Echo1 Robinsons Armament XCR-L AEG Airsoft Rifle

The ECR-L is the first Airsoft rifle I have owned. It is not the first I have held. For any beginner, I think your best bet is to buy a gun around the 200 dollar range. Any more and you become too heavily invested in the sport before you are sure that you will end up playing enough to justify your purchase. First major +, the internals are fully and easily upgradable. The font for this statement should be big, because this is important This gun is accurate. Shooting it with .20 bbs so far, any movement of the bbs is almost entirely up or down. Side to side movement of the bbs is quite minimal. I’m going to bump up my bb size to .23 or .25, so I expect accuracy to get even better. FPS is not too shabby. I don’t have a chrono, but it’s advertised as hanging around 380 fps, and based on most video reviews, that’s about right. If you are looking for a further reach, you could upgrade the spring for a 400-420 fps range. I think where it’s at is quite good. Low enough that you aren’t turning your friends into enemies, but still quite high enough to engage at a distance. As for rail space, if you max out, you have problems of your own that are beyond the scope of my skill set. There is no reason on earth anyone should ever run out of space. One of the perks that drew me to the gun was actually the way the stock is lined up with the upper rail, and thus your sights (when you add them). Because it is about an inch down, you get a lot more space if you are wearing a mask or helmet

First of, you must know that this gun is polymer/plastic on the outside. This isn’t always a bad thing, and as long as you know what you are getting it’s ok. Much of the inside, as well as the buffer tube, is steel. Because the gun is polymer, there are places you can push that will give a squeak or click. This is caused by the plastic moving back into place. It is fairly sturdy, and I wouldn’t be too afraid of giving it a couple of knocks, but there is a reason full metal AEGs are available. Polymer just isn’t as rigid. The rail space is good, but I found that the lower and upper rails were a tiny bit thinner than the side rails. I have an AFG from Magpul that I installed instead of the stock grip, but it wiggles a little because the rail is too small. This should never be a problem with any type of quick release rail system, but with sights or grips that you must slide on, it could make trouble. I have yet to find a fix for this, but I’m sure there is one somewhere. These are the things any prospective buyers should know. However, don’t let them scare you too much. There is a reason you are paying 200ish bucks instead of 400 to 600. As I said, this is a good entry level gun.

Be sure that you have one of those specialized wrenches to tighten the buffer tube lock ring (don’t actually know what it’s called). The stock is quite loose for me, though I have a feeling that a little blue locktite, and a good tightening of the threaded ring should help.

The battery that comes with is good, but you should get a smart charger from the get-go. There’s no point in damaging your batteries over time.

At first, it was a real pain to open the back of the stock in order to install the battery. However, if you push the right way, it’s not that hard. You just need to practice to find the best push points.

You may have some trouble compressing the stock all the way when your batteries are installed. This is because the combined length of the wire clips is about an inch. It acts a a stick that gets caught between the ledges at the end of the batter compartment. I haven’t worked out a permanent fix yet, but this problem doesn’t always appear, It’s intermittent.

Don’t forget some lube, your guns will thank you.