headquarters, department of the army

TM 9-1005-223-39
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY TECHNICAL MANUAL
CAL. 6 MM
SOCOM
COMMANDO
CARBINE
M733
HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY AND THE NAVY
MAY 2007
JG M733 V2 (Jing Gong W733 Version 2)
M733 History
Colt Commando Carbines
M4 Commando (M733)
Type
Place of origin
Carbine
United States
Specifications
Weight
Empty: 5.38 lbs (2.44 kg)
Length
Buttstock extended: 30 in (760 mm)
Buttstock retracted: 26.8 in (680 mm)
Barrel length
Muzzle velocity
11.5 in (290 mm)
2,611 fps (796 m/s)
The CAR-15 Commando was not an initial member of the CAR-15
Military Weapons System, but added in 1966 in response to the US
military's desire for a shorter M16 and the Model 607 SMG's
inadequacies. Rob Roy designed a simpler two-position telescoping
tubular aluminum butt stock to replace the complicated extending
triangular butt stock. The fragile and ad hoc triangular hand guards
were replaced by reinforced round hand guards. Each half of the
round hand guard was identical, simplifying logistics by not requiring a
top/bottom or left/right pair. The Model 609 Commando had a forward
assist; The Model 610 Commando did not. A Model 610B with a fourway selector was available, but not used by the US military. They all
had the 4.25-inch long moderator.
The Model 610 was classified as the XM177, but adopted by the Air
Force as the GAU-5/A Submachine Gun. GAU is short for Gun,
Automatic, Unit. The Army purchased 2,815 Model 609 CAR-15
Commandos on June 28, 1966. They were officially designated
Submachine Gun, 5.56mm, XM177E1. As part of the contract, Colt
was supposed to supply each XM177E1s with seven 30-round
magazines, but Colt was unable to build a reliable 30-round curved
magazine that would fit in the M16 magwell, so most XM177E1s were
shipped with 20-round magazines. The exception was 5th Special
Forces Group, who received a total of four early 30-round magazines.
Colt completed delivery of the purchased XM177E1s in March 1967.
In 1967, in response to field testing, Colt lengthened the Commando's
barrel by 1.5 inches to a total barrel length of 11.5 inches. The length
increase further reduced noise and muzzle flash and allowed fitting of
the Colt XM148 grenade launcher. A metal boss was added to the
moderator for mounting of the XM148 and rifle grenades. The
chambers were chrome-plated. The Commandos with the longer
barrels were called the Model 629 and Model 649. The Model 629
Commando had a forward assist; the Model 649 Commando did not.
In April 1967, the Army purchased 510 Colt 629 Commandos for use
with the MACV-SOG, and designated them as the XM177E2. Delivery
was completed by the end of September 1967. The Air Force adopted
the Model 649 Commando as the GAU-5A/A. Problems with range,
accuracy, barrel fouling, and usage of tracer bullets continued to
plague the XM177 series, but Colt estimated that it would take a sixmonth $400,000 program to do a complete ballistic and kinematic
study. There were also recommendations for a 29-month $635,000
research and development program. Both were ignored as the
Vietnam War wound down. Production of the CAR-15 Commando
ended in 1970.
Colt Commando
Though Colt has focused its attention on carbines with 14.5-inch
barrels and rifles with 20-inch barrels, Colt continues to make carbines
with 11.5-inch barrels, which it calls Commandos. Commandos are
assembled from whatever spare parts are available, so Model 733
Commandos can have A1-style upper receivers, A1-style upper
receivers with case deflectors, or A2-style upper receivers, and
M16A1-profile 1:7 or M16A2-profile 1:7 barrels. Depending on the
specific models, current Commandos may have fire control groups that
are fully automatic, three-round burst, or four-way having both
automatic and burst. They may also have a "flattop" receiver, which
has removable carrying handle and a MIL-STD-1913 rail. Though
originally called the M16A2 Commando, Colt now markets them as M4
Commandos.
