This is a review I have been working on, in video form at least, for far too long. The video will be ready eventually. It still currently needs a number of b-roll shots and somewhere to effectively test the maximum useful range, a detailed sound level test and a controlled accuracy test. Once I have those shots in the bag, there will be a video review to accompany this blog post. There will also be an update below with the information from the tests which will, unfortunately be missing from this review initially.
Now that's out of the way, let's get into it. Today, we are taking a look at a product that has been hotly anticipated by a lot of people. And in reality, I have kind of missed the hype train on this one, despite having it since it's release.
(As we all know, life gets in the way, being a dad and working full time (at the time of the release) meant real life priorities had to come first. As we are currently amidst the height of zombaids 2020. Corona virus has the world under it's boots and government enforced self isolation is the aim of the game, I find myself with enough free time to at least put together a written review.)
Today, as you already know from the title of the blog post, we are looking at the ICS BLE PM2.
a CO2 powered, none blow back replica of the Soviet Makarov PM.
In the interest of openness This gun was sent to me by ICS via Fire-Support here in the UK as part of my sponsorship by ICS. I will try to remain as unbiased as I can in reviewing this and mention both the pro’s and cons of the gun.
So here we go. In the real world, the Makarov PM was designed to replace the Tokarev TT33 when the Soviet forces wanted a more compact, smaller caliber pistol for their military and LEO. As expected, trials were held and several well known Russian firearms designers submitted their designs but were all beat out by Nikolay Fyodorovich Makarov. Guaranteed when I recorded the voice over for the video version of this review I completely murdered that blokes name.
The PM or “Pistolet Makarova” is a steel built, straight blowback hand gun chambered in 9x18 Makarov. It went into service in 1951 and remained there until 2003 where it was gradually phased out by a variety of other pistols but still saw limited service until 2016.
I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to fire a real Makarov at the Celeritas range in Budapest. The video footage of me firing it isn’t great though. In fact, you can't even tell what I'm firing. My backs to the camera, there's a bloke wandering back and forth across the shot. But trust me, I Was doing a shooty shoot of a real Makarov and thoroughly enjoying it.
Aside from that, my first experience with the pistol came through the Arma2 mod DayZ. Where in the original release version it’s the pistol you started with when you woke up on the beach surrounded by zombies and grizzly bandits wanting your beans and bandages.
Enough about video games and big boys toys for now, let’s talk the PM2.
The ICS PM2 is part of the BLE or Black Leopard Eye line of gas pistols and is the only none blowback pistol (at the time of this review) available. It is powered by a 12g CO2 capsule that sits inside the pistol grip.
Constructed almost entirely from metal and primarily being a solid single piece - that being the slide and frame are one piece and the slide is fixed in place and definitely not moveable. The grips, which are removeable to allow access to the CO2 chamber are plastic and a single piece.
It should be noted that before removing a CO2 cartridge it is important to ensure it is empty! To empty any remaining CO2, ensure the gun is unloaded and point in a safe direction. Pull the trigger, and with the trigger to the rear push hard against the hammer with the palm of your other hand. This will vent the CO2 out of the barrel.
The standard muzzle device is made from plastic and incorporates the front iron sight into the design.
This is removeable and can be replaced with the included thread adapter which is made from metal.
To swap these out it’s as simple as removing a single screw underneath the slide and pulling it out. The metal version fits in very snug and does not wobble or move.
The iron sights on the PM2 are very rudimentary, but get the job done. It’s a super simple rear notch and front tiny blade. No dots, no markings, definitely no raised sight to see over a suppressor. - This does make aiming with the BET suppressor or a tracer installed pretty difficult.
The safety device can be found on the left hand side of the slide and is UP for safe and DOWN for fire.
My example of the PM2 has a very loose safety. This isn’t a “feature” of the PM2, other examples of the gun I have seen have had very solid safety switches. I guess mine just needs tightening up. To do this it would mean stripping the gun down entirely. Whilst I understand this is not a very complicated process, I wanted to get the review done before I broke the bloody thing. So it’s a little wobbly. This caused an issue at one point in a game at Level 2, I rounded a corner and had the jump on two players, but the safety had moved and I couldn’t fire. This is a combination of it being loose and the way I “marry the thumbs” along the side of the pistol as I aim. It is very easy to knock it up into the SAFE position, to remedy this I found myself gripping the safety with my thumb to make sure it sat in place. After playing around with the safety, I don't think this will be an issue once it has been tightened up again.
The slide release is aesthetic only and serves no purpose at all.
The grips, as mentioned earlier are black plastic in construction, they feature a diamond shaped stippling on both sides and have a soviet style star in the center. The left hand side has a small loop for a lanyard, but it is made from plastic and might not be the most secure way to dangle a pistol. The grip is held secure by a single flat type screw in the back strap. Take care when screwing this in, it screws directly between the two halves of the frame and may be easy to thread. My example has started (after only about 6 CO2 changes) to no longer be able to be screwed tight. It always spins, but somehow keeps the grip in place. Because of this issue I would recommend not using the lanyard strap.
The markings on the gun are very basic, featuring a unique serial number on the right side of the slide and caliber markings further forwards. The ICS factory markings are below the serial on the frame and the left side has what I assume to be replica Russian factory markings. And some kind of illuminati logo.
Unlike the rest of the BLE line which features the Black Leopard Eye logo, there are no BLE markings anywhere on the gun.
The magazines are almost entirely metal and are stick type in design. The feed lips and I believe the feedy nipple bloke are plastic. - (that's a technical term. Don't google it. It's a legit term used in the industry.)
