Ares L85A3 EBB

[LazzurusMan]

Ares L85A2 EBB

 

FPS: (stock 300+) 330-340

Hop up: Proprietary with maple leaf super macron bucking and Omega nub (Will explain further in opinion and comments)

Mag Capacity: Comes with two 130rd Mid-caps

Battery: Suggested 11.1v Lipo

Plastic/Metal/Both: Stammped steel, aluminium and plastic

 

My opinion and overall comments: DISCLAIMER - This review is not based on the stock model. I replaced the hop rubber and nub with a maple leaf Super Macron and Omega nub, and added a cut down sp120 to get the rifle closer to 350fps. I will explain why in the review.

My initial reaction when I first picked up this replica was how realistic the weight was, how sturdy the stamped steel reciever felt, and how comfortable it is to shoulder (I've always had a bias towards bullpups though). Plus, I love that it comes in a moulded plastic case, which even has spaces for the ares EFCS programmer, and small red dot, a verticle grip and a replica ELCAN sight. It also comes with two 130rd midcap magazines that feed flawlessly.

Now, I have upgraded this replica pretty much straight out of the box with a new bucking, nub and spring. I did this as I intend to turn it into a dmr, and also know from personal experience that a lot of ares replicas come with pretty terrible air seal inside (hence the cut down sp120 spring), that their stock buckings will start to break after only a few mags, and the nub in the L85a3 was nothing awful, but when going fopr a mpale leaf bucking it just makes sense to go for the Omega nub. With this setup I was reaching out and touching players easily at 50-60 meters on .28g bbs. 

As I said at the start, the build quality feels great, and with my very limited experience with the l85 (semi auto target shooting with ATC) it felt like the reel thing, confirmed by my ex-army brother who used the A2. However, this wouldn't be a proper review if I didn't pick out any faults, and the fire selector is definitely something ares should look into. For most of the first half of it's first day out there were no issues, however after a few hours I found the blowback was knocking the fire selector down from rapid (semi) to Auto. This will not be a problem once I lock it to semi for a dmr build (I mean, it's perfect for it). Shooting this replica feels great. The blowback is nothing special, just a small nub connected to the bolt that gets pulled back by the force of the piston moving back, but it still feels good, and it works. The issue I see for some players is that the bullpup design means the blowback is all happening much closer to your ear, and is relatively loud. If like me youre half deaf in your right ear anyway it won't even matter. That brings me onto a darwback of ALL l85 blowback replicas. This is for right handed users only. Left handed shooters can still use the replica if they really want to, but that bolt is going you hit you in the face, a lot. The replica is also heavy, coming in at a little over 3kg, with almost all of that weight at the back, I very quickly started to wish I'd bought a proper l85 sling to carry it with, as attached to my sing point sling on my vest it definitel made my right should and arm ache.

Performance out the box (chrono'd in my flat) was about what I expect from Ares. The air seal could be better, but with the quick change spring behind the butt plate all I needed to do was slap an sp120 spring in it, then test and cut down said spring to get it below 350fps on .2g bbs. I didn't bother using the stock hop setup at all as I know from my Ares mutant (let me know if you want a review on that too, I used that as stock a little bit so can do a more comparative review) that it would lift .28g bbs, but the bucking would need replacing after a day or two of use, so I just replaced it straight out of the box. With this setup I hardly have to apply any hop to lift .28g bbs, which gives me plenty of hop for when I dmr this replica and start using .32g or heavier bbs. I have to say, though the hop chamber (accesible like most aegs these days by opening the bolt, and this l85 has a functioning bolt catch to make adjusting the hop a lot easier to do whilst shooting to get it set up right) is proprietary and is actually clamped into the gearbox making replacing a broken one a little awkward, it's a lovely little hop. Rather than an arm held in with a pin levered onto the nub and therefore pushing onto the hop bucking, the hop weheel sits inside a block of plastic, and as you turn it the block pushes straighjt down onto the nub and bucking, essientially giving you a TDC on an aeg. A stock aeg at that. As well as it being proprietary the other drawback with the hop unit is that the wheel is held on too loosely for the blowback. Luckily I went to a friends field to make sure aall our kit was working as it should the day before we skirmished, and I found after a short burst on auto or about 10-15 shots on semi the hop will have turned itself off. I solved this by putting 2-3 gearbox shims behind the screw that hold the hop wheel in place, this made it a LOT stiffer and now doesn't move unless I really want it to.

The trigger is pretty snappy, with quick follow up shots being easy to do with the EFCS from ares. 

 

As I said earlier, I was reaching out to about 50-60 meters with no wind, but this was with the new bucking, nub and uprated spring. I reckon you wouldn't be far off that stock though, but your hop bucking wont last long. Actually upgrading the replica is a bit of a mixed bag of dificulty. Getting the top reciever off and the barrel out isn't too difficult, but getting the gearbox out is a little more work. I'm not 100% on the gearbox type, but I believe its a custom shaped v2 to fit the bullpup design, so upgrade parts should be plentiful.

 

Overall I'm very happy with it, and would definitely suggest this to anyone looking for an l85a3. But bare in mind that it is an ares, so you might get adamantium internals, or gears made of cheese, but this is a review of this replica, not the company.

 

 

 

Overall rating:

8/10