A long time ago, I came across a shell ejecting shotgun replica at a game, it was a Tanaka M870 - and then I ended up buying one of these. It left a very deep impression on me because, apart from the lack of recoil, it simulated a live weapon perfectly. I got all the loading and usage errors and the essence of the weaponry with a strong compromise. It was perfect for dry firing and training. Then I conducted the interview with PPS, which strongly raised my interest in their lineup - so I bought an XM26 from GunFire's webshop when it was offered with a great discount - nobody wanted it, so the Poles were keen on getting rid of it.

The first thing that struck me was that the box was very simple and puritanical. I'm used to that with Chinese airsoft replicas, but I still expected a bit more. It was a plain brown cardboard box containing the replica, a magazine, 2 shells (not enough to fully fill the magazine), an instruction manual and a couple of mounting adapters. The replica itself was quite impressive looking, despite its light weight it was neatly put together and yet did not reflect the toy gun feel.

The first surprise is that the gun is all black. Finding any deviation in color is difficult - in this respect, the photos taken with the white background are not very lucky. The weapon is basically made up of two parts, the shotgun itself and the stock. The shotgun itself is fully aluminium, so it's very light. The stock (including the adapter) is a combination of plastic and metal parts. The outer barrel is aluminium, which is machined quite badly – it is full of concentric circles. Unfortunately, the choke at the end of the barrel is plastic. A feature of the choke is that it can be fixed to the end of the outer barrel - on the real steel version, it protects the user from shrapnel and other things that might occur from close range shots fired at the doors/windows. The mounting rail on the receiver, and the barrel adapter used for M4s are screwed on separately. The surface of the receiver is slightly rough, but it has a very nice finish - this is true for the whole gun, it is a nicely finished example. The sights are fold-up and fold-down, they are extremely simple and puritanical - real „back-up” sights, not much of use for regular shooting. The bolt is clearly visible from outside, its surface finish is rough and grainy. The bolt action handle is on the left side and is all steel but unfortunately the pin that holds it in place is loose – you can easily lose it. The magazine is all plastic, it certainly won't withstand a BB hit during play and I don't think it will withstand a drop either. The magazine itself is thin plastic with a moderately strong spring, and has a capacity of 5 shells.

The replica is fitted with a hammer-firing mechanism, which requires a lot of force to cock. The spring on the hammer is quite strong, but unfortunately the angle between the firing pin and the bolt is wrong - so it may not open the gas valve when the shells are filled with strong gas. The shell ejectors in the bolt are steel on both sides, which are quite strong and solid – there is no plate located on the left side as on the M870s. The gun has a fixed hopup with a hidden internal barrel. The outer barrel itself is attached to the receiver with a screw, in a quite a rugged and stable way.

The gun arrived with tons of silicone grease smeared everywhere. It's essential to clean this up, because it gets all the dirt and grime in it - and makes everything feel hard to move. It loads and unloads very steadily with the shells, I've never had a problem with the gun in that respect.  I've only encountered light-strike failures over time of use, especially when using with metal-bodied shells and stronger gas. The plastic-bodied cases worked best with average gas, as with these it was enough to just refill the BBs after one gas charge – actually the shells ran smoothly for 3-4 uses after one gas charge.

I had further problems with the magazines because they were made of too weak and too thin plastic. They were damaged when enemies shot straight through the magazine body during games, and their fragility was bad when dropped. Loading the magazines is a special experience, same goes for watching the way the gun works and operates.

The range was not very outstanding, not even among shotguns. In practice, there was little point in arcing beyond 15 metres (50 feet). For me, the replica was most viable at BB weights between .23-.25 because of the fixed hopup. I should note here that the choke on the front of the outer barrel of the gun is also an imitation, which broke once - I could easily get a replacement piece from PPS at the time.

It's great to have a shell-ejecting feature, it's very realistic. However, it is a pain in the ass to keep track of and collect shells during and after games. It's more viable with a shell collection bag that needs to be emptied periodically. The ends of the metal shells are nicely deformed from being dropped, and in the case of plastic shells, the base part often comes off – turns out, it is a moulded bronze part that slides smoothly onto the plastic body. It can be mounted on M4's, which creates a very nice picture, unfortunately I don't have a photo of it. It was particularly noticeable that the lightweight XM-26, due to the light materials used for the weapon, did not make the undermount conversion too heavy for skirmishing. It didn't make much sense, but it was cool as eye-candy (and also, to intimidate the enemy).

To sum up. The replica of the PPS XM26 is a beautifully crafted, solidly assembled, spectacular shotgun. Not really usable for game, that is true, only after buying a lot of shells (with a sizable budget) and a lot of dedication. It is more of a curiosity, or a perfect wall decoration.

Szöveg: Batmause
Fényképek: Batmause