Kamigawa Posted July 31, 2009 Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) Cyma 0.48 AKM About half a year ago, I suddenly realised that I wanted a 7.62 style AK. Being used to the plastic magazines of the 74 series, I looked forward to start using the more solid 7.62 steel magazines. My eyes were set on the Cyma 0.36 AKM. I was tempted by its full-metal and real wood externals. Luckily, pictures of a new prototype AKM were released. This AKM used laminated plywood rather than the deep red, glossy wood Chinese AKs usually are fitted with. I ordered it a few weeks after it was released on Rsov. The items were shipped a few days later, and took about two weeks to arrive (they were shipped from Hong Kong to Norway). What you get - The gun itself - A manual (in poorly written English, great entertainment) - A highcap magazine - An 8.4V 1400mAh mini battery - A sight-adjustment tool - A horrible charger (you do not get the sling shown in the picture) First impressions The first thing I noticed when I picked the gun up, was that the stock wobbled. It wobbled both vertically and horizontally, and this pretty much ruined the first impression. I also noticed that the lower frontgrip wobbled. Other than that the gun looked pretty good. I used an 8.4 stick battery to test it the first time. I tried to put the highcap magazine into the magwell, but for some reason it didn’t fit at all. I decided to try one of the midcap magazines I had bought instead. I went outside and fired a couple of shots. The very first thing I noticed was that the whole gun was shaking. This puzzled me, as there was no sort of blowback kit on it. I decided to find the chronoscope to get it tested. Once I tested the muzzle velocity, the shaking didn’t puzzle me anymore. It fired at 452 fps out of box. Let’s get into detail. The buttstock The buttstock looks fantastic, but it also houses the battery. It is made of laminated plywood. It is a bit thin, but it still seems solid as there is no flex to the actual stock. The sling mount also seems pretty solid. I’ve been using the sling since the day I got it, and the mount still holds up perfectly fine. -The buttpad, you have to remove the whole plate to get to the battery compartment. The plate is made of steel and wears down nicely; I would have loved a working trapdoor though... -The battery compartment. It is tight; I don’t think it is possible to fit anything larger than 8.4 and 9.6 mini batteries in it (ok, maybe there is room for a LIPO) Notice that the screws that hold the buttplate in place are screwed into metal inserts. It seems like these inserts hold up pretty well. They will not fall out anytime soon. The receiver (and stuff connected to it) The receiver is basically a steel plate that has been bent into shape and had various blocks and spacers attached to it with bolts. The important part is that it is made of steel, and I would certainly love to see anyone break this during normal use. Like I said, there are various blocks attached to the receiver in a semi-permanent way. The block that holds the barrel was not attached properly on my gun. This meant that the whole front assembly would be able to move slightly up and down. After some use it also developed horizontal wobble. The top cover (or dust cover) is made of stamped steel and contrary to some of the older AKs from the Dboys series, the top cover is actually of proper length and size. The pistol grip was one of the positive surprises that met me. The picture does not quite show it, but the pistol looks plum instead of the black colour usually found on China-made AKs. The cocking handle, or bolt, was another positive surprise. It is not made of steel, but it is compatible with the blowback carrier found on newer VFC AKs and the Cyma AIMS. -This picture shows the bolt and the hole where a blowback carrier can be attached if you so wish. On the left side of the receiver, you will find a rail for mounting optics. I do believe you can attach all kinds of Russian optics to this rail. -The optic rail is finished in a glossy black colour that wears off easily. Notice the pistol grip, this picture shows its colour better. The front end The first part I will focus on here is the sight block. The block itself is made of pot-metal, but it is thick and nicely crafted. I am however puzzled by its finish. Instead of having a smooth finish, it is texturized. -This picture shows the sight block. Notice how the texture differs from the receiver. The sight is finished in the same way as the optic rail; a glossy black paint that easily wears off. The numbers on it are painted white. I’ve heard that there were some problems with the sight on the earliest versions of the Cyma 0.48. The sight would break due to poor construction. I have not had any problems like this, but the sight does wobble horizontally and it seems like it is made of pot-metal rather than aluminium or steel. The handguards Like I mentioned earlier, the lower handguard wobbled pretty bad when I got the gun. I was aware