So with the tech work side of things ramping up lately (especially with the holidays approaching), I’ve been able to see a wide variety of different guns pass across my workbench – enough to get an idea of what’s working well… and what isn’t so great. Being able to dive into the guts of a gun and diagnose the problems gives one a different view of the overall quality of the package as opposed to the player who is usually not inclined to perform repairs.
With that being said, here are my thoughts on what’s been passing through the repair circuit these days. I’ve decided to only focus on the two major categories or style of guns for the purposes of this article: M4’s and AK’s. I could have remarked on a few other designs, but realistically these probably make up less than 1% of my overall workload. M4’s and AK’s comprise of the vast majority of work, with the former accounting for nearly 90% of what passes through my hands. Unlike the real steel world, the airsoft one is primarily dominated by the M4 platform. Unfortunately, the version 2 is also by nature the most prone to failure and it is a vast and endless horde of version 2’s that keeps the tech employed for the most part
M4 / M16 Platforms
King Arms – I’ve been seeing quite a few of these lately, which isn’t something I could always say. This might be a testament to their marketing or competitive pricing. These are usually pretty decent on the inside. My biggest gripes would be the odd piston design and plastic spring guides which lend themselves to frailty. Thankfully these can all be replaced with quality aftermarket parts. The rest of the internals and even the gearboxes seem to be of decently high quality. Every single one I’ve worked on has had extremely poor compression and required new o-rings and/or air nozzles though. They also tend to have too many shims, which makes the gears tighter than they need to be. Exterior-wise, the metal units are always going to feel nicer than the plastic externals. The latter being definitely more durable than the A&K plastic, but perhaps not as tough as the G&G nylon based externals.
A&K – They are legion and universally cheap. Perhaps a decent budget platform that will get you into the game, but don’t expect it to last long. Still, they have decently strong gearsets and usually decent hop-up chambers that are more precise than some. I don’t work on a ton of these as most guys junk them as soon as they break and move onto something more expensive. I’ve never seen one that has good shimming out of the box. Like a lot of cheap M4’s, whomever was working the factory floor that day decided it was a good idea to gunk a gallon of axle grease into the gearbox.
Echo1 – Another relatively common M4 platform that’s encountered. Between these and G&G’s it’s kind of apples to oranges for me. A decent entry-level gun, but don’t expect it to perform miracles.
KWA – I personally consider these among the better M4 platforms in the mid-range price tier. Yes, they are fond of certain proprietary parts, and they do take an unconventional route for some internals – but I rarely have to work on them to be honest. And when I do have to work on them, they aren’t that bad to work on. And despite what most internet lore would have you believe, outfitting KWA’s with “TM Spec” isn’t as hard as it’s made out to be. They are burdened with craptastic air nozzles, unfortunately. But these can be replaced with quality aftermarket options. Externally they are very well built, and seconded only by VFC or TM in my opinion. I would say their RM4 series represents the current pinnacle of KWA design. I realize KWA did have a bad run a while ago, but that has for most intents and purposes been surpassed. Anymore and I simply feel the KWA hatred is just another one of those airsoft hipster fads that needs to die.
Cybergun – Cybergun markets a vast horde of largely lower-end AEG’s under a myriad of different trades and namesakes. They are universally inexpensive, ubiquitous, and cheaply made. They take many shortcuts in internal and external design that gives me migraines. 9 times out of 10 it’s easier and cheaper to replace the entire gun versus hiring a tech to repair it for you.
G&G – These too are legion and account for most of the M4’s I work on these days. G&G guns seem to come in two different flavors:
- The first type is fairly cheap and inexpensive, and is often outfitted with aluminum barrels aluminum cylinders, plastic bushings, and a cheaper nylon piston analogue,
- The second type is of a better build quality, and has brass barrels, brass cylinders, brass bushings, a higher quality nylon piston and piston head, and overall better fit and finish.
The one thing they both share is a pretty solid gearset that can take a beating. Like KWA, they utilize a few proprietary designs that can make picking and choosing certain parts problematic. While their gearboxes have a nice appearance and finish, they aren’t any stronger than most any other Ver. 2 design and it’s all too common to see them fracturing at the cylinder head mounting point from abusive dry firing. I’m not a fan whatsoever of their hop up chambers as I feel they are too sloppy – which is an inverse to their hop up buckings, which are actually pretty good quality. I’m also not a fan of either variety of their bushings, which I feel are only there as an excuse to be cheap so their factory workers can do as little quality shimming as possible.
VFC – I don’t work on these too often. They aren’t as common as the more inexpensive M4’s out there, but price plays a factor in how ubiquitous a gun becomes. VFC still builds top-notch externals, and they are really among the best out there externally. Internally, they are pretty decent, and I don’t encounter much in the way of problems unless yours happens to have the clear acrylic components. Like any AEG out there, a decent hop up bucking will make them shoot much nicer than they do in pure stock form. The inner barrels are actually pretty good and they don’t typically warrant a replacement unless it’s bent or damaged. Like G&G, they also offer a lower-quality albeit more affordable tier of guns. Usually these are outfitted with plastic externals, but this may vary depending on whom is distributing what.
Tokyo Marui – TM guns have almost legendary reputations for amazing accuracy and long lifespans. With the current pricing that TM guns command these days, they have largely entered the rarefied atmosphere of near-vaporware rich-man’ guns that you just don’t encounter often. Which is why most that I see are usually old and well used to the point of becoming Frankenstein guns. You won’t hardly encounter one breaching the 300 FPS mark, but in pure stock form they seem to keep going and going… kind of like the Energizer bunny. TM builds perhaps the absolute best stock AEG hop up chamber out there. They’re just built to a higher tolerance and quality than what most manufacturers are willing to drop into their guns.
