I am a huge fan of shotguns, they are big, loud, and brutal. The "M56AL" competes to do just that. This shotgun is produced by the company Double Eagle which hasn't exactly had a reputation of building the highest quality replicas. Let's see if this breaks the trend.
Appearance/Feel/Handling-
There is no mistaking this shotgun for the real thing, the exterior is mediocre.
Stock: The stock is made of a lightly textured plastic. It is decently solid although it is a little creaky between the stock and the receiver. There is a sling mount on the side of the stock although I'm not sure I'd rely on the pot metal it's made of. The butt pad is firmly mounted and made of a shiny, hard rubber. It offers a bit more grip in the shoulder but not much else.
Receiver: The plastic on the receiver is shiny and has no texture. The plastic is adequate but not impressive. A firm squeeze yields a bit of bend, proof the material is maybe a bit soft. There are some very, very small mold marks but nothing I'd be upset about.
Grip and Forestock: The grip and pump are both covered in the same rubberized coating. The coating offers better grip and looks much better than the rest of the bare plastic on the replica. After handling, the rubber shows the oil from your hands. There is a thick seem in the bottom of the pump. Overall, I'm glad the rubber texture is there but it's not perfect.
Each pump slides from here...
....to here.
Outer Barrel Area: The outer barrel and cocking tube are both made of metal. Pot metal but metal none-the-less. An orange plastic ring is glued to the end to identify that it is not real. A sling mount is placed in front, but again I'm not sure I'd trust it.
The shotgun is easy to snap to the shoulder but has some issues with feel. The trigger is too far and too high so it feels like a bit of a stretch. The location of the pump also feels a bit far away, from the perspective of someone who is 5'10".
Performance-
The performance of this shotgun is reminiscent of a real shotgun, short range and spread accuracy. With each pump this replica fires three bbs. This is a cool feature however it doesn't work as perfectly as you'd hope. Up to about 15-20 yards all three bbs will impact within the size of a torso. After that distance though one bb curves sharply up, one bb curves sharply down, and one bb flies true. This means that after 20 yards only one bb is truely effective, this one bb though reaches out about 30 yards. All things considered this shotgun should be used for CQC and other short range scenarios. I would not recommend this for field use, you simply won't keep up with AEGs.
FPS: 302.6 with AE .2 on Madbull chrono
The trigger is a little sloppy but the user can still feel when it is about to release. The trigger pull is short but heavy. Pumping the shotgun is not too strenuous. The pull is deceiving, you have to pull back further than you think you should. There is a thick click at the end of the pull.
The replica uses a 30 round shell as a magazine. It can be easily loaded and works perfectly.
Problems-
The metal used in this replica is nothing special so this may become a problem in the future. I do question the long term reliability of this replica. The way this springer works puts a lot of stress on the internal components which may eventually result in their failure.
Conclusion-
This shotgun does not give a lot in the way of performance but is still fun to mess around with. It would work for close quarters but is unusable in any kind of ranged encounter.
Pros:
-Price
-3 shots per pump
-Shell magazine
Cons:
-Short range
-Build materials
-Unrealistic feel
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