Some American Special Operation forces, such as Marine Force
Recon, the US Army’s Elite Delta Units and Naval Special Warfare
Development Group (DevGru) formerly known as Seal Team Six use
the Colt Commando in a limited capacity. However, recently, the Mk
18 Mod 0, which has a 10.3-inch barrel, has taken the role of compact
carbine in the American military.
The Colt Commando's 11.5-inch barrel creates a substantially lower
muzzle velocity and greater muzzle flash, in comparison to longer M16
carbines. The lower muzzle velocity may reduce any wounding effects.
The above information from www.Wikipedia.org article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Commando
The M733 Commando carbine has been a hit with the gun loving
public of the world in recent years due to its use in Hollywood.
Most people will remember it being used in Blackhawk Down by the
Delta Operators depicting the events in the Battle of Mogadishu.
Prior to that Michael Mann used it in the 1996 film Heat, his
masterpiece tale of cops versus robbers. The M733 was the carbine
used by Robert DeNiro and Val Kilmer in the main takedown bank
robbery scene in downtown Los Angeles. This scene was one of the
few times in film where production sounds were used, there was no
post production sound editing. If you have a chance to watch that
scene, just know that you are hearing the actual sound those weapons
are making…for some of us it is music but for most it truly horrific.
Why the
M733?
Well, my first experience with airsoft guns would go back almost 20
years when springers hit the market from Japan in the late 1980’s and
were ridiculously overpriced…we are talking about in the hundreds of
dollars for spring pistols.
I was then and still am an anime fan and happen upon some airsoft
pistols at an early comic/anime convention back in 1988. From then
on, all I knew was that the Japanese loved these things and I never
messed with them since they were another overpriced toy for
Japanese hobby addicts and fanboys living here in America.
Fast forward to 2003, now almost 30 years of age…married and still
an anime fan, but having served in the US Army for 8 years and
finishing college, my fate with this hobby would be forever paved. My
buddy who is also an anime fan and in the Army now decides to by me
a USP spring pistol, this made me interested in the real steel USP40
,so I bought myself one, then I realized I was shooting my airsoft
springer more than my real steel…so I had to find out more about this
airsoft stuff.
My friend then decided on an AEG…he took his time a finally decided
on the TM 733 that had just been released…what can I say…”You had
me at hello.” I was so impressed with that “plastic fantastic” that I did
more research and jumped heavily into airsoft...if only it was metal was
my only gripe about the TM 733. So I got onto the path of Classic
Army’s excellent 3rd generation post-Armalite licensed product line and
literally bought all the Armalite models available…since they never
made a production CA M733, I never picked this model up.
I recently watched both Blackhawk Down and Heat with my wife on
DVD and hands down I easily made up my mind on which MPEG I
would buy next.
So four years and over a dozen AEGs later…I have come full circle by
buying a TM clone of the very first AEG that tweaked my interest in
airsoft. And I will say that I am very impressed. This is not an average
or cheaply made Chinese MPEG…it is a true AEG at MPEG price.
I hope you enjoy and are informed by the following review.
Ordering &
Delivery
I ordered the JG M733 from AirsoftGI (ASGI) on Monday at 2:00 PM
CST and received it on Friday at 2:15 PM CST. Four days total from
order to delivery…you can not ask for anything better than that.
Packaging
Here are pictures of the packaging, nothing special, just a brown
cardboard box with nice graphics. But still very nice.
There were two Styrofoam sections on top and the bottom has two
sections holding the same areas beneath the cardboard covering with
text and graphics.
Below are the two documents that came with the MPEG besides
ASGI’s AEG guide and return policy. On the right is the instruction
booklet, which is an exact copy of the TM M733 instruction manual. It
even has the instructions for attaching the TM Tracer unit.
To the left is the quality control/test sheet from ASGI, showing that it
was test fired and chronoed at 375 FPS. That was reassuring that
ASGI does this on their AEG orders.
External
Appearance
The supplied accessories attached in the box were the AC adapter,
8.4V 1100mah NiMH battery and a 300 round High Capacity
magazine. The hi-cap is packaged wrapped in a protective foam bag.
Inside the instruction booklet was a sight tool and magazine winder.
The gun comes with a painted red/orange colored standard birdcage
flash hider and outer orange barrel muzzle plug. I swapped out the
flash hider with another AEG for these pictures.
