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By: Zip3400
Published: 9/18/2004
First Impressions:
The Maruzen CA870 comes in a relatively small black and blue box with a picture of the shotgun on the lower half. The box was fairly heavy for its size, which made me quite pleased. I opened it up, and took the gun out as a grin spread across my face. I was very happy with my initial inspection of the 870, Taking the magazine in and out, fiddling with all the switches, and looking it over front to back. The gun was a bit smaller then I expected it to be, but not tiny by any means, just compact. The gun felt very solid, not one creak or wobble on the whole thing, the Gun's weight is quite substantial
Features:
The Maruzen CA 870 has a fixed Hop-Up (sort of, I'll get to that later), and is spring powered. The gun is magazine fed, instead of shell fed like the Marui line of shotguns, or gravity fed like most of the cheaper ones out there. This could be a good or bad thing depending on whom you ask. It allows for a higher BB capacity, as well as faster reloads, but it's not quite as realistic as using shells. The magazine catch is actually very clever, there are little textured buttons that stick up on either side of the magazine, and once depressed the magazine can be removed. This actually makes magazine changes somewhat easier as you don't have to press a separate release, just grab the magazine by the buttons and remove. The CA870 shoots one BB per pump, but stopping about a quarter inch short of the cocked position, pushing it forward, and cocking it again allows you to shoot multiple BBs. Trying to do this with more than 2-3 BBs always resulted in a jam, which requires you to remove the magazine and allow the BBs to fall out. The range with 2-3 BBs falls of at around 60 feet, which I guess isn't too bad for CQB (which is what a shotgun is meant for anyways, especially a sawed off one like this) There is a button safety right behind the trigger, and when activated you can squeeze the trigger quite hard without worrying about breaking the mechanism. I would attribute this to both the trigger and safety being metal. The trigger pull is very light, short, and smooth, which makes it a very easy gun to shoot.
Build quality, overall appearance:
The Receiver and barrel are made of a matte black fiberglass, with the fore end and grip being made of the same material, but this time in brown. The mock magazine tube is just made of regular old ABS plastic. The magazine is the same, but doesn't look or feel too cheap. There are a few external metal parts consisting of the sling mounts, trigger, safety, the magazine tube end cap, and the bars connecting the fore end to the piston. The huge block of metal that houses the internals really adds to the weight, and I assume the durability. The only markings to be found are on the left side of the receiver. They read “CA870 MB247355” followed by some Maruzen trademarks. The gun really looks like a sawed-off Remington 870, so I guess you can say it scores high in the realism department. The protruding magazine looks sort of strange, but I guess you could imagine you installed a box magazine conversion (although I don't think they make those for the Remington 870s) The build quality of the 870 is top notch, and I am very impressed for such a low priced shotgun.
Performance:
The gun exhibits very good performance for a ~$90 Springer. The range is on par with most GBB pistols, stock AEGs, and the TM shotgun range. I was able to achieve a maximum distance of 130 feet with .2g BBs. At this range the accuracy was surprisingly good, and didn't swerve off to one side or the other. The lack of sights makes getting extremely precise shots difficult, although hitting a man-sized target out to 80 feet shouldn't be a problem with a bit of practice. I have found the "Point and Shoot" method to work quite well. Power is impressive as well, around 280-290 FPS, more powerful than the Marui M3 I used to own. Compared to a KSC Glock 19 running Green Gas the initial velocity of the CA870 is lower, yet it actually gets to the target faster. It didn't seem to slow down nearly as fast as the pistol. Overall, I don't think the gun's performance would disappoint anyone, and with the addition of a tight bore barrel the shots are a bit tighter, and range seemed to increase by a small amount
Take down Procedure:
The gun is surprisingly easy to take down. You only need a Phillips head screwdriver, an appropriately sized Allen wrench, and something to push a pin out (you could just use the screwdriver or Allen wrench!) First of all, take the magazine out. Get your Phillips head screwdriver and remove the screw that secures the grip. After that, unscrew the magazine tube end cap allowing the outer barrel to slide forward. Now you are free to unscrew the mock magazine tube and remove it. There are two Allen screws on either side of the rear end of the receiver, as well as a pin that needs to be removed. Now, just slide the internals of the gun forward, and out of the receiver. As you can see, the internals (spring, trigger, sear, etc …) are all contained in a hefty metal block. The gun is in pieces now; if you want to go further and take apart the “Mechbox” you will need to get some sort of Torx wrench, seeing as it doesn't use any sort of standard head.
Miscellaneous:
Before beginning this review there was something I thought was really worth mentioning, and that is the ease of which you can cock the CA870. When I first pulled back the fore end I had thought that for some reason the action wasn't catching. Compared to the Marui M3, the CA870 takes virtually no effort to cock. As far as modifying the shotgun, you have a few choices. Stocks made for the real Remington 870 will fit the Maruzen with a little sanding. You can add weight inside the magazine tube, and the grip. I added about 1.5 pounds to my gun with led fishing weights. ANGS makes a two upgrade springs, and there is a tight bore barrel available, which I previously mentioned. The CQB version comes with an aluminum optics mount, which also fits the regular CA870 if you can find it anywhere. If that is not an option, adding a clip on front sight would aid in aiming, although since the barrel is tapered you shots will be a little high.
If you wish to increase the effectiveness of the Hop-Up (since the CA 870’s is fixed) you can add a small spacer on the top of the barrel where the spring applies pressure to the Hop-Up rubber. Be careful in doing this, if you use something too large the Hop will protrude too far in the barrel and stop the BB from being fired. There is also an adapter that allows you to use a Marui M4 retractable stock, but it doesn't seem to be available on any sites that ship to the US. Also somewhat rare is a suppressor/barrel extension. Real-steel heat shields can be fitted with a bit of time. As you can see, there is quite a bit you can do to the CA870, and I'm sure we will see even more upgrades and accessories in the future.
Final Thoughts:
Overall this is a outstanding gun. The power, range, consistency, weight, and build quality are all excellent. Not only that, but everything comes at a relatively low price. The amount of metal that went into the construction of the 870 is truly impressive, even compared to higher priced shotguns Magazines are dirt cheap, and hold an amazing 40 rounds. The little effort required to cock the gun allows it to achieve a rather high ROF. For a CQB primary, or as a backup the Maruzen CA 870 would be a great choice. Classic Remington looks backed up by very solid performance, go out and get one immediately, you won't be disappointed!
External Links
CA870 review at Just Pistols: http://snowman.ascuk.net/ca870.htm
CA870 upgrade guide at Hammer Mods: http://www.hammermods.com/maruzen_caw870_tech.htm
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