Nuprol Recon Delta Bravo [Great Budget M4 – Airsoft Review]
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The Underdog Starter Replica
Why the underdog, you ask? Simply because Nuprol is quite a new company to a market dominated by well established veterans like Tokyo Marui, ICS or G&G. Most of the community stands together on the perspective that Nuprol is a rebranded Chinese counterpart. However, with their recent line of products, Nuprol has began raising eyebrows and players have started to wonder how their replicas perform out in the field.
At first sight, Recon Delta Bravo seems incredibly good value for money; yet some people continue to question what they see! Therefore, I am going to delve into the essential details of what actually makes this RIF a great starter rᎥfle.
Is it actually any good?
Tight bore barrel, reinforced v2 gearbox, aluminium body, micro switch trigger and high torque motor for £160 – sounds too good to be true, but is it? Recon Bravo was my first rᎥfle and since I bought it in November 2017, it has never failed me, or my fellow teammates who had borrowed it, to this date!
Pros
- Very good value for money
- Aluminium construction
- Very accurate
- High FPS
- Reliable
Cons
- Average range
- Doesn’t support 11.1v Lipo battery
- Mini Tamiya connector
- Very loose mag bay (although taping mags helps, a lot!)
The devil is in the details – Let’s talk specs!
| Gearbox | V2 Based QD Spring Gearbox |
| FPS | 340fps (+/- 5%) |
| Barrel | 260mm in length and 6.03mm diameter QPQ Steel Tightbore Barrel |
| Box Includes | 1 x Nuprol AEG 1 x Nuprol M4 Hi-Cap Magazine 1 x Cleaning Rod 1 x Manual |
Features:
- Full Steel Toothed Piston and Gears
- Reinforced V2 Metal Gearbox Design
- Metal Reinforced Selector Plate
- CNC Finished Receiver With QPQ Finish
- SAFE – SEMI – AUTO Firing Modes
- LiPo Battery Ready
- Metal Sling Plate Included
- Sliding Stock houses the battery
- 3 removable rail sections included
Build and Internals
The first time you take the rᎥfle into your hands, it feels very sturdy and heavy due to the solid aluminium construction – around 3,5kg with a loaded mag to be specific. This is actually one of the reasons I bought this replica over any other choice that the market has to offer. I can state, with full confidence, that the polymer construction rᎥfles are in most cases actually solid and reliable. However, I wanted realism instead! Furthermore, this replica will definitely get you in shape when carrying it around battlegrounds; more so than any lightweight, polymer rᎥfle. Extra fitness – how about that!
Usually if you purchase an airsoft replicamade out of aluminium under £200, you are going to get inadequate performance and internals in return. However, this is not the case with Delta Recon series. The replica is tuned perfectly for UK regulations out of the box with about 340~ fps. The batteries I’ve used for testing were 7.4v LiPo with 15c and 25c. The 25c does provide stronger discharge resulting in slightly higher fire rate and trigger response.
However, in my opinion the difference is not significant enough and I would recommend to use 15c instead as they usually come with larger capacity at a cheaper price; this will let you unleash the rain of BBs’s on your enemies for much longer! I tend to keep count of ammo I use during skirmishes and I am confident to say that the battery can last through a lot more than 10,000 BBs’s in this particular replica.
Nonetheless, the replica has low fire rate out of the box compared to what you typically see on battlefield as the high torque motor is made to focus on trigger response and is not 11.1v LiPo ready. The replica fires at around 13 rounds per second, which in my opinion is just enough to keep you entertained, hit your targets and it doesn’t empty your magazine too quickly.
On the other hand, I opened up the gearbox and due to it’s sturdy build, I feel pretty confident that the it is actually capable of withstanding an 11.1v LiPo battery. Both gears, selector plate and piston teeth are made with great precision out of good quality steel. However, if you choose to try 11.1v LiPo battery in this replica, the warranty will not cover any damage as Recon Delta Bravo officially doesn’t support anything higher than 7.4v LiPo.
Finally, the inner barrel was the main influence behind my decision to purchase this rᎥfle for my first airsoft rᎥfle instead of other recommended rᎥfles, such as the praised and popular combat machine by G&G. People are often sceptical about how a £160 rᎥfle can feature a 6.03mm tight bore barrel that is actually made of high quality material; mostly because they’ve never been featured in rᎥfles within this price range.
The barrel featured in Delta Recon Bravo is no Prometheus but it does provide great accuracy which has raised eyebrows of all battle buddies I’ve lent this rᎥfle to! It does not however provide great range out of the box. With the stock hop-up it will just about hit enemies at 60-65m away. You will definitely get out-ranged by a other players with top range rᎥfles; keep this in mind when considering this rᎥfle.
Time for upgrades!
There always comes a time in a life of every proud airsoft player, during which he will start to consider upgrading his favourite precious toy. If you want to accessorise your rᎥfle externally, Delta Recon Bravo uses a Key Mod handguard which has a much smaller market of accessories than RIS handguards, unfortunately these accessories are often, also more expensive. However, due to the popularity of Key Mod handguard increasing in recent years, more producers are beginning to manufacture grips, lasers, torches etc. that are Key Mod compatible.
Internals is where it gets a bit more specific. Since the barrel is already tight bore, I would not recommend changing it. The new barrel will not increase the performance adequately to its cost. Since range is an actual limitation of this replica, it would be much better to think about upgrading the hop up instead. This splits into two categories (do both for optimal performance!).
You can upgrade the hop up bucking and nub and invest into a new, solid hop up chamber set such as. At Airsoft Ranch, we recommend the combination of: Prometheus Purple Bucking and Firefly Namazu Flat Hop Nub for best results. Second category is customisation. Many people customise their hop ups to create Flat hop or R hop which gives much better backspin and range. Stay tuned for an article in foreseeable future that will go over these in great detail.
I’ve mentioned about how gearbox might potentially withstand 11.1v battery, so even though changing motor is an uncharted territory, I think it is not a bad idea. Since the rᎥfle features a micro switch trigger it should be easy to install a MOSFET; as you would expect. However, it isn’t. It requires connection of cables to both battery and trigger which is a difficult job as there is a lack of space in the rᎥfle.
On top of that, it will not bring much of a difference for this replica. However, I have used Merf 3.2 by Gate and the only feature that was mainly beneficial to my replica was the ability to program burst-fire. Unfortunately, the MOSFET got damaged after only couple of games. I would recommend to first of all change the battery connector to Deans connector as mini Tamiya can overheat and potentially damage other electronics – especially the trigger contacts. If you decide to go for a MOSFET then we thoroughly recommend the below, although it is quite expensive so consider whether it’s worth it:
Before you leave, make sure to see our range of replica reviews by clicking here!
Conclusion
On the whole, this replica is a great performer out of the box which consequently makes it a great starter replica for beginner and experienced players alike. It feels great in your hands due to the solid, aluminium build and certainly provides the user with a realistic feel due to its weight. It’s a sturdy replica that is reliable in all conditions and can take a beating; so you won’t have to worry about dropping or banging it by an accident. It is also highly accurate due to the installed 6.03 tight bore barrel, which is unheard of at this price range.
This is the perfect replica for someone who enjoys CQB due to its quick trigger response and great accuracy at close distances; it also performs well in woodland scenarios, however you’ll need to be conscious of longer distances as you simply might get outranged by other better performing replica on the field.
Thank you for reading and I hope this article has helped clear things up and assisted you in your decision making! If you have any comments leave a comment or checkout the Airsoft Ranch forum to get to know your airsoft community.
Written by Wojtek Lawer
Edited by Kamil Turecki
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