though? Why would you ever not load the mag completely full before the game? I've always done that with my previous rifles.

I never load my magazine full. My 130 round M4 mid caps have usually 100-110.

The problem with the Ares, if you watch the video, a magazine that is not full, screws up the bb chambering completely. Even if you have 5 bbs in your magazine, you should be able to still chamber all 5 shots without tipping your barrel to the ground for each re-cock in the MS338 or MS700.

I have a VFC ASW338LM and if I put 30 bbs in the magazine instead of the 40 maximum rounds, I can chamber them all with the rifle on the ground. With the Ares, I would have to pick it up and point the muzzle to the ground before I can chamber a bb after each shot.

You don't see this as being a problem????

Yes I agree it would be a problem for most but seen as though I never short load my mags (except in my GBB rifles) I wont mean much to me.

I will test how short you can load them though. If every bb literally has to be in the mag or could it be 1 or 2 or 5 short would it still work?

Honestly this is a really bad design flaw. We have alot of real cap game here in Qc, and the fact that you need to always have the mag fully loaded simply kills it for me.

If you don't fill your mag, you will simply have to re-fill them before using.

There is no magic. The only way I can figure that this would happen is because the mag is say 40rnds, and there is an intermediate chamber for 10-15bbs in the rifle instead of the TM feed ramp/guide thing.

So theorically, if you short-fill a mag, it will just put all the BBs in the chamber. Inserting an other mag would complete the fill at what point it would start to feed.

Very stupid as there will always be some BBs left when removing the mag, so making the gun safe is longer and a lot easier to do wrong or forget.

*edit
Ok nvm, I have no idea why the mag needs to be full in order to retain the BBs in...

Please let us know what the max rounds it takes to fill it and how many less before it screws it up.

I love the looks of the MS338 and have been waiting for it since the announcement but this magazine issue would turn it into a wall hanger.

Like all things with Airsoft im sure there will be a mod to make the mag function. This should he the least of your worries. Same with the accuracy at 25m, hop ups can be modded and replaced. As long as the over all build is solid the rest of the gun can be made to function correctly.

This is still a cheap gun. If you expect it to be amazing quality out of the box you haven't played much airsoft

Yes the mag thing will suck for clearing the gun tho without cocking the gun it can never accidentally fire like an aeg so renderi.g it safe is as easy as not cocking it. Im sure there will be some way to lowwer the capacity of the mag but it will have to at least have enough rounds to fill the inner chamber of the gun so depending on how many rounds that takes real cap may be out of the question for fhe hard core mil sim types tho im sure u could work out and arrangement where u firs your five rounds or what have you and then just swap mags if u r not a cheater then it will still be as if u are using real cap mags

You are kidding us. The customer have to find a fix for another messed up gun. What's wrong with feeding the bb from the magazine like any other gun.

Even the most expensive guns require modding. Its a harsh reality if you want to play Airsoft. Ill plink with this thing but if it sucks it will probably end up as a wall hanger. 360$ is crazy cheap. You get what you pay for

There isnt anything that doesnt work on the gun it just has a certian method to follow to ensure it works correctly. Like starting a standard car, if its in nutral there is no reason to depress the clutch to start it but u have to or it wont work so u have to fill the mag or it wont work.
Its like sayin " i got a co2 pistol why do i gotta put co2 in it it sbould work without it" well it wont u have to follow certian steps for the gun to function properly.
The mag works fine u just have to insure u start with it full or it doesnt work properly. Try gasin up yer gbb with the mag upright, it wont work properly u have to follow procedure. Like most things.
There is no "fix" needed for this rifle to work u just have to fill it up for it to work. Not a big deal if u ask me it just may annoy those who want to run real cap games or those who cant use a speedloader properly lol.

+1 Well said.

Almost every gun I have bought over the years has needed some sort of modding etc to get it to work how you want it to. Just because you have to fill the mag to capacity doesnt mean its a design flaw or a deal breaker.

It is crazy cheap if the magazine wasn't messed up and it is 100% VSR10 compatible. It is crazy expensive if the magazine issue can not be fixed and is only 1% VSR10 compatible and becomes a wall hanger.

