Liquid_snake Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 My first review so please pardon any errors or missed bits __________________________________________________________________________ Pro's: -Reliable -Full metal and wood -Relatively cheap -Compact, and can be made even smaller by folding stock -Large Battery Compartment Con's: -Short barrel so not so great accuracy -Over 1J out of the box Included with the gun: -Box -1100mAh Stick Battery -Sight adjustment key -Charger -200x.2 BBs -Cleaning Rod -Various instructions Ignoring the box and its contents for the time being we'll go straight to the gun. Now the gun itself is full metal and wood, a fair bit of it is of course monkey metal but there is some steel there to which includes the stock, receiver and upper receiver. Monkey metal parts include the front sights, flashhider and rear sight. So beginning from the front of the gun at the flash hider. As I just mentioned this is made of monkey metal, however its thick. Really thick. And its held on via a nic long thread with spring loaded locking pin that stops it from un-screwing, a nice touch and pretty handy. I believe the thread is 14mm CW but dont quote me on that one. Moving down to the front sight this is once again monkey metal but as was the case with the flash hider pretty thick and tough. The front sight is held on with a single screw in the bottom so youll want to tighten it up before you start skirmishing, its a pretty important screw. The sight system itsef is typical AK notch and post, however the gun comes as standard with the front sight turned 180 degrees, if this annoys you you can use the sight adjustment key to turn it round to create any thickness of post you like-you can also remove it if you want. NOTE: DO NOT glue over the front sight screw/seal it/make it impossible to get out, if you want to get a nosy at internals youll need to remove it. The handgaurds next, and they are quite happily real wood! Hoorah! OK well the grips themselves arnt exactly made out of Oak but then again they arnt indian balsa wood either. The standard varnish on them is pretty good, nice and smooth however the colour is a bit off so you can sand them down and restain to your liking. The upper grip is held on via the front sight, removing the sight lets the upper handgrip slide out freely revealing the inside of the lower grip. Now the lower grip is held on via a pin with a lever that fits into a groove in the barrel. Rotating this lever releases the pin and allows you to slide the lower grip off the end of the barrel. Next part we'll look at is the barrel assembly which is made of a mix of monkey metal and steel. The outer barrel appears to be made from Steel however the rear part that holds the hop-unit is monkey metal. Basically the whole gun splits into two parts, the front and reciever. This front section is secured via 2 screws just in front of the mag and is easily slid away from the res of the body as one whole piece once the screws are removed. This makes it insanely easy to tinker with hop and barrel settings, switching out a barrel should be a breeze for anyone. Right into the main reciever, this is made of steel and is pretty darn tough as youd expect. The main reciever houses the v3 gearbox and pretty much is the centre peice for holding everything together. The upper reciever is attached via a hinge to the lower reciever, this isnt removable for a good reason as Ill explain in the next section. The lower reciever also has a small hook on the left side to catch the stock when it folds so it doesnt go flailing about on you. This is spring loaded as well so when the stock is realeased via pulling the catch back it snaps back into place. Also, there is a sling hook on the right side of the gun which tends to rattle, so if you dont use it I recommend covering it in elctrical tape. The upper reciever is a great piece of design, instead of having to remove it like most AK's instead you simply push the button/reciever release at the back of the gun and it will pivot up about 45 degrees to allow you to change the battery-very handy indeed when a mid skirmsih battery change comes around. Simply snap the reciever back down when your finished and your ready to go. Another helpful feature of the upper reciever is that its hollowed out the whole ay along the gun, ala there is a battery compatment that stretches the whole way into the front reciever. The more or less allows you to stick in any size of stick battery without worrying that it wount fit. Definitey a huge plus Next is the cocking handle, now this is steel however some of the other bits on it arnt which is worth noting. The handle itself moves about half way back to reveal the hop adjuster (which is a slider) and also reveals your battery, really only useful if you cant remeber whether its in or not! Of course cocking the gun has no effects but makes a great clunk noise. An interesting mod if your bored involves opening the upper reciever and breaking off the small pot metal restrictor, this allows the cocking handle to go the whole way back and doesnt affect the performance in anyway, except make it 5x more awesome! Right onto the Stock, this is steel and and folds via a hinge and a small button locatedon the reciever. Now, this feature is actually far more useful than you could ever believe, the button stops the stock from collapsing in at any stage which is brilliant, but having a folding stock is unbelievably useful in itself mainly because you can lop 40% of your gun away in a tight squeeze. The stock can be removed via knocking out the hinge so if you prefer no stock all the time then its perfect. So that leaves only internals to do. Basically you get a steel gear V3 gearbox, standard hop up and a 6.03mm tightbore (260mm if I recall correctly). Its not much to scream about but its tough, it works and it wont let you down. Oh also the mag supplied, this is a 500rnd hi-cap and the most horribly orange colour youve ever seen, highly recommend scraping it straight away and putting in decent mags. NOTE: The gun's mag cavity is slightly bigger than most mags, therefore youll have to stick some gaffer tape or foam at the top of each mag to drasticly reduce the insane amounts of wobble youll get otherwise. Okies well to quickly sum this up, Ive had the gun for about 11 months now and have skirmished it a fair few times including once in the snow and so far no problems whatsoever. I gotta say Id recommend the gun to all, not because I bought it and wish to spread sh*te about it to make myself feel better but because it truly is a workhorse of a gun and wont let you down. Pictures can be found bellow http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=P2010136.jpg http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=P2010137.jpg http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=P2010138.jpg http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=P2010139.jpg http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=P2010140.jpg http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=P2010141.jpg And a recent photo after 11 months: http://s441.photobucket.com/albums/qq132/L...nt=DSCF1017.jpg Well cheers for reading folks, If Ive ommitted anything or if youd like anything gone over again Ill post it up with some pics Quote Link to post Share on other sites
