dboys aksu second try

[snorkelman]

graghhh!!! first topic on this I didnt return in time to edit it and add the neccessary images (blush). As a result Ive started over if mods want to delete the original aborted version feel free.

 

 

This review will cover general impressions, noted faults and fixes together with a full take down guide.

 

Gun arrived yesterday so Ive had a chance to mess around with it, take it apart etc before writing this so I dont expect to have to make too many revisions

 

Packaging and presentation

 

The dboys version of the aksu is branded as a KALASH series rifle and comes in a reasonably sturdy box not quite as rigid as the box VFC use but strong enough to keep the rifle safe inside on its trip accross from hong kong

 

 

Initial impressions on opening the box are a nicely presented package with gun, supplied high cap magazine and quite detailed owners manual being visible.

 

Once gun and magazine are removed from the box lifting the cardboard at left hand side of the box reveals 1200mAh stick battery, 2 pin charger (blehh) a rather wide dark green canvas sling, 200 bbs and a cleaning rod. As is common with most AKs these days no front sight adjuster tool is included.

 

Overal appearance is good though colour of upper and lower handguards could be a far better match (in some of my photos you'll see quite a striking difference betweent he upper and lower colours). My preference would be for a plum rather than black (charcoal grey) pistol grip.

 

The pistol grip has a matte finish and is comfortable enough, there are seam lines on the grip but nothing major and not pronounced enough to iritate or be noticed by your hand.

 

Worth noting that in all photos I've already started giving this one a bit of a work over to make it a bit more wethered so any scratches worn finish etc visible are a result of that. As received the finish was blemish free and very consistent if just a little too glossy for my tastes, somethign the VFC suffered from too.

 

 

Dont have my real one to hand for direct comparison but from memory this gun ticks all the boxes as far as general AKSU details go (correct rivet pattern etc). The fake bolt is also the most convincing of the three current new AKSU contenders although it still lacks the AKSU specific short cocking lever, it has a little wobble but most of that is taken up by fiting the battery so we arent talking early VFC AKSU levels of wobble.

 

Fire control markings are in the correct place and the gun has a single serial number on the front trunion - a tula arsenal stamp along with 91 date code and 051121 for the serial number (all units as far as I know have the same serial number)

[Fin]

Thanks for the review, im happy i ordered one . However is it true that other magazines wont fit in the mag well unless you shave like 2mm off?

[snorkelman]

The supplied magazine is a highcap. I'm not a fan of hicap mags but more importantly than personal preference its important to note that the supplied mag has a narrower retaining lip than other AK mags. As a result dboys have set their mag locking latch on lower receiver to have a smaller gap than usual to catch this undersized lip.

 

 

The downside of this is that in order to fit normal mags or share mags with team mates you'll have to alter the mag locking latch on the lower receiver by removing a mm or two of material from it.

 

If you have no intention of ever sharing mags with another AK or team mates then you could conceivably trim the lip on any other mags you buy to suit but I'd personally opt for modding the latch and then ditching or packing the original hicap to bring it in line with other AK mags.

 

 

Construction

 

The Dboys/KALASH whatever they want to call it, has a pressed steel receiver, pressed steel top cover, presed steel rear sight housing (more on that in a minute) steel muzzle break, trigger guard, selector lever, mag latch and folding stock.

 

Unlike the Unicorn it has cast alloy front and rear trunnions (parts the barrel and folding stock mount onto) a cast alloy side rail for mounting optics and a cast alloy front sight block. On the unicorn those parts are steel. In common with the unicorn it has an alloy barrel though theres more detail to the outer barrel as it has the various notches required for thru-pins that hold front sight etc in place.

 

Weight

As with the guarder, VFC and unicorn this is a heavy little gun a few ounces lighter than the unloaded real one (as per the VFC) whereas the guarder and unicorn tip the scales a few ounces heavier than the real one. Regardless of which one you pick up though weight distribution on these AKSUs are good and the design is very pointable.

 

steel rear sight housing issue

In common with the unicorn and my early VFC AKSU it suffers from the pin used to secure the rear sight in its shroud being too short. As a result there isnt enough metal to peen the end of the locating pin to prevent it coming out (ie mushroom each end of the pin so it acts like a rivet)

 

I'd suggest replacing that pin and the pin used for the hinge point on the top cover with ones long enough to allow that.

 

general assembly and wiring

Thanks to the use of pins and rivets all external parts are nice and solid and rattle free the only exception is the top handguard which has some up and down play straight out of the box.

