Look. We get it. You know the Krytac rifles inside and out. They have been one of the dominant players in the airsoft industry for several years, churning out top quality blasters with above average performance for a while. However, the Krytac LVOA-C has a very stout price increase over other guns in the Krytac line up. Does this gun still deliver a level of quality and performance to justify it?
As we cover the externals of this gun, it's easy to forget this gun is made by Krytac. They have such a distinct style and visual language about them with the Mk2 line, that to see a gun they made so devoid of those visual elements it's very easy to remove yourself from the branding in a big way.
It still retains the original Krytac style stock, which is different from the source material but not unwelcome. Moving forward, you get the standard Krytac defiance grip, but after that it's all original. A standard AR style receiver emblazoned with Warsport trades houses the Nautilus gearbox, and the licensed Warsport LVOA rail makes up the front end. This unique "wirecutter" rail encapsulates the barrel and flashhider with an almost feral toothy mouth at the end, terminating in the "top hat" flash hider (which for legal reasons, comes in the box, but you have to install yourself).
The external quality is 100% there for Krytac. Having handled a real LVOA in the past, it feels pretty close in dimensions. The biggest changes are still the stock and pistol grip, which makes sense as they kind of have to be in a way. Those parts house airsoft components and it makes sense to just use your standard fare than to design parts that replicate but don't put you in lawsuit territory of the B-5 or Magpul furniture found on the real one.
The rifle is notably very front heavy. This is a factor of the size of the rail, but even without accesories installed it wants to nose dive on you. This is probably great on the real rifle to help manage recoil, but on an airsoft gun it's a big negative. Where the rest of the rifle feels so solid, this was a big mis-step.
This rifle's internal components are near identical to the Krytac SPR. The barrel lengths are so close, and the gearboxes identical. As a former SPR owner myself, this gives me some idea of what to expect performance wise.
The good news is, it meets those marks. Everything I expected to happen when I first plugged the battery in worked as advertised. FPS was a consistent 395-405 with .20's. When I got the hop-up dialed in for .28g BBs, it had no problem reaching out past 200 feet, and just like my SPR did, it's flat and straight as a laser to that point. I still had the same issue my SPR did where no matter what I did I couldn't seem to get it to float bbs much farther, but the accuracy to that point was unmatched, and is no less impressive.
The 30k Krytac motor kept rate of fire respectable with an 11.1v battery, and we didn't have any feeding issues out of any of the magazines we tried, except the KWA k120's. Those worked most of the time, but every now and again, if we bumped the rifle wrong it would misfeed with the K120.
The problem with this, is that this rifle costs significantly more than the SPR it essentially replicates. Yes, you get the licensed rails and appearance, but the question we're trying to answer here today is:
At $425 on Airsoft GI, does this gun justify it's price?
This is a tough call. It comes down to who you are as a player.
Do you care about aesthetics and ergonomics? Does the way your gun look have a major value to you as an owner?
OR
Are you the kind of player who puts all of your value in the performance of a rifle? Does the monetary value of your purchase have to come entirely from how well your gun shoots?
If you are in the first camp, this gun can justify the price increase. A good sling, and keeping the accessories light fixes it's one major flaw being front heavy, and it shoots well if a bit overpriced. If you like the style, it's hard to match.
If you are in the performance camp, this gun absolutely misses the mark. Save the money and get a VFC avalon, the Krytac SPR, or Classic Army Nemesis, as they are all cheaper and shoot just the same as or better than the LVOA.