Reviews - VFC UMP .45 GBB

This is my initial review of the VFC UMP .45. While I have had this particular GBBR since May, events have transpired against me actually using it for a while which I will detail below. Many folks have been looking at VFC's second SMG GBB offering with great trepidation considering the whole mess with their gas powered MP5. I was initially not keen on the VFC UMP, but my brother overseas told me to buy one for him so I happily took his money (and some of mine) and bought one from a local retailer with a total of 4 mags for about $555 (yes, we get price gouged here when it comes to airsoft guns).

The VFC UMP .45 comes in a nice, HK labeled box with one magazine, a suppressor, manual, hop adjustment tool and an extra recoil spring inside that promises to bring down the power level if you so desire. Chrony readings on an a F1 Chrony puts the power of the UMP at around 370 FPS, good enough for CQB here.

First off, externals. The VFC UMP .45 is a lovely, lovely gun. Full trades everywhere, including the bolt. Proof marks on the left side. Of course, none of that was in doubt because the gun is made by VFC, who has a reputation of making excellent traded guns (while ignoring somewhat the internals, as far as gas powered weapons are concerned).



The trades continue on to the magazine, which again, have the correct trades.

Much like the real thing, the gun has several fire modes, which include a 2 round burst. The VFC UMP does not have forearm rails - it only includes a top rail where you can mount optics. The iron sights are similar to the ones included in the G36C.

Picking up the gun, most users will immediately notice just how light the gun is. I don't have an exact number on exactly how light the gun is, but it's way lighter than a WE G36 or even a KWA MP9. Even the magazine is extremely light, which makes it an excellent choice for people looking for a gun they can run with.



Loading the firing the UMP is similar to the real deal. You will need to lock the bolt back via the charging handle on the gun, insert the magazine then unlock the bolt again, via HK slap. You can also just insert the magazine into the gun, and charge it via the charging handle.



Shooting the gun is a real pleasure, as it probably has the strongest blowback action of any GBBR I've ever fired. This is a result of the relatively light body on the gun, the extremely heavy bolt and the unique buffer on the recoil spring on the gun. The gun locks back on the last round. You can also fire the gun with the stock folded. The hop up is accessed in front of the gun via an allen key, similar to how you adjust the hop on an KSC MP7.



The gun can be taken apart by taking out a pin on the back of the gun. Take that out, and you'll be able to access the lower receiver with the FCG.



The funky recoil spring.



The extremely heavy bolt.

While the gun is beautiful externally, it did have a few problems right out of the box that prevented me from using it a month ago. As expected, the Achilles heel of the gun is the magazines, and in the UMP's case, it's the gas route bucking on top of the mag. All four of the gas route buckings on  top of the gun ripped in a few shots, which completely infuriated me. It's a design flaw that's supposedly been fixed by now by VFC, and in their defense, they did send me replacement buckings for the ones that ripped for free, express via EMS, so kudos to them for that gesture.

After fixing the buckings, the next problem that I encountered was that the magazines started to leak. So I opened the magazine up and reseated the seals on the bottom of the magazine properly, which seemed to fix the leaks on all the magazines. So far, so good.

Another annoying thing with the gun is the hammer. The UMP uses a hammer with a roller. The pin that holds the roller in place is extremely lose, and has a tendency to walk out if you do not loctite it. I loctited mine with the red (permanent) solution, which also stopped the movement of the roller altogether, but it doesn't seem to affect performance at all. The spring on the trigger also managed to walk out during my first outing with the gun, but I managed to sort it again and loctited that sucker into place. No problems with the FCG now.

As far as performance is concerned, the UMP managed to empty a full magazine (around 20 rounds, more on this later), in full auto, without any problems. With the new rubbers in place, the UMP did not exhibit any of the cool down problems that were evident in this guy's video.

One of the things that really annoyed me with the UMP's magazine (aside from the leaking problem) was it's stiff magazine spring. Seriously, it's extremely difficult to load more than 17 bbs in the gun because of the stiff springs, and I only really managed to load 20 rounds all in all into the gun. Might either cut the springs or find a way to replace them.

I won't be putting accuracy tests on this review as I forgot my hop adjuster during yesterday's skirmish, suffice to say it's more than capable of putting rounds on target on a CQB setting.

That's it for the review for now.

 Reviews by calbur20