 

 

Wiring is nice and tidy and uses a top gearbox cover that incorporates a wiring loom clip. wiring itself looks ok (nothing great) and has a blade type fuse mounted towards front of the receiver as per the VFC

 

the one deviation from VFCs original design is in mounting of the inner barrel. Whilst the VFC uses a spring loaded inner barrel to keep hop up tensioned against the gearbox the dboys version ditches the spring and replaces it with a moulded plastic component which acheives the same result and provides a bit of additional support for the hop up adjusting lever into the bargain.

 

Folding stock

 

Folding stock is deployed by easing off the latch towards front of the receiver that holds it secure when folded, stock then swings around and latches in the lock inside rear of the receiver.

 

Stock on my dboys is absolutely rock solid with no hint of wobble or up and down play.

Edited September 21, 2007 by snorkelman

[snorkelman]

Controls

 

Fire select is very positive and makes a click at each location it doesnt feel loose or spongy and straight out the box the locating bolt was nice and tight so no issues with fire select drooping into semi from full auto.

 

mag release latch is nice and stiff

 

 

bolt cover latch as per above is also a nice fit, and protrudes a fair amount to ensure top cover isnt going to suddenly pop up just as you've taken aim lol Fake bolt retracts easily with good access to the hop adjustment lever and despite only having a 3/4 length bolt guide rod the rod remains nice and rgid (helped by being secured to the top cover latch by a grub screw as per the VFC)

 

hop up lever itself is well supported along full length of its travel and actually has a little lever moulded as part of it that you can catch with a fingernail to move it backwards and forwards.

 

rear sight is easily flipped between its two apertures (just be careful of the pin it mounts on as mentioned above)

 

front sight post is quite easy to rotate and has a couple of mm of sideways drift available on it as the barrel the sight post screws into is a proper seperate part from the site block rather than just a fake moulding.

 

Operation

Sorry no accuracy or chrono tests my chrono has breathed its last.

 

Feeding from the supplied highcap prior to my modding the mag retaining latch was fine, likewise feeding from the unicorn mag once the mod had been done. Semi is responsive, full auto ROF I'm not going to estimate but is in line with the unicorn (very little in it between them) and as per the unicorn the Dboys version is nice n loud at the muzzle end without being too squeaky at the gearbox end.

Edited September 21, 2007 by snorkelman

[snorkelman]

Thanks for the review, im happy i ordered one . However is it true that other magazines wont fit in the mag well unless you shave like 2mm off?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

a couple of mm off of the top of the mag latch part (spring loaded part on the trigger guard) allows other mags to fit, at very least you'll need to file 1mm off I went with 2mm off and it still locks nicely

 

That might be down to the mag I was trying (unicorn midcap) but I dont think so given someone else with that same unicorn mag had no problem fitting it into a third totally different make of AK.

 

Obviously I wouldnt recommend doing it though untill you test your other mags for fit lol

[Fin]

Well when i get mine i'll let you know how VFC, G&P and star ones get on. If VFC and G&P go in then MAG ones should do, there is no way i'll be sticking to a hicap *spit*

 

Edit: I'll also see if the serial numbers are different, if there the same i'll buy a letter 'l' and knock the 5 to a 6 and maybe the 1s to 4s etc

Edited September 21, 2007 by Fin

[snorkelman]

Takedown guide part 1

 

 

Open receiver cover

 

Remove upper handguard

 

While pulling back on lower handguard to relieve spring pressure on the retaining ring, rotate lower handguard retainer locking latch forwards (in this photo its half way thru being rotated)

 

once fully forwards pull the ring forwards towards the front sight block and pull the lower handguard away from the retaining ring and off the gun

 

Depress the spring-loaded muzzle brake detente and unscrew the muzzle brake (its a conventional right hand thread)

 

barrel thread adapter under the muzzle brake should have a grub screw in its side but on mine didnt check for the grub screw and (if present) be sure and loosen that first before attempting to remove the thread adapter Thread adapter is a counterclockwise thread so turn it clockwise to loosen it

 

with both brake and thread adapters removed you can no turn your attention to the front sight block. This is pinned in place using two through pins. Use a very narrow drift and a hammer to force the pins out. Ive driven them from right hand side to left hand side but they arent tapered so should come out just as easily if tapped thru from the other side.

 

with pins tapped out you can draw front sight block and handguard retaining ring off of the outer barrel (note the notches in the barrel where these pins pass thru make sure and align the sight block with those when refitting the pins

 

to remove top receiver cover you want to hammer this pin thru (again from either side its your preference) On my AKSU this pin was a very tight fit a little bit of heat applied before hand might be needed

 

with that pin removed the hinge assembly for the upper receiver can be drawn off the barrel. the first time you remove this it can be a TIGHT fit. Take your time and use a screwdriver to give you a LITTLE bit of leverage between hing mount and front trunnion to get it started but please take your time and do it gently you dont want to crack the hinge bracket its alloy.

