REVIEW: WE TECH Samurai Edge Two-Tone VS. TOKYO MARUI Samurai Edge Barry Burton Custom

[e-luder]

Hey all,

I'm just going to cover the basics here as there is just too many things to talk about.
I've got a two for one review here. The WE Tech M9 is my latest acquisition from one of the av retailers of the forums and the Barry Burton variant is my best friend's gun. It's the new 15th anniversary edition.

Hope you enjoy the read.

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Introduction:

"I found this weapon. It's really powerful, especially against living things." –Barry Burton (Resident Evil 5…err I think?)

The Resident Evil series has always yielded some cool looking weapons. Hydra Shotgun FTW. The game takes on real word, military weapons and customizes them to match each character’s personality and the zombie-killing ambiance of the game. When I first heard of the M9 airsoft custom guns, I was like Yes. Yes, Oh god yes! Ahem. That was years ago it seems and now I finally obtained one.

From WE Tech, I’ve got the BioHazzard Samurai Edge Custom Two-Tone M92. The weapon has a lot of firepower and decent accuracy making it ideal for any zombie killing ventures that you might like to partake in in the near future.

On the other side of the coin, is Tokyo Marui’s BioHazzard Samurai Edge Barry Burton Custom M92. Sacrificing a bit of power to compensate for longevity, the gun is super accurate and lightweight. This is actually a re-release of the older limited edition of Marui’s Biohazzard M9 from a few years ago.

How will these two stack up againsteach other? Which, if any, has an advantage over the other? There is no real answer. Ultimately, it comes down to what you want to achieve with each sidearm and how much work you're willing to spend on upgrades and basic upkeep.

I’ll attempt to point of some pro’s and cons for both variants. I even attempted to make a chart!

Technical Specs:

Tokyo Marui Biohazard Samurai Edge Barry Burton Custom:

Build Material: ABS
Item Weight: 940 grams
Barrel Length: 120mm
Overall Length: 255mm
Blowback: YES
Hop Up: FIXED
Shooting Mode: Semi-Auto & Safe
Magazine: 32rds
Ammo Type: 6mm BBs
Recommended Power Source: HFC134a & HFC22 Gas
Muzzle Velocity: 250 FPS on Duster Gas

WE Tech Biohazard Samurai Edge Two-Tone Custom M92:

Build Material: Metal and ABS
Item Weight: 1100 Grams
Barrel Length: 125mm
Overall Length: 215mm
Blowback: YES
Hop Up: FIXED
Shooting Mode: Semi-Auto & Safe
Magazine: 25rds
Ammo Type: 6mm BBs
Recommended Power Source: Green Gas
Muzzle Velocity: 300-330 FPS

First Glance:

One can’t simply ignore the fact that these pistols look pretty damn cool.

WE's version was boxed in a standard WE Tech box. You know, the one with the green WE Tech logo on it? Inside, the gun came to me wrapped in bubble wrap. After unwrapping it, I was pleased to find a very shiny finish. The foam mold was covered with black silk cloth to bring out the gun’s silver finish. It was pretty.

The WE Tech M92 came with a standard issue WE Tech M92 magazine, a thread adapter and of course all the paper work.

Not to be outdone, Tokyo Marui's Barry Burton Custom M92 came in a flashy box with both the gun and Barry Burton himself featured on the artwork. Now, if you remember correctly, the original 5 year limited edition version of this gun came in a metal gun case. Not to nit pick but we would have loved to have received this gun case as a collector's edition freebie. Inside, the sidearm came neatly tucked into the foam molds. The mold doesn’t surround the gun. It only encases about half the width.

This M92 came with an extended magazine, a barrel plug, some S.T.A.R.S. pins, cleaning/unjamming rod, dry firing magazine follower thingy, a sample pack of BB’s and all the paperwork from Tokyo Marui.

I love the presentation on both guns to be honest. Marui always gives such nice attention to the packaging of their products that many consumers overlook. WE Tech, despite lacking flashy pictures on the box, brings out the finish of the gun nicely by contrasting the silver two-tone to a black background.

Details and Fabrication:

“Rain or shine, you're going down!” –Leon S. Kennedy (Resident Evil 4)

First up is WE Tech's version. This gun is a full metal gun.