Here is the M733 with the collapsible stock fully retracted.
M733 with collapsible stock fully extended.
M733
Inch by Inch
Here is the front sight assembly and outer barrel. The front sight
assembly is metal and had a few scratches in the black paint, nothing
to fret about, it’s an airsoft gun and it is paint…not real firearms bluing.
The outer barrel is a one piece design and did not have any scratches
on the paint. The two pins holding the assembly were not painted at
all. The sling mount is also metal and is secured very well.
The flash hider in the pictures on this review is not the flash hider that
came stock with the JG 733. The flash hider in the picture is an SPR
style flash hider from my CA M15A4 RIS. It comes with the standard
M4/M16 half birdcage style flash hider, while removing the red paint
with acetate I noticed that it is actually a machined piece of metal with
serrations running around the entire body. I was very impressed with
the quality of this commonly cheaply made part.
Here are the M733 hand guards, the quality on the plastic is pretty
good, they are small and are the exact same size as those on a real
steel Colt Commando, these however do not have the heat shields like
the real ones. From an external looks standpoint they are spot on and
hold on very firmly to the whole assembly. They are smaller in
circumference than the CA/Armalite hand guards which are a little
bigger and are made of fiber-carbon instead of ABS. As far as I can
tell they are exact TM copies and the finish is very nice, not too shiny
and they do not make the 733 look like a toy.
The delta ring collar on the body and at the “neck” is a combination of
ABS plastic and metal. The internal rings are metal along with the
outer collar holding the hand guards.
Special Note: Using the outer collar’s internal ring tabs, make sure
you screw the internal metal collar all the way into the body. Unlike
the two-piece designed outer barrel on the TM and Version 1 JG
M4A1, the M733 fortunately comes with a once piece outer barrel and
once you secure it to the plastic body by tightening the internal ring
you do not have to worry at all about barrel wobble.
There is a fake gas tube assembly running above the outer barrel
under the hand guards. It is polished and looks very nice; it adds a
realistic touch to the weapon.
The lower hand guard holds the battery in place with some molded
plastic tabs. The manual’s drawings are very helpful in illustrating how
to place the battery in the hand guard. I highly recommend
referencing this to anyone not familiar with doing this process.
Here is the left side of the M733. It is an ABS plastic body, not a metal
body, this is the third “Plastic Fantastic” that I have purchased since
January of this year, however it is very sturdy and the quality of the
finish is very impressive. My team’s CO coined the “Plastic Fantastic”
phrase after we started our conversion to metal body guns and
dropped TM as our standard primaries…the plastic TM AEGs we still
had were used as back-ups and earned this rightfully deserved nick
name because of their reliability. The body is slightly grey and OD in
color and there are not any excess molding or nicks and scratches into
the body. It is not molded this color but is actually painted this color so
you can actually scratch it and it will be black underneath. A G&P
made Colt Trademark engraved replacement metal body for this M733
is one of only three planned upgrades I have for this gun.
This JG 733 Version 2 MPEG out of the box has a deeply engraved
logo cut into the plastic on the side where a trademark would normally
be. It looks very nice in appearance and depicts an eagle with its
wings spread across within a crest/shield. Above the crest is a curved
tab with the word Commando within it, very simple and clean.
Since this is a clone of the TM 733, JG copied the classic XM177/M4
Commando. They did not go with the more modern M4A1 SOPMOD
Commando like the A&K version which has a Law Enforcement (LE)
style butt stock, flat top M1913 Pictanny railed receiver and removable
carry handle/rear sight.
The TM and JG 733 is based on the XM177/M4 Commando Carbine,
it’s airsoft controls are true to the original direct action select fire trigger
group... safe, semi and full auto. It does not have the railed receiver.
It is a one piece body with a non-removable A2 rear sight design, so
mounting optics will require a carry handle rail scope mount. Which is
fine by me, I really like these open sights…more on this later.
I have gone through three MPEG AR style weapons. Let me share the
following observation with you all, I believe you can tell the quality of
an airsoft gun by several pieces that make up a manufacturer’s
product.
