BO Manufacture AKM13?

[blobface]

For those who click on Redwolf + Ehobby at least once everyday has probably noticed they are both pushing for these new AKs, apparently manufactured in France. 

 

http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/army-ak47-airsoft-aeg-1.html

http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwolf/airsoft/AEG_AEP_BO_Manufacture_BO_Manufacture_AKM13_Rifle.htm

 

With the asking price of $943... claiming to be challenging Inokatsu in terms of realism... which confuses me, isn't it generally agreed that when it comes to AK, at least in the external aspect, Real Sword is the most authentic for it using real Norinco parts..? This gun seems to be using normal v3 gearbox, which instantly means the dimension can't be realistic.. the fire selector dimples are shallow like most AEGs, with the texture on some of the close ups looking suspiciously like the work of LCT... does anyone here know more about this BO company? 

[Gunmane]

Considering past transgressions regarding this so called "Black Ops" company, I would wager it is a Cybergun rebranding of something (LCT perhaps).

 

In other words, move along, ignore, don't pay any attention to.

[Isamu]

There was a videor eview of this gun in arnies news... somewhere, long story short:

 

Slightly over average performing AEG

LCT externals refinished to look awesome

Brutally high price tag

[Baddbaz]

Actually got to meet the guys who make/ sell these guns . Also a 416 is just about to go on sale . The externals are really top notch finish wise

The internals are top end upgrade parts . The akm has phenonimal trigger response as does the 416 . The guns I got to shoot were hitting 21 rps on an 8.4 battery .

The downside to the akm is its bright pink gearbox which shows through when the selector is in the fire position .

Also these guns are hand finished externally and no two guns are totally alike because of it

Made in very , very limited numbers .

Definatly nothing to do with cybergun

Pas had a few to sell . All gone now at 650 quid a pop . Less than 100 akm guns will ever be made by them . The next will be their awesome 416 in a specialy finished camo colour and a few in black .

[ollie_ty]

LCT externals refinished to look awesome

 

You for real? It looks all old and *suitcase*.

[Baddbaz]

Trust me they look awesome in the flesh . Pas had one on display for a few weeks before it sold . Lovely bit of kit . But overpriced compared to a real sword ak . Which is still unbeatable for externals . Unfortunatly they don't make Russian variants .

[AceOfSkulls]

one mans too old is anothers experienced and worldly

 

they look awesome, but if they are just LCT and dont perform amazingly, ill just take the LCT and save the difference cheers.

[hwagan]

A $950 AK with a pink gearbox on show through the body?

 

 

LOL.

[spetsnazdave87]

I could get a CYMA AK looking like that in a couple of hours with a blow torch and some steel wool. £650 my butt.

[cazboab]

Actually got to meet the guys who make/ sell these guns . Also a 416 is just about to go on sale . The externals are really top notch

Except for the slight issue that the 416 has a regular m4/m16 lower. Kind of a big flaw imo.

[hwagan]

Except for the slight issue that the 416 has a regular m4/m16 lower. Kind of a big flaw imo.

 

 

Really!? This company sounds like a joke, I don't care how nice the AK is - You don't put a pink gearbox in it that's visible and then ask that much money. Ludicrous.

[FTZ-WildeCard]

one mans too old is anothers experienced and worldly

 

they look awesome, but if they are just LCT and dont perform amazingly, ill just take the LCT and save the difference cheers.

 

Got to check these out in person myself -- I wouldn't know if these are LCT kits that have been refinished - but whatever BOM have done these things really do look great. The wood is hand finished, with a beautiful grain and deep colour. I don't know if this is true to an actual issue AKM, but it looks gorgeous. Joins with receiver are done very well, with uniform shape. No unsightly cuts have been made here. There is no pitting from ill handling, everything suggests that a lot of effort and skill has gone into finishing the wood.

 

The receiver is most definitely not your standard AK variant AEG fare -- the fire selector is solid to change with a chunky click between settings. It is almost stubborn to change, I've been told this is also a feature of a genuine AKM (please someone let me know if this is not the case, as I don't know either way).

 

Performance wise, fire rate is very good -- estimated 22 RPS + on a 9.6v NiMH. The come out of the factory rated around 400 fps on a .20g BB - each one is tested. The sample I saw was rated 392 fps - which tallied on a SKAN Chrono, consistency over 10 shots was +/- 4fps.

 

A $950 AK with a pink gearbox on show through the body?

 

 

LOL.