True enough, I think just the idea of it turns some people off.

I might get one later in the year because I was really anticipating this gun, I just want to see some good reviews first.

Wooohooo my gun is arriving today. Will try get a review done by Monday.

Ok So it just arrived! :)

Heres a very brief review so far. Ill try do a proper one this weekend or early next week.

Initial Impressions:
First thing that struck me was the weight. It has a very good heft to it. I have an M14 GBB and that weighs about the same as this. Over first glance it has very nice and solid build quality. The pistol grip is extremely comfortable to use. I was thinking of replacing it but no ways im doing that now. It has a nice texture and is rubberised.

The Rail, barrel and whole front half of the gun is very very solid. No wobbles at all. Every thing has been tightened down with some good force. The Stock however has a good amount of wobble on the hinge. Maybe 1mm - 1.5mm of up and down movement (feels about the same amount as the stock on my old WELL G96). This should be a fairly easy fix though. Will just add some brass shim stock to the under side of the hinge area. The locking mechanism is very sold and has a nice solid click once it locks into place. It aint going any where.

The adjustment dials on the stock are quite stiff and need to be worked on. The range of each of the moving parts seems fairly small. The shoulder pad adjustment is very easy however. Just a thumb screw that unscrews nice and easy with very smooth movement when adjusting.

The finish of the MS700 could be a bit better. On very close inspection you can see some tiny dents and seem lines but nothing major really. The rail has been cast very nicely with some mould lines on the far inside of the rail. Again you will have to look hard to find them. The paint on the gun is great. Very consistent and solid all over. No complaints there.

The performance was a nice surprise. All reviews have said that the rifle comes shooting around 380fps. Mine however is shooting a steady 450-455fps! with a 0.20g. The bolt pull is quite stiff. Not because of the spring but from the tight fitting I think. Also pushing the bolt back into position can be very tight and needs some force to go back in. This will probably wear in over time.

The magazine is tiny. Wasnt expecting it to be that small lol. Nice metal finish. Reminds me of the MAG M14 metal midcaps. Loading them is easy and quick. The rifle comes with a long tube style speed loader. The mag is extremely tight in the receiver. You have to give the mag a good push and slap to get it in. Once its in though its extremely secure. No wobble at all in any direction. Taking it out is also very stiff. Once some of the paint has worn down im sure it will become easier. I havent been able to test whether or not you can short load the mag. I will try that after work.

Overall score based on a very quick assessment is great! Easily 8/10.
The rifle is extremely comfortable and has a nice weight to it.

I will adjust this score once I have been able to do a range test with some heavier bbs.

Very very happy with this rifle and is well worth the $360 I paid for it.

Just did some testing with the mag.

Basically as long as their is enough bbs in the tube leading to the hop up you will be fine.
I loaded the mag full. Put it in the rifle so the tube was filled like it should. Then pulled the mag out and empted the bbs from the mag. Then put the mag back in and fired out all the bbs that were in the tube.

I estimate that the tube holds between 20 and 30 bbs or so.

With regards to the barrel. It has a 455mm barrel from what I guestimate. (Holding another 455mm barrel in roughly the same position) I have yet to open the rifle up as I dont know how to disassemble it yet. Going to tackle that in the next few days. I was hoping to use my Angry Gun Steel tight bore from my WE M16A4 but the 509mm barrel will be way to long. Unless I add a suppressor to it.

Thanks for the review.

Can you please confirm the maximum bbs it can actually hold, and at what point how many bbs before it has bb feeding issues.

Any pics how the feed chamber actually works? How do you adjust hop up?

Does it looks like it is VSR10 compatible?

How big would you say the mags are compared to an m14? Think ill be able to run the same open top pouches?

The tube holds 29bbs. Id say loading up 40 or so would be ideal without any feeding issues.

Sorry no pics yet as I haven't had a chance to disassemble it yet. Hoping to do that on Monday.

There is a small hole in the upper rail where you adjust it with an Allan key. It feels very tight.

The mag is the same width as M14 mag as its also 7.62 but its roughly half the height of an M14 mag. So being so short you might have problems with mag pouches. See my pics for reference.