Let’s start with the slide. Almost all parts of the slide are made of metal. This includes the safety, sights and outer barrel. The slide sports the two-tone silver finish with black cocking forward serrations on both ends. On the left side, you’ve got “S.T.A.R.S. R.P.D. Special team” deeply engraved while on the right side you got “Mod. SAMURAI EDGE Law Enforcement Use Only”. The slide also has a red dot indicator to let users know where to flip the safety lever when they want to put it on safe mode.

The slide itself is very thick. The metal used here is very well enforced and very sturdy. It’s metal so you don’t have to worry about it breaking when using heavier gasses. That said, even with a “ported” slide, it is still fairly heavy and will eat up a lot of gas.

The NOVAK style sights are three white dots and are made of metal. They are non-adjustable. The front sight is fixed to the frame while the rear sight is removable. These aren’t the best sights to use, as they are a bit small for my taste. Plus, I found that the rear sights, though tightened, had a tendency to unscrew itself for some reason.

The slide has been fitted with reinforced metal components. This includes the spring guide rod, the barrel and chamber. The impressive part is the blowback unit. It is very happily married to the slide and sits flush. I didn't come into the dreaded piston head problem yet. WE Tech's sidearms has garnered a reputation over the years for making poor piston heads but for this gun, i find the whole BBU assembly very tight. There's no rattle like i found on my WE Tech 4.3 where the piston head tends to wiggle around in the loading nozzle because of it's poor use of o-ring.

The slide also came with a 6.04mm tigthbore inner barrel giving you additional firepower and accuracy. There was no inner barrel wobble. I didn't have to pull out my duct tape this time around. The tightbore is a nice little addition to the package since the gun doesn't have a hop up adjust.

WE Tech's version sports a full metal black frame with imitation plastic wood grips. Now, I had a problem with these grips on the Tokyo Marui version of this gun. The Marui version looked very fake because the coloring was too light. WE Tech's grips, in comparison, looks much more realistic with a darker looking “stain”. It’s still fake but it looks “less fake”.

On these grips, you have the STARS logo on both sides. The front and back sides of the grips have vertical serrations for added grip stability. The frame doesn’t have an under rail so anyone looking to add a light or laser would have to look for a trigger mounted rail adapter or a trigger mounted laser or light unit.

Metal parts on the frame include the hammer, trigger, slide catch and the take down lever. The magazine catch is plastic. Though I question WE for giving you a plastic mag catch. I mean, come on…

The internals work. Not the best but they work. The seam lines on the chassis doesn’t look to be tightly locked together. Also, the internal part of the take down lever sticks out a bit and catches onto the chamber/barrel assembly quite easily when you’re trying to put the slide back.

Lastly, the slide catch is very loose. It’s not affixed well enough into the frame and it can give a lot of wobbling left and right. I believe this has to do with the spring needed for the mechanism to function. The coil on it takes up a bit of room thus pushing the slide catch a bit further than it needs to.

For the most part, these "loose and wobbly parts" are only minor annoyances. You have to remember that airsoft is one of things that will always give you what you pay for. This is a cheaper brand, a clone in fact, of its Tokyo Marui counterpart. So don't expect any mind blowing construction. I'd even venture a guess that pot metal is used in some of the components. But for the price, this gun is well worth it. The frame and slide assembly are solid. They are reinforced and thick. I don't see any "small, hanging pieces" on both the slide and frame that will break off from continued use. It's definitely field worthy.

Tokyo Marui's Barry Burton Custom M92 on the other hand is a completely different animal. Well…material wise anyways. Being a Japanese gun, of course this sidearm is composed of ABS plastic.

Again, let’s start with the slide which is made of ABS plastic.

This version of the Samurai Edge has an all black slide with a silver plastic outer barrel. On the left side, you’ve got the “S.T.A.R.S. R.P.D. Special team” trade; while on the right side, you have “Custom Kendo Shop”. Being a Tokyo Marui weapon, these trades are nothing short of brilliance. They are very well etched into the ABS slide and clearly defined. The all black look gives it a sleek camo under dark environment.

The slide also sports forward cocking serrations and a clearly marked red dot for the safety.

