Real Sword Type 56-1

[snorkelman]

Over the past couple of years with the growth and improvements in clones, 370 dollars has actually began to be seen as quite a considerable sum to spend when buying an airsoft gun from Hong Kong.

 

So what does spending 370 air soft tokens buy you in terms of an AEG these days? Well when it comes to kalashnikov derivatives quite possibly the best ever factory produced airsoft kalashnikov as has yet been made. Bar none.

 

First impressions

 

 

The RS type 56-1 ships in a rather subdued cardboard box. If big colourful cardboard boxes with funky graphics are your thing then this one isn't going to form the centrepiece of your packaging collection Still don't let that disappoint you because what's inside makes up for that.

 

 

Opening up the box reveals an absolutely pristine replica of a Chinese type 56-1 with an orange plastic muzzle tip and barrel guard, stored securely in foam that's cut to fit the contours perfectly, and a steel mid cap magazine wrapped in brown oil paper.

 

A comprehensive manual in both Chinese and English with the usual troubleshooting info and exploded diagram of the replica is supplied together with a full colour A3 sized instruction sheet detailing the take down steps required for basic maintenance. Not forgetting your general retro style BB loading rod that some manufacturers still seem to have a stockpile of they're desperate to get rid of

 

 

In addition tot he replica and the above bis n bobs we also have:

 

A steel Type 56 threaded muzzle piece

A steel twin-threaded muzzle adapter that can be fitted instead of the standard one to allow fitting of air soft silencers

A traditional AK cylindrical metal factory cleaning kit (contents modified to suit the AEGs requirements and comprising of screwdriver/sight adjuster plus two airsoft attachements for the guns real cleaning rod - typical 'eye of a needle' type for swabbing the barrel along with a second blunt ended one for clearing BB jams)

A Chinese green plastic oil bottle of the sort that shipped with the original gun.

A dual ended AK rear sight removal and fitting tool

 

 

As well as providing a handy screwdriver for removing the (extremely authentic looking) pistol grip the case of the cleaning kit itself also doubles up as a tool to undo the upper hand guard release latch:

 

 

Unlike a lot of AK air soft guns the latch on this gun is as stiff as the real weapon and you'll do your fingers a big favour making use of this tool to release the latch rather than trying to do it by hand.

 

 

Fit and finish

 

 

Much has been made of Real Swords decision to make their AKs dimensionally accurate to the real thing by redesigning the rear of the type 3 gearbox to suit. That same attention to detail is carried into the fit, finish and materials used too. Every single external part of the gun is steel - right down to the stock locking mechanism and its internal components, the bolt cover latch and the trigger (the sort of small parts which many manufacturers are quite happy to leave as cast alloy even on their 'all steel' guns).

 

 

All external parts of the gun are finished to the same standard as the real thing. The receiver, folding stock struts and rear sight base are all in a slightly brushed metal finish, the front sight and gas tube is a matt finish slightly rough to the touch, while the remainder of the external parts (upper receiver cover handguard retaining clips etc) are smooth.

 

This is finished off with a nice deep bluing that produces a jet black finish as good as that on my Russian military makarov.

 

continued in next message

Edited January 2, 2008 by snorkelman

[AK74M545]

I have the long stock version its worth every penny.

[snorkelman]

The only exception externally is the visible portion of the bolt, which is supplied in a light grey parkerized finish.

 

Type 56's can be found with both parkerized bolts and highly polished ones, I prefer the latter for this model of AK so as a result a number of the photos in this review will show the bolt after a couple of minutes preliminary work out on my bench polisher, rather than how it originally shipped

 

 

Similarly the wood furniture is built to the traditional Chinese AK design using the same method and varnished to the same standard. Buying real steel hand guards for this gun is pointless - all you'd get thru the post is identical to what's already on there

 

 

To prevent damage to the woodwork, the butt of the under folding stock retains the small buffer pad of the original under folder design, albeit with a small foam rubber pad attached rather than the original square of leather used in 1960s examples.