of the fact that the upper and lower handguards are made of different kinds of wood when I ordered the gun, and this was perhaps the part I was the most anxious for too. The lower handguard is made of laminated plywood just like the buttstock, while the upper handguard is probably crafted from a solid piece of wood. I was relieved to see that they both share the same finish, which makes it harder to see that they are made in different ways. One thing to note is that the lower hand guard is slightly too large. Edited July 31, 2009 by Kamigawa Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kamigawa Posted July 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2009 (edited) Gas tube, gas block and front sight The gas tube (which runs through the upper handguard) is made of stamped steel. That does not apply to the gas block and the front sight as they are made of pot-metal. The gas tube shares the same finish as the receiver while the gas block and the front sight shares the same texturized finish as the sight block. The outer barrel is perhaps the most disappointing part of the gun. It is made of aluminium (how come we don’t get to see any steel barrels on the china-made AKs?) and it is also covered in ugly-looking ribs: -Heat-dissipation ribs or sloppy milling? The end of the barrel is threaded and a slant muzzle brake has been fitted to it. This muzzle brake is fitted for cosmetic purposes on the airsoft gun, but on the realsteel counterpart it reduces the recoil and muzzle climb. -Be careful when removing the muzzle device; the retainer pin (seen at top of the muzzle device) is spring loaded and nothing keeps it in place. I lost my original pin when I removed the muzzle device during a skirmish. It would have been nice if cyma had come up with a way to keep the pin better in place. That pretty much covers the externals. Now, let’s have a look at the internals. Hop-up unit The hop-up unit on the cyma AKM makes all warm and fuzzy inside. I have watched the plastic hop-up units in my Dboys AKs getting deformed for a long time now. The chamber on my AKS 74UN is getting so deformed that the bbs seem to be fed slower. That is not the case with my Cyma AKM. It comes with a great looking metal hop-up unit as standard: The hop-up itself also seems to perform great. The only thing I don’t like on the hop-up unit is that the hop-up adjusts way too easily. By merely touching the adjustment lever, it moves. The gearbox Like I mentioned earlier the gearbox managed to deliver a healthy 452 fps when I got it. The spring that the gearbox was fitted with was shorter than the average spring, but a lot stiffer. I fired about 1000 rounds before I changed the spring, and that pretty much shows how well-constructed the gearbox is. It shoots consistently at 370 fps now, even though the compression is pretty bad. The gearbox was decently shimmed (but I redid it anyways), and as always, everything was covered in green grease (goo). It seems to me like the green grease is of better quality than the grease normally used in acm gearboxes, so I decided to leave some of it. I don’t feel like commenting further on the gearbox. It all looks good to me… Accessories The supplied highcap magazine is utter ######. It seems like the new hop-up unit is slightly different from the plastic units. It seems like normal Cyma highcaps won’t fit due to this. I’m laughing as I’m writing this; it seems like cyma did a last-second modification to make the magazine fit the gun: -This image is a close-up of the top of the magazine. I’m not quite sure what has been done, but it looks horrible and pretty much ruined the magazine. It doesn’t fit at all… Adding to this, the lip on the magazine is made of plastic. The lips on Cyma magazines used to be made of metal, and I can’t see why they would change to plastic. Sure, plastic lips could work, but it seems like Cyma used the most brittle sort of plastic they had lying around. Battery I was expecting the supplied battery to be just as crappy as the supplied highcap, but I was wrong. It performs way better than I expected, holding its charge and providing more than enough juice to power the gearbox. -A typical Chinese 8.4 mini battery holds 1100 mAh, but this one holds1400 mAh. This indicates that the battery cells are of higher quality. Midcap magazines I felt that I needed to comment on these too. I ordered 4 of Cyma’s midcaps them just to test them out. They didn’t feed at all at first, but this problem was easily sorted out with silicone oil. Now they all feed flawlessly. Let me sum that up: Yes, it is a cheap 7.62 midcap magazine for the AK series. It is made of steel, holds 150 bbs and feeds flawlessly. Skirmishing I have skirmished the gun about 14 times now. It feels rock-solid and shoots straight. There is however one problem; it does not shoot were you aim, and there is no way to adjust it. The bbs will hit slightly to the right of where you aim, and adjusting the hop-up will not help. I fear the barrel is slightly off in some way. All this