here are the details you all want to know:
• entire cnc'ed upper receiver from a block of 6061 aluminum billet (not from a casting!). the upper receiver obvious continues into the top rail giving an uninterrupted top picatinny rail. the cnc'ing was gorgeous and flawless.
• two optional handguards: a polymer one and an aluminum railed one (also cnc'ed from 6061 aluminum block), which can be quick swapped between the two.
• two optional stocks: a folding stock and a fixed stock which can be quick swapped. the fixed stock is very reminiscent of the magpul ubr. the dupont polymer used throughout these guns are phenomenal. and yes, i got it straight from magpul pts, the polymer they use is widely considered one of the best polymers available on the commercial/industrial market anywhere.
• optional quick swap barrel assemblies: definitely 11.5" and 14.5" barrels, and perhaps later on a 18" spr barrel. all barrels are tool-less quick-change barrel systems. they're quick swappable just like the real thing and very solid. each barrel has its own hopup chamber that's fully enclosed within the barrel assembly.
• magazine compatibility: compatible with all standard 5.56 aeg mags (tm spec like most aeg m16 mags are) and obviously magpul pts pmags.
• 5.56mm (ar style) or 7.62mm (ak style) quick swappable lower assemblies!!! yes you read that right, just like on the real gun. the acr has a modified g36 gearbox which has the motor directly attached to the gearbox via a caged design. you pull one pin, the entire lower receiver unhooks from the upper receiver. you pull another pin, the entire gearbox + motor can be pulled out of the 5.56 lower receiver, and the gearbox can then be dropped into the acr's 7.62 lower receiver. push the pin back in to lock the gearbox in place, hook the 7.62 lower receiver onto the upper receiver, lock the last pin in to reassemble the gun, and you're good to go!!! some battery connectors may need to be unplugged and replugged along the way (can't recall exactly), but swapping lower receivers was quick and painless. there are gears on either side of the 5.56 and 7.62 receivers that interface with gears on either side of the gearbox which allows full ambidextrous controls of the selector. the 7.62 setup on the masada looks absolutely badåss.
• 7.62 magpul pts ak style polymer magazines. because the pts acr is slightly unique in design, they couldn't make quick swappable 5.56/7.62 lower receivers and have the gun compatible with the tm spec ak aeg magazines already on the market. as a result they've made their own 7.62 ak style polymer midcaps which will probably have a 150 bb capacity. these magazines will be made out of a smokey, slightly clear polymer so you can see how many rounds you have left, and yet won't obviously look like you have bbs in there to a fellow player (so it won't obviously look like a toy). after using king arms' replica lancer midcap magazines, i'm personally very excited about smoke clear polymer mags. price is yet to be determined. probably en par with the regular pmags.
• quick swap aeg spring: removal of a screw at the rear of the gearbox gives you direct access to the gearbox's aeg spring for a quick swap to a spring of your choosing, without the need to disassemble the gearbox itself. i *think* you didn't have to take the gearbox out of the lower receiver either. you just had to slide the stock off to gain access to it.
• the internals are robust and are modified to magpul pts's own design. the default fps will be 350fps using 0.2g bbs. however, depending on which country the gun ships to, the various distributors will receive an acr with a fps that falls within the legal allowed limits of the country. so if you're in the eu somewhere and buy an acr directly from a hong kong online store rather than a local distributor, i'm not sure if the hk store will down grade the gun for you. that said, they shouldn't charge you much if they did down grade it ... putting a softer spring in the gun takes mere seconds.
• front wired. wired in the front in the handguard. can't recall exactly what the battery storage capability was. i rarely pay attention to that detail nowadays as i only use lipos now. it definitely had room for more than just lipos though.
• 14mm counterclockwise threads. i seem to recall that it ships with a regular birdcage or phantom style flashhider. whatever the real acr ships with is what the magpul pts acr will ship with.
• most up to date version of the acr: the acr has gone through a lot of changes since the masada was first developed. most notably the charging handle's position has been moved forwards to avoid interference with optics and manipulation of the charging handle. everything that should be ambi-dextrous is on the pts acr.
• gas blow back capable. already in development, they've designed the magpul pts acr so that the gbb system they're designing will drop right into the gun once you remove the gearbox+motor assembly. the gbb parts will come later and won't be available immediately upon the acr's release ... but they are nearly finished with the design. i think the biggest hold up is the magazines. and before anyone asks, i don't know if it's going to be like any of the existing gbb systems out on the market today. it's most likely going to be similar to the wa system according to how it was described.
• three colors: the acr will be available in magpul fde, black and foliage green.
• a relatively competitive price: msrp us$450. the magpul pts acr in its default retail configuration (14.5" barrel, polymer handguard, fixed stock) will have a retail msrp of around us$450. the price is fluctuating right now as dupont (the polymer supplier) is increasing their own costs dramatically. about a month back it was $350, now it's closer to $450 depending on dupont's polymer prices. they were deliberating about having a version released that had a folding stock instead of the fixed stock, however due to the complexity of the folding stock and costs involved in manufacturing them ... having the exact same acr but with the folding stock instead would increase the msrp by about $100. so for now, they're probably going to sell the default configuration with the fixed stock (which i actually really liked (looks a lot like the ubr) and preferred over the folding one) at the estimated $450 msrp. all accessories: the folding stock, separate barrel assemblies, metal railed handguard, 7.62mm lower receiver (which will come with three of the 7.62 pts polymer midcaps), and spare 7.62 midcaps, will all be sold separately and will all be available at the same time as the acr's release. (the gas blow back parts will come later). when asked how much it would cost to have a package deal in which a customer could buy the acr with all the aforementioned accessories in one box, they estimated the cost may be around $750. yes, not cheap, but, jesus, i would drop that much in a heart beat for all that i saw there. this is without a doubt the most highend airsoft gun i have ever seen and/or held. i have paid far more for guns that didn't come within a hundred yards of this gun's quality and expandability in terms of features.
• release date: it will be out before the end of the year. they will have production models available at the las vegas shot show in january. they should be at airsoft retailers by this christmas. the one i held was their final prototype. the molds have been finalized, and approved. production is imminent. they may in fact have already started.
so in summary : magpul pts acr = awesomeness, around us$450 (msrp), available before the end of the year, butt load of awesome accessories.