 

With exception of the magazine, the fit of all external parts is perfect. There is not a single wobble, creak or gap between parts in the entire construction. The magazine does have some side to side play in it, though its hardly flapping in the wind

 

 

As a result of this gun following the real steel design, take down of the upper and lower handguards is as per the original. Having released the retaining latch with the aid of the body of the toolkit, the gas tube and upper handguard can be lifted out, allowing access to the lower handguard retaining ring latch.

 

 

Rotating that latch thru 180 degrees frees its cam from a notch in the outer barrel, and allows the lower handguard retaining ring to slide forward, freeing the lower handguard from the receiver.

 

Due to the real steel aspect of the gun this latch is stiff in the extremes. The VFC version is pretty tight but not like this - I ended up levering it with a screwdriver then knocking it forward with a mallet (hand pressure alone wouldn't have been enough).

 

A similar situation awaits you if you ever decide to remove the gas block or the front sight. Both are fitted as per the real deal using an interference fit onto the barrel and thru pins to hold them in place. Again unlike your average airsoft AK where the thru pins can be knocked out with the aid of a small drift and a few light taps, these ones are there to stay (unless you want to start getting the blowtorch out to give the housings a fair bit of heat).

 

Before looking at the internal construction its worth mentioning one minor annoyance I have with the externals of the gun, and that's its markings.

 

 

First off Real Sword opted to mark the fire select of the weapon with L and D markings rather than traditional chinese characters. Now while that's in keeping with some late production weapons I'd have much rather my Chinese AK variant had more typically Chinese looking markings on it.

 

 

Likewise the front trunnion where the factory stamp and serial number would normally go. Instead of a common factory mark for type 56s like the 'Triangle 66' mark (the factory where a large percentage of them were made for the PLA) and an authentic looking serial number, we simply have 56-1 RS # 001166 (well in my case its 001166, all of these guns have individual serial numbers).

 

Once again you'll find T56's with all sorts of trunnion markings on them from all sorts of Chinese factories, but for a gun that's such a close replica to the real thing in almost every way? I'd really have liked a more stereotypical marking. In fact I cant help feeling that a replica this close to the real deal actually deserves a nice collection of factory inspection marks worked onto it too.

 

Other than that it is a perfect external replica. This really is as close as you're going to get to a set of airsoft internals fitted inside a real AK without breaking umpteen laws in various countries

 

review continues in next post

Edited January 2, 2008 by snorkelman

[snorkelman]

Construction of the rifle I'll cover in detail in a follow up take down guide type post. However I'll cover the basics of the design as relevant to a review here.

 

As mentioned previously this is a completely steel gun built as a 1:1 external replica of the real Chinese Type 56-1. Where it deviates from the real weapon is really just the internal structure.

 

 

To accommodate the gearbox the receiver has none of the internal rails etc of a real AK (although the external spot weld marks of those missing components have been retained to ensure it looks correct from the outside). Instead it features three felt pads to act as buffers for the gearbox against the inside of the receiver.

 

 

Similarly and a little more controversially, the outer barrel to front trunnion attachment is achieved using two grub screws hidden under the rear sight block. As opposed to the real steel design which uses yet another interference fit thru pin to fix the barrel in place.

 

This is more in keeping with Inokatsus design than real steel. It wouldn't be a major issue if it weren't for the fact that Real Sword opted to fix the hop unit directly to the outer barrel as per inokatsu etc, rather than use a VFC style sliding hop unit block.

 

 

Because of the design of the breech area and this directly attached hop unit, to move the hop unit clear of the gearbox and allow for gearbox removal, necessitates the loosening of the outer barrel (which no doubt is why Real Sword didnt go with a thru pin).

 

It should be possible to modify the breech end of the outer barrel woth the aid of a mill to get around this issue (you'ld then just need to undo the two screws on the hop unit and slide it forward on its own to clear the gearbox).

