Marui mp7 worth it?

[RostokMcSpoons]

My 416 is an Umarex / VFC.  It's built like a tank externally, excellent recoil, feels great, but obviously I can't speak to what it's like to skirmish and live with yet...

Negative Airsoft's Luke hates VFC AEGs from what I can see 

 

[Duff Beer]

Just to chuck this into the mix... and because I'm borderline-obsessively looking at MP7's and MP9's, even after getting my 416...

This is currently "news banner number 1" on the Patrolbase website...

https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/umarex-h-and-k-mp7-a1-airsoft-gbb-smg

So that's £290 for a full trades MP7.

From a quick search on reviews etc it seems the upsides of the Umarex are:

1) Full size

2) Higher RoF than TM MP7

3) Slightly cheaper gun

4) ... errr that's it?

And the downsides are 

1) Expensive mags (£54 vs £40 for TM)

2) Less good at low temps

3) Allegedly less reliable

4) No need for a number 4.

5) Five is right out.

Personally I'd question the reliability issue - we know the TMs aren't perfect with sleepy trigger, and chassis cracks, so it's a matter of what breaks on the Umarex, and how pricey to fix?
There are owners on YT and Reddit who say their guns have been perfect, so obviously, as is always the case, YMMV

The mag cost and a more pronounced cool-down effect  are the actual deal-killers, in my eyes.

Any Umarex MP7 owners out there care to comment?
Edit:  Oh, just happened to notice @sjhirst has one on his sig. How is it?

I mentioned the VFC/Umarex version further up the thread, but mine’s been really good.  I’ve got the Version 2 (like the AEG’s the version two ironed out the niggles from the first version.

I use it with Ultrair, and I used it indoors in November and December where ambient temperatures were hovering around 0°C (and sometimes lower), and it worked absolutely perfectly in semi.  The Black Site doesn’t allow auto, so no idea how that would have faired, but even sticking a semi burst down I had no issues.  The version 2 has an NPAS so it can be tuned for the conditions which is a bonus.

The mags have been gas tight for the last couple of years since I got them, and I don’t really do anything over and above the norm to maintain them.  They’re not cheap though, and because it’s 1:1 you have to make sure you’re buying pouches for real steel rather than Marui if you go kydex.  The mags are super easy to load from the bottom rather than through the feed lips, and although they say they’re 40 rounds you’ll get about 44 in there without any issues.

The only part that has broken was the stock lock catch which is a known failure point due to being cheap pot metal.  A steel replacement part is about £15 and took all of 10mins to change.

The bolt release and safety are held on with the worlds smallest grub screws, to definitely locktite them.  It’s a faff to take apart for barrel/hop changes, but to be fair for CQB/FIBUA it’s perfect as stock so I won’t change either.  
 

I bought the rubber butt pad because the standard one is cheap plastic.  That was about £10.

I’d happily recommend it to anyone based on my experience.  

View attachment 101151

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I mentioned the VFC/Umarex version further up the thread, but mine’s been really good.  I’ve got the Version 2 (like the AEG’s the version two ironed out the niggles from the first version.

I'm so sorry I missed your post for some reason - but thanks for all the info - it's making me feel like it's a toss-up between the two.  
Is there a way to visually tell v1 and v2 apart, in case I spot one in the Classifieds?

 

[Duff Beer]

I'm so sorry I missed your post for some reason - but thanks for the all the info - it's making me feel like it's a toss-up between the two.  
Is there a way to visually tell v1 and v2 apart, in case I spot one in the Classifieds?

No worries, I did ramble a bit ?

