Over the past few years we’ve been making the very most of our great relationship with our friends over at I Chi Shivan (ICS), to really get the lowdown on their latest pistol models and innovations as they launch.
Airsoft Action and ICS go back a long way and new territory for them means new GBB models for all of us – and this time we turn to the latest of their “in house” designs, the BLE VULTURE!
There’s been a lot of scuttlebutt online already about this new model since ICS dropped a pre-production image on their IG and a fair few were grumbling that this would be “just another 1911”, however, we have now received the test sample direct from them and are pleased to report that this is most definitely NOT “just another one…”
We looked at their stunning KORTH PRS replica when it first came out and whilst not 100% perfect (99% as the magazine definitely needed some beefing-up!), Bill told us at the time:
“… with the choice of the Korth PRS as a choice for their latest replica ICS have really come “out of left field”, and that’s a bold thing to do! With so many adherents to the “1911 Credo” though I believe that they are onto something special with this choice… in terms of performance the PRS is on the money, and the tri-point luminous front and rear sights make acquiring your target straightforward even in low light conditions. Once you’ve fiddled a bit with the hop to get things nice and flat it terms of trajectory, then you can crank away to your hearts delight, and the “14+1” mag has enough capacity to keep you in the fight for a considerable time given the accuracy at 10m…”
With lessons obviously learned from the PRS, the new VULTURE follows a similar path of design ethos where “less” is most definitely “more” and has been seriously thought out to bring us a short, modern “1911-based” fighting pistol! The magazine, whilst similar visually, has indeed been addressed with a more solid baseplate and the slide now features an attractive cutaway which brings weight down to potentially increase cycling speed and performance. The VULTURE also features a rail on the front lower frame for mounting accessories, a screw-in suppressor adapter and also retains the excellent tri-point luminous front and rear sights.
Suffice to say we are liking what we see in relation to this striking full-metal pistol a LOT already and we’ll be heading to the range with the VULTURE at the weekend to see what it’s REALLY like in terms of shooting performance.
Check out our full report in Issue 127, out on June 15th!