 

To be fair they do provide a rear sight removal tool which allows fast access to the barrel retaining screws and makes it far less of an awkward job than it would other wise be, but in all honesty its an issue that could have been avoided entirely had real sword incororated that sort of mod into the design or just made use of the VFC style sliding hop unit design.

 

 

 

In order to prevent the AEG internals being visible thru the side of the receiver when the selector is off of its safe setting, RS have adopted the marui full length bolt design (the rear section of this is painted black rather than parkerized and covers up any view into the receiver). To ensure wobble free attachment it also has a full length guide rod (the front end of which is inserted into a hole at rear of the front trunnion to locate it securely).

 

However this full length bolt design severely limits the bolts travel. Not just from an authenticity POV, but actually to the point where the bolt travel is so short (around 2 cms!) that its quite awkward to carry out accurate adjustments of the hop up lever (as there's so little room available to access it thru the opening provided).

 

I'd suggest shortening the rear of the bolt a little to allow some more travel and better access to the hop lever, but I'd caution against chopping a large chunk off – as you're then likely to induce a lot of unwanted bolt rattle by removing one of its stabilising lugs in the process.

 

continues in next post after a short fag break lol

Edited January 2, 2008 by snorkelman

[snorkelman]

Sights and controls

 

 

The Chinese Type 56 uses a distinctive hooded front sight (rather than open front sight of the russian AK) and that detail is replicated here. Unlike many airsoft AKs where a fake 'sight post barrel' is cast as part of the front sight housing, and thus allowing only front sight elevation adjustments of the central front sight post, the RS type 56-1 offers windage adjustment on the front sight with a proper sight post barrel held tightly in the sight assembly.

 

 

However due to the root of its parts being in real steel, adjusting the windage on the front sight of this AK will require the appropriate tool as pictured above -either a real one, or a copy of it sold by Real sword. If you live int he Us you're around 10 dollars cheaper buying one of the many copies available over there than buyin the Real Sword one. If you live elsewhere it may well be best to order up the real sword one at same time as the gun.

 

 

The rear sight is adjustable for elevation and, due to the need to remove the rear sight in order to access the outer barrel grub screws, a combined rear sight assembly and disassembly tool is included with the rifle (whereas the front sight windage tool is considered an optional extra).

 

 

This tool is definitely not a luxury - attempting to remove or fit the rear sight is no easy task without it. The leaf spring providing tension to the rear sight is a proper AK strength one and the alternative of using a wide flat blade screwdriver to perform the same job can result in some not so lovely puncture wounds to the hand. So don't lose the sight removal tool!

 

 

The fire select is AK47 style, in keeping with the Chinese Type 56 mix of AKM receiver and AK47 parts, this adopts the now common high end practice of using a one piece bolt to hold the selector lever onto the gearbox rather than a domed cap covering a recessed philips screw as found on the Marui and early Cymas etc. Fire select follows the AK convention of Safe at the top Auto in the middle and Semi at the bottom.

 

 

Rather than being totally flat the selector lever has been curved slightly at the factory to provide good spring tension against the retaining bolt, and the lever has a positive click for each selector position.

 

Indeed coming back up from auto to safe can be quite a push – at times the detente on the selector lever really does lock onto its notch on the receiver.

 

 

The old AKS folding stock design has been the bane of many a marui and cyma 028S owner. That's not an inherent fault of the folding stock design, just the lightweight materials marui and cyma chose to make theirs from. The locking mechanism has several small parts and diecast alloy just doesn't cut it for making those.

 

Real Sword thankfully haven't skimped on their underfolder. While an exact copy of the original locking mechanism is impossible in an airsoft version (the real one incorporates a thru bolt that no AEG gearbox could accommodate) Real Sword have done the next best thing and produced an adapted version of the locking mechanism constructed from machined steel parts.