Classic Army – CA is one of those companies that has really kind of dropped off the face of the earth of late. They used to be very well known and ubiquitous, but somewhere along the line they kind of just fell off the radar. I don’t work on these very often, mostly because I don’t hardly see one come across my desk. The older stuff I’ve worked on appears to be of higher quality than the newer stuff, however. Most of the CA guns I work on have been shot so long and so hard with almost zero maintenance that the nasty yellow grease CA uses has dried out and turned into a near epoxy-like substance that all but seizes the gearset.
Frankensteins – These are those guns you love to hate and hate to love. They’re usually the result of the owner creating some mad amalgamation of boneyard parts and duct-taped-together fragments of formerly abused M4’s that would have been fit for a smelter. You can pretty much guarantee every part will be out of spec, worn out, or completely mis-matched. They will give you an everlasting headache and endless hours of frustration as you try to diagnose each problem while running into a dozen more.
AK Platforms
“Kalashnikov” brand – I believe these are made by Cybergun or Matrix, which means they’re a turd dressed up in a pretty box while completely denigrating the Kalashnikov name. Don’t waste your money. They utilize the old TM style of assembly for the most part, but the externals are so cheap and plastic-y that you can literally snap the thing in half with your bare hands. Often found in pawn shops for a reason.
CYMA – Probably the most common AK platform out there nowadays. I consider these on the mid to low-end range mostly because the externals and internals are crude, albeit they can take a beating. A good choice for the airsofter who doesn’t like to maintain his equipment. Utilization of the Ver. 3 design means these will typically outlast your average M4 on the breakdown scale.
Tokyo Marui – The original, and some might say the best. I tend to disagree as I feel it’s been superseded by newer and more modern designs that are far more efficient to assemble and disassemble. Still the TM essentially set the stage for the majority of AK’s out there and most manufacturers clone this design in construction aesthetics and assembly process. Most of the time these are plastic receivers unless someone has upgraded to metal externals. I very very rarely have one of these to work on… again, probably due to the price point TM’s run at these days. Due to the design, these are exceptionally accurate, if not lowish on the FPS scale (around the 285 mark).
VFC – Very high quality AK’s, but also quite hard to find these days. Most places are out of stock on these and have been for quite some time. They usually don’t require much out of the box to compete, except maybe a new bucking. Some AK purists argue these are among the more realistic finish-wise for a Combloc style AK.
LCT – Makers of perhaps the widest variety of AK’s imaginable. These are very high quality and feature excellent internals and externals. They also command a pretty penny these days, but not as much as a new gen TM. These utilize the newer method of assembly, and as such, one can be inside the gearbox in under 5 minutes or less. I’ve seen some issues with some runs having trigger switches that warp under heat, but these are easily replaced if that’s the case. Other than that, I have not encountered much in the way of problems with these and the stock components are high quality and do not need upgrading. I would rank them as the 2nd best AK manufacturer out there.
E&L – These are the new kids on the block, and thankfully they have brought a pretty nice AK to the market. I have only worked on couple, mostly to correct shimming issues. Internally and externally they are solid and well built, but not quite as refined as an LCT or Real Sword. But they also retail for less than either of those brands too. Contrary to internet rumor, the only thing that’s actually ‘real steel’ on them is the furniture. The receivers and most of the externals follows the LCT design convention, with the receivers being made of heavy gauge stamped steel with reinforcements added here and there. I would rank them as the 3rd best AK manufacturer.
Real Sword – Having owned at one time upwards of 7 of these (I’m now down to a more respectable 4) I honestly feel they are the absolute best AEG AK manufacturer out there. Built almost entirely out of real steel components, with exception to the barrels and pistol grips, these are the closest 1:1 replica you will ever get in a airsoft gun. They are even finished out like the real steel guns too. And much like the real AK’s they mimic so closely, these things are tanks inside and out. The only problem I’ve ever encountered with my collection has been a motor height screw coming loose once. They use mostly standard spec Ver. 3 components, excepting the gearboxes which are shorter than a standard Ver. 3 box is (this is because the receiver is an actual real modified AK receiver.) They don’t actually need any upgrades out of the box, however, except for maybe a spring downgrade as they usually shoot around the 430 FPS mark. The magazines are also made out of real AK mags with mid-cap or hi-cap internals designed to fit. I’ve actually been able to run Real Sword magazines in everything from an LCT, CYMA, VFC, to an ICS Galil. They just plain run.
The only downfall to Real Sword guns is they are expensive (but not TM Recoil Shock expensive) and they are replica’s of the Chinese AK variants and as such they don’t offer any replica’s of Russian or other Combloc AK’s. If Real Sword ever produced a Combloc pattern AK (especially the 5.45mm models), I think it would hammer the crap out of LCT.
Frankensteins – Yes, there are AK Frankensteins too. Much like the M4 versions, these will give you a headache. Most have enough electrical tape on them to pull 3M out of bankruptcy several times over.
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In summary…
There are a lot more manufacturers out there that I neglected to mention, mostly because the above are what I encounter the most. One trend that should be clear from reading this (if you’ve made it that far) is quality always outlasts cheap. In other words, you get what you pay for. I work far more often and far longer on cheap guns than I do more expensive guns. Additionally, more expensive guns usually have less fitment and compatibility issues than cheaper guns do because they are built to higher tolerances and have higher quality components.
When purchasing a new airsoft gun, I always tell prospective buyers to keep in mind one thing: Buy once, and cry once.