The single part that I have noticed which stands out on most AEGs
when it comes to quality has been this one part…the butt stock.
I have an A&K S-System, a D-Boys SOC M4 and now this JG, I also
have three CA M15 Carbines/Rifles and an ICS CAR-97 M4
SOPMOD. Out of all these weapons, high and low end, this JG has
the best stock tube and carbine butt stock in my inventory.
The D-boys and A&K carbine butt stocks were shiny and were made of
cheap plastic and were not flush at all on the stock tube (they had a
good amount of play on the tube). What is funny is that my ICS CAR97 M4 RIS has the same crappy fit, but is made of better quality plastic
and has a nice finish. I dropped my CA M4 RIS in my game room on
carpet and the butt stock cracked, I had to glue it back together and
only then did I realize how thin the plastic is on the rear plate of the
butt stock of the CA carbines compared to a TM.
How do I know the difference in thickness? I went on ebay and bought
a TM carbine butt stock as a replacement for my CA. When I received
it in the mail, I was shocked at the difference between the two.
This JG M733 has exactly copied the tried and true TM stock tube and
butt stock. In my experience, I would say that the TM butt stock and
tube combination is the best in the airsoft industry…it is tightly fitted,
comfortable and very rugged. Notice the thickness of the rear plate on
the butt stock in the picture above.
The carbine stock tube collar is plastic but the tube is metal. The
screw holding the spring and adjustable clamp is also metal. The
clamp and lever are solidly built.
Here is the right side of the body showing the ejection port, brass
deflector, magazine release button, the windage adjustment knob on
the rear sight, the forward assist knob, the head ends of the body
retaining pins that secures the upper and lower receivers and the TM
inspired Red and Black Warning Sticker that is in full English!
Unlike the CA and several other AEGs that uses screws, the JG
retaining pins are similar to TM and the real steel, they are actual pins
that are pushed out to allow un-hinging of the upper and lower
receivers.
The trigger is a metal trigger, has good resistance and a crisp break
when firing.
Notice how clean this gun looks…this side of any AR is usually the
less marred side even after extended use. This is because 85% of our
population is right handed and this side faces out as opposed to the
left side that rubs on gear, guts and buckles and scratches up the
finish or paint.
Here is a picture of the front sight it is exact to the real steel version. A
squared off, metal single sight post that is fat enough to provide good
visibility and target acquisition, height adjustable for elevation.
Here is a better picture of the rear sight, it is also metal and something
again that impresses me, this sight can hold your zero!
I love my CA M15s (I have three) however one thing that has always
bugged me about them was how horribly sensitive they are to
adjustments, a slight bump or normal handling would knock off the
elevation or windage settings…definitely not up to real steel quality or
even decent enough quality to consistently hold your zero for a
consistent sight picture. I ended up just dropping the elevation
adjustment completely down or all the way up and compensate by
adjusting my front sight’s elevation on all of my CA M15s. Not the
case here on this JG, the elevation sticks and is solid. A funny story
about this weapon which happened at my first practice, my buddy of
mine who just got back from Iraq was letting off some test rounds and
was impressed with the gun’s accuracy…in doing so he had switched
the rear sight to the smaller/precise aperture. During the first game,
on my first tango contact, I brought up my weapon to sight in at max
range distance…then I noticed the wrong aperture setting. I went to
switch it back to the long range/normal sight aperture. When I did so
the sight did not move, I had to literally bring my weapon down and to
switch the sight aperture with a little added effort than expected…I was
both annoyed and reassured of quality at the same time. Either way it
illustrates what I feel is a high level of quality in this low cost product.
You also see the Rear of the charging handle in this picture. It too is
metal and is also solidly built and fitted into the body. Smooth in
operation and good spring tension.
Here is another view of the rear sight, windage and elevation
adjustment knobs, charging handle, top of the forward assist and rear
of the brass deflector. You can see how nice the painted plastic
blends well with the metal parts.
Above is the charging handle in the retracted position, on the CA
models this charging handle functions the same way, but has no
purpose other than a cosmetic one. On this JG it is used to open and
close the fake bolt to allow adjustment of the Hop-up chamber.
