When Western Arms released the SCW gas system, to acclaim, in the 1911s, the airsoft world held its breath for the arrival of the SCW system SVIs.

Already a byword for performance, power and quality, could WA lift their flagship models still higher with the addition of this new gas system?

Obviously aware of the anticipation, WA choose to release the first SCW guns in all silver finishes, with blue, green and red grips.

What we have here is the 6" SCW, which represents the 'ultimate' SCW SVI Ltd model.

In the Box

The SCW SVI 6" (and 5") come in the now familiar, grey SCW boxes, with only a sticker on the side to indicate what is within.

Contents, too, are pretty standard for a WA SVI with BBs, manuals, a tube, hopper and rod loader, a couple of Allen keys and 2 interchangeable triggers. All familiar fare for some time with the SVI range.

First Impressions

The SVI 6" is a big gun with an extended length barrel for improved accuracy and power. It is also the SVI which provides the biggest 'kick', courtesy of its heavy and long slide.

The all silver (this one with a red grip) SCW SVI is a smart gun, with good markings and an impressively consistent finish, as was the 5" SCW SVI tested at the same time.

Unlike the newer Experts, the SCW SVI feature a traditional SVI grip, with aggressive chequering.

As you would expect from a WA SVI, the frame, outer barrel and all the controls are metal and the silver finish applied to the controls is very good.

Closer Look

WA obviously decided not to be too adventurous with their first SCW system SVI releases.

This (and the 5") were the first all silver SVIs I have seen and do feature a rail, but neither is a first (although this the first 6" with a rail and no Xcellerator fluting on the frame, at least aside from Prokillers).

The grips, too, on this red gripped gun, have been seen before on Xcellerators, although the Green and Purple ones are, as far as I can tell, new for this model.

Still, there is little wrong with the basic SVI design (ask real steel and airsoft practical pistol shooters all over the world!) and the 6" SVI SCW does everything you would expect. The frame is metal (painted silver, of course), whilst the slide and grip/trigger guard are plastic (the slide is supposed to be Heavyweight material, which always used to pose problems painting, so looks like they have cracked that one).

The controls, trigger (interchangeable and in red, to complement the grip colour - see the 5" for an example of another combination), slide lock, magazine release, safeties (grip and ambidextrous thumb) and hammer are all metal, too.

There are a few new things here and there. One is the adoption of new (and, I think, improved) sights. There is a familiar Bo-Mar unit at the rear and a simple post at the front, but (for the first time on a 6") the foresight is dovetailed in (allowing interchanging of sights) and both units feature white dots for faster target acquisition.

Many, too, will welcome the return of the plain (except for the rail) frame design, finding the Xcelerator fluting fussy, as well an all silver gun. The silver finish, is particularly good. Some WA guns have had slightly uneven or bubbly finish on painted metal parts, but this (and the 5") features a very consistent and smooth silver finish on plastic and metal parts. Interestingly, the red grip features a black mainspring cover, suggesting this is a separate part on this model. There is also a large magwell (as on all 6" double stacker SVIs I have seen, regardless of variant), which is polished silver on this model.

The chamber and cone barrel are in the bronze/gold colour first seen on Xcelerators, which looks good against silver (probably better than plain silver) and the recoil rod is unpolished silver in colour.

Markings, as with all SVIs, are few, but nicely rendered. Each side of the slide is marked INFINITY. There is a SV logo on each side of the grip, which is also cast into the frame above the trigger on the right side, ahead of which is the marking WA and ASGK (the only non-original markings). The chamber is marked "INFINITY .45 ACP" Seams? This is a WA, don't ask, there are none and probably never will be.

Shooting Impressions

The 6" SVI Ltd has long been a benchmark of GBB performance, especially in FPS terms, so it was interesting to test this gun with the SCW system.

Carrying out my standard 5m/6 round, off hand test, I achieved a best 5 grouping with a 2 inch (5.0 CM) diameter.

The foresight, however, was quite a loose fit in the dovetail on this example and started off (the circles) drifting shots to the left.

I realised this and shot another 6, but probably over-compensated causing the shots to drift to the right. However, both series showed impressive height to aimpoint relationship and grouping.

WA equip the latest SVIs with 6.03mm tightbore, accuracy barrels and they certainly seem to deliver a detectable improvement.

Over 10 shots, the SCW system SVI 6" averaged 297 fps (using Abbey Ultra gas and .2g BBs) indoors (at 12C).

This equates to around 340fps at 20C, from experience with other guns.

My own, but barely used SVI 6" Ltd (with the Magna R system) recorded 290fps in back to back testing, although, to be fair, WA never claimed that the SCW system delivers more power, simply that it responds more consistently at varying temperatures.

Trigger pull was 980g (34 Oz), which is a medium weight pull for a GBB.

Take Down

With the magazine removed, the slide is pushed back until the slide lock can be pushed through the frame. With that done, the slide, barrel and recoil rod & spring can be slid forward off the frame as unit.

At this point it becomes more complex as the recommended approach is to separate the recoil rod sections to allow the front of the rod to be pulled forward from the slide and the outer barrel, spring and chamber to be pushed forward, down and back to remove it from the slide. I find that removing the barrel works just as well, but the plastic chamber thread can be fragile and so it is probably not advisable to use this approach.

Conclusions

The SCW SVIs were a logical move, but only offer small advances (albeit useful ones, like the white dotted sights) over the Magna R system guns.

Performance is very similar to the older guns, although WA claim improved consistency (and of course, easier to adjust hop-up) with the SCW system.

If you are looking for your first SVI, this is an excellent gun, but if you already own one, take a look at the more radical Experts as well.

Weight : 1,160g

Realism : ****
Quality : *****
Power : *****
Accuracy : ****