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PTW clones( DTW A&K etc)


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The DTW I've had was in the similar box, but no stickers. The AIRO came in a box with no polyfoam inserts inside and no glue residue from stickers. Even *if* the boxes are the same, but receivers, electronics, furniture and flash-hider rotation are different that's enough for you to say it's the same gun with CTW electronics?

 

Correction on the flash-hider, I meant the rotation was the same as the PTW (milspec), not the diameter. ;)

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I'm not going to strip the cylinder and hop yet (later tonight). This is just a quick look at the cylinder, hop and barrel and the externals of the gearbox.   The Cylinder is blue anodised and well

It always amazes me the way people think that because the Systema is $1500 it's actually worth $1500. Do you really think it costs Systema more than a couple of hundred dollars to make? Do you think

ok on with the rest of part 2.   I had a look at the gearbox and electrics today. Some good news and some bad news but to keep you in suspense I'll put the bad news nearer the bottom. No sneak peeki

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Batteries are here!

 

Bad news -- while PTW PTS PMAGs fit, they seem to over-engage bolt lock release, so they AiroTW doesn't shoot with the PMAGs unless you push the release button while shooting. I'll fix it, but I wanted to post the report right away. See PPS for the fix.

 

FPS measurements with 0.3g BBs (all I had in the loader).

 

Canada-legal AiroTW cylinder (silver): ~320fps

Orange DTW cylinder: ~345fps

 

Variations in each were about 2fps. Could very well be the margin of error for the cheap chrono I've got.

 

All fed thru the stock AiroTW magazine. Just as a point of reference, the orange DTW cylinder and 0.25g BBs produced ~373fps. 

 

Just as CTW I was able to program the electronics to the 3-round burst.

 

PS. Another shameless plug, I got my batteries from HobbyKing. I've ordered them directly from Singapore instead of the closer US-based warehouse tho, so they took their time to arrive. Thanks to the larger diameter of the battery tubes in the AiroTW stock I can carry 1400Mah 11.1V LiPo battery in each tube and switch them when needed.

 

PPS. The fix for PMAGs couldn't have been simpler -- once I take off the small rubber cover from the bolt lock release part protruding into magwell, everything works as it's supposed.

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Motor and ecu especially, from this wat I heard from the local ptw/ptw clones users motor and ecu is the first to fail.

 

Yeah, this is looking like the truth. I have two of these DTW's and unfortunately I traded one to a friend, when I traded the rifle it was working fine, but after ten minutes in his ownership (and using an 11.1v Lipo) the rifle is going all sorts of wrong. I only ever used it with a 7.4v Lipo, or at most a 9.6v Nimh. He gets intermittent firing, on semi he sometimes get's full auto, and he gets the ECU lightig up red!!

 

While those who are well versed in the mysteries of PTW (TW) may know what the root causes of these problems are, due to the fact that the rifle comes with no manual, us mere mortals can only trawl the web and scratch our heads.

 

Now, I'm relieved I made the choice to focus on GBBR's.........I think I will leave TW's in general to those who have the time (and money).

 

You get to the point where you just want to f*@king play airsoft and not have to worry constantly about your equipment.....am I alone in this desire?

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Depends on which cloned PTW. G&D ECU is aboout 33USD and motor 63USD, not so bad. On the other hand what is the point in switching one "sooner or later failing" part onto same "sooner or later failing part"? The way to go is to switch failing internals with the systema ptw parts.

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I may be wrong but for me airsoft is not only about going out and play but it also about tinkering with my stuff. That is something that makes the feel of airsoft complete to play with something having my own work and knowledge in it. :)

No one can say you're wrong! Everyone is entitled to enjoy the hobby in the way they want.

 

But let me clarify my point. I like tinkering as much as the next guy, but there's a difference between tinkering because you want to and tinkering because you have to!!

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No one can say you're wrong! Everyone is entitled to enjoy the hobby in the way they want.

 

But let me clarify my point. I like tinkering as much as the next guy, but there's a difference between tinkering because you want to and tinkering because you have to!!

Bless this post!

 

BTW. Stefanitsr how's your A&K PTW? Any major failures so far? 

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but there's a difference between tinkering because you want to and tinkering because you have to!!

 

You know, life is not just a pink cloud of joy. :) Sometimes I do because I want to but I have to point out the fact that I like to do tech work comes from times when I had to. And sometimes I had to do it with guns those said to be the most reliable guns in airsoft. :)

 

how's your A&K PTW? Any major failures so far?