I did a very quick range test at my house.
I shoot at a tree thats exactly 53m away from my door.
Using WE 0.30g bbs they easily sailed far past the tree. Id say somewhere around 65m or so.
It was VERY windy today so cant say much for accuracy as I had a right to left crosswind.

Arktic you are the man. This info is putting me at ease about my purchase. Thanks!

Heres another update:

I fixed the wobble in the stock now.

I used some plastic from some AEG gear packaging. About 1mm thick or so.
I placed a square on the stock side at the top to eliminate the up and down wobble.
Then cut a key hole shape to fit into the area where the stock locks into place.
Glued them down with Q Bond so its not going any where.

The stock is now SOLID. No movement at all in any direction. The only wobble is when the stock is folded. Which is only for transport so dont care to much about that.

This fix took me about 8mins or so.

Ok Internals Review Time.

Taking the rifle apart is pretty easy. Just a bunch of screws and it falls away from the lower receiver quite easily.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps62d95f89.jpg

On the rifle is split you can then see the trigger box and the feed tube for the bbs.

Feed tube.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psbf2adef5.jpg

Trigger box.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...pse983c622.jpg

The trigger box doesnt look to be like any other VSR 10 trigger box. I havent seen many so maybe some one can correct me.
Its made out of a decent type of metal but is probably just pot metal. It looks like is has a 90degree seer which is great. I couldnt get the trigger box off of the cylinder chamber even after removing a lot of screws. So maybe I missed something there...
The trigger itself is made from a different metal to the trigger box though. Much nicer and sturdier. I changed out the stock spring for an Element M145 ST spring. It was extremely stiff so I had my doubts....and rightly so. After I pulled the bolt back and locked it into place it came off of the sear. Not broken but just pulled over the top it I guess. A Steel seer might solve this.

Next up the Cylinder.

Cylinder head.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psba76f344.jpg
This looks to be made quite well with a nice o-ring on it. No air leaks as well so thats good.

Plastic Spring Guide.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps02d9cc84.jpg
Plastic spring guide.......not much to be said about it. Feels very sturdy and strong. Will replace this with a metal bearing one.

Plastic Piston.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps18c9a0b7.jpg
This piston reminds me of the one I had in my WELL L96. I thought VSR 10 pistons were a lot small than this? Its made of strong plastic, same as the spring guide I assume. The O-Ring is pretty good and fit tightly in the cylinder. No need for stretching or any thing.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psbbb1d288.jpg
I'll probably add a sorbothane pad to it to quieten it down a bit.

Spring.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9a5e23ff.jpg
Decent spring I guess. Was a lot shorter than the Element spring I tried.

Cylinder.
http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psda84370c.jpg
Seems a bit cheap to be honest. Very thin wall thickness. I would replace it.

After wondering why the bolt needed so much effort to push forward I think I found the reason why...

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psd71a5021.jpg

There was some serious pitting and bad moulding on the inside of the upper receiver. Maybe mine is a lemon but I had to use some 1000 grit sandpaper to sand it down. Its now a lot easier to cycle the bolt. Was a bit disappointed with that.

Onto the hop up and barrel.

The hop up chamber is made from pot metal.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps061cac10.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3d674a2b.jpg

The hop up arm is a nice thick plastic and wont break at all. The nub though is s super soft silicone one that deforms even if you just look at it. The same crappy see through rubber that my hop up rubber was made from in my old ARES M4 FF.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6c899937.jpg

The Hop up rubber itself though looks pretty decent! It looks Identical to the RA TECH hop up rubber for WE GBB's. Its a nice thick but supple rubber. Doesnt feel cheap at all. Has a normal AEG style nub inside.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps22327bb7.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psc0a4e77b.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psea745fe7.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps527a7f5d.jpg

I changed out the hop up rubber to an A+ rubber for VSR as well as changing the nub to one made from the back of a bic pen. I have had great success with this nub in my WE Scar GBB so want to try it out in this rifle. Its very hard and doesn't deform.



Overall Im still very happy with this gun and what I paid for it. Due to some of he imperfections and poor quality of some parts I have changed my rating to a 7/10.

If there is any thing I have missed please let me know.