might sound really bad, but I actually don’t mind. The bbs still hit their targets, and the groupings are pretty good. I compensate for this by aiming slightly to the left of what I was shooting at, and in the end, this is something you might see the real-steel counterpart do too. The battery has also performed great. It has provided more than enough juice to keep the gun going for several hours it seems. I was honestly expecting some gearbox lock-ups, like the ones on my Dboys AKS 74u. My 74u locks up now and then, and the gears have to be manually turned to unlock it. This has not happened with the Cyma AKM yet. Final verdict Materials – 5/10 There are far more aluminium and pot-metal parts on this gun than I assumed. How come Chinese companies still make AKs with aluminium barrels? Finish – 8/10 Cyma should have chosen to go with one finish rather than the mix of smooth and texturized finishes. That said, the finish is good even though it is wrong for an AK. It wears off easily enough, and there is a glossy black layer under the matte-black layer. The finish on the wooden parts is absolutely fantastic. Build quality – 8/10 The metal parts are all solid and well crafted. The wooden parts are solid, but they need to be cut much more carefully as they wobbled like crazy on my rifle. Internals – 9/10 I am no expert when it comes to internals, but everything seems solid to me. The gearbox was more than solid enough to pull the supplied spring without any trouble. The bushings are a bit loose, but this does not seem. Overall – 8/10 The Cyma AKM is a great gun in many aspects. Its internals are solid, and will probably hold up perfectly fine for several years if you use a weaker spring in it. The externals are also great, apart from some wobbly parts. All of these parts can be fixed, so it isn’t really a problem. I would say that this is a great beginner's gun, but those who want to look exactly like a russian soldier will surely find some features lacking or slightly off. I'll end this review with a picture of my beloved AKM in natural surroundings: Thanks for reading! Edited July 31, 2009 by Kamigawa Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Frontiers Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 excellent review mate, i wish every review would be so throughout very good reading with showing its all faults. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Gigueand Posted August 1, 2009 Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 You mention both stock and handguard wobble. Were you able to correct these deficiencies? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kamigawa Posted August 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the comments Yes, I fixed the handguard wobble using tape: The buttstock wobble was a bit harder to sort out, but I ended up using a special kind of glue that expands as it dries. The stock didn't wobble just as much after I applied the glue, but it was still noticeable, so I decided to add some tape too. This almost sorted the problem out. I ended up tightening the screws that hold the stock in place. Now the stock feels pretty solid, but there is still some movement. A combination of glue, tape and some tightening pretty much fixed it Edited August 1, 2009 by Kamigawa Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Robinio Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Nice, How much does the stock wobble? I'm thinking about CYMA or Dboys/kalash... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kamigawa Posted September 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 18, 2009 The stock moved all over the place before i "fixed" it with a creative use of tape. The movement was so bad that it ruined my first impression of the gun. Bear in mind that I could have been unlucky. I don't think every single AKM by cyma will have this flaw. The wobble is barely noticable now Quote Link to post Share on other sites
adadqgg Posted September 18, 2009 Report Share Posted September 18, 2009 (edited) The stock moved all over the place before i "fixed" it with a creative use of tape. The movement was so bad that it ruined my first impression of the gun. Bear in mind that I could have been unlucky. I don't think every single AKM by cyma will have this flaw. The wobble is barely noticable now ACM wood tends to do that. Anyway, the barrel does have heat dissipation grooves, they are for realism and if you do not want them... you should not get AKM, or anything made after it. Btw, the internals looks exactly like my Dboys RK-02(same piston, same gears, same air nozzle, same everything)... minus the metal hop-up unit(which I do not like because nylonfiber hop-up unit can flex more which creates a better air seal). Anyone saying that CYMA > Dboys can die now. Also, the front and rear trunnion are RIVETED onto the stamped steel receiver, not bolted. Edited September 18, 2009 by adadqgg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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