The sights are also the NOVAK style sights. These don’t contain three white dots, just an all black matte finish. I question the design choice of these sights since the distance between the front and rear sights are a bit further from each other than a standard M9 pistol. Without clear markings on the sights, wielders may find it a bit hard to get a beat on targets.

The reason why the front and rear sights are so far from each other is because this M92 comes outfitted with a plastic compensator. It’s slotted with 4 ports and adds about an extra inch to over all length of the gun. On the last port, the front sight is mounted.

The whole compensator is rigged up to an under rail system that measures about 9cm long. This is made of plastic as well and has "Mod. Barry Burton" on its sides as trades. I will warn you though that this rig is pretty flimsy. Listen to Arclight as he does specify using lightweight accessories. Yes, this is a good call. The rail is held up by a single screw so be careful. I can’t outfit this gun with a laser/light combo because that rail system will damage, or worse, buckle under the weight of these heavy attachments. This probably the weakest point of the gun. You can't remove this rail even though it's screwed into place. It's superglued to the frame or something to that effect.

The gun has a matte black ABS body. Not all parts are made of plastic though. The usual stuff is metal—trigger, hammer, take down lever, slide catch and the safety lever.

The notable difference between WE Tech's and Marui's M92, apart from the rail and compensator, is the grips. Tokyo Marui has opted not to use the fake wooden grips and went with an all black plastic grip. It has the STARS team badge embossed on both sides. On the right side is where Tokyo Marui branded their trades reading “TOKYO MARUI JAPAN” just above the rear thumb rest.

Marui's internal organs are superb. As you would expect from Marui, everything works very well each other. The trigger pull is a very smooth operation. The slide rides along a metal rail with ease. The metal housing in both the slide and frame is very well made and strong.

It sounds great too as it doesn’t sound like a plastic on plastic type deal. The ABS material used here is quite strong on the frame though i do foresee the rail system screw post being the first to break because it braces the majority of impact. The slide is where I can see the potential cracking to happen, particularly on the backside near the safety and around the ejection port where the outer barrel slams into.

I'm not saying this law. People run their Marui guns on Green Gas for years and don't encounter problems. But I'm also saying there is potential for it to happen. It's a give and take sort of deal. To some it happens after years of usage. For others, after a few hundred rounds.

Ergonomics and Features:

Now let’s move on to the common ergonomic features on these M92s.

Both of these guns have very bulky and very round grips. It made it difficult for me to reach the trigger without modifying how I normally hold a sidearm. The triggers on both these, when in DOA, tend to lean a bit farther towards the front than most M92s on the market. But once the hammer is cocked, the trigger moves to an easier access point by moving half way to the hammer break point.

The trigger guard is smaller than most trigger guards I’m used to fitting my fat gloves into but they get the job done. The trigger guard is also serrated for better placement of my pointing finger.

The grip has thumb recesses on both the top and trigger area on both sides. Beside it is the magazine release. Both the mag release on WE Tech's and Marui's design don’t have a high a raise but most times they are easy to get to. Though, I found that WE Tech’s button was a bid harder to push than Marui's. I had to dig in there to get the magazine to drop.

The slide catch on both pistols are serrated and raised. They are a thumb’s reach away and function well. The spring on Marui's pistol is quite uncanny. It’s not as loose as WE Tech’s.

The take down lever on both guns works just fine. The take down procedure is just like that of the real steel. Keep in mind, that I already had a problem with WE Tech's lever as I stated above.

The safety on the WE Tech’s M92 is a two-stage lever. The gun can be made to shoot DOA and SAFE. The location of the safety on ALL M9’s hasn’t really been my best friend in the past. It is not suitable for me as it sits a bit higher than I would like it to.

Marui is just a simple Semi to safe lever. Though the difference is that this lever is much more defined in terms of its build quality. It has very sharp corners and easy to catch with your thumb.

Function and Performance:

This is, really, the only interesting part of the review.

First, let’s compare firepower. Here’s a chrony chart. For the sake of continuity, I used green gas on both guns with .20g BB’s at room temperature of approximately 19 degrees. I also rigged both pistols with a hi-flo valves and upgraded spring sets.

