Reviews

RWA Agency Arms Urban Combat Slide Set

Master Chief

Back in August last year, we posted a press release from RWA about their newly acquired licensing agreement with Agency Arms. The agreement gave them the right to manufacture a slide set for the TM and WE airsoft Glock 17 which will give the pistol the Agency Arms Urban Combat pistol look. And, according to RWA, this is as close as you can get to the real deal.

WELCOME TO THE BROTHERHOOD

The RWA Agency Arms Urban Combat Slide Set was released just a few weeks ago and we are lucky to be some of the few who were sent a sample to review.

The set comes in a very impressive triangular shaped box sleeve with the Agency Arms logo printed on the front. As you pull the inner box out you will find another cover that holds an Agency Arms membership card which bears a unique membership number which gives you the title of "Agent". Also, you get another card with a QR code printed on it. When you scan this code with your smartphone’s camera, using a QR Code scanner app, it will automatically play a video showing you how to install the slide set.

When I first heard about the slide set, I thought thought it was just the slide, outer barrel and trigger set that was included but the actual set also includes the sights, the nozzle assembly and all the screws needed to fit the slide into your Glock 17.

The set fits right into a Tokyo Marui Glock 17 model. It can also be fitted on a WE model but with a bit of tinkering.

The make and quality of this set is great. The finish is flawless and the material quality is top notch. RWA released two versions of the slide set. The first and cheaper version is the black anodised version and the more expensive one is the grey CERAKOTE version.

The slide itself looks great will all its cuts and serrations. These are meant to reduce the weight of the pistol and add more control to the user. There are serrations on both the side front and rear of the slide making it easy to rack the slide. The rear serrations are given the monicker "DNA collector" due to their sharp edges which may cause you leaving bits of your skin on it.

The front and rear sights are slightly taller than that of the standard TM Glock 17 and are designed as such to be used in combination with an RMR sight. The RMR sight can be attached in place of the battle plate just in front of the rear sight. The battle plate itself is a great addition to the set and the etchings on it are designed to look like the American flag.

The outer barrel that comes with the set is stainless still and is a great addition to the set as it creates that authentic and distinct look of the real agency arms Glock.

The trigger assembly is the bit that is slightly more technical to assemble. But if assembled properly, you will have the option of adjusting the travel of the trigger or short stroke the trigger to how you prefer it.

Also included in the set is a magwell attachment. You simply screw it on to the bottom of the pistol magwell and gives the magwell a more flared and wider opening for easier and faster magazine reload.

ASSEMBLY

For the assembly of this set I asked the help of my good friend Robert Drury of ROE Firearms here in Essex, United Kingdom.

We were watching the video of Airsoft Surgeon whilst we were doing the assembly and the assembly is pretty straight forward apart from a few frustrating things like small bit keep falling off.

The set does not include all the things needed to attach it to you recipient pistol. As you will see on the video provided by RWA there are some important parts that you will need to harvest from your pistol and add on to the set to assemble. This is  mainly on the nozzle assembly so be careful not to lose any of the original pistol parts when you are stripping it as you will not be able to assemble your slide set without these parts.

Robert and I have taken some pictures during the assembly but I do recommend you to watch the video that is provided by RWA. Simply scan the card that is with the pack and it will automatically play the video on your smart phone or iPad.

CONCLUSION

Robert and I were pretty impressed with the finished product. The pistol feels more solid and the set added a bit more weight to it. The slide travels really well along the frame although it needed a good amount of silicon spray and a lot of racking to get it to fit properly unto the slide. We do need to take into consideration that the TM Glock 17 that we used was brand new so there was no wear and tear effect on the part where the slide and frame meets. I would assume that this problem will be very minimal or even will not happen if an already skirmished or used G17 pistol was used.

The slide also seems to give a harder kick and produces a really nice metal sound when racked. There is a slight wobble on the slide though especially when it's locked back. But I think you would expect this as the slide and frame are not made by the same company.

The Airsoft Surgeon released a lower frame (in Polymer and ABS versions) to address this concern, and you can order these right now at RedWolf Airsoft.

The stainless steel outer barrel is very robust and suffered only very minimal scratches from the slide. The trigger pull is very light and the reset is quick. We have also noticed that the gas consumption has improved slightly with the slide set and also a slight increase in muzzle velocity.

The slide set is available in two variants, the black anodised version and the grey CERAKOTE version. The set that was sent to me was the black anodised version and it is the cheaper version of the two. The price of this set is not cheap so opting for the cheaper one gives you no disadvantage from the more expensive set. The only difference between the two sets is the the CERAKOTE version will be more durable than the anodised version when it comes to scratches.

The final photos of this pistol, you will notice that the slide now has a more greyish colour. This is because I sent the slide out to be CERAKOTE coated by FMJ Firearms as I scratched the slide when I used it during a skirmish. FMJ Firearms provides this service in the UK.

So, is it worth paying the price to get this slide set?

It is worth keeping in mind that this set is more of an aesthetic upgrade rather than a performance upgrade. You still use the same inner barrel and same nozzle assembly springs. The new nozzle assembly does provide a light performance upgrade but not as major as you would want it to be. The short stroke trigger can be classified as a performance upgrade but it's still an airsoft pistol so this doesn't really make a massive difference in my opinion.

These sets are priced at around £207.40 and £263.65, so they are not cheap. So if you would ask me if they are worth buying, I'd say if you have money to burn, then yes buy it as it is an amazing product and looks and feels really good once assembled. Remember that if you don't have a recipient pistol yet, you will need to address the cost of that to your expenses which will roughly bump the cost of your build to just under £400!

Thanks to RedWolf Airsoft and RWA-Group for providing the slide set.

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