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Description:
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Review: TSD/WELL MB03 M700
Author: The Crimson Falcon
Published: 2/27/2008
Newly out from TSD is yet another M700 replica. Fortunately, I happen to love M700’s (and sniper rifles in general), so I’ve picked up one of these to look at, courtesy of Team SD, who sent me a review copy to look at. I’ll start with the good news—it is actually VSR-10 compatible. Okay, now that’s out of the way, let’s look at this newest offering from TSD, starting with the obligatory TOC.
Table of Contents
First Impressions
Real Steel History
Appearance/Feel/Build Quality
Internals
Performance
Accessories and Modifications
Pros & Cons
Ordering
The Final Word
First Impressions
I know, you’re thinking “not another M700 review from TCF,” but nonetheless, I find my heart racing a bit as I open the box from TSD. They have great CS, and it’s nice to have that TSD warranty backing up their products. Anyways, the mysterious brown cardboard folds back to reveal… another box, with the nice TSD Tactical design, and the factory specifications of the gun:
 
The box reveals a nice looking M700, which is actually bit longer than the TM VSR-10 Pro-Sniper or the JG BAR-10. Aside from the disassembled gun, there is a tactical sling, two magazines, a small package of high-quality TSD bb’s, manual, and the ubiquitous speedloader. Here’s what you’re looking at:
I’ll briefly note that the manual contains good instructions on how to clean your barrel. That’s a nice feature, as very few people that I talk to have a good idea of how to go about cleaning their guns. The gun also comes with a low profile scope mount and lower Picatinny rail for mounting bipods. The magazine catch, you’ll be pleased to note, is also screwed into the gun tightly, so it won’t pull a BAR-10 and fly out when you disassemble the gun. Stock screws are decent quality, but I still recommend replacing them ASAP. So, how close does this gun come to the real deal?
Real Steel History
The appearance of this rifle is virtually identical to the Remington M700, but it has a VSR-10 styled cocking handle. world.guns.ru tells us the following about the M700:
"This rifle traces its ancestry back to the British P14/US model 1917 Enfield. Starting with model 700BDL action, Remington adds a stainless-steel barrel and a carbon-fiber stock, then tunes the rifle for one-minute-of-angle accuracy using match grade ammo. This rifle design was (and is) a basis for many custom build tactical sniper rifles. The USMC (Marine Corps) was among the first to make model 700 action the basis for a precision sniper rifle. The original USMC M40 bolt-action sniper rifle used in Vietnam and into the late 1970s was built on a Remington Model 700BDL action. In fact, today's M40A1s are still being rebuilt on these same actions. Lather, when the US Army decided to switch from a semi-automatic to a bolt-action rifle, the Remington Model 700 action was chosen for the M24."--From world.guns.ru
This particular model is a Police version, presumably like the rifle that a SWAT sniper would use. If you want to learn more about this great gun, visit the link above, or visit Wikipedia.
Appearance/Feel/Build Quality
The appearance of this gun is pretty solid, especially considering that it’s a WELL gun, and I’ve never been spectacularly impressed with WELL. The stock is a glossy black ABS, and looks to be similar in quality to an HFC USR-11 stock. It feels pretty toy-like, although, like the BAR-10, you can remove the buttpad and weight the stock, or do a polymer stock modification. It has a very long tapered outer barrel, although it’s not tapered as much as the BAR-10’s barrel. Let’s take a look at what we’re getting here:
The finish is pretty good, although there are visible seam-lines, although you can’t really feel them. One thing that I don’t like is that the muzzle cap is made out of plastic. When I tried installing a VSR-10 length DBC 6.01mm tightbore barrel, it wobbled about, and shot some of the endcap off. I do not believe that the barrel is compatible with aftermarket suppressor adaptors, although it’s certainly possible. I have yet to test it, but it looks visually to be a different size from the VSR-10 endcap. I’m not impressed by the endcap.
Still, the stock is pretty nice, and the magazine catch is well designed. The magazines are TM compatible, and will also fit in the BAR-10, which means cheap magazines for us BAR-10 owners (MB02 mags are identical, and are available at Airsplat for nice and cheap).
 
The TSD M700 also has built-in metal sling mounts mounted on metal studs, unlike the HFC USR-11, which has molded plastic studs. The front rail is nicely detailed.
 
Here’s a shot inside the magazine well. There is a spring inside the metal block (which I removed) that presses down on the mag catch. That’s not really necessary, as the mag catch is screwed down, but it’s a cool feature, which I will install in my BAR-10. It comes with an extra spring also.
 
The rubber buttpad is removable, and is reasonably nice, but not as comfortable as the BAR-10 or MP001 buttpads. It’s also harder to pry off.
Finally, there’s a functional safety, and it has the VSR-10 GSPEC style paddle cocking handle, with the shortened cocking distance for faster reloading.
CAOC Externals Rating: 33 out of a possible 50 points.
Internals
Now we can take a look at the internals of this gun. First, unscrew those stock screws, and separate the barrel and trigger assembly:
As you can see, the trigger mech is painted matte black, and looks pretty good. It’s a full VSR-10 clone, and is compatible with VSR-10 trigger parts. The trigger is also adjustable, just like the VSR-10. It has a metal trigger, and is reasonably good quality. The sears are low quality metal, however, and will not hold up to upgraded springs.
Next, we unscrew the barrel screw that connects the barrel to the bolt assembly, and loosen the front most screw in the scope mount. This allows us to unscrew the barrel. The barrel screws in, which is a nice touch, and a feature that I’m pleased to see in the MB03. It is probably compatible with aftermarket barrels, although I actually think the metal outer barrel is pretty nice.
Next, we unscrew that metal block and remove the hopup switch:
This allows us to slide the hopup and inner barrel out of the outer barrel. It’s a standard VSR-10 style hopup, and is fully compatible with aftermarket hopups and barrels. The inner barrel is VSR-10 compatible, and is made out of brass. I believe it is a tightbore barrel, but accuracy results did not seem to suggest that that was true. The inner barrel is about 460mm long (much longer than the standard VSR-10 barrel) but is not crowned. The hopup is indeed a V-hop, although the hopup bucking is not very good quality, and so accuracy is rather less than I’d prefer. Both hopup bucking and barrel are very greasy and dirty, and should be cleaned before first use. There are also some random foam circles in the barrel, which are either for spacers, or for muffling. In any case, they’re a pain to get fitted back on.
 