 

 

Those combined with the heavy guage full steel stock itself (2.5mm thick pressed steel for the arms of the stock, and 2.2mm for its butt plate!) provide a really solid and positive engagement of the under folder. The locking button is crisp, pops into its extended and folded lock postions with an audible click, and requires a nice amount of deliberate force on the button to unlock it from either externed or folded position, as mentioned previously it also incorporates a small beffer pad to prevent the butt plate digging into the underside fo the lower handguard when carried or used in the folded position.

 

Part 1 conclusion

 

Far as I'm concerned externally at least this gun is as near damn perfect as your ever likely to get a kalashnikov replica – construction, parts and finish all authentic to the model its supposed to represent (without need for the owner to refinish it or source any real steel parts like handguards and sights etc to replace their airsoft equivalents), and as a result of all that its built like a tank.

 

To summarize, my only complaints on the externals are:

 

The use of less than stereotypical markings that could have placed more of a play on the guns Chinese heritage for a western audience.

 

The exceedingly short travel of the bolt making it difficult to access the hop

 

The design of the breech end of the outer barrel - making it necessary to loosen the outer barrel in order to slide the hop unit clear of the gearbox.

 

To be fair both of those latter issues can be user modified in order to solve which just leves the slightly annoying markings.

 

 

Anyways thats all for Part 1 Part 2 will go up later tonite and cover the gearbox while part 3 will cover taken down and rebuild.

 

untill then I leave you with a photo of a spookily similar real type 56-1

 

[Bersy]

Great review so far snorkelman! To tempted to buy one of these!!

[snorkelman]

Moving onto the internals of the gun, the type 56-1 incorporates a well crowned tight bore barrel and decent marui style hop unit with plenty of hop adjustment. All barrel and hop parts are well made and finished and there's no sign of 'dirty/greasy hop in need of cleaning straight out the box' syndrome.

 

 

The gearbox boasts a smooth matte grey external finish rather than just plain ole cast alloy, is 5.5mm shorter at the rear than a standard V3 gearbox casting (allowing it to fit into the Real Swords correct length receiver) and has 7mm bearing bushings.

 

 

A selector plate with proper marui style contacts, provides an electrical as well as trigger locked safety. The plate contacts themselves are plated quite substantial.

 

 

The corresponding selector linkage ont he opposite side of the box has been beefed up from the stock marui examples, primarily where it meets up with the cam that passes thru the receiver from the fire select lever and allows for less play between the parts.

 

 

The rear of the gearbox features an externally trippable anti reversal latch just above the motor cage, which Real Sword created by simple expedient of extending a spur from the rear of the ARL that protrudes through the gearbox casting. As a result the ARL can be tripped simply by removing the pistol grip.

 

 

Course a reset rod hidden inside the pistol grip and running all the way up the rear of the motor cage to trip the ARL without removing the grip would have been uber cool but there's little room inside an AK grip as it is (and would have introduced a non realistic external feature to distinguish the RS type 56 from the real one).

 

The only real external dissapointments of Real Swords gearbox is their decision to stick with the traditional captive rear cover latch (rather than the increasingly common cover latch that can be fitted and removed from a fully assembled gearbox) and a plain jane top strip that lacks the wiring stays of the VFC design. Other than thats theres nothing wrong with the externals of the gearbox.

 

Gearbox takedown follows the normal V3 convention of a bundle of screws and release of the motor cage Ive maxed out photos for this post so I'll return after another fag break with a look at whats inside.

[snorkelman]

Opening the mechbox reveals a nice clean lube job with no giant dollops of brown goo to be gutted out. The cylinder is a basic unvented brass one and the cylinder head is your usual single oring design with brass nozzle, though compression is good.

 

 

From the spring guide thru to the nozzle al the parts are made from Delrin (ie POM) material the insde of the cylinder head being faced with rubber amd the spring guide having a plated steel strengthening insert and washer fitted to it. No bearing thrust washers are fitted to either the vented piston head or the spring guide. All parts look as though they've been made to a high standard and capable of withstanding a hell of a lot more than the power of the stock spring.