I am not sure what is actually VSR10 compatible on your MS700 by looking at all those pics. Zshot promised us in the video that it was going take VSR10 upgrades. Unless the MS338 have VSR10 internals.

The trigger box, hop up and piston all look proprietary.

Can you get a length and diameter (in mm) of the piston please. The piston from your pics is 45 deg so chances are the trigger box could be 45 deg. If you take off the trigger box, the sear on it will be very clear if it is 90 or 45 deg.

Your rating may drop below 7/10 if this rifle is totally proprietary.

the trigger box is off from a vsr but it could accept sears from a vsr, the piston looks like a vsr piston but its hard to tell without a measurement, the hop up chamber looks like it may be simaler in design to a vsr one tho the arm with the nub seems a lil shorter, if u remove the adjustment arm off a vsr that is, then it would be able to adjust with the screw from the top but again without measurements who knows, i tryed to find my old vsr piston to measure but couldnt, i do have a cylender and hop chamber tho so i could check those out. Nice review it does look promising if the upgrades wind up being mostly vsr stuff.
i think the 388 and 700 are spose to have the same operating system just slightly different exterior, ie the mag/magwell and materials on the upper.

The best way to test compatibility is to put a TM VSR10 sear and trigger into the MS700 trigger and see if it fires reliably. Also stick a VSR10 hop up lever into the hop up unit and try it as well and same with the piston.

The other question, will a Laylax or PDI trigger box bolt up to the MS700 receiver?

ya if u want to change out the whole trigger box that may be an issue i didnt go the zero trigger route on my vsr just used the laylax piston and the stainless sears looking more closely at my old hop chamber it seems a lil longer but again its hard to tell with just a photo. We should scrape together old stock vsr parts and send them so arktic can test fit lol

Arktic can use JG Bar10 sear and trigger since they are readily available.

I had a worn sear and trigger in my TM VSR10 and put the JG ones in it and no problems.

i personally want to know exactly where the hopup screw is...if i have to take off my scope to adjust it i'd be very uninterested

I will take some measurements today of the various parts and report back. Ill try and get the trigger box off.

Its a bit daunting without a dis assembly guide to refer to haha.

The BAR 10 trigger box is a lot longer than this one. Ill take more caparison pics today.

The screw is quite far in front of the scope. If you use one of those huge shrouds on your scope it might cover the hole. I have no problems with the scope I have on mine.

If you look in this pics you can see a small hole a few cm in front of my scope on the rail. That's the hop up adjustment hole.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psa98d15df.jpg

i may still be interested then lol

This! I really liked my Ares AW, but having to remove the scope to adjust the hop-up is counter productive.

You can always use taller scope rings to help mitigate this if your gun has an adjustable cheek riser. Then you might be able to reach the hop-up with the short end of an allen key, but still not great.

Internally from your pictures, it looks just like he inside of my AW, except a spring system. For spring I'll stick with Tokyo Marui, I'm a little disappointed to be honest.

Update:

So the piston is complete crap. The rifle has started slam firing.....
This after about 4 mags maybe....

I have done a lot of mods to try get it to work but what ever I do it lasts a few shots the slam fires again. The Plastic that the piston is made from is very soft and deforms quickly under stress.

No other option but to replace the piston with an after market metal one.

The piston is 104mm long.

I will probably order this piston in the next few days.

http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/action-vs...-rear-end.html

Not sure of your buget but i have one in my vsr and would suggest this
http://www.airsoftgi.com/mobile/prod...oducts_id=4948
Also depending on what type of metal the stock sear is made out of the piston sear will wear quickly with the stainless piston so
http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/pss10-pis...10-sniper.html
One of theese will be needed soon. If it fits.
Or beter yet
http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/mama-airs...10-sniper.html
I have the deepfire stainless ones but they dont have stock maybe someone else does tho.
The slam fire is a common vsr issue on stock pistons and sears.

Those sear sets wont work in the trigger box. The first sear is a different design.

Ill upload pics of the sear soon.

I might get a sear laser cut from steel if possible. Its quite small and very a very simple design.

Cool. Ya i wasnt sure of fitment that why i said.if it fits.
Check if its magnetic u may be lucky and find it is alrdy steel, tho i doubt it. Also if the price is right get bunch made im sure u can sell em easy enough.

