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DyTac Combat Series

DyTac Combat Series

The DyTac Combat Series URX DMR 20” M4 airsoft rifle… that’s quite a mouthful, so let’s just call it the Dytac URX for the time being. DyTac aren’t a new company, but they are only now starting to make inroads into the UK airsoft market. Their genesis is interesting, Chinese-made internals, dropped into G&P manufactured externals with design input from PTS. What we can say with certainty is that they have been willing to listen to and work with UK retailer Landwarrior Airsoft (who provided this month’s review sample) in improving the internals to deliver the best performance for the price, and that they are properly stamped with the CE mark which denotes compliance with EU regulations which now apply to all electric airsoft guns.

First Look

The URX DMR as it’s name suggests is a 20” barrelled M4 derivative, although we struggle to call something with a 20” barrel an M4. It comes well presented in a WE-like brown cardboard box and the gun itself is secured with meaty cable ties.  We were immediately impressed by the combination of well-applied matte black paint and the silver fluted barrel which runs though a URX IV, 14.5” KeyMode rail. The effect is of a well-proportioned rifle, an impression borne out when handling the rifle.  At the rear is a simple but functional crane stock, into which the batteries are fitted.  The laser engraved markings are cleanly executed with the Knights Armament logo on the left of the magwell, and the model (SR-16) and Knight’s address on the right.

Freeing the URX from its box confirms those initial impressions; slim front end, confidence-inspiring solidity and a lack of rattles.  The charging handle has an extended release lever, useful in the real world, purely decorative here, as the hardest work it will ever do is to reveal the hop unit for adjustment.

Closer Inspection

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Since we are concerned with the technicalities of the URX here, out came the toolkit and we reduced it to its component parts in short order.  There were no surprises in store. The brass barrel is capped with a nicely cast and finished one-piece hop unit. The receivers, both upper and lower are well-cast and finished. What plastic there is, pistol grip and stock, is nicely moulded and finished too. We noted that the catch on the ejection port cover was pure G&P, in other words too large to ever allow the cover to latch closed. This does seem to bother some players, but we remain unfazed by this quirk.

With the gearbox out, it became obvious where costs have been saved. This is definitely not a G&P unit, and the excessive use of threadlock was impressive, if only because it was everywhere! However, there is nothing inherently wrong with a decent Chinese box, so it was also stripped in short order. Inside we noted the lack of excessive grease, a definite plus-point and found the usual suspects; steel gears, a nice polycarbonate piston and tappet, a metal bearing spring guide and the red cylinder head we had seen specified by Landwarrior during their testing phase with these guns.  Were we keeping this rifle, some attention would be lavished here, however that’s us, and it is only fair to comment that despite its appearance, the gearbox functioned exceedingly well and sounded very solid, not something that can be said about all cheaper units. We feel we could be confident as far as this is concerned.

In truth, DyTac have done nothing that G&G haven’t done with their Combat Machine series, and they have got the balance about right. Solid attractive externals married to a robust gearbox, even if it’s not the prettiest we have ever seen.

Performance

All of this translates into satisfyingly predictable performance. Over our chrono with 0.2g Blasters, the rifle returned a very consistent 350.2 fps, which should see it being acceptable on most UK sites. It cries out for a scope as it arrives with no sighting devices whatsoever, and we confess to a nagging desire to up the velocity and restrict it to semi-auto only to properly fulfil the promise of its DMR tag.  That said, as it stands it is a very usable rifle straight from the box, and we don’t want to give the impression that it needs fettling before use, as some Chinese made guns demand.  DyTac have taken care of that for you, as they should, all you need to do is provide the power, the ammo and the targets.

The URX DMR retails at a shade under £270.00.  While slightly more than pocket money, it is considerably cheaper than the alternative available from the major Taiwanese makers, and that alone should commend it to your attention. We would go further and suggest that it represents serious bang for the buck, not only in terms of performance and build quality, but also because it’s just such an attractive rifle. Wonder if it would fit in a Christmas stocking? GM

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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  • DyTac Combat Series - image {image:count}

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