 

Even the trigger switch assemblyhas been built with a bit of care and attention. The plastic is strong, the trigger switch and its contacts are quite substantial and all electrical contacts are chrome plated with decent soldering throughout (and not a hint of over cooked insulation from a hamfisted assembly worker anywhere to be seen). My only dislike is the hard wired motor contacts, as per the rest of the wiring they're very well done but in all honesty Id still prefer the convenience of mini spades on the motor than have to drag a motor cage and motor around the workbench like a ball and chain

 

The motor itself is a high torque unit and the gearbox wiring is finished off with a vehicle type flat blade fuse (25A type)

 

Real Sword have fitted a pretty long spring in the mechbox of this gun particularly when you consider its only puting out around 290 to 310 FPS (manufacturer quotes 290 FPS while mine chronos consistently at 306). The photo above shows the stock RS spring at the bottom compared to a 410 FPS spring I had knocking around (I think pulled from a Dboys AKSU) With the gearbox being 5mm shorter than normal it feels even longer when trying to fit it

 

All springs in the mechbox from the trgigger switch return thru to the mainspring have all been given a black coating rather than left bare metal hardly a radical move but a nice touch nonetheless.

 

 

Moving onto the gears these are well shimmed with no excess play. Id be interested to see a few more examples but I get the impression from the mix of shims used that the box has been given a proper shim job rather than just a factory default of X here and Y there.

 

All three gears are cut from steel with a very clean finish and eletro etched 'RS'. The bevel gear has a straight splined shaft that provides ten positions for the ARL to lock onto rather than the usual 2 or 4 position designs.

 

Prerformance wise it consistently scores 306 FPS on pretty much every shot with an occassional 1 FPS higher or lower over a test of 30 rounds. Rate of fire on an 8.4v is around 14 RPS though use of the higher rated dboys spring for comparison made little impact on that. the box sounds good in both auto and semi with no sense of it straining in anyway and is none too noisy.

 

Overall I'd say the gearbox is both very well put together and capable of withstanding a far more demanding spring that the one fitted as standard. 305 FPS is fine for over here but those of you abroad shouldn't have to do much more than ditch the stock spring in favour of something a bit meatier and still have a perfectly reliable box.

 

Far as Im concerned this is a near perfect AEG for 370 bucks. The hassle of having to loosen the outer barrel to gain access to the gearbox unless you mod it, and the incredibly short bolt travels impact on hop adjustment aside, none of its other 'faults' amount to more than 'wouldn't it have been nice' and 'I'd liked to have seen' minor quibbles.

 

If you're in the market for a Kalashnikov variant at the moment you had three choices:

 

Go low end and pick up a bargain gun that might need bit of fettling here and there (i.e. the Dboys range)

opt to play safe by spending a bit more on a traditional TM

or go high end and buy VFC Inokatsu.

 

If you're in that last category and have the cash available then Id say strongly consider this gun over its competitors Real Sword have raised the stakes when it comes to both external authenticity and quality of internal components. even if you're in the second category Id say consider spending a bit more money on this than a midrange from marui etc.

 

phew review finally done!

[snorkelman]

I have the long stock version its worth every penny.

 

Aye sorely tempted to add the fixed stock version to my future purchases list (only thing putting me off is Ive already got an old FTC Type 56 fixed stock gas classic knocking around) did you get the funky underfolding bayonet mount with it?

 

Great review so far snorkelman! To tempted to buy one of these!!

Cheers, well worth it IMO cant see you being disappointed Steve

[AK74M545]

yes it does, but its plastic/ rubber i bought the metal one seperatly.

[Magsz]

Snorkel, thats a fantastic review man, very well done.

 

Im impressed, i dont even like AK's but im tempted to pick one of these up in the near future as my first foray into the world of AK's.

 

Couple questions.

 

Will these RS ak offerings be compatible with aftermarket foregrips and pistol grips meant for marui/vfc guns?

