Clear ICS guns
 

Well, I got the chance today to see some ICS guns with the clear lower (M-series) and clear upper (MP5).

This is what they are about:

Metal Parts on M-series:

Outer barrel
Barrel nut
Front sight
Stock tube
Takedown and pivot pin (near as I could tell)
Motor endplate
Sling loop

Plastic Parts:

Upper receiver
Lower receiver (clear)
Carry handle
Stock
Mags
Trigger guard
Grips (obviously)

From what I could tell, the front end, hop-up and mechbox are all from a standard ICS M-series. They have steel bushings, split mechbox, 3-pice outer barrel, etc. The takedown and pivot pin are very tight, basically, without a workbench and some tools, they ain't commin' out. No field changing of the upper gearbox for sure, and you would likely break the lower if you tried. The M4 I looked at had barrel wobble, the first time I'd ever seen this on an ICS, sadly.



MP5 was a little different as well:

Metal Parts:

Outer barrel
Retractable stock
Motor endplate
Sights
Silencer (SD-series)
Mags

Plastic Parts:

Everything else

The mechbox looked like a standard Ver 2 ala ICS.

Each gun came with 2 mags and a little bottle of ICS BBs. Pricing I saw was $375-$399 depending on model, or about $50-$75 less than the G&Gs sitting beside them.


I will not offer an opinion publicly on them, as it will only generate the usual "it's clear so we have to live with what we can get" vs the "it's crap buy something else" camps.

I may buy one just to review it with pictures, but I see that as a waste of money for something I'll never use.

Ah, so even though only the lower on the armalite is clear the upper is plastic as well, crappy.

Do you have any idea if the clear bodies are installed by ICS or if some after market company is doing it?

I'm pretty sure it's by ICS for Canadians.

I should look this stuff more often..
How're the prices?

They're made by ICS, they even come in the standard ICS box.

I should note that the bodies are clear, brightly clear, practically glow-in-the-daylight clear. They are not smoked like the G&G guns.

The ones I saw come with 2 mags, but no battery or charger (such as they are anyways).

If I was going to buy a gun as a base, I would look much harder at the G&G over the ICS. There's simply too much work that would need to be done to the ICS to make a reasonably tough gun. At least the G&G comes with a metal upper, and one-piece outer barrel (M-series).

It's a shame really.

Just a quick question but if i were to buy an ICS conversion kit and completely screw the upper reciver and upper gearbox and just put the front end on my G&G GR-16 what should I expect?

A lot of pain.

It was a pain already to install a Madbull Noveske front end on my ICS rifle.

Also, I managed to find a complete metal body for quite cheap. Ended with a solid rifle for quite cheaper than any other AR/M-series that is full metal.

The mechbox is not the standard ICS one. The one I had is black. Not anodized, looks like some paint.

Upper mechbox is the same however.