Shots/ WE Tech/ Tokyo Marui/ Marui With Metal Slide
1////// 319//////// 300/////// 275////////
2////// 320//////// 302//////// 280////////
3////// 316//////// 298//////// 274////////
4////// 314///////// 303//////// 275////////
5////// 315//////// 298//////// 277////////
6////// 310//////// 301//////// 275////////
7////// 312//////// 299//////// 273///

As you can see, the pistols both yielded some decent firepower when running on green gas. Tokyo Marui held its own against green gas and has a much more stable velocity range than that of WE Tech. This means that Marui's gun is more consistent than WE Tech's since its muzzle velocity has a smaller and tighter group of readings. This is good.

WE Tech’s results yielded a much wider FPS range despite having a power advantage. If you notice, though starting out strong, the gun gradually decreases to a lower FPS range. This is largely due the magazine’s uncanny ability to cool. After 7 shots, you can see the effects of a cold magazine. That's a very rapid cooldown. That's a 7fps drop with less than half a magazine! Also, because it has a much heavier slide to carry, WE Tech's pistol expels more gas than Marui's.

If you were wondering, I did fit the WE Tech slide onto the Marui frame. And yes, it worked for me. Though it did yield a loss in firepower.

On Accuracy:

Both guns are extremely accurate. 10 shots from 25 feet on green gas, the groupings were tight.

For WE Tech, the groupings were marked 6 to 7cm apart just above centre mass considering there is no hop up adjust. WE Tech's hop-up or chamber unit is not all that great as you may well know. But compared to some of WE Tech's other pistols, this is by far much more accurate. Some of their 4.3's are just outright terrible when it comes to hop-up assemblies and accuracy.

Tokyo Marui’s groupings were even tighter than WE Tech's from 25 feet away. The groupings measured 3 to 4cm apart and veering to the left. Despite having no white dots, I think I did Ok. Not the best but OK.

Magazine:

Tokyo Marui’s magazine M92 magazine is much more superb than that of WE Tech's. It can hold 32 rounds and contains a big enough gas reservoir to get about 1 1/2 to 2 magazines before refilling. Though, I hated refilling these magazines. Actually, I feel that way towards all Marui pistol magazines. They tend to leak out while I’m filling. Again, this is a safety measure designed by Marui to prevent over filling the mag. But this also means you can’t really get a “full” fill. I have to put in O-Rings and seal the bottom plate every time I buy these mags and it’s getting really annoying for every single one of them.

WE Tech’s M92 magazine is quite easy to fill. It has a 25 round capacity. I have to mention that the valves are very particular about how you feed them the feed tube. The intake valve doesn't like it even if the bottle is on a slight angle. It will blow the gas back out. If WE Tech magazines have taught me anything, it’s that they need a lot of care and attention. Sure they work great in the beginning, but three or four fills later it begins to cause trouble. It's starting already as I mentioned above.

Other stuff:

The Tokyo Marui Samurai Edge Barry Burton Custom and the WE Tech Samurai Edge Silver Two-Tone Custom M92's are the same pistol.

The only obvious difference is weight. Marui's version is a shrimp at 800 grams compared to WE Tech's 1100 gram full metal pistol. Now why is weight important? It’s not about the total weight of the product per se, but how that weight is distributed onto the gun.

Marui's magazine is a Hi-Cap extended M92 magazine and is made of metal. This means that most of the weight is mainly affixed to the backside of the gun. This helps increase the chance for the muzzle to flip higher since there is not a significant mass to hold the barrel down. And once that barrel goes up, gravity will favor the heavier side (in this case the magazine well) and continue to push it down while the lighter end (in this case the barrel) continues to raise up since both sections stem from the same unit (the entire gun). It’s like seesawing with someone who weighs more than you. His weight will always lift you off your feet while he floats to the ground.

Anyways, Marui's weight makes it harder for the wielder to acquire and reacquire target after every shot since it's barrel moves off target much more than it should. Some would counteract this by saying that the added weight of the compensator and rail system should counterbalance the heavy backend of the gun. This is true but to me, Marui's M92 is still a bit too light. The compensator and rail is only a third of the weight of the extended magazine.The gun still has a good heft, but not good enough to keep on target and for you to “feel” that you’re holding it in your hand.