 

Hell, im going to go out on a limb here and say that the real sword AK will probably accept real steel rails as well? I know you mentioned in your review that a "real" pair of type 56 grips would fit onto the gun no problem as they're the same thing. Does the type 56 feature the same front grips as a typical ak47?

[dookieboy]

DAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM. That's a nice review and sechsy gun! Next gun will be this or another AKM... heheheh

[snorkelman]

Snorkel, thats a fantastic review man, very well done.

 

Im impressed, i dont even like AK's but im tempted to pick one of these up in the near future as my first foray into the world of AK's.

 

Couple questions.

 

Will these RS ak offerings be compatible with aftermarket foregrips and pistol grips meant for marui/vfc guns?

 

Hell, im going to go out on a limb here and say that the real sword AK will probably accept real steel rails as well? I know you mentioned in your review that a "real" pair of type 56 grips would fit onto the gun no problem as they're the same thing. Does the type 56 feature the same front grips as a typical ak47?

 

 

Foregrips - you're as well sourcing a real steel set that takes your fancy (probably cheaper option depending on what you're looking for). the main thing to note is that although the receiver is stamped its handguards will be a closer match to the russian 'milled AK47' type receiver than the later AKM/AK74 types (which will have been designed for russian stamped receivers).

 

Shouldnt have a great deal of impact when it comes to buying handguards as most styles (particularly the railed tactical style ones) will be available for a milled receiver fitting as well as stamped.

 

As far as the pistol grip goes you could be a bit more stuck untill real sword bring their own alternative grips out. Airsoft AK grips are fatter than real ones (thanks to the motor) and the 74 style airsoft ones are highly stylized in pretty much every dimension. AK47 (and type 56) grips has a steel collar between pistol grip and the receiver whereas 74 grips did away with this.

 

While you could just remove the steel collar on the type 56 (its detachable), and dremmel away at an airsoft 74 style grip it would still look really odd on it and would have no real guarantee of fitting.

 

A marui style AK47 grip (or a kings arms etc tactical equivalent design to suit the 'collared' marui AK47, rather than uncollared VFC etc) might well fit but again theres no real guarantee that RealSword will have designed their grip and collar to match marui's old spec, and I've no marui 47 style guns here to check.

 

Real Sword have released publicity shots of a Type 56-2 (sidefolding version) with tactical furniture on it, so your best bet for a tactical pistol grip thats definately going to fit is to wait for one of those (ETA unknown at the mo).

Edited January 3, 2008 by snorkelman

[Utty]

Awesome review. Now this is what I'm talking about. For once a serious airsoft gun, instead of all that flimsy (internally and/or externally) junk we're used to.

I fail to see why my next AEG shouldn't be a RS.

[happy.al]

Aye sorely tempted to add the fixed stock version to my future purchases list (only thing putting me off is Ive already got an old FTC Type 56 fixed stock gas classic knocking around) did you get the funky underfolding bayonet mount with it?

 

 

Cheers, well worth it IMO cant see you being disappointed Steve

 

Well if you wante dto sell that old FTC Type 56, I'd give it a good home.

 

Great review, as always, something always put me off the RS Type56 but your review has changed that, looks like a great AEG.

[EvilCookie]

Hey the first review of the RS T56 I run across. Thanks snorkelman, well done! Too bad about the trademarks. I wonder if this will carry over to their other rifles they plan to release.

[zeaken]

Amazing review, i definatly feel as if i have been sold on this gun.

 

What about the magazines? i saw that it wobbled slightly (like the rs) but how is compatability? (sorry if i missed it along the way)

[snorkelman]

Hey the first review of the RS T56 I run across. Thanks snorkelman, well done! Too bad about the trademarks. I wonder if this will carry over to their other rifles they plan to release.