 

I don't know why they didn't do something with the colour, but the parts are Lonex upgrade parts which accounts for the high rate of fire and the consistency. Also comes with a 6.03 barrel as standard. When tested in I only had access to a short firing range, so I can't comment on it's long range capability, but I have no reason to doubt it -- but as above, from what I did see it was excellent.

 

Not sure I would personally pay £600++ for this, but considering it takes all the effort out of getting a very good, hand finished body (wood furniture and full metal receiver) and then upgrading all the internals itself, it isn't amazingly expensive.

 

What isn't mentioned elsewhere is that it comes with a hard case and a 70 round mid metal mid-cap. 

 

I would LOVED to have done a side by side with a Real Sword (Type 56 for instance) but didn't have access to any at the time.

 

 

EDIT: My brother did a "hands on" with his thoughts and feelings on the rifle; but probably more interesting for fellow Arnie-ites, we did get some close up photos of the AKM.13 that might help others with more knowledge better assess the externals:

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.488891131165807.1073741831.410915035630084&type=1

[hwagan]

I don't know why they didn't do something with the colour, but the parts are Lonex upgrade parts which accounts for the high rate of fire and the consistency. Also comes with a 6.03 barrel as standard. When tested in I only had access to a short firing range, so I can't comment on it's long range capability, but I have no reason to doubt it -- but as above, from what I did see it was excellent.

 

Not sure I would personally pay £600++ for this, but considering it takes all the effort out of getting a very good, hand finished body (wood furniture and full metal receiver) and then upgrading all the internals itself, it isn't amazingly expensive.

 

What isn't mentioned elsewhere is that it comes with a hard case and a 70 round mid metal mid-cap. 

 

I would LOVED to have done a side by side with a Real Sword (Type 56 for instance) but didn't have access to any at the time.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a fantastic gun, and a quick go with a black sharpie will sort out the pink gearbox issue; The problem is however, making an AK47 look damned good isn't hugely difficult. Say for example you spent £300 on an LCT AK; Then another £200 on a professional technician tuning all tits out of the gearbox for similar performance. That leaves you £100 for real AK wood, wire wool, etc etc.

I see the logic - It's an out the box, super-tuned AK with an exceptionally nice finish and performance, and the price isn't insane, but I just can't see why they'd have such a glaring error; The pink gearbox is utterly ridiculous - Going to that level of effort to make an AK look nice with the performance to match, and not bothering to spend 18 seconds spraying the gearbox shell for the price it costs? It's insane is what it is.

 

It'd be like a Viper or Inokatsu M4 GBBR coming with a lilac safety switch, it's just silly. SILLY I TELLS YA.

[blobface]

The receiver is most definitely not your standard AK variant AEG fare -- the fire selector is solid to change with a chunky click between settings. It is almost stubborn to change, I've been told this is also a feature of a genuine AKM (please someone let me know if this is not the case, as I don't know either way).

 

Apologies in advance for picture bombing... but it's hard to get my point across otherwise... I'm very skeptic on the point about the receiver, I have a few LCT AKs, and they look extremely similar, even the fire selector dimples... here's what I mean. 

 

Here's a real one vs BO:

 

 

 

Notice the dimple, it's quite deep, rounded and oval shaped.

 

 

 

See the dimple is disc-like and flat, like most AEGs, but sanded around the edges, also how tight it clicks in place can be easily modded simply by banding the lever and tightening the screw. 

 

Here's Real Sword VS Norinco (real steel) 

 

 

 

As you can see, the dimples are milled out on both version, it's a define cut, not a flat disc, the marking are different due to different version of the body, the Norinco on the right has the Chinese characters, where as Real Sword uses L and D (which stands for Lian, continuous, and Dan, single) 

[FTZ-WildeCard]

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's a fantastic gun, and a quick go with a black sharpie will sort out the pink gearbox issue; The problem is however, making an AK47 look damned good isn't hugely difficult. Say for example you spent £300 on an LCT AK; Then another £200 on a professional technician tuning all tits out of the gearbox for similar performance. That leaves you £100 for real AK wood, wire wool, etc etc.

I see the logic - It's an out the box, super-tuned AK with an exceptionally nice finish and performance, and the price isn't insane, but I just can't see why they'd have such a glaring error; The pink gearbox is utterly ridiculous - Going to that level of effort to make an AK look nice with the performance to match, and not bothering to spend 18 seconds spraying the gearbox shell for the price it costs? It's insane is what it is.

 

It'd be like a Viper or Inokatsu M4 GBBR coming with a lilac safety switch, it's just silly. SILLY I TELLS YA.

