REVIEW: HK3 PX4 Custom

[e-luder]

Hello.
Just got this in from one of the guys in the forums and I thought it might be fun to do a little review of it.

Hope you enjoy.

Introduction:

Though being a Tokyo Marui clone, HK3's PX4 Custom compact pistol rivals that of its predecessor by giving wielders a good balance of accuracy, power and range. It's a good little piece for the price I got it for.

Not much is known about HK3. While airsofters believe that HK3 IS WE Tech, others believe that WE Tech mainly distributes HK3's products. I can't say I know which is true but HK3 seems to be putting out good quality items for the price, at least in my opinion. Their version of the Glock isn't all that bad, case in point, but that's another story.

First Glance:

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Keep in mind that I am the second owner of the gun. At first glance, the gun is a beautiful piece of machinery. It came to me with no wear at all. HK3's craftsmanship can truly give Marui a run for their money.

The gun comes with three backstraps that tailors to the user's grip size to better handle the pistol in-game (more on this later). It also came with a standard magazine and a instruction manual.

Details and Fabrication:

This version of the PX4 comes out of the box with a metal slide and metal outer barrel. The internals of the slide, as far as i can see, are all made of metal. This includes the sights and safety lever. The only piece that I've picked out that aren't metallic are the little rubber buffers on the spring guide rod and loading nozzle assembly.

The lower portion of the gun (the frame) is made of ABS Plastic. While I still believe that Tokyo Marui's frame is superior to this one, I also feel that for the price, the ABS plastic used here isn't all that bad. It feels sturdy enough to handle high pressure gas without cracking.

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The internals are made of metal. This includes the take down lever, slide catch, hammer and it's housing, and the front chassy. I believe that the only non metal parts are the mag catch and trigger.

Overall, the internal parts are solidly built. Everything is tight and is securely fastened to their rightful place with the exception of the inner barrel. There is little wiggling but I've remedied it with good old fashion duct tape.

I used to own Tokyo Marui's version of the PX4 that predates HK3's, both of which are almost identical to the real steel.

The trademarks that were present on Marui's version is also present in this PX4. On the left side of the slide you've got "PX4 Custom" and "Warning: Retract Slide To See If Loaded. Fires Without Magazine" engraved. On the right hand side, you've got a serial number and the "PX4 Custom" logo. The slide also features both front and back serations for easy gripping when racking the slide.

The chamber sports some markings as well with "9 Para" and the serial number. The safety has a red dot indicator. The sights are three white dots that are easy to follow and clearly marked.

The green gas/duster gas question is automatically answered through the metal slide. The gun can easily run on green gas without fear of the slide breaking.

On the frame, you've got the "PX4 Custom" logo's on both sides of the grip. The frame has a RIS rail for weapon light attachments and lasers. Beneath the rail is a serial number plate, just like the USPs and the Glock variants.

For the most part, HK3's craftsmanship isn't too shabby. The lines on the gun are very well etched and defined. The trademarks are all very well engraved onto the metal slide. I would have liked to see them do away with the PX4 Custom as a logo and just have gone with PX4 Storm like the real steel. But i suppose HK3 didn't pay their licensing fees just yet (or Marui for that matter).

The first issue I have with the build of this gun is that the paint seems to wear off quite easily. While i was taking pictures for this review, picking up the gun left some scratches on the edges of the slide. Minor issue though.

The second issue is the hammer. The hammer is a bit "loose" or "flimsy". It can move and wobble a little bit when not cocked.

Features:

What's most interesting about the features of this gun is the safety measures. The PX4 offers three types: Standard ambidextrous safety, decocker, and "slide safety." The standard ambi safety is...a standard ambi safety. Flip the safety lever down and the gun is safe. But if the hammer is cocked, the safety lever also acts as a decocking lever, much like the USPs and its variants. The last safety measure is the slide safety. In order for the gun to shoot, the slide must be in full battery for the trigger to engage the hammer. You can still fully pull the trigger but it won't engage the hammer. I've tried it, it's a pretty neat little set up. This means that if you holster the gun improperly with a loaded magazine and by some miracle the trigger is pulled, the gun will not fire. This can be a good and a bad, IMO. If there are slide issues, (not cycling fully, as one example), it may be difficult for testing with this kind of safety.

The second cool gimmick about the gun is of course the "rotating barrel", like its real steel counterpart. It's not actually "rotating" but rather, it just moves so that looks like it's rotating. When the slide is in full battery, the barrel is tilted to the side. When you rack the slide, the barrel "moves" to it's proper place giving the illusion that the barrel has rotated. It only moves like a quarter circle or something. Nothing big, but very cool. The big problem with this system is that it might cause some wear on the slide. The barrel has to move well enough into place otherwise the corner of the chamber will not allow the slide to rack. That being said, I can already see that the part where the rotating barrel and the slide connect (they are both in the ejection port) have already begun to cause paint wear. I'm not nitty picky, but it's just good to know.

