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GHK M4 GBBR - available after Chinese New Year


hitmanNo2

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My quick translation attempt from their Facebook news:

 

Today GHK M4 GBB is releasing our first batch of 200 (people who have pre-ordered will be prioritised) 

Those who pre-ordered will receive a steel made flash hider (limited numbers)

 

Regarding M4's delay, we apologies.

We'll use this opportunity to explain the reason behind the delay:

 

As we addressed the stress added to the upper and lower receivers due to the GHK M4's own recoil and other external wear / tear, in March we have worked out a suitable type of aluminium that is strong enough to handle it, we were confident back then that an April release would have been achievable.

 

However, In our first low volume production run, the strength and performance of the body were good, but the surface finish was uneven and "scarred". This is because this type of aluminium, despite very strong, is too viscous during the injection process, causing "water marks" on the surfaces.

 

The mold factories that we approach continues to recommend normal aluminium to be used, however, even though that will solve the surface appearance issue, we insisted that we keep to the new formula, which resulted in repeated revisions to the mould, even to titanium mould.

 

People are wondering if our use of aluminium die-casting on the GHK M4 body is due to budget considerations, but during our R&D stage, we've tried pure CNC processes, even though the strength was good, after approaching various CNC factories, none of them were able to give the tolerance we require for the internals, causing each gun to be slightly different from another, causing reliability issues. 

 

GHK puts "reliability" first, that's why we insisted on die casting, but due to the complications mentioned above, strong materials chosen and the numerous revisions of the moulds, our spending is close to what it would have been if we had chose to use the forging process.

 

Finally, we'd like to apologies to everyone again, and thank you for your support during these "rainy times".

Thanks, 

 

GHK

 

 

Cool. Can't wait for first hand reviews etc. Technically it's still "after Chinese new year"...

 

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Oh yeah, I forgot to refer about their CO2 magazines: best magazines on the market. They had to be sanded a lot (they were too tight for a VT receiver) but my guns (2x VTs) work much better with them.

 

I am really curious to read the first reviews about their M4.

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People are wondering if our use of aluminium die-casting on the GHK M4 body is due to budget considerations, but during our R&D stage, we've tried pure CNC processes, even though the strength was good, after approaching various CNC factories, none of them were able to give the tolerance we require for the internals, causing each gun to be slightly different from another, causing reliability issues.

 

Er... Sure, GHK, if you say so...  :unsure:

 

GHK puts "reliability" first, that's why we insisted on die casting, but due to the complications mentioned above, strong materials chosen and the numerous revisions of the moulds, our spending is close to what it would have been if we had chose to use the forging process.

 

Saying you put 'reliability' first and therefore chose die-casting is like saying you put safety first, and therefore choose to wear welding goggles at all times. At best, the two are unrelated; at worst, your choice actively inhibits the thing you're promoting. Not to kick them while they're down, but I doubt their customers are going to be hugely impressed with the comment "we've spent as much doing it wrong as we would have done doing it properly!"...

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 Er... Sure, GHK, if you say so...  :unsure:

It's entirely possible they went to factories that aren't good at holding tolerances, but it seems unlikely, the Taiwanese are pretty good at machining things, even making the machines themselves but I suspect it's more down to the fact that a fully machined M4 body production time would be measured in hours, whereas with MIM it'd be measured in minutes.

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Well, they did say none of the CNC people they approached could provide the tolerance they wanted, perhaps the CNC factories they approached are the ones they could afford, so people that have the ability to CNC the tolerance they need are too expensive for their budget, that said, casting isn't bad though, Marui's done it for decades with cheese metal and their gun to gun consistency is great. 

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I suspect it's more down to the fact that a fully machined M4 body production time would be measured in hours, whereas with MIM it'd be measured in minutes.

 

You and me both.

 

To machine a pair of receivers from billet takes literally hours. Even machining them from largely preformed forgings or castings takes tens of minutes on mass-production lines designed to produce hundreds of rifles a day, not to mention all that CNC gear is expensive to buy, to maintain and to staff. MIM, on the other hand, takes seconds plus a few minutes at most to cool enough to remove from the mould. This is a cost-driven decision; fair enough, not every airsoft rifle has to cost $900...

 

Well, they did say none of the CNC people they approached could provide the tolerance they wanted, perhaps the CNC factories they approached are the ones they could afford, so people that have the ability to CNC the tolerance they need are too expensive for their budget

 

I think that's unlikely. First, the level of precision required to make a set of AR-15 receivers is not very high; people in the US do it at home with a drilling machine. Second, if your CNC machines can't hold a reasonable tolerance you won't have any business at all; it's not like there's a huge market out there for terribly imprecise guesswork (astrology excepted).

 

There's nothing wrong with good MIM; like you say, plenty of other manufacturers and other industries have used it for years. Would it be better forged or billet-machined - yes. Is it still acceptable as MIM - yes. But it's a bit ludicrous that GHK are arguing that Taiwan's CNC machinery just isn't up to the task of making a GBBR. I mean, they do well enough for the other GBBR manufacturers, don't they?

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Plenty of people will buy aftermarket receivers anyway. How many players do you know will just leave it standard and play with it?

 

I might come back around to US weapons in a few years and pick one of these up, but for now it's RUSFED and I'm going to need a GHK AKM for my fall loadout.  :)

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yeah, really really tempted on this front... but what I'm really tempted at is getting a 80% lower and drilling it to viper spec, and getting viper internals... but then again, GHK will be bomb proof like vipers, but albeit with a little more efficiency...

 

 

Put the GHK mag in the VT. Bingo.

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I did, can't clear the entire mag on my full travel bolt. What I mean is that GHK's are tuned a bit better for full stroke out of a green gas mag. Vipers are purposely made for short stroking, and if you want full stroke, it's semi auto or CO2 mags. Plus GHK mags don't run too well with the 3 round burst edition.

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