Okay, let’s turn our attention to the bolt assembly:
We need to unscrew the trigger guard and the trigger screws, and then remove the spring guide stopper. Here’s what you should end up with:
Now we can remove the cylinder from the receiver:
The cylinder is made out stainless steel, and is durable enough to support the stock spring, although I do not expect it to be able to handle more than an M130. It does look pretty good. Don’t forget to grease the outside lightly before reinstalling it to make the bolt-pull smooth.
The cylinder head is made out of brass, and looks pretty much like the BAR-10 head, except with an extra hole in the front for a removal tool. It is not pinned on, and screws right off. The piston and spring guide are both nylon-fiber, but don’t look as durable as the BAR-10. The piston looks like it had an airbrake, but mine did not. It’s possible that the TSD M700 will come with an airbrake, in which case you can perform both airbrake mod and spring spacer mod. I added a spacer, but it did not improve performance at all. The internals are all VSR-10 compatible, so the TSD M700 makes a nice cheap upgrade platform.
CAOC Internals Rating: 33 out of a possible 50 points.
Performance
As usual, the first thing I did was test the stock power using a coke chrono. It is easily can-bottom capable, and is can-top and bottom-edge capable with tightbore and teflon-mods, along with airbrake and spring spacer. The middle hole is with the stock gun, and the other hole is with the modded gun. It is unable to penetrate bottom-edge stock, so it is about 450 fps. Stock power is pretty solid.
I then tested accuracy. I tested from 100 feet, after having thoroughly cleaned the barrel and hopup bucking. I used washed TSD .2g black bb’s, and used a scope and sandbags to aid my shooting. Accuracy was decent, but not great, with a few close shots, but a few that were off by a bit. It’s still a nice gun, and would be spectacular with a DBC barrel. If you do get a DBC barrel, remember that it’s about 30mm longer than the VSR-10 barrel, so you’ll either have to do an internal suppressor mod, or else use barrel spacers and such, or else get a longer barrel. The universal cut AK barrel works pretty well. With a DBC barrel installed, it's easily competitive with a modded BAR-10. You can purchase the barrels at www.deescustoms.com. Here’s the target:
Accessories & Modications
The TSD M700/WELL MB03 can take a number of different sniper rifle accessories. I recommend installing a decent scope (good scopes are available from a number of places, but I’m particularly fond of www.matchstickglobal.com and a bipod of some sort. It will have to be a rail-mount bipod. You can also fit on cheekrests, suppressors, and any number of other sniper rifle accessories.
As for modifications, you should install a tightbore barrel and a new hopup bucking (Nineball or Firefly Hard), and add a spring spacer, cut the airbrake if it exists, and teflon mod the cylinder head and hopup. The combination will yield a powerful and pretty accurate gun, almost on par with the BAR-10. It’s a good rifle for a cheap price, although since it doesn’t come with a scope, and the BAR-10 does, it’s about equivalent in terms of price. You should also consider modding the stock with the faux polymer stock mod and weighting it.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Fully compatible with the VSR-10
Excellent stock power
V-hop
Openable cylinder
Clean finish
Tapered outer barrel
Long brass inner barrel that's VSR-10 compatible
Outer barrel screws into bolt assembly for no-slip operation
Metal swivel studs and sling mounts
GSPEC style bolt handle
No trademarks
Good stock performance
Metal trigger
Cheap--70 USD before shipping
Magazine catch is well-designed
Comes with 2 magazines that are cheap and compatible with VSR-10
Cons
Visible seam-lines
Lower quality construction
Internals cannot support serious power upgrades
Cylinder head does not have a good seal with the hopup
Muzzle is crappy plastic
It’s light, and feels toy-like
Ordering
You can order this gun from TSD approved retailers, and costs about 70 USD before shipping. It’s nice and affordable. I know that www.airsoftgi.com has the tan version, and it should be out at other places as well. I do not have a comprehensive list of where it is available, but www.google.com is always a good resource.
CAOC Overall Rating: 66 out of a possible 100.
CAOC VPC Rating (Value Per Cost): .943!
The Final Word
While this gun is clearly lower quality than the JG BAR-10, and as such, has not earned the title of best budget rifle, it’s still a nice cheap upgrade platform, and has a lot of great features. If you’re looking for a cheap starter rifle, or if you want to build a fully upgraded VSR-10, this is a good platform for either. I’m actually quite impressed by how good it can be, and it’s really growing on me. The only things I don’t really like are the quality of the stock and the stupid plastic muzzle cap, and the quality of the internals. I expect to need new sears within a year or two. But, that being said, it’s a solid gun, and definitely has a solid place. I think the HFC USR-11 is now definitely not worth buying. This gun is easily on par with the USR-11 in terms of overall quality, has better performance, and is much cheaper. Plus, it’s got a TSD warranty, and hopefully TSD will be able to provide replacement parts for fairly cheap like UTG does. If you want to try out sniping, but don’t want to spend a lot, this is a good choice.
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