steaktipz Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 hey, awesome review! Do you know if it comes with metal bushings? Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
K-Wolf Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Nice review man, you've definatly backed up what others have said about them, where did you order yours from and for how much if you dont mind me asking. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Atsalakotos Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Some corrections: The barrel is around 290mm, and it reaches up to the end of the flashider The Front sight is somehow wobbly. (I had 2 of them and both were like this) Both of them had metal bushings. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Liquid_snake Posted August 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 (edited) Some corrections: The barrel is around 290mm, and it reaches up to the end of the flashider The Front sight is somehow wobbly. (I had 2 of them and both were like this) Both of them had metal bushings. Ah right OK, Ive been searching for a new longer barrel to run through a PBS-1 and couldnt find what the original barrel length was. The front sight wobbly problem can be adjusted/fixed in either 2 ways, you can take electrical tape and wrap it round the handgaurds, not covering the whole thing but just one length of it right beside the sights. Alternatively (this is what I have done) is that you can tighten the front sight screw but be careful in case of de-threading it. Mine was from airsoftworld for the princely sum of £130-oh and I forgot to add Ive tried over 5 different makes ofmag and the best Ive come across is the MAG AKM's and AK74 type mags, the work an absolute treat and are a mear £18 a go for 5 from ehobbyasia Cheers for the feedback chaps Edited August 14, 2009 by Liquid_snake Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Siig Posted August 15, 2009 Report Share Posted August 15, 2009 (edited) My AK74U with King Arms mag (70bbmetal), 2x42 red/green dot Edited August 15, 2009 by Siig Quote Link to post Share on other sites
EddieVanHalen Posted August 16, 2009 Report Share Posted August 16, 2009 My AK74U with King Arms mag (70bbmetal), 2x42 red/green dot Always pain over what optics look OK on an AK and yours do! Where did you get them from and how much please? Anyone else reccomend some optics that look OK? Does anyone know what optics they use on the real AKS74U and if there is a cheap airsoft copy available? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Liquid_snake Posted August 18, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2009 I think your best bet for AK sights is the Cobra sight, there is a chinese clone but for the price of the real one you might as well get it instead of the clone rubbish, you can find a link to the cobra sight below as well as two others: Cobra: http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/sight_cobra.htm PK-AV: http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/sight_pkav.htm PK-01: http://www.rusmilitary.com/html/sight_pk-01.htm Those should mount via a dovetail system, the mount for it is already built onto the CYMA AKS74U Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Marlowe Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 It should be noted that while Oleg's shop is great for some things, you can source scopes for over half the price elsewhere - I bought my Kobra new from Ebay for £90. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Joshua_Rose Posted August 19, 2009 Report Share Posted August 19, 2009 Just a small addition, it's an AKS74UN. AK - it's an AK! S - skeleton (folding) stock 74- it's a 74 (not a 47, M, or 74M) U - it's a shorty N - it has the scope mount. ...and no, I can't remember off hand what the original Russian is for each of the above. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassily Posted September 27, 2009 Report Share Posted September 27, 2009 (edited) i have had this gun for just under a year now, and it has never let me down. if you have to get one airsoft gun, get THIS gun. good review cost me £135, i got it from tom who runs elite action games site. Edited September 27, 2009 by Vassily Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vice Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 I have just aquired a third hand one, and am impressed with how it feels. The body, IMO looks better than the CA SLR105a1 and the ICS AK74M, more details and a nicer colour. My only complaints are: The wood's finish is not great, I'm going to sand it and restain it. Saying this, it does look much nicer than any wood effect plastic. The stock had slight vertical wobble. I have fixed this on mine by removing the pin (hinge) that holds the stock to the body. Then filing down the bottom part of the attachment, and the bottom bit of the body bit.. untill there was enough room for a 1mm thick washer (inner diameter just shy of 5mm, outer diameter 9mm), and then reinserting the pin. The stock now has zero movement, and is a bit stiffer (but not much) to change positions. Very easy improvement, and worth the 20mins of work. Will post a pic when I can find my bloody cam cable. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GnGArmament Posted October 19, 2009 Report Share Posted October 19, 2009 Just a little something to add off mine. The stock magazine's tab where the magazine catch grabs on to was a little too thick, so it had trouble catching at first, but a little bit of sanding made it fit great with no play whatsoever. Overall an amazing gun. Also, I think all gun's after the CM.031, CYMA includes a stock tightbore, but don't quote me on that. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Liquid_snake Posted October 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 Long over due update for this review, finally got around to fiddling with the gear box. Bascially I replaced the stock spring with a Guarder SP110 spring which is now putting out at around 300-310FPS. I reckon its a pretty common issue to have to change the spring for this gun as it has that clone habit of having a spring which is way to powerful. So inside the actual gearbox youll find metal gears, metal bushings and an all over relatively simple gearbox to work with. Im no genius when it comes to working with these so if you decide to change the spring yourself this is a helpful guide from mechbox.com Link (disclaimer: I like mechbox.com am not responsible if you balls this up, any work you perform is at your own risk.) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
maxmal Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 AK - it's an AK! S - skeleton (folding) stock 74- it's a 74 (not a 47, M, or 74M) U - it's a shorty N - it has the scope mount. AK - Avtomat Kalashnikova S - Skladnyj 74 - 5,45mm(no idea) U - Ukorochennyj N - Again,no idea Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Liquid_snake Posted October 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 74 stands for Model of 1974, just like 47 stands for model of 1947 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
capa Posted December 21, 2009 Report Share Posted December 21, 2009 nice review i have always wanted one of these but can never find them in stock in the uk Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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