Ergonomics:

The hand controls of the gun function very well. The safety lever is nicely placed above the thumbs at a reasonable height. The added feature of the lever being ambidextrous is nice addition for left handed gunners. Though, an additional left side slide catch would have been nice just to complete the package.

The takedown lever is easy to access and easy to control. Much like the Glock levers, you pull the lever down and the slide springs forward, ready to slide off. While some argue that this lever on the gun is a bit "loose", i liked it. My Glock takedown lever is hard to pull down and i have to fight it a bit whilst moving the slide forward. The PX4 does the task for you.

The real only issue i have in regards to the hand controls is the magazine catch. It takes quite a bit of pressing power to get the magazine to release. Top that off with a short rise button that makes you press even deeper into the button's allocated recess hole and there it becomes a really annoying problem, especially if you're in a tight bind where speed reloads are essential.

As I mentioned above, the gun comes with three grip straps. One is for smaller hands, one is for medium sized hands, and one for monster sized hands (joking). They are checkered for better grip maintenance. I like this feature. Catering to the gunner's ergonomics is always a good way to boost their performance. I feel that the PX4 well meets some of the grip ergonomic challenges that are presented for gun owners. These backstraps can detach via pressing a button at the bottom of the grips and attach by simple re-placement. They grip on the PX4 feel very similar to KSC USPs, partucularly the USP Compact.

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The gun has good heft as well and holds steady in your hands. It is robust enough for you to swing around while maintaining good balance with its weight. I would compare it the weight of the full metal 1911 and hi-capas in the market, particularly the MEUs. Very identical. I do have a problem with its sights as they are not adjustable but that's just being nitpicky.

Functionality:

The PX4 can be fired in both double action and single action modes.

On the power side of things, the gun holds up. I chronoed the gun around 275 to 298 on green gas and .20g bb's at a room temperature of 23 degrees. There are some outliers here and there but nothing out of it's FPS range. Though in regards to power, the one thing that annoyed me was the cool down. Very quickly did the magazine become cold. Though it just might be because it's damn cold outside but i thought it was fast. It's interesting however that even with a cold magazine, that it's FPS still seemed to be quite high. Not that im complaining.

With regards to accuracy vs range, the gun is decent. I was able to hit targets with .20g BB's from 25 feet away with ease and very tight groupings. Marks were about 4-5 cm apart from one another. That's pretty good in my book. But I did shoot this indoors. It will be different once you take it outside and start factoring in wind and all that crap.

The hop up dial is very easy to access, or so it would seem. You don't need to disassemble the slide. All you to do is lock the slide back to reveal the dial that you can manually turn right there and then. It's inside the ejection port. You reach in with a finger and turn the dial. But despite having the convenience of not removing the slide, i still found it a bit tricky to get in there with gloved hands. It's a hassle to remove your gloves in the field every time you have to tune your hop up. Minor annoyance but well worth noting.

The magazine is a double stack magazine. It can hold 25 BB's and can hold gas pretty well, i must say. I got about 2 mags out of a single green gas fill. The knockback is decent, though i would not compare it to the more formidable kick of its Marui counterpart. It's more similar to the Five-Seven—decent enough to feel.

The double action trigger pull is quite heavy and requires a lot of pull before breaking. There is a lot of travel and gets heavier as you approach the breaking point. But once the hammer is cocked, the pull is reduced significantly.

The gun's stock outer barrel also came with 14mm clockwise thread for suppressors, though you'll need to purchase the proper adapter since the threads are on the inside. A RIS rail is also available for under barrel attachments like lights and lasers. It only has one notch so be careful because some lights might be too big and stick out.

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Upgrades:

You don't really need to upgrade the gun. It will run very well out of the box.

But here are some pro's and cons anyways.

I have been looking for upgrades on this gun for quite sometime before i actually decided to purchase it. There is good news and bad news.

The good news is that because HK3's PX4 is a clone of Tokyo Marui's Px4, the parts are compatible. Which means that you can swap original Marui parts and fit it in with HK3 and they'll marry each other almost instantly. I've already put in an stock loading nozzle from my old Marui PX4 and works so well.

The bad news is internal upgrades are available for the gun but in very selective places. There are rocket valves and stuff available but it takes a bit of digging to find. Also, if you plan of changing the slide for whatever reason (aesthetics or function) some of the after market slide and barrel sets are very expensive. Detonator's, for example, is more than $200 cdn.