 

I agree with you; I can't really explain the decision here - but maybe it was just due to the upgrade parts being that colour. I actually didn't think it was too big a deal though seeing it in person, but I realised we didn't actually take any photos with the selector set at anything other than safe. In the video review we did test fire, but it was a bit dark at the range so you can't actually see the pink, but from what I remember it was really very visible.

 

Besides, I like to rock a pink tie at work sometimes haha.. If I were to buy one of these, I think I could live with it. The fancy colours might even be a conversation starter that'll lead onto talking about the less gaudy parts of what is a very smart and capable little thing! Kinda like big jubblies on a genius,hawt blonde , if you will. 

[Baddbaz]

My bad I forgot about the hard case , certificate and steel mag . Also these guns are running bore up cylinders in them ( the akm ) . And top end Lonex upgrades including their barrel and metal hop unit , gearbox . Not sure on the specs of the 416 and m4 I got to shoot . But I know they were full of top end upgrade parts as well , as said trigger response is the best I have felt on a non MOSFET aeg gun , truly phenonimal .

Externally the real sword wins as its real steel but the bo guns came a very close second . To fire both they are completely different guns on response Rof etc , fire selector feel very similar in the clunkiness and stiffness .the flashider on the akm is an awesome looking thing of Beauty ..

[FTZ-WildeCard]

 

Fire Selectors

 

 

Ah ha! Yes, I see what you mean.. I don't remember it being quite as pronounced and as flat as the picture there, but it was definitely not 'cut' like the Real Steel versions. The photos on the FaceBook album I linked are high-res-ish (FaceBook compressed them slightly), just grab the URL from FaceBook and open it in a new window. 

 

I'd be happy to grab some more high-res photos on request if anyone wants to examine other external aspects of the AKM.13. Just let me know what is desired. 

[blobface]

Ah ha! Yes, I see what you mean.. I don't remember it being quite as pronounced and as flat as the picture there

 

It's not just that, also notice the position of where the full auto dimple is compared to the rivet next to it, on the BOM, it's above the rivet by quite a lot, where as on the real steel AKM, real sword and Norinco, they are all directly next to it. Sorry.. getting into obsessive details, but if you want to charge me $943 for an AK... I think it's only fair that I dig deep into finding out more.. 

[FTZ-WildeCard]

It's not just that, also notice the position of where the full auto dimple is compared to the rivet next to it, on the BOM, it's above the rivet by quite a lot, where as on the real steel AKM, real sword and Norinco, they are all directly next to it. Sorry.. getting into obsessive details, but if you want to charge me $943 for an AK... I think it's only fair that I dig deep into finding out more.. 

 

Of course and you are fully within your rights -- I'm not looking to defend BOM at all, but I think it's worth mentioning that BOM don't market it as  1:1 with the Real Steel -- it's more about the hand finished, individual specimens with upgraded internals. 

 

(PS - always good to hear about Real Steel details, improves my knowledge no end - currently all I can do is look at seam lines and the like!)

[AceOfSkulls]

in the video review the guys point out a few things incorrect little things on the reciever that are the same as the LCT. Also BO part out LCT kits to sell, so it seems highly likely its LCT.

 

im sure the finish is something you can emulate for reasonably cheap.

 

i can see why people buy them though.

[Baddbaz]

It just seemed odd to me having an ak firing that fast , maybe I am so used to my rs running at a normal ak firing rate .but horses for courses I suppose .

As for the bo price its not actually bad for a gun with that amount of Lonex upgrades in it + the hand finished externals work . I guess by the time you have brought a Lonex hop , gearbox , Lonex tb barrel , bore up kit , gearset etc , tuned / shortened the trigger pull , motor , the bo would work out cheaper than adding those parts to an lct and redoing the externals .not forgetting the hard case either .

[Im going space]

Its not hard for V3s to go a lot faster, mostly down to the motor speed.

[Yuri]

That's definitely just an LCT kit someone rubbed some steel wool on. The fire selector on LCT guns is very snappy as well so that isn't very special. That sales spiel about it being hand made by some "engineer" is such a load of BS that I'd avoid those things just on principle, even if they are nice. Buying something from a Taiwanese factory, assembling it and giving some finishing touches does not equate hand making in my opinion.

[DarkLite]

It's LCT externals with Lonex internals - the high rof and trigger response are probably done with a 13.1 ratio gear set matched to a LONEX neo motor.

In short, I can do this myself for much cheaper, kthnxbye.

[Baddbaz]

Its not a neo motor in them, remember its getting that high rate of fire at nearly 400 fps 21/22rps on an 9.6 nimh