introduction

With the release some time ago of Dragon's Initial and Late tiger I's, this barrel is rather late in coming, but better late than never!

the barrel

The barrel is made from aluminium as you'd expect, with a machined muzzle brake integral to the barrel. as for dimensions, the barrel is the exact size of the one supplied in the kit for which it is recommended, which is any one of the Dragon Tiger I kits, although given that the Dragon Late Tiger I and Initial are actually supplied with aluminium barrels, one has to wonder why an aftermarket one is produced?

With this in mind, let me take a look at the differences between the kit supplied one and the Eduard example. As I've already said, they're both exactly the same size, however the Eduard one is supplied with an integral aluminium muzzle brake, whereas both Dragon kits come with a moulded styrene brake in 3 parts. The Eduard example lacks the detail of the locking ring inside the muzzle brake and also the small fittings on top of the brake that would secure it to the barrel.

The detail around the rear collar which consists of an engraved join line and two small notches, I have to say are not as well done as on the Dragon supplied barrel. In fact when painted the Eduard barrel will not look as if it has a join here at all. The fitting of the Eduard barrel is easy enough, being an exact drop-in replacement for the Dragon barrel.

in conclusion

A bit dissapointing this one. Difficult to see why you would want to use it, since the aluminium barrel supplied in the base kit is in my opinion, superior. Difficult to recommend therefore.

My thanks to Eduard for the review sample.