The magazine holds 13 rounds and can be speed loaded by pulling the feedy nipple bloke down to the bottom and locking it in place then using a standard speed loader you can insert the bb’s into the front of the magazine. The spring can be released by flicking the catch on the rear, inserting it into the gun will also do this.
I had an issue with a magazine at one point, which was caused by two bb’s entering the feeding lips and preventing it from locking into the pistol which led to the magazine learning to fly as it catapulted it'self across the room. This also helped to cause an issue later where two bb’s where loaded into the chamber and forced the mechanism to lockup. Meaning I got shot and had to go back to re spawn to tinker with it. Those are the only issues I have experienced in the field with the PM2 and are both possibly caused by the magazine.
The magazine is held into the gun by a latch on the baseplate of the magazine. It makes magazine changes a little tricky, but not impossible. And certainly slower than reloads on pistols with more modern designed magazine releases.
The hopup is a simple design and is accessed with the included allen key through the small hole in the top of the slide. This small hole does break up the otherwise sleek lines of the PM2. but sometimes practicality has to take priority over aesthetics.
The trigger is made from metal and has all the characteristics you would expect from an NBB pistol trigger. It’s heavy, has a long, heavy pull and can feel a bit spongy. This isn’t something that is specific to the PM2, it’s because of the design of the nbb system and is commonplace amongst all nbb pistols. It is one of the reasons I don’t run an nbb, that heavy trigger pull can really pull your shots off target if you are trying to get several rounds down range very quickly. It can be remedied by pulling back the hammer and firing the gun as a single action. While this does make the trigger much, much lighter it does slow down the amount of rounds you can put down quickly. With that in mind this pistol isn’t really designed as a “rapid fire, personal defence weapon” it’s aimed (pardon the pun) at the stealthy sniper player, like Kicking Mustang and Airsoft Camman who spend a lot of time ghillied up being super sneaky and need a sidearm that is super quiet and won’t give their position away.
How is this pistol super quiet I hear you ask?
Well, it comes included with the Shadow BET or Barrel Extension Tube, That’s not the Broadcast Energy Transmitter GiJoe fans… This is a short length suppressor with very effective and realistic looking baffles inside that help suppress the muzzle report of the PM2.
Built from metal and featuring two removable end caps with 14mm counter clockwise and 14mm clockwise threads on either end, internally it is filled with plastic baffles. That is unless you are in the US, where I believe without the correct paperwork this sort of “mock suppressor” is illegal and you will end up with just a hollow tube that will more than likely serve to increase the muzzle report of the gun.
The PM2 weighs in at 720g or 845 with the included BET suppressor, it measures 165mm in length or 265 again with the BET and has an 88.5mm barrel. It is quoted at firing around 328 fps for the UK market, which is ideal as most CO2 pistols can find themselves firing over that. In my own chrono tests with a fresh CO2 bulb I find it fires around 360 on that very first shot but drops down significantly and averages around the 280-300 mark pretty quickly. So it is definitely safe for CQB and close quarter engagements.
To discover how many shots you can fire from a single bulb I loaded the gun with a brand new CO2 bulb and fired until it was completely depleted. I managed to get 274 shots with i’d say 220 of those being at a useful velocity and following that we started to see some drop off in performance, but still being useable if you are up close and have the drop on a player.
Because this is a pistol designed for that sneaky beaky life, I figured testing the audio levels would be a good idea. So using a dodgy decibel meter app on my phone, a Zoom H6 with the XYH-6 X/Y capsule installed. This was sat by the camera I was recording the test with, which itself was by the target, roughly 20 feet away from myself. I was in the attic of my home which with light traffic outside was reading on average around 69 DB (niiiiice) I found, with the BET and loaded the DB reader was only really picking up the noise the round was making when it actually hit the target (coming in between 80-110) and was barely reading above the mid 70's for the actual muzzle report.) Which means on the receiving end, the pistol is really quite quiet. (glad I got those two words in the correct order there, I hate it when you see it on the face book groups and someone is all "yeah mate, it's a really quite gun" - read that out loud in an MC Devvo voice please.)
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| DB levels of the attic |
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| DB levels at the time of firing |
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| DB levels at point of impact |
That is pretty much all the information and data I can give you on the PM2 right now, until I can perform the accuracy, range and temperature tests, all I can say now is whether or not I think it is worth the £125 price point and if I would buy it or not.
Personally I don’t think this particular pistol fits in my wheel house. I’m predominantly a speedy boi cqb player and use pistols that have a smooth crisp trigger pull and allow for a very fast follow up shot. Quiet muzzle report and supper accurate shots aren’t really what I’m looking for, so if I was shopping for a new pistol I don’t think I would pick up the PM2. And of course that isn’t down to how it performs. From my experience in the field and testing it out, I can see that it does work really well. Like I said earlier, if you are a sneaky beaky player and want a compact, quiet pistol and don’t fancy carrying a hecking chonker like the TM or ASG MK23 or SSX23 about this might be the pistol for you. It’s quiet, small, accurate and works well in the cold. If that’s what you are looking for in a pistol, then I would recommend the PM2 without any qualm.
So there we have it. Finally, the review of the ICS BLE PM2 (at least in text form) is in the bag, Of course as I mentioned earlier, there will be updates to this review. And a video to follow. So if you aren't subscribed to www.youtube.com/MLGAirsoft then I would advise you go over there and get it done!
That's all. You can go about your business now. (in storm trooper voice) move along, move along.
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