Final Summation:

Pros:

-Quality build with very minimal need to upgrade (already has a metal slide and barrel)
-Realistically trademarked (aside from using the aforementioned logos)
-Affordable (getting a Marui version and then buying a metal slide upgrade is almost double the cost than buying this HK3 product)
-Ergonomic and comfortable to hold
-Nice safety features
-Tokyo Marui spare parts compatible

Cons:

-Paint job could be better
-Can use a better spring for better kick
-Flimsy hammer and wiggly inner barrel
-Sights aren't adjustable
-Might have a hard time getting spare parts

Overall, the HK3's PX4 Custom is a good bang for you buck. It offers a good, solid build in a very robust pistol. It's a nice all-rounder pistol and hold's its own against it's Marui counterpart

I like it. I like it a lot.

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[m102404]

Nice review! Well written and put together.

[JLiang]

Very nice. I've always been partial to Engineering innovation, and Beretta's P,R, and CX-4 series are just that.

Looks like WE/HK3's stepped up their game.

[e-luder]

Well Marui will always be Marui.
But as far as cloners go, I been very impressed with HK3 as of late.

[Short Round]

For a $100, probably the best bang for the buck pistol on the market.

Now if only the Ra Tech Gold slide wasn't in the $300 range

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by e-luder

The second cool gimmick about the gun is of course the "rotating barrel". It's not actually "rotating" but rather, it just moves so that looks like it's rotating. When the slide is in full battery, the barrel is tilted to the side. When you rack the slide, the barrel "moves" to it's proper place giving the illusion that the barrel has rotated. It only moves like a quarter circle or something. Nothing big, but very cool.

The rotating barrel rotates as it should. What else did you think a rotating barrel did?
I've tested one of these out and yes they're very decent pistols.

[e-luder]

Originally Posted by Styrak

The rotating barrel rotates as it should. What else did you think a rotating barrel did?
I've tested one of these out and yes they're very decent pistols.

Yeah. Neat thing that rotating barrel.
On the real steel, it's suppose to help reduce recoil by channeling all the energy onto moving parts. Most guys that I've talk to about the the system actually thought the barrel rotated a full 360 degrees. And they are pretty knowledgeable guys (weapons/self-defense trainers for Corrections Canada). Can you imagine?

[peacekeeper]

who orders these in canada ? i might be interested in one

[e-luder]

Originally Posted by peacekeeper

who orders these in canada ? i might be interested in one

you can find it here: PM ME


though it has a transparent lower frame as the description states.

***EDIT** LINK REMOVED

[peacekeeper]

thxs

[jamex]

!!!!edit!!!!!.com price dropped them to ridiculously cheap for the same cansoft version. They still show out of stock but give them a shout and ask when they're getting more in.

Also they're back in stock now.

[Taxt]

Is it possible to find this gun with non cansoft lower frame?
pm me the link if anyone know please. thanks.

EDIT: I'm interested in CO2 version also, GBB or NBB.

[Drake]

I was planning a review of my own, but e-luder's is well written and covers the basics nicely so I'll just add a few points which were not covered:

1. [as already pointed out] the rotating barrel mechanism is very similar to the real PX4's and the barrel does rotate properly -- not an illusion. If you field strip the slide and remove the spring guide + locking block, you can manually rotate the chamber and you'll see the entire barrel does rotate (doesn't affect the inner barrel);

2. The inner barrel is TM compatible but the stock gun comes with a tightbore already installed (measured to 6.04mm);

3. Unlike the TM, the front sight is screwed in (small screw accessible under the slide). I installed the NineBall Tritium sights and while the rear sight fits flawlessly, be prepared to get creative to install the front one (I opted against drilling a screw hole into it due to the risk of damaging the ³H vial);

4. I have a small niggle about filling the stock mag: somehow the Marui mag seems easier to fill. The HK3 mag is just really finicky about the angle of the fill probe. Given the price difference (about $10), I'll just stick to TM mags;

5. As originally noted in the review, the gun doesn't have much kick compared to other similar pistols (neither does its real steel counterpart, even in larger calibers) and is decently accurate. I can't think of many upgrades to throw on, maybe a fancy hop up rubber or something.


Personally I've found this to be one the best performing stock GBB pistols I've ever shot and hands down the best value for money, even at inflated Canadian prices.

[jamex]

Agreed. I bought a cansoft and liked it so much I grabbed a non-cansoft to compliment it. As for inflated prices, the cansoft is super cheap now....under $175. And for being a cansoft, its actually fairly opaque once the mag is inside due to the reinforced metal frame inside the tinted receiver. Can't recommend this gun enough

[Feddar]

Any idea where I could find a rack to mount on the PX4's rail so I could mount a red dot or scope on it?