ICS CXP APE

[BrightCandle]

Bought: Patrolbase

When: Februrary 2016

Skirmish time: 1.5 hours!

I have had the gun a week, skirmished it once so I likely haven't found all the potential issues with it. But I needed to at least start writing about the gun as there are a couple of gotchas that people ought to know and I'll fill in a fuller review once I have more experience with the hop and other aspects.

Gotcha 1: It only works with Tmags from ICS. I tried EPMs, Mag brand and G&G midcaps and none of them fit let alone feed. The problem is that the gun requires a shorter area for the spring at the top that holds the BBs in, normal mags have a much larger area on them and hence this gun is incompatible with basically all magazines other than ICS that I have seen.

So the question is whether the T Mag is any good? In a word no its not. The spring in it is very weak and it can only lift a 0.2g BB. With 0.25g (ASG is what I used) you will have feeding issues. I can't get it to reliably feed out anything heavier at all, it wont even push the BBs out. It is the weakest spring I have seen in a magazine so far. With 0.2g BBs it seems pretty reliable and can feed full auto just fine.

Gotcha 2: The battery compartment is a bit short. At first appearance you can get a stick lipo in the rear of the guns stock but when you go to put the butt on you find that (1) some of that stock goes inside the buffer tube like area reducing the space you have and its awkward to get the wires and battery in there as the space is kind of small even with just a 1450mah battery and (2) that its only as long as the buffer if you don't shorten the rifle below its 4th position. So if you want a normal length lipo in there you can't move the stock in much before it'll stop moving.

Gotcha 3: When you put the gun onto safe it will decock the spring, the next time you go into semi and pull the trigger you will get two rounds come out. If your field requires semi fire this is going to be an issue.

I have also received one that has an FPS of 260, so it needs a new spring. That is more about patrolbase than the gun but its really low.

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

Magazine fit on the ape is an issue ICS really messed up with that one but its an easy fix. You can dremel or file a bit out the receiver at the rear of the mag well where the feeding section of the mag collides. Not really something you should have to do to new gun but there it is.

As for the tmag not lifting anything heavier than 0.2g I am not sure what going on there. I have set a couple of the newer ICS guns up to fire 0.3 both were using tmags with no issues. I was using 0.3 Blaster devils.

The double fire on the first shot is crap but a small price to pay for the spring release mech. Just as you start a game knock off the safety and shoot at the floor. Could be a pain if you are the sort who knocks your safety on and off during a game but dont think most people do.

If that 260fps was with 0.2 I would send it back. You would expect 310fps to 330fps on a stock ICS in the UK, they are usually one of the most consistent stock guns you can buy for FPS.

 

[n1ckh]

From habit, my safety catch comes off when game starts & goes back on when I'm hit respawning, I'll do this all day

Rifle is always unloaded on route to safe zone but pistol is always made ready (magazine in but not cocked with safety on)

My ICS dropped to 260 after a year of abuse so if it's still under warranty then send it back mate

 

[simonh]

I bought one of these last year - only played it three times since then but it has been great! I fit my battery into the stock tube and then fit the stock over it, then it will close all the way.

Not had any issues with the mag that came with it and I only ever use 0.25 bb's, also only had an issue with a couple of mags that won't fit - but tbh couldn't tell you what type they are as have had them for ages and they work fine in the m4 and m16 that my son has.

I've not really noticed this issue with the initial double feed will look out for it next time I play (should be this weekend)

I really rate this gun. the look, feel, consistency and accuracy are all IMO excellent.

also from memory I am chronoing it at 300ish with the .25's

 

[simonh]

played this gun at the weekend so thought I would update my comments.

7.4v lipo fits perfectly in the tube, an 11.1v is really tight and as mentioned above you can't close the stock all the way. For me this became irrelevant as trying to use an 11.1v lipo on semi auto is impossible, most of the time double fired or went full auto so I dropped back to a 7.4v battery.

made a point of using the supplied magazine and did notice some feeding issues, swapped it out a couple of times while it still had ammo in it just to get back to consistent feeding of bb's.

totally forgot to look out for the initial double feeding issue. (doh!)

 

[Doad13]

Anyone got any further comments on these or any links to pictures of yours and loadouts?

I'm really interested in getting one and love the two tone tan lower but mag mis feeding is a real bugbear of mine.

Cheers in advance!

 

[simonh]

it is only the mag that came with it I had any issues with, non of my other mags were a problem.

 

[BrightCandle]

I had issues with the Hicap in the box and the midcaps I bought from ICS. Someone on reddit told me G&G midcaps work in it but I haven't found that to be the case, they don't even fit. So far I haven't heard of someone with any solution than modifying the mag well to fit other magazines.

 

[simonh]

This surprises me, I haven't had issues with any other generic m4 mags at all