 

Aye to be fair to them the L D mark and the 56-1 markings are legit they just arent what Id consider the best combo if you're trying to emphasis the chinesey-ness of your gun. Not sure what the thinking was behind not having a factory mark (though again you can get ones like that)

 

Perhaps whoever was making it for them was reluctant to stick identifying marks of where it actualy came from onto it, or didnt want to get in deep pooh using the mark of a real factory without permission, If thats the case then Im sure the same would apply to later models. Worst case scenario find a man with a cnc mill or electro etch one on (theres room for it on the trunnion in any case).

[snorkelman]

What about the magazines? i saw that it wobbled slightly (like the rs) but how is compatability? (sorry if i missed it along the way)

 

the wobble could be taken up with a couple more of those little felt pads they've got spread around the insides of the receiver in saying that though what you gained in eliminating all play you'ld probably loose in terms of exta effort required to seat a mag (as it stands the mag feeds fine, is held in place well with the mag catch but easy to change mags which is probably the main thing)

 

Mag compatibility Ive yet to check Theres so many subtle variations in mags these days that Id rather not sign off as compatible using 74 style mags when their 47 style equivs that folks would be using in the gun might well be a teeny but different trouble is at the mo all Ive got knocking around are 74 style mags (bar the ones for the FTC which arent AEG compatible) I'll see if I can scrounge a loan of a few differet 47 style mags to try on it, particularly the cheaper ones

 

Ppersonally Id probably just buy a few more of the RS midcaps as they look damn good Unfortunately if you're lookig to fill a couple of AK chest rigs they're going to clock up the pennies real quick at something like 25 bucks a pop

 

 

[snorkelman]

Well if you wante dto sell that old FTC Type 56, I'd give it a good home.

 

hehe cheers for the offer but Im keeping the old girl for sentimental reasons

[snorkelman]

In respect of Real sword parts versus off the shelf parts heres how the internals break down (I'l skip including a bundle of photos as there's no real need):

 

V3 TM compliant parts interchangeable with other off the shelf brands

 

cylinder

cylinder head

nozzle

piston head

trigger switch assembly and housing

semi auto cut off lever and spring

tappet plate and spring

7mm bearing bushings

Anti reversal latch (while the latch fitted is a modifed type allowing external access there would be nothing to prevent it being replaced with a standard one if you were stuck and needs must)

Selector lever as with the ARL this isnt strictly a 1:1 copy of the TM version (the Real sword is beefed up) however as per the ARL theres nothing to prevent usign a stock marui type one. Instead you just wont have the benefit of the extra grip the Real Sword one offers when mating up to the fire select lever cam (ie losing breaking the original one wont be the end of the world).

 

 

Mixed parts not TM AK parts, but TM designs nonetheless

Spur gear is a TM M14 equivalent

Bevel gear is a TM Type 89 equivalent

 

 

RS specific parts

Piston - 1 tooth shorter than normal and 7mm shorter than normal overall length

Sector gear - correspondingly 1 tooth less than normal for the piston teeth

 

As above if you have to then just about all parts bar piston and sector gear can be sourced elsewhere without requiring a Real Sword specific part to be bought. However bear in mind that the Real Sword parts are damn good quality I wouldnt be going out of my way to swap them out for 'branded' equivs in some sort of upgrade-itis frenzy (thinking what you're sticking in is going to be better than what ships out of the box).

 

The only exceptions would be the cylinder and piston head where I can see the attraction of maybe opting for a guarder cylinder and a funky viton o ringed piston head if you've got a few spare dollars to burn.

 

Personally if you're ordering the gun from redwolf Id just grab a couple of real Sword type 56 pistons and a spare Real Sword type 56 sector gear (11 dollars each) at same time as the rifle (to avoid the usual Sods Law scenario of being stuck without them just when you need them the most), plus whatever nice short spring that takes your fancy to hit the FPS you're looking for.