[snorkelman]

take down guide part 2

 

once you've got front parts removed turn your attention to breech area. Just behind the hop adjuster is an L-shaped piece of plastic which keeps hop unit secure against the gearbox.

 

 

Lever this L shaped piece out with a screwdriver as per above photo

 

 

Now you want to loosen the grub screw that holds the bolt guide rod in the top cover latch at rear of the gearbox

 

with the grubscrew undone, slide the guide rod and latch free of the gearbox shell. Then draw the fake bolt back to the rear of the receiver.

 

fake bolt can now be drawn up and away from receiver

 

with fake bolt out of the way you can now undo the two screws that attach hop unit to the black plastic magwell block

 

next undo the philips screw that holds the pistol grip in place and draw the grip off the motor cage.

 

with grip off, undo the bolt that holds the selector lever on, remove the bolt the lever and the little cam underneath

 

push the hop unit forward as far as it can go to clear the hop unit off the front of the gearbox and clear of the nozzle.

 

to finally get gearbox out just pull up the rear of the gearbox, drawing motor cage thru the receiver and lift the gearbox clear

[snorkelman]

takedown guide part 3

 

draw the inner barrel, hop unit and plastic mag block back to rear fothe receiver, then tilt the barrel and hop unit up at rear to clear back of the receiver and draw back and away to remove.

 

once inner and hop are removed the plastic magwell piece can be removed if pulled completely back to rear of the receiver then lifted up and out. Be careful it has two captive nuts that the hop unit screws tighten onto that can drop out sides of it once its clear of the receiver

 

finally draw the stock pin out. Drift it out using hammer and narrow drift (philips screwdriver etc) to tap it thru. Do this from bottom of the hinge upwards (one end of it is stepped and you dont want to drift it the opposite direction)

 

with pin out thats pretty much a full take down.

 

All that remains is the outer barrel and its locating pin which is a very tight fit and not worth the hassle of removing unless absolutely neccessary. Likewise the stock latch and its return spring that are held in rear trunnion and again best left alone unless you really have to (flick spring out draw the mechanism out the receiver).

 

trigger guard is also retained on receiver but thats because the dboys has a riveted on guard rather than just a screwed on one.

 

Rebuild is reverse of disassembly

[pathfinder909]

so what would you make of the internals? do they seem decent compared to higher end AEGs?

[snorkelman]

hop unit seems fine, gearbox shell and fire selection seem fine, metal piston head, 7mm plastic bushings and push fit motor connections. Motor doesnt sound strained when firing and gearbox is pretty squeak free.

 

I like the feature where the top cover retaining latch can be removed and fitted to gearbox shell while shell is in one piece (nothing worse than rebuilding an AK gearbox then remembering you hadn't fitted the latch into its groove lol)

 

I dislike the hole at rear of the box in line with where spring guide is (as far as i remember thats a feature on V2 boxes) NOT a nice feature when rear of the box (and half of that hole) are exposed when stock is folded over and just asking for ###### to get in to the box thru it. If they even put a little rubber cap on it to act as a plug it would have been a better idea.

 

More than that I couldn't tell you as I've no intention of stripping the gearbox down at this time. Front cover of the manual suggests 'metal hop up chamber' not sure if thats a bad translation into english or something they have planned at a later date but current one is a conventional plastic (looks TM compatible) hop unit.

Edited September 22, 2007 by snorkelman

[snorkelman]

Conclusion

 

It looks the part it feels the part. Having given it a load of shaking and jiggling while rebuilding, what rattles there are are restricted to:

 

the muzzle brake (thread adapter really needs a grub screw so muzzle brake can be screwed down fully, do that and the rattle will disappear)

 

the upper handguard (try dot punching the metal of the rear ring of the handguard so it makes contact with the detente pin what play there is is up and down play ratherthan side to side)

 

the bolt - though only when there isnt a battery fitted

 

everything else is rattle free (only the addition of those parts during rebuild caused rattles to appear)

 

Like the VFC the finish is too shiny for a real AKSU but only by a very small margin, real AKSUs are not generally a soot-black finely applied and even finish. Take a fine grade 'wet and dry' sanding sponge (800 or 1000 grit) along with plenty of water and cut back the 'wet look' aspect of the gloss just a teeny bit so its a little flatter, and you'll have very good approximation on the sort of finish you can generally expect on the real deal.

