Written by RLB
Evike lists this shotgun as the “Matrix Maurshin Clone M500 SSB High Capacity Five Found/Shot Full Metal Gas Shotgun. (Short) [Shotgun_GR5802]”. This will be a review of the gun from an external viewpoint based only on an evaluation of what the author has observed from examining, handling & firing the weapon. It will not contain an evaluation of any of its internals or anything that might consist of disassembling the gun.
Yes, "ACTION" is spelled wrong.
FIRST IMPRESSION
My first impression upon removing the gun from its box is that it feels heavier than I expected. Upon weighing it, I found it to be a solid 6 pounds with an overall length of 27”. My TM M4 S System weighs in at 7 pounds (w/o mag & ammo) & personally I feel that is about the heaviest gun I feel comfortable playing with where I plan on being a very active & aggressively moving player (yes, I’m an old guy). I found the only external parts on the gun which were not made of some kind of metal was the pistol grip, pump handle, trigger guard & cocking arms. The finish on the metal was a bright burnished look & it was overall a good-looking replica of the Mossberg 12 Gauge 500 Cruiser shotgun but with a slightly shorter barrel.
OPERATION OF GUN
Of course the first thing I had to do upon handling the weapon was rack (pump) it. The motion was smooth & easy and the sound was what anyone who was looking to own an airsoft shotgun wanted to hear … loud & crisp INTIMIDATION.
This gun is gas operated and is green gas/propane compatible. The port for the gas fill is located where the ammo loading port for the gun would be. Filling the weapon with gas is easy to accomplish by simply turning the gun upside down and placing the nozzle of the gas can in the port.
The gun has 3 separate tubes that hold the 6mm BBs for loading. Each tube holds approximately 55 BBs each. The tubes are located in the magazine tube of the gun. To access the tubes there is a small lever located near the front of the barrel just above the magazine tube. You flip the lever 180 degrees and pull the end cap of the magazine tube to expose the 3 BB tubes. With the gun upside down, you pull the pump handle partially back exposing a notch in the magazine tube, and when the 3 BB tubes are pulled all the way forward you can see an opening in the BB tube where the BBs will be loaded in. Rotating the 3 tubes will expose the opening for each BB tube that must be filled individually. Filling each tube with BBs from a BB loader takes some practice & care to perform with reasonable speed. When firing the gun, the tubes must be rotated as each BB tube is emptied. Rotating the tubes is accomplished by turning the end cap for the magazine tube until you feel the detent indicate you have accessed the next BB tube.
The pistol grip felt comfortable in my hand, and the safety switch, which is located at the top rear of the gun, was easy to reach & operate. Initially the gun feels awkward when holding because of its weight & the fact that it is a pistol gripped gun without a stock. After carrying it, swinging it around & firing it you get used to the balance.
PERFORMANCE
After loading & gassing up the gun it was time to see what the performance was like. The trigger pull seems a little stiff, but it is not hard and I found it acceptable. There is no play in the trigger, which I liked since it gave you the sense that there would be no mistake when you wanted to fire the gun. Firing the gun resulted in a plume of gas to be expelled out the front of the barrel & you could definely see a group of BBs (presumably 5) fly down range. But there was a distinctive sound that reminded me of a hammer striking an anvil. Repeated shots resulted in the same sound, so it was obvious that it would be a sound that you would have to accept & get used to if you owned this gun.
At 20 feet the spread of the BBs remained consistently within a 6-8” spread. The flight path of the rounds was flat & since there are no sights on this gun, it was good to know since I was just sighting down the length of the barrel. At 45-50 feet the BBs spread out but remained consistently inside the size of the torso of an average size man. Once again, sighting down the barrel the flight of the group was centered around where I was aiming.
Putting shots of multiple BBs through a chrono resulted in readings of 280-300 fps. Firing single BBs through the chrono resulted in readings of 500-510 (Yes, 510 FPS) fps.
On another day which was slightly warmer single BBs resulted in chrono readings averaging 545 fps. Multiple groups of BBs were averaging 340 fps.
SUMMARY
Overall, I was fairly impressed with this gun, both from its external construction as well as its performance. The current downside that I can see is that the pump handle has some side-to-side play, and that combined with the apparent composite plastic cocking arms makes this a potential spot for failure & breakage. With that in mind, I would not recommend being hard & aggressive when pumping this shotgun or you may see some type of failure in the components in that area. Since the pump action is smooth & easy, there really is no need to pump this gun real hard. With that in mind, I definitely would not recommend you single hand pump this gun – it obviously can be done quite easily, but doing so is just asking for something to break. I’ve been informed that stronger replacement metal cocking arms are available for this gun, and they would obviously be a good investment.
Since this is a review of this gun after having it only a few days, I can not realistically evaluate how truly durable it will be over time when used in skirmishes, games & just ‘plinking’ around. It is impossible for me to tell at this point on how well the seals will hold up in this gun, but my initial assessment is that for the price, external construction & performance, this gun is impressive. If someone is looking for an airsoft shotgun, I would definitely recommend this weapon.
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