It functions exactly as the TM and in my opinion is very nice semirealistic touch, definitely functional. You can actually do SPORTS on
this weapon to simulate a weapons malfunction, that’s something I’ve
always liked about the TM charging handle/Hop-up chamber design
that was lacking in all of my CA guns.
Here is the open chamber with the metal bolt cover plate in the rear
position after the charging handle is pulled or “charged” to the rear.
The Hop-up unit is an exact copy of the TM two piece design and is
also plastic. It is smooth in function and has not given me any
problems so far, turning clockwise will increase hop and counter
clockwise will reduce hop with stop points for both. I only turned it
forwards slightly to get good range. It puts a good backspin and
working with the stock M120 spring gives a good amount of increased
range for a CQB sized weapon.
The bolt cover is metal and is attached with a small tab that hooks into
a small notch at the top of the chamber.
The magazine release button is also metal and uses a Philips head
screw to secure itself as opposed to the common #1 hex screw.
Looking at the bottom of the gun we see the motor plate and a bottom
view of the receiver and the metal trigger guard. The motor plate is
the standard TM design with and adjustable hex screw for the motor.
If your gun is shooting just fine without any screeching from the motor
and gear alignment, you should not need to mess with this too much.
It is not heat sink design that is used on the CA and D-Boys.
Controlled bursts will usually take care of any heat issues. Many
players new and old forget the purpose of certain weapons. Like most
AEGs, this is not a support weapon and should not be used as one.
You would be surprised how much money spent on replacement parts
and maintenance costs can be kept at a minimum by just having some
trigger control and using both burst and semi auto fire. If you can’t hit
them with 10-20 BBs using controlled bursts or semi-auto fire, why
expend a whole high cap and expect to do any better? Save your
ammo, use your brain, tactics and strategy to get better position to
defeat your opponent(s)…don’t wear down your weapon, it is your
tool…it should not be your crutch.
Operators and professionals in military and law enforcement train to be
sharp minded and observant first and to be fast second, then continual
practice builds muscle memory and proficiency to narrow that gap
between situational awareness and action. What needs to be fast, is
your ability to know when to make the decision to go from thought to
action…checking targets, how much to shoot, semi or full auto, when
to go to full or semi and vise-versa and what to do next.
Above is a direct view looking up into the feed tube and bottom of the
mechbox through the magazine well of the weapon. You can see the
new polished mechbox being used by JG now and the wire shield
used to protect the wires going forward to the hand guards similar to
the TM M733’s design. JG is definitely doing a great job copying this
feature in this clone, they could have opted to do the cheaper thing
and not do this , but they didn’t skimp in this department.
Above is a rear shot of the gun from the rear butt stock looking
forward. You can see the thickness again of the butt plate and the
quality of the molding is top notch. The metal stock tube end is also
fully visible.
Here are the included accessories that came with the gun:
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Clearing/Cleaning rod
300 round High capacity magazine (winding capable)
Manual winding key
Front sight tool
AC wall trickle charger
8.4V 1100 mah NiMH battery
200 rounds of BBs
Here is a good picture of the High cap magazine and battery. The
magazine is another TM copy and feeds very well. On the left side of
the magazine where the winder screw is located internally, there is a
hole drilled out to allow manual winding using the winding key that
came with the package.
The battery is decent, but not great and provides an okay Rate Of Fire
(ROF) to the AEG. I would still advise anyone to buy a good quality
High drain mini battery, personally I like the 8.4V Intellect Celled
batteries.
Here is a picture of the magazine with the winding key attached.
I hope the pictures and information above has given you a good
introduction to this weapon so far, now let’s see how it did on the field.
Performance
I took this weapon out to the backyard after cleaning the barrel and
charged the battery on my smart charger. Loaded the magazine and
wound it manually first. First shot was a dry fire, then the second shot
loaded just fine, feed fine and shot out with a good amount of speed
and decent range.
The motor did not make any whining or shrieking noise and there was
not a great amount of gearbox noise either. I am slightly biased
because the last gun I was shot was my A&K M4 S-System which was
obnoxiously loud…to the point that I had to stop shooting to avoid
pissing off my neighbors. Not the case with this JG 733, she purred
like a happy kitten rather than a badly suppressed Ruger 1022 rifle.
