KWA KMP9 Review
Initial Impressions
As I opened the box which contained my new MP9 I was surprised at the weight and size of the gun and magazine. Although my initial assumption was that the gun was larger than I pictured and heavier than I expected, the gun is definitely light and small weighting in at 3.84 lbs and with an unfolded stock is only 20.87 inches long. This makes it very easy to carry around as either a primary for close quarters or as a secondary in the field, especially with the stock folded with a length just over a foot.
As I held the gun I was pleased with the feel it had in my hands. The fiber reinforced polymer has a nice texture and the ergonomics work well for me. I really like the slightly angled for grip. The look of the gun is very nice even though it doesn’t have authentic markings. The black color has a nice and flat finish.
As I continued to examine the gun I saw that most of it was (like the real MP9) made out of fiber reinforced polymer, even the charging handle. The stock locks back nicely and has only a very slight side to side wobble which is not really noticeable when I’m holding the gun firmly against my shoulder. The only metal parts which can be seen from the exterior are: the side picatinny rail, the bolt, magazine, flash hider, stock locking mechanism, magazine catch, bolt catch, takedown clamp, takedown leaver, rear sight adjustment screw, and the rear of the spring guide. Everything fits nice and firm no big gaps and the stock feels almost unbreakable.
The information with this gun was nice and plain easy to read English, and it came with a sticker! A pamphlet with only eighteen pages and lots of pictures makes it easy to understand what they are talking about. The gun also comes with a registration card for a forty-five day manufacture’s warranty. Since my gun was ordered with Airsoft G.I. it came with a quality assurance card which stated that my gun shot an average of 361.7 feet per second.
Firing
After carefully reading the instructions, I proceeded to lube the seals of the magazine with the included silicone lube, and gas the gun with green gas. I found it hard to tell when it was full because this was my first time using a gas gun. I then pulled the bb follower till it locked in place and hand loaded the supplied bb’s which I assume are KSC .25’s. After setting up my target and putting on eye pro I shot a few times on semi and then empted the rest of the magazine on full auto. The recoil was very pleasing and the noise was extremely loud for an airsoft gun. Due to the design of the flash hider most of the noise goes forward and probably is even noisier on the receiving end than from the shooters prospective. The rate of fire on full auto is amazing and I can imagine that most will be in want of cover when they hear it unloading a full magazine in almost two seconds. The hop-up was actually very easy to adjust and has a firm click for each small adjustment. To adjust the hop-up you do need to use the supplied key and to open the bolt, but after I figured out where it worked best it was easy to reset based on the amount of clicks I adjusted it to. The magazine shot two full loads on one gas charge when I shot on semi and did controlled bursts on full auto. Keep in mind that I shot this on a cold day in Arizona. As far as sights go they didn’t have to be adjusted, but the front sight is a little hard to see because it is completely black. I don’t think that it will be able to be replaced because it is just a round metal post. I am definitely looking in to getting a red dot sight.
Gun Takedown for Cleaning
The takedown procedure of the MP9 was easy enough; the only thing I would warn is that the takedown clamp spring can pop out of its place and fly across the room. The first step is to (after clearing the gun the hammer needs to remain cocked) remove the screw under the front sight and push in the spring guide rod while lifting up on the upper receiver. The spring is under tension so be careful. I think that it is kind of strange that it doesn’t takedown like the real B&T MP9, but on the other hand it doesn’t cycle like the real gun either. Next push in the take down clamp and pull the barrel pin out. Third pull down the takedown leaver and push the bolt forward. While holding the bolt forward push in the takedown clamp and lift the entire assembly out. The only thing extra that needs to be done when putting the gun back together is to push in on the disconnector to allow the bolt to seat; other then that just reverse the previous instructions. A special note, the bolt catch has a small lip from when it was stamped. Before firing it needs to be filed down along with rounding the corners or it will eat into the bolt and leave small shavings all throughout the gun. If you have fired you KWA MP9, and it has eaten into the bolt, then do as described, and check that it is clearing the side of the bolt by coloring the section with a sharpie. If the sharpie stays in the recess of the scratch after firing then you are good to go.
Getting the MP9 Ready to Use for C.Q.B.
If you need to lower the fps to be useable at vanguard then don’t worry, all that needs to be done is to use HFC 134A gas in place of Green gas. On HFC gas it shot about a 288 fps average. The MP9 does have a place to attach a single point sling to it and it seems pretty universal. So as long as the slings hook is not really thick it should be fine. As I was getting some practice in with the MP9 I noticed that weak side transition is not the best on this gun. It is easy to hold in both right and left hands; it’s not even too bad with the stock folded. The only thing that could be a problem is that the magazine catch and bolt catch are only on the left side of the gun. So if you are a lefty or you like to switch hands often then this could pose some reloading problems. You can easily operate the magazine catch with your left trigger finger, but the bolt catch is a bit of a ways up there and is hard to release. The only way I could see remedying the problem is to turn the gun slightly and use your right hand to release the bolt catch or to pull back on the charging handle. The fire selector is easy to use with both right and left hands, as well as folding the stock, or operating the charging handle.
More information to follow soon after I use it in a game or two also if some one knows what website to load pictures from to get it to show up on AA then let me know and I will upload some a.s.a.p.
