Kuan Ju Works (KJW) - a brief synopsis for my UK brothers.
written by Allen (cxl77@po.cwru.edu) aka DumboRAT

This little note came about as a request from Arnie - after having posted a little trivia question on his website a few days ago about a few "KJ Works" products that Wargamer's Club Shop (WGCS) of Hong Kong featured on their website:

The "KJ Works" that WGCS abbreviates on their listing update refers to the Taiwanese airsoft manufacturer "Kuan Ju Works." Us savage settlers here in the American Colonies (LOL, just kidding) typically have abbreviated this company's name to "KJW," and this is how most Stateside d-board/Forum posts refer to the various airsoft products produced by this company. Not being a Brit, I don't know how you chaps (uh, did I use this term correctly? it means "guys" or "a bunch of good-natured men," right?) might have referred to this company in the past - or even if KJW shares the same basis of popularity across the Atlantic..... =(

In any case, KJW has been a well known and highly regarded GBB pistol "fixture" among the more "aged" skirmish players (i.e. anyone with over two years of experience, dating back to early 1999 -- sad as that may seem, a mere two years is an eternity in terms of players' interests lasting that long, a well lamented trend in American airsoft today). Before the advent of the TM M9 Series, the KSC Elite and the Glock 18C as produced by both KSC and KWA, the KJW USP Series held one of the top two spots in the "best bang for the buck (or pound, in your case)" category. For those of you who may remember, the KJW USP, as well as the KWC "high-grade" Beretta M92FS "Super" heavyweight GBB's were among the two lowest-priced, yet skrimish-capable sidearms of that era.

Kuan Ju Works' items, including a relatively "new" (introduced within the past year or so, I believe - someone please correct me on this if I'm wrong) M9 GBB replica, are typically rather unrefined COSMETICALLY. Due to their association with Viper USA/STTI, one of the largest airsoft exporter-importers for the Far-East to USA market, most, if not all, of the KJW items that appear here in the United States do not carry ANY type of real-steel trademarks or corporate symbols. What's more, many even have the prerequisite muzzle "flash-orange" painting (stipulated by US Customs for lawful import into the United States) actually "baked on" to the muzzle portion of the slide.

But as I've mentioned in the other paragraph, KJW's USP's and M9's have been known to be able to "take a beating, and keep on ticking." Their durability and reliability under extreme skirmish conditions has been vouched for by many of the true veterans of this sport (unfortunately, most of the verifying material that I could have submitted for this assertion have been deleted, due to the sad demise of the old www.airsoftguns.com hobbyist site run by the now-"retired" American hobbyist/skirmish player Kelly -- which is now a thinly veiled commercial site -- the old d-board has vanished). Furthermore, with use of higher-powered gasses (i.e. Taiwanese "Green Gas," true HCFC22, or, the "Winter Grade" type of the "American Eagle Blow-Back Gas" that's commonly had by you snobby European-types [ironic that us Americans can't get a bottle of this "bloody" stuff here in AMERICA, eh?]), this pistol produces sufficient muzzle velocity to match effective range with just about any other GBB you'd care to actually skirmish with (i.e., ruling out expensive pieces such as the WA ProKiller 2000, etc., for which you'd start crying if fat-cousin Bobby accidentally stepped on the mock suppressor). Additionally, with use of such powerful gasses, the cyclic speed (due to a rather lightweight plastic polymer used in the slide) is also sufficiently fast, and the cycle provides excellent blowback feel.

Therefore, it is likely with such a reputation that KJW's new G27 is so highly anticipated by many Stateside skirmish players and hobbyists.

Of course, being a Taiwanese make, this GBB seems somewhat more "durable" for use with such high-powered gasses -- and very rarely has there been reports of slide breakage or other such damage with the stock polymer plastic slide. Since a metal slide and outer barrel upgrade kit is readily had and very affordable for the USP (at only USD 70 or so for the matched set), such issues really are not of much concern.

However, as with many such metal aftermarket body parts from Taiwan (i.e. Classic Army, etc.), the aftermarket "fit" can be a little tight/rough (as anyone who has previously tried to install a Classic Army metal body/cocking tube kit onto a TM H&K G3 SG/1, after having consumed a considerable metric measure of Guinness, can attest - it's no fun task!). For example, many well respected players within the American airsoft community (I don't know if I'm "respectable" or not, but yes, I'm included, here) have complained of improper initial fit of their own KJW aftermarket metal slide/outer barrel assembly when fitted to the USP Series GBB's. The most common subsequent finding to these less-than-ideal retrofits is improper cycling of the slide upon first installation. This typically has to be resolved by the player individually, filing down certain areas that may be giving him problems (two commonly reported areas include (1) the "o-ring détente" on the forward section of the metal outer "Tactical" [equipped with a negative 14 mm thread] barrel and (2) the ejection port cover to the slide's rear ejection port cut-out junction point). Specific discussion for these trouble areas can be found on the www.airsoftzone.com and www.airsoftplayers.com Forums, with the aid of the search function.

As such, I'm not sure how well KJW's new metal aftermarket slide/outer barrel assemblies for other models will fit, at least initially, and without player-modification.

There are two other concerns that I know of with the KJW USP's -- one being that their trigger mechanism is prone to breakage (but with the critical real-steel parts being a drop-in fit, this is not really a problem, at least for us gun-toting Americans who have ready access to such parts in our schools, places of worship, and food supermarkets), and that their magazines, which uses the rather out-dated Evolution I design of the WA Type-R rear magazine plunger valving (which is now on its third Evolution stage in current-market WA GBB's), is somewhat prone to leakage (but again, easily fixed for those with even only moderate experience). [Unimportant/Irrelevant side-note: It is unknown, at least to me, if WA pressed charges against KJW for copying their proprietary Type-R valve technology, but WA was indeed recently awarded a settlement in the Japanese court system for this issue, against several other Far-Eastern airsoft makes.]

Of course, not having had the KJW M9, I cannot extrapolate any of the above findings to that piece -- you know how different models from the same company could have NOTHING in common. =) And in the same vein, not having the new KJW G27, I also cannot extrapolate any of the above findings to it, either..... The only thing I can say, as I had earlier above, is that it is perhaps due to these many merits (albeit some minor flaws), that the new KJW G27 is so highly anticipated.

By the way - I just finished watching the Guy Richie film "Snatch" a few days ago. How the heck do y'all even begin to understand what each other is saying? =)

Allen
aka DumboRAT

-reporting from Cleveland, Ohio, USA.

PS: I sincerely hope no-one is offended by my comments above. =) I'm a scientist by training and previous trade, and currently a physician in-training. To me, being a biologist, we're all red underneath, we're all human - so I really don't see why anyone's ethnicity/gender/sexual orientation should be of an issue, and as such, I tend to poke fun at EVERYONE. Please know that the above comments were made in a light-hearted nature, and were not intended to harm.

This page last updated: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 3:51 PM

copyright 2001Arnie's Airsoft.