 

No-one as yet makes handguards that truly mimic the contours and colours of the real thing but thats no excuse for dBoys not to try a little harder than they have done. At very least strip back the varnish and give them a going over with something a bit darker/reder and with enough coats applied to give them more of a gloss. Thats not the only colour of finish you'll find on real handguards (they do vary) but its probably the easiest one to pull off. Likewise ditch the pistol grip in favour of a plum one.

 

Million dollar question if I was after another AKSU would I buy this again? Absolutely its more than exceeded the expectations I had when ordering it, but with one provisio do not go into buying this (or the unicorn) with the expectation of the internals lasting. Throw it around at a skirmish or three and see how you get on, if they do hold up? its a bonus.

 

If out the box internal reliability is important to you then wait a few months for folks to post longer term reliability/unreliability reports.

 

However before you rush out and buy a VFC instead bear this in mind there is not one part internally that might go wrong couldnt be fixed by purchasing an FTK a new hop assembly or a decent tightbore inner barrel. You could actually purchase all three and a set of real handguards for pretty much the difference in price between this and the VFC.

 

Likewise if you're in the market to buy a VFC with express intention of jazzing it up internally from the get go then frankly unless the individualised serial numbers on their DX really matter to you dont bother. You'll be spending a whole lot of extra dough on parts you're going to be stripping out anyway and the end result of all those upgrade parts and real steel handguards will look and act the same on the 110 dollar dboys as they will on the 350 dollar VFC

 

right Im off to photograph the unicorn takedown

Edited September 22, 2007 by snorkelman

[Guinness]

Excellent review snorkleman!

 

This little bugger is definately on my list thanks to you!

 

 

Listen, I know what a royal PITA getting these articles just right and especially the photography work and the editing! I for one appreciate the effort!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slainte!

 

 

-G

[snorkelman]

cheers guiness

 

aye in my case not helped by facts that

 

A - I cant take a photo for *beep*

 

B - she who can take photos was busily wandering around the kitchen geting in the way doing kitcheny things, while I tried to take it apart on the floor lol

[dookieboy]

What is bettter internally the Unicorn or DBoys? Can you show me pics too? A detailed response? Thank you very much sir!

[snorkelman]

honestly couldnt tell you - AEGs arent really my thing and these werent bought for their internals I cracked the box of the unicorn internals while it was apart theres a few photos of its contents in the unicorn thread however I wont be doign same with dboys.

 

at end of the day the unicorn has cymas 028 and 031 track record to go on, the dboys has VFCs method of construction and finish.

 

When it comes to new AEGs I always take the same view - buy the one you like but do so on basis you'll probably have to gut the gearbox and, if it turns out you dont need to go tearing it apart then thats a bonus. At price these are selling for as complete steel bodied AKSUs they'd still be a bargain wether there was a mechbox supplied or not.

 

if you need to be sure which is most likely to be the most reliable hold off a month or two and see how early adaopters get on with them.

[snorkelman]

worth pointing out Ad's one he covered at ASCUK is clocking in at over 400FPS (ouch!) so best get those springs changed folks

[EvilCookie]

snorkelman, just want to thank you for the write up and the pictures. It doesn't go unappreciated bud.

[snorkelman]

snorkelman, just want to thank you for the write up and the pictures.  It doesn't go unappreciated bud.

 

cheers EC, hopefully gives folks a an idea of what to expect for each of them

[happy.al]

snorkelman, just want to thank you for the write up and the pictures.  It doesn't go unappreciated bud.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Just want to second that, afetr your review I bough the Unicorn so thank you for your help

 

Also keeps us up to date with teh Gas conversion, are you going to make it like teh Escort system, or are you planning something else?

[Ad_]

Third that Getting the gearbox out to replace the spring (lucky that I had a spare M100 lying around) would've taken a lot longer without your guide

 

The gearbox internals don't seem bad at all, the gears seem to be of good quality and the rest of the components seem ok too. As well as a spring change the gearbox really does need regreasing though- mine was caked in grease.

 

This gun is well worth the money in my view, it has it's flaws (like pretty much all ACM guns) but they're mostly pretty easy to fix. I'm very pleased with it so far

[Fin]

Just another note for the mag catch problem (i'll add it here) if you replace the dboys mag catch with a marui or cyma one etc (i used a cyma) all the other brand AK mags will work.

[dookieboy]

Can anyone please write down a chrono test for this? Thanks and accuracy too please.

[snorkelman]

from ad's test results posted on ascuk using a combro CB-625 chrono 'Minimum of 404fps, maximum of 417fps, average 410fps using Blaster 0.2s'

[dookieboy]

Sweet! No need to upgrade.