Every true Airsoft enthusiast knows that the KWA Performance Industries, a company operating from both sides of the Pacific Ocean, has rapidly grown to become one of the best-established entities on the market by compensating the lack of official manufacturing licenses for many of its models through great efforts put in the R&D in order to achieve the highest levels of quality − qualities that have by now been universally recognized even outside of the Airsoft skirmishersʼ community, as the KWA products are now finding increasing acceptance as cheap and practical training instruments for firearms handling and force-on-force situations between Police forces and security organizations; and the KWAʼs new products line launched at the latest IWA expo will definitely not let down the companyʼs followers.
The main product in the KWAʼs replica pistols line is the ATP, or “Adaptive Training Pistol”: a 6mm BB gas, CO² or electrically -operated repro whose design, albeit original, borrows many features from the most widely popular military and Police service pistols, and thus aptly dubs as an effective training tool. For 2012, KWA “evolves” the product by introducing the ATP-AUTO, that is, an “Adaptive Training Pistol” version with a fire selector located on the rear left section of the slide, quick and practical for the shooter to reach with his/her thumb reach, providing a “neutral” (center) position dubbing as a manual safety, plus two positions for semi-automatic (up) and full-automatic fire (down). The ATP-AUTO will thus dub as a great CQB/PDW sidearm alternative for Airsoft skirmishers and as a “machine pistols” trainer for professional personnel, being inspired to the best known model of this kind of firearm available on the market today, that being, the Glock 18.
Not to ignore historical favorites, and recognizing growing demand for Eastern European style replicas by Airsoft skirmishers, collectors, members of re-enactment groups (which, in places like the United Kingdom where recent pieces of legislations have greatly restricted Mil-Sims, are between the very few lucky ones authorized by law to purchase and own “particularly realistic” Airsoft replicas) and professionals looking for training instruments for FWT (“Foreign Weapons Training”), KWA has also released the MKV, a 6mm BB gas blow-back version of the legendary 9x18mm Russian service pistol designed by Nikolai Fedorovich Makarov. The single stack pistol features an aluminum alloy slide and frame and has the same field stripping procedures as its firearm counterpart. MSRP for the KWA MKV has been announced to be around $134.95.
Still in regard of former Soviet firearms, KWA has also designed and produced the TKV-33. The size and shape of the pistol is closely modeled after the Tokarev TT-33, making it a perfect collectors piece, the only difference from the original being the presence of a manual safety. It will be one of the first models in a series of classic pistols to come, and is powered through the revolutionary KWA NS3 gas system, allowing it to achieve astounding muzzle velocity levels (340-350 metres per second) ‒ a feature shared with the MKV replica.
KWA's main new product in the field of long replicas is definitely the licensed, MilSim clone of the innovative KRISS “Super-V”/“Vector” sub-machine gun, manufactured in Switzerland by the KRISS Arms Group S.A., a holding also owning the pistol-maker Sphinx Systems Ltd., the Defiance silencer manufacturing company, and operating in the United States of America through its local branch, known as TDI - Transformational Defense Industries, headquartered in Virginia Beach (VA). For those who don't know it, the KRISS sub-machinegun is an aggressive-looking, innovative closed-bolt, blowback-operated firearm whose proprietary “recoil re-vectoring”, a.k.a. “asymmetric recoil” mechanism will effectively reduce the felt recoil and muzzle climb of a .45-ACP caliber burst at 800/1000 rounds-per-minute below the typical levels of a 9mm.
The license agreement between KWA and the KRISS Arms Group had been announced at the SHOT Show and the first working replica has been showcased at the IWA; yet Airsoft enthusiasts will have to wait a few more months to see it in stores. The KWA KRISS ASG is electrically-powered and feeds through extended Glock-style magazines, much like the real gun. The KWA KRISS replica is made out of metal and polymer, bears original KRISS Arms Group markings and features the same controls configuration as the real KRISS Vector-SMG.
At last, KWA also offers a new original replica marketed with its own markings and named LM4C-PTR, reprising the lines of the Colt M-933 “Commando” 5,56x45mm-NATO 11"-barrel assault carbine, featuring no carrying handle, a fixed front sight and an adjustable, “Match”-type non-flip-down turret rear sight mounted on a top Picatinny rail. Capitalizing over the lasting popularity of the M16/M4 platform between Airsoft collectors and skirmishers as well as on the need of professional operators for a cheap and effective training instrument, the LM4C-PTR will be sold at a lower price if compared with the most direct competitors, yet it will feature all the quality that KWC got us used to.