Its not steel but it is decent at least. It should do fine with an aftermarket piston. But I will try get them made up any way.

Ok here is a comparison of the MS 700 parts next to JG BAR 10 parts for reference.

Trigger Box

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psac0f04c2.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3e9b8108.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5754b414.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps174141e5.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1e18de2d.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6895d6f8.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4d9fba06.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps959c8b8f.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2a6d6432.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psa7195caa.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psbe7c0370.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...pscaf9aad0.jpg

I havent opened up the trigger box yet to get the sear out as I want to be sure I know how it goes back together before I do that.

Cylinder Comparison.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps413c5b8d.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2765b4f7.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...pse76548dc.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7f17c6f1.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psc8e7ae81.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psead263b3.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psfcd86805.jpg

The piston of the MS 700 is 104mm long. The bar 10 piston is every so slightly wider in diameter than the ARES one. It still works in the rifle but it quite tight.

The piston of the MS 700 is made of extremely soft plastic and has started to slam fire after less than 4 magazines. Replacing the piston is a must with this rifle as using it in stock form clearly doesnt last very long.

I doubt the piston is causing the slam fire. My JG and TM also have soft plastic but I never got slam fire from that. Check your sear for slop. That can cause premature release when you cock.

Slop?

I changed out the piston for the JG one in the pics and it doesn't slam fire any more.

I have to dissagree my tsd sd700 started to slam fire quickly as well. If u would rotate the piston it would work for a while then slam fire again if u feel around the lip of the piston u could feel flat spots on it causing it to slip off the sear. Changing the piston to the pss one fixed the issue for a while till the pot metao sear wore down then i went stainless sear fo match the stainless piston lip. Been runin 512fps (pss sp150 spring) for a few years. Probably 1000 rounds or mors with no issue at all. Also using teflon coated cylender stock cylender head and spring guide pss10 airseal chamber custom nub stock rubber
Arktic did u try using the whole bolt set up from the vsr to see how it fits?

By slop he means movement up down and side to side. But ur correct it is the wearing out of the soft plastic lip on the piston causing the slam fire. Jg and tm piston are a lil stronger then the one in my tsd was probably same deal with yours. Also tm spring is soft it would last a long ass time on the stock spring. Sub 300fps the jg one was 400 ish i think maybe 450 like the tsd

Awsome info dude. Have you tried swapping out random parts from the jg to the ares? Id love to know what is and isn't compatible.

Good to hear the JG piston works. You said it is a tight fit. Did you check the velocity for fps loss?

1+ on seabass request. Try testing the JG parts in the Ares. Spring guide, spring, cylinder and nozzle, sear group, trigger and hop up unit.

This! I did that several times before I gave up. I rotated the piston fired of 3 or 4 round then slam fire, rotated the piston same thing then slam fire. The JG Piston is a much harder plastic and seems to be doing fine. Im off to a game today so Im just hoping it lasts the day...

I didnt try using the whole bolt setup. I should try that. Maybe even replacing out the whole bolt with an upgrade kit could be an option as well.

As for slop. I didnt notice any left and right, its fairly solid. Theres no up and down or forward and back once it touches the trigger.

Ya thats what im wondering if the whole cylender and whatnot will drop right in so i can just swap it out of my vsr. Two upgraded bolt actions and all i gotta buy is an inner barel for one lol.
Now we need someone to grab a. 338 to see what if anything is different from the 700
I may just get one im just iffy on importing stuff hopin a loce retailer will get em.

The MS338 has a CNCed receiver and with VSR10 internal upgrades, this Ares should be a good sniper.

You many want to try the piston from the VFC ASW338LM. It is even harder material than the JG. I must have put over 800+ shots on it and no wear or slam fire. It looks to be very rigid fiberglass or carbon fiber filled plastic.

Same here, will wait till spring comes around, hopefully there will be some in country by then.

Ares are readily available in Toronto area. Just ask your Ares dealer.

I want to make sure that the MS338 is VSR10 compatible. By the looks of the hop up unit and trigger group on the MS700, it does appear proprietary.

I used the MS 700 in game today.