 

Battery

battery wise the Real Sword recomendation is to stick with 8.4V though theres sufficient room internally to go with 9.6v if you prefer. Standard 8.4v 1400mAh stick battery is a tight fit thru the gas tube but does fit and would give plenty of room at the rear for 9.6v or 10.8v sticks

 

If you run into problems fitting a stick battery thru the rear sight block and down into the gas tube then check your gas tube for any burrs etc that have resulted from it being demilled (a big slot has been milled along the gas tubes length so it cant be used on a real rifle)

Edited January 4, 2008 by snorkelman

[Sale]

Great job on the review Snorkelman!

 

Regarding the grub screw attachment of the outer barrel, you'll notice that the outer barrel has a "shoulder", so no matter how hard you push the outer barrel, it stays put. The grub screws only prevent rotation, and pulling the outer barrel off to the front. Coupled with the stability of the outer barrel -mounted hop-up chamber and the close fit between the inner barrel and outer barrel, I think it's far from being a con. The washers of the hop-up chamber screws are captive, so there are few parts to get lost when you take it down.

 

The magazines wobble surprisingly much on real guns. If it's solid on an AEG, it doesn't feel real.

 

Darn, and I had made a decision not to buy more AEGs.

 

-Sale

[snorkelman]

cheers Sale, go on you know you want one

 

Hop and barrel is certainly solid enough Id just have preffered the breech area behind the tangs on the outer barrel cut back deeper - so that when the hop unit was uncrewed (along with muzzle piece) the inner and hop could have been slid further forward towards the breech, without need to go near the outer barrel grub screws at all.

 

As it is with hop unscrewed you can slide them forward a couple of mm before the front of the hop unit runs out of room, just nowhere near enough to allow clearance of the hop from front of gearbox. It's a pity as theres plenty of spare metal in the breech area that could be milled back a bit to allow the extra cm or so of clearance to allow that (which is what I'll end up doing with this one)

 

To be fair with the sight removal tool included its not a major greif - flick gas tube lever up, remove upper handguard and gas tube, remove rear sigth undo the grub screws and slide the lot forward. Versus remove the two hop screws and muzzle piece then slide the inner and hop unit forward. Compared with undo grub screws here and undo more grub screws there on a inokatsu either one is a damn site easier

 

At end of the day Ive got to say its indicative of the quality of the gun that despite pulling whole thing apart to the last screw and washer, and trying to be as unbiasedly critical as possible, the worst I can point out is minor issues with available bolt travel, lack of a factory stamp, and a couple of steps that would add under a minute or so to gearbox removal hehe. Hell I'd cheerfully buy airsoft guns with that level of 'issues' all day long

Edited January 4, 2008 by snorkelman

[deepsix]

I've got one of these puppies sitting in font of me now... along with a handfull (big handfull) of spare mags... this guns THE most impressive hardware I've seen to date in airsoft. I've had Guarder AK's, a few VFC's, and a slew of classics... and Snorklemans' right on with this review; she is one realistic SOB. and I'm a PICKY SOB myself! No refinishing needed ANYWHERE. No replicating of machine marks... nuthin' needed. I'm a happy guy indeed with THIS one.

 

 

here's my two cents for what would really top her off:

 

I'd love to have the barrel pinned... you're right-on with that one.

 

I have SLIGHT side play (vertical is normal) in the folding stock. I tightened up the mech, but I think I am going to solder the inside plate on the release side right to the receiver. Will not change anything in disassembly, and will nix the side play, make it EASIER to put back together, and get rid of one more possible component of vertical play.

 

add a small square of foam under the front of the mechbox to tighten up the mags... and speaking of mags, the baseplates are a bit loose, so a little foam in there couldn't hurt either.

 

SOMEONE NEEDS to drop a Systema PTW motor in a custom grip with a thin steel motor cage. (or just drop in a GBB mech and be done with it!)

 

 

 

yeah... not much to do, just nitpicking really... I'm going to go touch it now

Edited January 4, 2008 by deepsix

[FW200]

TBH, Real underfolders have a bit of play as well, no matter from what company they come, they can be tightened up though but will always work loose with time. This is one of the major reasons the Soviets went to the sidefolder setup...