Marushin Ruger MK1 Maxi “Assassins” Silencer Model (Silver)
Reviewed by Redhawk

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Introduction
Sturm, Ruger and Co. is a well respected firearms manufacturer in the United States. They make some of the world’s finest revolvers, semi-auto pistols and rifles. In 1951 they came out with a small-caliber target pistol called the Mark 1 (MK1). This semi-auto chambered the .22 LR rimfire cartridge, had a 9-round box magazine and is designed strictly for target shooting.

Marushin had crafted a finely-made replica of the Ruger MK1, but with a “quiet” twist — they had integrated a built-in metal sound suppressor and appended “Assassins Silencer Model” to the name. The reason, I’m guessing, that they called it “Assassins” is because they named it after a 1995 Hollywood action caper with the same title, though neither the box packaging nor the manual has any reference to the movie. The film starred Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas, two actors best known for their action movies rather than their acting abilities. It’s been several years since I’ve seen the movie, but I do remember Sly wielding a suppressed .22 pistol. (I really doubt Ruger would make a suppressed pistol and call it “The Assassins Model,” unless they don’t mind having anti-gun advocates on their asses like a pair of Fruit of the Looms.)

Appearance
This beautiful piece is the silver “stainless” model and comes in a flat cardboard box, along with the manual, bag of BBs and what I think is a hop-up hexi wrench, though I’m not sure. On the box it says “with Super Sonic Barrel,” which doesn’t really make sense since supersonic means greater than the speed of sound. In a real steel suppressor, the bullets used have to be subsonic in order for the sound to be suppressed to a certain level. I’m not sure how all this relates to airsoft silencers.

This gun is a non-blowback (NBB) gas pistol, meaning the slide or bolt doesn’t kick back with every shot. This is a good thing. While it isn’t very realistic without the blowback, it gains in return plenty of velocity.

Construction is a combination of metal and ABS, with the entire silencer made of metal. Other metal parts include the trigger, magazine, disassembly latch, safety switch and some internal parts.

The finish is very smooth, glossy and has a semi-reflective surface made of ABS, and it does look convincingly like polished stainless steel. It’s well constructed and has no seams down the center. While it’s a non-blowback, what you’ll immediately notice is the attention to detail Marushin had put into this “hush-puppy.” The charging handle and bolt, while not having any function and movement, are separate parts from the rest of the frame, making them look like movable parts.

With a weight of 620g, the gun isn't heavy, but has a very good balance. The grip is curved at an extreme angle, yet it’s still comfortable to hold. The front sight is a simple post and is part of the silencer. The fixed rear sight is constructed of black plastic and is of a simple square notch. Aiming posed a little difficulty due to the lack of any dots or outline on the rear sight.

On the left side of the frame is the safety switch. With the switch down (safety off) there’s a letter “F” meaning “Fire.” Pushing the switch upwards puts it on safe and the letter “S” appears. The switch isn’t easy to manipulate with one hand, and I have to reposition my grip in order to put it on safe. Placing it on “F” without repositioning my grip takes a little bit of practice and I was able to do so with the side of my thumb.

Just in front of the safety and on the upper portion of the frame are the words “RUGER, 22 CAL. LONG RIFLE, AUTOMATIC PISTOL.” On the right side are “STURM RUGER & CO., INC., MADE IN JAPAN BY MARUSHIN.” On the ejection port is the fake, non-functional bolt, which I explained earlier that it looks very detailed and realistic. The grips are made of black ABS with checkering, and on the right side is the Ruger logo. On the back of the grip is the disassembly latch.

The integrated silencer is made of lightweight metal and has a matte surface. The muzzle looks tiny, which it should considering this is a .22 replica. The main cylindrical tube of the silencer is a little uneasy and tends to rotate from side to side when you force it to. This may be a problem when the gun is slipped into a tight holster, which may twist to one side, causing the front sight to misalign.

The trigger is serrated, which is indicative of a target pistol. Pulling the trigger is long and hard, much like that of a double action revolver. The strike of the hammer gives a nice metallic click. So how does it fire? When the trigger is pulled, the inner barrel begins to move back towards the magazine’s gas valve (with the BB in front of the valve), and the hammer begins to cock. Further trigger movement places the chamber right against the gas valve and sets the BB right up into the chamber. When the hammer trips and falls, it strikes against the gas release button on the mag and a short burst of gas sends the BB out to meet your happy target! Because this is a non-blowback, the BB is never in the chamber until the trigger is pulled.

Releasing the magazine requires both hands. First push back the mag catch at the butt of the grip and then physically pull the magazine out. The mag is very easy to load and you simply pull the follower down and drop-feed the BBs in. The mag holds 17 shots.

Performance
For the setup I used HFC134 gas and 0.2g BBs, and fired the gun in normal room temperature. For the FPS chrono I warmed up the mag after every reload.

Gassing up the magazine is the same as with gas blowbacks; the valve is located at the bottom of the mag. I dropped 17 BBs into the mag and inserted it into the gun. Looking at the detail of the charging handle made me want to pull it back to chamber a round. But this is a NBB, so no need for that! I set up a 6-inch diameter bull’s eye 16 feet away and began popping off shots. The sound of the gun firing is a muffled “pop,” which means the silencer actually works. As you would imagine with a NBB, there was no recoil. But as I mentioned earlier, the trigger was heavy, which affected my accuracy.

I fired 10 shots and they all landed in the inner 3-inch circle, with a 2-inch grouping. Seemed pretty impressive, huh? Well, not quite. This was the best of six trials. The other 5 trials didn’t fare as good, with one grouping as wide as 5 inches! I blame this partially to the heavy trigger pull.

I chronoed the fps at an average of 318 and got an astounding 107 good shots from one charge! That’s about 6.5 mag loads. After the 107th shot the gas began to dwindle, so I didn’t factor the remaining shots in. Because it’s a NBB, it uses all of the gas to propel the BB, rather than “wasting” some of the gas in blowing back the slide (in GBB).

As I mentioned earlier, there is a hexi wrench which I think is used to adjust the hop up. Looking at the manual, the illustration shows the wrench being inserted into a hole on top of the gun, just in front of the bolt. I inserted the wrench into the hole, but couldn't find a solid connection to make a turn. Since I don’t read Japanese, I can’t figure how this works. In fact, I didn’t see the word “hop up” on the box or the manual, so I’m not even sure if the gun has a hop up feature.

Disassembly
Disassembling the gun requires pulling down the latch lock in the back of the grip. Then with the latch unlocked remove the entire latch and the upper portion of the receiver can be tilted forward and removed.

Conclusion
With the high power and low price this little gem would make a great plinker, not to mention that it would surprise your opponents in a skirmish game. It’s a great piece to carry in combat and power wise it could out-shoot just about any stock GBB pistol out there, as well as stock AEGs. This “killer” definitely gives a great bang for the buck.