Worked pretty well besides being down on power from the tight fitting JG Piston. Only 420fps or so. The piston held up extremely well and worked flawlessly.

Range was decent, id say about 50-60m with 0.30s. The hop up was OK. some went perfectly straight and other would just fly off all over the place. maybe 7 of 10 shots were on target.

I did get some nice kills and one really nice precise head shot through a few buildings and out the other side.

The weight got to me a bit today. Being 30c also added to the factor. Be sure to have a strong lower back haha! Other than that it was really fun to play with and almost all the guys at the field had to have a look and fondle.

Glad u enjoyed it. Hopefully the vsr cylender will fit that will adress the tight piston issue. Keep us posted.

Can you please weight it. Pot metal weighs more than CNC alum.

The weight for both is on the ares website and on most of the retailstes.
The. 338 is 4700grams
The 700 is 4500grams
Also the video review explains that one is full CNC and the other is cast in places.

I like the looks of the .338, understandable its slightly heavier then the 700 due to the upper and top rail not been hollowed and thinned out like the 700.

Still does not seem right. Pot metal is almost twice the weight of billet aluminum. Unless MS338 CNC version is just pot metal that has secondary milling on it. The price difference between the MS338 and MS700 is not much only $100. A fully machined receiver would cost a lot more than that and noticeable weight reduction.

I'll weight it later and see what it actually weighs.

Here are some shots from the game yesterday. :)

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...63239749_n.jpg

http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...95893524_n.jpg

http://sphotos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...10876528_n.jpg

Arktic, the MS338/MS700 will always look good over any M24 style sniper.

Depends on what the material is.
Cast Aluminium can be light.
CNC Zinc-Pb-Al can be still quite heavy.

I suspect companies such as ARES uses cast aluminium for the main structure shape and CNC the finer detail.

I will believe it when I see one in person. Ares break promises all the time. Zshot said in the video that the MS338/MS700 will be VSR10 compatible, but now looking at Arktic's pics, not much is compatible. The Ares trigger box looks so crude compared to the JG one.

Do you really think Ares use high grade pot metal material?

I think the question is can pot metal be high quality? I mean u can make it at home on yer stove lol
The first video review (evike i think) did say that one is cnc one is cast tho cnc doesnt mean it wont just be cnc out of cast. http://www.aresairsoft.com/for%20web...700details.jpg
Smaller mag, larger cut out above "ejection port" and by counting fhe cutouts in the rail a zlightly shorter rail on the 700 seems to be more then enough to make up for the weight difference so they are likely the same materials just a the 338 is machined after casting so itll have less or no seam lines and such thats prolly about it.
The more i look at it tho im starting to like the look(im more of an old school guy. I like vsr types not the "futureistic/modern stuff)

Automobile engines and transmissions use A300 series castings (alum/silicon/magnesium).

I highly doubt the airsoft industry use this level of casting.

Another update from inside the trigger box.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psbb267bd9.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps49d54279.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4292dbd.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps86a7746d.jpg

I dremeled away the 45 degree sear and madea 90degree sear instead with a slight backward angle. I did the same to the piston. Both now have 90 degree surfaces and there is no slam firing now.

I sent off all three pieces of the trigger box to get CNC'd from stainless steel. The stock parts are actually very thick and dense. Im sure they will withstand very stiff spring no problem. But having steel parts will be much better in the long run.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3b8fe383.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps33ccb17a.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps94f1063e.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6ff6b3ad.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psf377381b.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psa6cc0527.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3d1a7faa.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps55ddf0a5.jpg

Any luck test fitting the cylender from the vsr yet?

Not yet, Im on leave at the moment so wont be back at work until Friday. Ill grab a cylinder then and test on the weekend.

Thanks for all the trigger component pics.

Wow....All I can say is 100% proprietary trigger system.

Very small update for now. Im still waiting for my trigger sears to come back from the CNC shop. Should have them by Friday.

I received my upgrade parts from WGC Shop yesterday.
http://www.wgcshop.com/wgc2008/main/...ACTION-PT-PN01

http://www.wgcshop.com/wgc2008/main/...LAY-PT-PSS10CH

http://www.wgcshop.com/WGC_Shop/imag...ss10sg_low.jpg

Firstly the piston only just fits inside the ARES cylinder. Very very tight and doesn't move freely. Same as the JG Bar 10 I've been using in the interim.

