Walther SG9000 CO2 Shotgun review by Booligan
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Real Steel History
Ordering
First impressions/Packaging
Included
Gun Specifications
Externals
Trademarks
Magazines
Performance
Internals
Modifications
Pros/Cons
Overall
Introduction
For as long as I've been in this sport, people have been asking for an affordable semi-automatic multishot shotgun, and Umarex has delivered in the form of the Walther SG9000 CO2 powered shotgun. It delivers high performance semi-automatic firing fun which is quite surprising the first time you use it. It's loud and powerful, and will certainly turn some heads on the playing field! Utilizing commonly found 88g CO2 cartridges, available at about $5 each, it gives you great gas usage as well as high performance.
Real Steel History:
It has a, as far as I can tell, fictional design, not based on any real world weapon, but with characteristics from one gun in particular. The pistol grip assembly is more or less identical to the Walther P99 pistol, albeit without the magazine release levers. Whether this is a model of firearm that Walther is actually planning on producing or not, I can't say at this time.
Ordering:
When I saw that Pyramyd Air finally got these shotguns in stock, I knew that I had to get one. Pyramyd Air was gracious enough to donate this gun in order to have it reviewed here on Airsoft Retreat. They shipped it out very quickly and it arrived in a few days, well packaged and with no shipping damage. It is available in both black and clear and both are priced at $91.95 at the time of this writing. The 88g CO2 cartridges can be purchased HERE.
First impressions/Packaging:
The Walther/Umarex SG9000 came in a plastic clamshell package, which required some pretty serious scissor action break it free. Clamshell packaging is usually considered a sign of a poor quality gun by some players, but companies like Umarex, Aftermath, etc are starting to do it in order to make it easier to get their products on the shelves of big retail stores. It's a business decision, no more, no less. Don't let the packaging scare you away from this awesome gun.
From here on, click all pictures to enlarge
Packaging
Included:
Included in the package is the gun, a manual, a warranty card for Umarex, and various other papers with warnings and legal information.
Manual
Gun Specifications:
Weight: 3 lbs
Length: 22.25"
Width: 2.3" (@ RIS)
Height: 6.25"
Sight Radius: N/A stock, but up to 9.8"
Outer Barrel Length: 10.5"
Externals:
The majority of this replica is made of high strength plastic, with a few key parts made out of metal. The metal parts include the top rail, front side rails, and the trigger. It's a clamshell body design, meaning that it's comprised mostly of two halves that are attached together with several body screws.
Overview
Starting at the grip, you will notice that it strongly resembles a Walther P99 grip. It is very comfortable to hold, like the P99, but sadly does not feature interchangeable backstraps. The trigger pull is relatively heavy, being that this is basically a double action NBB design, but it's not unmanageable.
Pistol grip
The grip is integrated into the receiver, which also houses the internal magazine. The magazine loading port is located on the right side of the gun, and is a very basic system. You first need to pull back the mock cocking lever and lock it into the little detent at the rear. You can now use a speedloader to fill the hole in the side with approximately 30 rounds.
Left side
Right side
Lock the handle back to load
The forward grip (note I'm not calling it a pump handle) is molded into the receiver, like the pistol grip, and serves two functions. One is to give you a place to hold the gun, and the other is to house the selector/safety switch. Unlike most shotguns, this gun gives you the option to fire a single BB at very high velocities, or three BBs in a group at more reasonable speeds. This switch also has a third setting which is your safety switch. When firing in burst mode, it is only one shot of 3 BBs, not three shots, so it does fire like a shotgun, not some kind of odd SMG.
Left side grip
Right side grip
Selector switch
Moving forwards still, you will find the CO2 tank cover, which also houses the lower and side rails. It is removed by pushing the button marked "Press to Open" and slide it off towards the front of the gun. It locks in by pulling it back in place. It is locked pretty securely, but does have some side to side freeplay. The CO2 tank is installed by screwing it into place, which took a lot of force on my gun. I actually needed to use some large pliers to tighten my tank fully.
RIS assembly
Assembly removed, showing 88g CO2 tank installed
The barrel is unfortunately made of plastic, and is also part of the large main clamshell body design. Because of this, there is a noticeable seam line running along the top. It features faux porting at the muzzle, as well as an orange plastic strike face. If you look inside, you will see that there is only a single inner barrel, meaning that when you fire it on 3 shot mode, the BBs are all in a line, one in front of the other.
Barrel
Inner barrel
There are no iron sights at all on this replica, but there is a long full metal 20mm rail for mounting optics. I've chosen to mount an NCStar compact reflex sight on mine.
Rail
Overall, the externals aren't really that spectacular, but they function. The gun is quite compact, which makes it a great candidate for a backup weapon. There are seam lines and screw holes due to the clamshell design, but overall, it doesn't look too bad. It's plenty solid so it should last a good long time.
Trademarks:
There are several raised trademarks for Walther. On both sides you will find the Walther banner design, as well as the SG9000 model number. There are some safety warnings on the right side and a serial number on the left side. The pistol grip also has the Walther banner on both sides.
Magazines:
As mentioned previously, this gun doesn't use a traditional magazine, instead using an internal magazine located on the right side of the receiver. It houses approximately 30 rounds.
Performance:
Baseline performance using Air Venturi .20g BBs after a 300 round break in period is as follows:
Single shot average FPS: 442.4 FPS
Triple shot average FPS: 345.6 FPS
Range and accuracy are kind of interesting. On single shot mode, using .20g ammo, the shots would fly quite unpredictably after 100', but with heavier ammo (I tested up to .25g), I could hit a person at about 130' 90% of the time. On 3 shot mode, I was expecting accuracy to drop, but it really didn't too much. Out to at least 115', I was putting most of my rounds on target. The spread isn't too high, which is to be expected with a single barrel design, but with .20g BBs, you get a 6"-10" group at about 80'.
In CQB, this thing is quite terrifying, and even in longer range woodland use it can be quite formidable. It fires as if it has hop-up, but I can't find an adjuster of any sort, so I'm assuming it's just a fixed one.
Rate of fire is as fast as you can pull the trigger. Due to the large CO2 tank, you don't get much of a noticeable cool down effect. Speaking of the tank, Pyramyd Air has reported that they got 700 shots per tank in single shot mode. I've put about 500 rounds through mine, mixed with single and multi shot in a variety of temperatures and I'm not seeing any drop in FPS yet.
Internals:
I have no intention of taking this thing apart. It's not designed to be disassembled, so I wouldn't worry about it. Just put some lube on top of the valve when changing tanks and to clean the barrel occasionally and you should be good to go.
Modifications:
The rails allow you to mount your choice of accessories on this thing, be it lights, lasers, grips, optics, or whatever else you desire. I've mounted a compact reflex sight and a folding vertical grip for more efficient tactical use. I also drilled a hole in the rear of the receiver and mounted a QD sling swivel so that I can sling the shotgun when not in use. I mounted the swivel mount point and reinforced it with some epoxy, so it should be nice and solid.
Pros:
Semi-auto firing
Single or 3 shot modes
Very powerful
Lots of rails for mounting accessories
Compact design is good for back-up use
Cons:
Not a real world firearm design
Plastic clamshell construction
Normal magazines would have been a nice touch
No sights or sling points
Overall:
I'm really pleased with the functionality of this gun. It's looks leave something to be desired, but it's hard to argue with the performance of this thing. Hopefully this is just the first step in this product line, as this system in an M3 or SPAS-12 body would arguably be one of the most sought after airsoft weapons.
Many thanks again to Pyramyd Air, Deadrag Airsoft Radio and of course, Airsoft Retreat!
