Explosive Enterprises features the  Tokyo Marui M870 gas shotgun which is akin to an expensive kitchen gadget you bought with high hopes: it looks the part and has some neat tricks, but using it daily reveals some quirks. On paper, it offers a choice between firing three or six BBs at once, utilizing a convenient gas tank hidden in the stock. While it feels solid enough, the balance is a little unusual, and the plastic furniture reminds you that it isn't quite a real-steel firearm.

Getting into the mechanical guts of this thing is an adventure best reserved for those with a lot of patience and a diverse collection of screwdrivers. The internal feeding mechanism is a complex dance of springs and levers that tries its best to keep up. When you switch to the six-shot mode, the timing becomes so tight that pumping the action too enthusiastically might actually result in fewer BBs downrange. It turns out that being too excited to win a firefight is actually a technical disadvantage here.

In the end, he says, that while the M870 has its charms for close-quarters fun, it struggles to keep up with more modern options like the Saiga. Managing a vest full of tiny shells while trying to toggle between firing modes mid-game is a recipe for a headache. If you enjoy the rhythmic "chunk-chunk" of a pump action and don't mind a bit of mechanical drama, it’s a fine companion—just maybe don’t expect it to be the ultimate tactical solution to all your airsoft problems.