Secondly the Laylax cylinder head doesnt fit either. Its slightly to wide. It only screws in about 2 threads then gets stuck.

I then transferred all the new parts to a JG Bar 10 cylinder and every thing fits perfectly. The Bar10 cylinder also fits perfectly into the upper receiver. I then changed over the bolt handle from the ares to the bar 10 cylinder. Works great.

So in short. The ARES cylinder is UTTER GARBAGE!! Throw it out as soon as you buy the rifle. Actually throw the whole assembly away excluding the bolt handle. The piston, spring guide, cylinder head and cylinder are junk. Replace them with upgrade parts.

very interesting indeed.....

I've been waiting for a decent review, and Arktic, you truly deliver here ^^

Does anyone have any news about the CO2 or Gas systems that Ares have been talking about?

Thanks a lot. Nope no news yet.

I got my Steel sear and trigger arm(?) but after two shots the locking pin snapped in half from the M145 spring.....

So now waiting for that to come back from CNC as well....

It is a good thing you are able to tinker with it and also make up parts to keep it shooting.

I feel bad for other customers that buy it and end up making it a wall hanger once it breaks.

Yeah I also feel bad for them. But I am determined to get this thing to work properly!

Arktic I have been following your review on the MS700 and like what you have done.

I picked up the MS338 and I really don't see any difference in the two except for the body. Replaced the internals with upgrades. Here is a pic of the stock internals (same as the 700) next to the upgrade parts I picked up.

Very nice! Let me know how the trigger box holds up. What spring is that you have?

I recently had my trigger parts CNC'd from steel and its made a big difference.

Well after two mags the thing started to slam fire on me, you wont happened to had any extra sears made would you?

The spring was to be a 1J but the gun is shooting 1.71J, will need to find a 1J spring do to Japanese law.

Ah wow that was quick. I only had one set made unfortunately. Replace the piston with a metal 45 degree piston and see if that helps.

Reminds me of marui VSR-10 sears, will last a whole year at 380, but breaks immediately at 430 lol

Here is what Ares says about the problem;

From: CS [mailto:cs@aresairsoft.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 7:33 PM
To: John "Wile E" Russell
Subject: Re: Fwd: MS338 Slam Firing

Dear John,

Thank you for your opinion we will pass your information out production team.
For your information, we are developing a upgrade trigger set for the MS338, the whole unit will be in steel. Exact release date is not confirmed, but it will be available by this year.

Thats good to hear! But expect the price to be quite high id imagine.

Is the upgrade free?

If not, then the Ares is not exactly lower cost than the competitor.

I have the VFC ASW338LM and that has worked flawless for and it does work with VSR10 upgrades. It seemed expensive at first, but the quality paid off.

Arktic,

Would your CNC guy be willing to do a run on the trigger parts. Its great Ares will have some out "this year" but there is no guarantee it won't be the exact same design, just with different materials.

I have an MSR on the way as well as a TM hop, and PDI hop, and a PDI cylinder set all in a TM VSR-10. I was planning on trying everything, and up until I saw you had a pattern for CNC trigger parts I was planning on modding the weapon to take a PDI V trigger....

It would be happy to but it was done as a favor from a friend from the cnc guy at his work. I dont want to take advantage of his generosity. He does it in his spare time basically.

This rifle is actually quite a big disappointment. Im getting my locking bar back tomorrow from cnc so I can finally test out every thing this weekend. I have had this rifle over a month and only used it once....

Well I didn't mean for free, if he wants to make some cash in his free time let me know. However it sounds like just making the V trigger fit is the better idea.

I will ask and see what he says. I was thinking of that as well but the ares trigger box is a lot smaller than any of the other triggers out there. So hopefully there is a way to make one of the other trigger boxes work.

Does anyone know by chance were a guy could pick one up in canada?

not yet that ive seen but try asking TA they may get it or be able to order one for you or find a retailer that ships to canada and be sure to confirm the fps meets the regulations