I kept the hop-up turned off and shot all 300 rounds testing the
effective range…I can easily say that this gun shots hard and has a
good effective range of about 50 to 75 feet even with the hop-up off.
I reloaded the mag and used the winder key that came with the
gun…wow, what a great tool. It feed about 50 shots before I had to
rewind the mag, being cautious to not over wind the thing I only wound
it once again with the winder then shot the remaining using the manual
winder at the bottom of the mag. The mag did a great job and if these
JG mags are the same mags that are sold as the Echo-1 mags here in
the states I would definitely recommend them to anyone.
I also adjusted the hop-up unit on this second mag, let me tell you it
works just fine. At full hop the BBs went out about 30-50 feet before
going strait up in the air. So of course I turned down the hop, adjusted
it to the point that it gave a good trajectory and last but not
least…awesome range. The M120 spring does its job here. This
M733 V2 easily goes out 150-160 feet, this is about 100-120 feet of
straight line trajectory gentlemen, it has the same range as my stock
CA M16 Rifle and slightly farther than my upgraded CA M4 RIS. This
performance out of a gun that only has a 10 inch outer barrel is
amazing. So onto the field report.
This past Sunday I took out this JG M733 V2, JLS SCAR, JG G36C V2
and CA M16A4 RIS Rifle as back-up. I planned on only using the JG
M733, but my mantra is simple, always best to have something and
need it than need it an not have it. My brother-in-law took out his
UTG/Kart M-66B M-14A1 as his primary and CA M15A4 RIS as backup. It had recently rained and so the field was in an excellent muddy
condition to practice and get dirty in.
This was a regular practice for our team and a perfect opportunity to
see how well this little plastic fantastic would hold up to basically a
team whose primaries were M16 rifles and carbines, all upgraded with
170-190% PDI spring running 9.6V batteries. How would a little $115
gun do against the high end long range guns?
I have one word…it was a SPARTAN on the field. From a tool
standpoint it never failed me, it fired everything I fed into it, had the
range and ROF to hit targets beyond most stock rifle AEG ranges and
was so compact that I was able to wield it through trees and bushes
and alternate shooting with my off hand to get good clean shots.
By the end of the day, I had a team in awe of how well this TM clone
was…then they died when I told them how much it cost me…most of
their tune up parts and accessories on their guns had cost them more
than the price of this gun. They all came to the same realization that I
did, this may have been a TM clone at one time, but in actuality it had
surpassed the TM in its performance.
Two guest players who came out that day made the decision after
seeing it in action to get one for themselves as starter guns, and you
know, looking back now, I wish I had this option available when I
started out in airsoft.
Pros / Cons
Pros:
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Great aesthetics and solidly built
Included 300 round High Capacity Magazine with winding key
Engraved logo cut into the body
Solid Metal Gearbox that is not obnoxiously loud
M120 Stock Spring
High Quality Carbine Butt Stock and Tube Assembly
Good Motor
Great Iron Sights
Incredible price
Cons:
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Conclusion
Plastic body
Plastic TM Hop-up (This may not be considered a con by some)
Decent stock battery…not high drain
Did not come overnight or magically appear after order was
placed.
The JG M733 V2 in my opinion is another incredible benchmark for the
Chinese airsoft industry, I am thoroughly impressed with this AEG and
would recommend it to players new and old to use as either a Primary
or a Back-up, that is how good this gun is.
The M733 design is a star in itself from the movies that is has been
used in and the notoriety it has earned on the field. With this latest
AEG from JG disguised as an MPEG, its reputation will only increase,
especially on this North Texas team that has been schooled on how
well the Chinese has improved on their products.
If nothing else, one prior service Army man who carries his reputation
on sleeve can say one thing, if you are not impressed with what has
been stated in the above review, just look at the final pictures below if
you still have any reservations about getting this weapon.
I hope this review was informative and helpful to all my brothers.
CPT Import
US ARMY
09FEB91 – 09FEB99