Umarex AER 16 Full Auto BB Gun
The AER 16 full auto BB gun is another recent introduction from Umarex. It’s a battery-powered, AEG, selective fire AR15 lookalike.
The “airsoft-like” battery-powered concept means that the AER 16 shakes-off three limitations that affect CO2-powered full-auto BB guns.
One is that the velocity does not decline as the gun is fired. The second is that there’s also no performance degradation when firing at low temperatures. Thirdly, you don’t need to constantly buy 12 Gram CO2 cartridges.
The AER 16 is supplied as a complete kit. All you need to do is charge the battery using the included charger. Plug it in and shoot!
In the photograph above, the LiPo battery is that three-part red thing. The black cable assembly is the charger. Umarex says that the battery should be good for about 650 shots from a full charge.
The silver bag is a fireproof container for the battery. Why? Well, you can find out in this previous HAM article.
In addition, there’s one 55-shot capacity magazine and a BB loader. Oh, don’t forget to buy the BBs. I suggest the highest-capacity bottle you can. You’re going to need them!
There’s about a Zillion M-LOK slots in the forend. So I tried them out using a Leapers UTG Recon-Flex bipod. The two legs fitted perfectly. No problems there!
The selective-fire “fun switch” is on the left side of the receiver. This provides the choice of semi-automatic fire or full-auto at a cyclic rate of around 420 rounds per minute.
That empties a full 55-round magazine in somewhat less than 8 seconds in “rock and roll” mode :-)
Fortunately, additional magazines are also available. It makes sense to buy a few for extended plinking sessions.
The charging handle functions, but the forward assist is non-operational in this gun.
Cocking the charging handle causes the ejection port cover to flip open, as we see below.
Umarex includes a set of “BUIS” open sights with the gun. The rear sight is adjustable for windage and elevation. It has a peep aperture. The front sight is a fixed post.
The sights work just fine at soda-can shredding ranges.
However, my eyes struggled with the small rear aperture. The addition of a Leapers UTG Red/Green dot sight soon fixed that. Plus the built-in riser of this SCP-DS3840W model allowed for a comfortable eye line.
The AER 16 is attractively-priced at $279.99. The red dot sight is $84.97. Both are in stock at Pyramyd at the time of writing.