WE Tech's version, on the other hand, has the weight advantage of keeping his muzzle down since his front end is metal. This helps the distribution of weight close to even between the front and back end of the sidearm. It doesn't necessarily devoid the gun of muzzle flipping but it helps reduce it. The downside I found to having an all metal pistol, or a weighty one, is having to hold it ‘fire ready' for an extended period of time. Holding a weighty sidearm can wear you down, forcing you to drop off target momentarily to rest. I didn’t mind it though some may feel differently if they play with an already heavy rig to begin with.

The safety on WE Tech’s M9, is very hard to move. It requires a ton of push before the lever gives. The first time I got it, I thought the damn thing was broken. This is has something to do with the M9’s being able to de-cock with the safety lever. I don’t know what’s going with the design on WE Tech’s side but it seems they are trying over compensate for the lack of de-cocking action from the lever. I don’t know.

As far as I can tell, this is also present on Marui's pistol. The lever is not as hard to push as WE Tech’s but you still need a significant amount of force to move.

Also, The trigger pull on the WE Tech is quite hard. It requires a lot of pull and a lot of travel before the hammer breaks. Though, once the hammer is cocked, the pull is lessened significantly.

The kick on these two guns is ok at best. They aren’t the best but good enough to feel. Keep in mind that I am using green gas for BOTH of these and the weather was a bit on the colder side. I suspect that the kick will significantly increase on both of these once we get into warm summer weather.

The kick on the WE Tech M92 is much crispier than Marui’s. This is largely due to the fact that out of the box, the gun came with an enhanced recoil spring. It’s comparable to Tokyo Marui’s very own Five-Seven. There were problems though as the slide randomly forgets to return to battery sometimes. It will just stick for no apparent reason. Also, the slide is so heavy that it actually get’s short stroked once the magazine begins to run low on gas.

Marui’s M92, kicks much harder than WE Tech's pistol because it has a much lighter slide. As is with all Marui guns, the kick on green gas is always crisp. I did find that often times when the magazine is almost empty that magazine tends to double feed the breech.

Upgrades:

I don’t see the need to upgrade WE Tech's pistol very much. Its already full metal and came with a tightbore out of the box. But I would recommend getting a stronger recoil spring to give it a better kick on the gun.

If you want to upgrade Tokyo Marui's pistol, you should first consider which gas you would like to run it on. Out of the box, it's spec’ed for use with HFC 134a for durability but will handle green gas out of the box just fine. Install some buffers to be safe.

Or if you want to use green gas, then consider upgrading the slide to a metal one (if there are any aftermarket ones) and upgrading the spring set to compensate for this heavier slide.

Also, upgrade the Marui magazine by using the search button on ASC and looking for fixes that prevent the mag from ‘leaking’ while filling. There are tons of threads on this one BTW. You might also want to look for a decent holster for this thing. I’d suggest looking into something like a Deagle holster.

Final Summation:

WE Tech Samurai Edge Silver Two-Tone Custom M92:

Pros:

-Cost effective
-Full Metal and already spec’ed for use with heavy gasses
-Shoots hard
-Ok accuracy

Cons

-Sticky Slide
-Finicky safety
-Rapid cooldown

Tokyo Marui Samurai Edge Barry Burton Custom M92

Pros:

-No cooldown
-Large capacity magazine
-Super accurate
-OK firepower
-Hard kicking (on green gas)

Cons:

-Less “weighty”
-Weak rail system
-Sights are not marked and are too far from each other
-Still requires upgrades if you want to spec for longevity on green gas

Conclusion:

And the winner is…a katana.
Like…for real though.

When going up against a horde of zombies, nothing can beat the sheer brute force and satisfaction of kamikazeing with a nicely sharpened katana. You don’t need guns. Hell, as far as you know, the world has already ended! So chop some heads while you're going out!

But seriously, both of these guns have their strong points: Marui’s M92 offer’s decent firepower with superb accuracy while WE Tech’s M92 offer superb power with an already upgraded internal organs. They are both field worthy in my opinion.

What it really comes down to is which gas you’re going to use and how you’re going to tune either one to meet you’re sidearming needs. While one has distinct advantages over the other in certain areas, there is always a counter argument for both sides.

Personally, I really enjoy WE Tech’s version. I love the dual tone finish. The gun comes pre-upgraded and can use heavy gasses just fine out of the box. Minimal effort for the right price.

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"They didn't act like any zombies I've ever seen." - Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5)