 

The a&k Stock m150 cylinder should be downgraded as soon as you get the gun (the stock spring is too stiff and strong and it wears out the front of the cylinder relatively fast, the cylinder head thread on the cylinder (alu cylinder) gets bigger in diameter, enlarges, thanks to the constant hammering from the M150). Over time the cylinder head assy falls out from the cyl if you keep using it on the stock m150. We cut the stock spring a little shorter, it is better now, but you guys should replace the stock spring with a weaker one that's a better idea. If the spring cut to too short you may face feeding issues like I did. I used a couple of spacers (washers available at hardware stores) on the spring guide to solve that issue.

Edited by stefanitsr
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Long winded post from someone whose owned G&D and A&K:

 

I've been meaning to get into the PTW game for a long time- part of what prevented me from doing so was that I was hoping to do a lot of upgrades to mine regardless, so buying a 1500USD+ kit and then further adding 400-500 USD of accessories seemed cost prohibitive, especially since I was going to swap out most of the gun anyway.  So when the G&D and A&K came out I jumped on each.

 

G&D shot nice out of the box (at least for the 1k or so rounds I used to try it out.)  Finish was decent, sort of like the KAC finish it's trying to replicate  and matches well with deep black real steel parts that have class III hard anno (i.e. most parts you can find for your black rifle).  The marine env. logo looked slightly squished, but maybe that's just me.  Has a mil spec diameter buffer tube.  The plastic furniture, though people commented it was shoddy, looked closer to real steel parts to me (or at least the ones I've handled off of janky AR-15's).  The barrel is civvy spec (no m203 cut out) which I think looks nicer, 14mm negative threaded.  I sold this once I found out that the receiver pins don't line up with systema parts or real steel parts (I'm planning on milling a real steel upper out).  Also, my safety didn't have a mechanical stop: it seemed to be electronic only.  The sector gear stopped on a dime, the selector clicked wonderfully, bolt stop was reliable, and I was overall very pleased with this save for the pin issue.

 

A&K I haven't tried shooting since I don't have any large tamiya connector batts on hand and I'm not so concerned with the electronics anyways since I'm swapping them out for a complete set of etiny components.  Finish is kind of crappy, but then again so are a lot of AR15's.  It looks closer to parkerized gray, if that is a concern to anyone.  The receiver looks a lot tighter than the DTW, though the front sight totally sucks- mine came all warped (no biggy, I'm switching out to a real steel low pro anyways.).  Barrel is mil-spec, matches the receiver parker gray color, and is 14mm negative threaded.  Stock buffer tube is a 7 position com-spec (meaning not compatible with most AEG accessories).  The included "fuzzy sopmod" stock appears to be a bit too large relative to a real one, but it sure fits batteries a lot easier than the DTW.  I milled out a real steel 6 position mil-spec buffer tube and was dismayed to find out that the threading on the A&K castle nut and the end plate inner diameter don't fit- furthermore, the A&K castlenut just does not fit my 3 point tapco AR15 wrench (I had to use a chain wrench to get the nut off instead).  However, not too big a deal for me, as I'm in the US of A and I just went down to the local gun shop and picked up some real steel ones on the cheap.  I had to ever so slightly lathe down the threads on the tube to fit the receiver to get it to fit "nice", however (at this point I'm wondering whether or not it would have been easier to just buy a real lower from my FFL and mill it out, considering how much milling I've already had to do, lol).  The motor is connected via crimped spades, so you can change it out without soldering (though I personally would solder it anyway).  The A&K A2 grip also has a set screw built into the plate, which I think is actually an upgrade from the newer systema's.  I milled out a real steel moe+ grip and it fits great in all the non-milled places too, which was a worry of mine given how wonky the rest of the receiver is.

 

I have a brand spanking new Fortis Rev 9.0 that I'm going to put on- I have a suspicion that the barrel nut will not be true AR-15 spec, but again, since I can just go buy a real one and recut the threads on the receiver I don't see this as being too big of a hindrance to me.

 

Overall, it's been much more of a headache to me than I thought it would at first.  If you're like me and are trying to go for the A&K for better real steel compatibility, just be aware that it's actually still a chinese manufactured, bastardized imperial/metric beast that is going to require a lot of TLC, grinding, milling, sanding, what have you to stick your favorite real steel accessories on.  However, since it cost me $350, I'd still totally prefer this route than getting a systema challenge kit (and possibly STILL needing to do all that work anyways!)  But I also work in a machine shop with a lathe and mill and I would defninitely not go this route if I didn't have those readily accessible.

 

In hindsight, building the WHOLE thing from aftermarket might have been easier, given the costs to me in time.  At least this way I have a reference point of a working gun to start with.

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