If memory serves the V2 has a metal outer barrel (unscrew the flash hider and pop off the front cap to check) as well as the NPAS (take both body pins out, slide the bolt assembly out and look down the nozzle).  I bought mine in 2019 at the British Shooting Show, so I’d be very surprised if a new one from a retailer was a V1

Edit: I’ve just had a look at the description on the link you gave.  I don’t know what they’re talking about with the follower snapping the feed lips; I’ve let go of mine a couple of times and the worst that’s happened is that it pinged a BB out. Definitely don’t drop the mag’s though or the baseplate will fail and you’ll need to order a new plate, spring follower, spring, and BB follower.  This is the voice of experience, but at least they’re cheap.  You’ll need to import from Hong Kong (no bother MLE Mart carry them all and they arrive in about two weeks), but if you order a few you’ll be sorted.  When I dropped my mag it dented the corner of the base of the mag but it’s still perfectly gas tight. 

 

[Nick G]

Umarex means it's VFC honestly no idea what their GBBs are like

I've got the Umarex MP7, used it extensivly even in woodland games and can't fault it tbh. Shoots well on .30's has great range and acuracy and has never missed a beat. The only issue I'm aware of relates to the mag catch, a mate got one the same time as me and it would drop a mag randomly. We put a new catch in it and it's been spot on ever since.  TBF patrolbase offered to replace it but was an easy job so not worth returning it.

 

[Aharps]

No worries, I did ramble a bit ?

If memory serves the V2 has a metal outer barrel (unscrew the flash hider and pop off the front cap to check) as well as the NPAS (take both body pins out, slide the bolt assembly out and look down the nozzle).  I bought mine in 2019 at the British Shooting Show, so I’d be very surprised if a new one from a retailer was a V1

Edit: I’ve just had a look at the description on the link you gave.  I don’t know what they’re talking about with the follower snapping the feed lips; I’ve let go of mine a couple of times and the worst that’s happened is that it pinged a BB out. Definitely don’t drop the mag’s though or the baseplate will fail and you’ll need to order a new plate, spring follower, spring, and BB follower.  This is the voice of experience, but at least they’re cheap.  You’ll need to import from Hong Kong (no bother MLE Mart carry them all and they arrive in about two weeks), but if you order a few you’ll be sorted.  When I dropped my mag it dented the corner of the base of the mag but it’s still perfectly gas tight. 

Out of interest what sort of range of FPS are you getting? 
 

I’m really keen on one of these and want to be able to use it CQB and in woodlands. 

 

[Duff Beer]

Out of interest what sort of range of FPS are you getting? 
 

I’m really keen on one of these and want to be able to use it CQB and in woodlands. 

I’ve set the NPAS for lower power and reliable cycling in the cold, but if memory serves it was doing about 275fps (0.88J) on a 0.25 on Sunday morning with the ambient about 4°C with the internals absolutely stock.  In the summer I had it set to about 290fps on 0.25’s, but you can of course set it hotter than that.

Just make sure you use gas without lubricant in it.  The hop rubber is very consistent when it’s clean/dry, but the second you add some lube in the gas it becomes about as accurate as Farage is with numbers.

Don’t forget though if you’re chopping and changing the power between indoors and outdoors you’re going to have POI shift so you’ll need to re-zero.

 

[Aharps]

I’ve set the NPAS for lower power and reliable cycling in the cold, but if memory serves it was doing about 275fps (0.88J) on a 0.25 on Sunday morning with the ambient about 4°C with the internals absolutely stock.  In the summer I had it set to about 290fps on 0.25’s, but you can of course set it hotter than that.

Just make sure you use gas without lubricant in it.  The hop rubber is very consistent when it’s clean/dry, but the second you add some lube in the gas it becomes about as accurate as Farage is with numbers.

Don’t forget though if you’re chopping and changing the power between indoors and outdoors you’re going to have POI shift so you’ll need to re-zero.

Ah ok. Sorry still fairly new to this, so green gas is a no then. What non lube gas options are there other than propane? Ideally ones that don’t smell too bad!

 

[Duff Beer]

Green gas is absolutely fine, I just found gas with lube really reduced accuracy and consistency.  Ultrair doesn’t have any in, and I’m sure there are others too.  Propane is cheaper for sure, but I can’t stand the fart smell so I use Ultrair as that’s pretty neutral.