Airsoft and simunitions training is a very import aspect to everything we do. So for awhile now I have been looking around for a airsoft version of my main sidearm, the S&W M&P .40 compact. But they just don’t seem to currently exist. The next closest would be a non-blowback version of the full size M&P, but even that is getting pretty hard to find. During one my searches online, some one mentioned that the KWA ATP Adaptive Training Pistol. The KWA ATP was designed to be a happy medium between a Glock and a Smith and Wesson M&P. Supposedly the KWA ATP came about because Glock has been getting onto manufactures about creating airsoft pistols based on the Glock platform. So KWA decided to create its own and was smart enough to try and make it work for a wide arrange of firearms, making it a adaptive training pistol.
I picked the KWA ATP up at the beginning of the summer for about $150 from Amazon. Now hopefully most of you reading this understand what a great training tool a good airsoft pistol can be. But if you are one that thinks that airsoft is nothing but a toy. Then you really need to come to one of our Force on Force events and I guarantee you that your view will change dramatically. That aside, this KWA ATP pistol works great. First thing I did was try it in all of my holsters, it fit each one with no issues including ones designed for my compact pistol. The fact that it fit has caused me to take a closer look at getting a full size M&P for carrying somewhere down the line.
KWA ATP Adaptive Training Pistol
The KWA ATP build itself is really quite nice. It has a noticeably solid build with a good weight and balance. Like a lot of polymer pistols, it comes with two replaceable palm swells. Which I personally found to be bit of a pain to switch out. But ultimately it feels like it can take a bit of abuse without any problems at all. All of the controls are located very similar to how it is on the M&P, so it was easy to pick up and run out of the box.
Out of the box it comes with one KWA ATP Adaptive Training pistol, one magazine, some oil and a handful of BBs. There also a speed loader which works sometimes but i pretty much trashed it shortly after. The magazines themselves the same ones used in the KWA Glocks so they should not be too hard to find extras, though they are about $30 bucks or so on Amazon. Most of weith of the pistol is kept in the magazine which my explain some of its rather high costs. I do recommend picking up some extras for reloading and failure drills.
It does have a hop up and a hop up key, but I found that it to goes where it needs to go pretty well out of the box. I also have tried this with both the green gas and propane with a adapter and it works fine with both. The propane is meant for long out door seminars and the green gas for inside work so my house does not smell like farts. Keep note it does say using anything other than green gas will void the warranty. The accuracy is pretty decent, but then again i am not exactly expecting a tack driver out of a airsoft pistol. It hits about where i am aiming so that’s good enough for me.
Force on Force with the KWA ATP
I have ran it through two Force on Force days so far, and quite a bit of playing around in the house and back yard. And as long as I don’t cheap out on ammo, I have not ran into any major mechanical issues. I was worried that with it being larger than my compact holster, that it may fall out during rough activities. Though it would print more due to the longer slide and grip, it had no problems staying in place.
If you are running a Glock, and/or a Smith and Wesson M&P and are in the need of a reliable airsoft training pistol, you could do much worse than picking up this one.
LIKED
+ Pretty rugged
+ Easy to find parts
+ Fits in M&P and Glock holsters
DISLIKED
– The back strap is a pain to remove
FINAL – Recommended!
This is the most common airsoft pistol I see in our classes for a reason.
EDIT: 7/2013
Well I finally broke it, I damaged the magazine catch that held the magazine in place. So when I would fire I would get one shot and then the magazine would fall out. So I went to the KWA website, ordered a replacement. It came in a few days later and popped right back in and I was good to go. This ease of replacing parts made me like KWA that much more.
Two Years Later
Man this thing is a work horse. I have dropped it, rolled with it, banged into things with it and it just keeps on firing. Outside of the mag release last year i have had zero issues with it and i recommend it to everyone who asks. Pretty much every one at our Force on Force meetups are running the KWA ATP. Would be nice if they would come out with a compact version. This is probably my most used piece of training equipment.
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