The best tactical AK74 out there?

[Gargamel]

Tactical version with wood is really nice too. Lct makes couple variants, that look great. Ehobbyasia has them, but shipping cost is huge + customs taxes and country tax...

 

[Ian_Gere]

To be honest, you rarely get hit for tax on parts, which come from HK or mainland China - for me the average is about 6/7 packages get through, without being touched by UK Customs. That may vary, if you are somewhere else, of course. My guess is that, the volume of parcels coming from the far east, is so large, that they just do not have the manpower, to deal with them all.

I have used extra punctuation, to divide ideas up, so that Google Translate will work better.

Edit: but you almost always, get charged tax, on guns. You could retrofit the RIS gas tube, to another AK...

 

[Gargamel]

Two best looking so far (for the price of LCT or less):

- http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/aeg/lct-lckm-nv-aeg-real-assembly-ver-1.html#.VE-DIBbvjYY

- http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/aeg/lct-g-03-nv-aeg.html#.VE-DJRbvjYY

Which one would you have? I know it's AK74 vs. AK47, but both look damn good.

Too bad, they have only express delivery available and its 200$ to my country

 

[Ian_Gere]

They are both great looking guns - I could not choose between them!

I was talking about the gas tube RIS - here. Unfortunately it is out of stock also :lol: but you can get it on eBay.

fire-support.co.uk have 2 G-03 NV's in stock and 2 TX-63's also...

 

[Gargamel]

Do you know if these Lct's have any better internals as basic Lct models? They cost more then standard Lct range. Or is it just because of special model version?

 

[Unrustle_Thine_Jimmies]

Do you know if these Lct's have any better internals as basic Lct models? They cost more then standard Lct range. Or is it just because of special model version?

Special model version,which has a smaller production run than your regular AK74 Variants. All LCT NV guns come with this gearbox:

I've already said my thoughts on it,but recap- Weak piston and motor,decent gears and nice bushings(Not super strong but well made and mesh well),very good air seal parts,hop up units can be dodgy(like Ian's experience) Gearbox shell is probably the prettiest and one of the best cast ones I've seen

Do note newest LCT guns come with red pistons which are far stronger than the VFC ones before,but I doubt the ones at FS have them. Pistons are easy to replace anyway,no big deal and the stock one should last to not piss you off,though the poor AOE does concern

 

[Gargamel]

Weak motor in terms of power so the gun shoots lower fps or weak in term of reliability?

I really like these two guns. I mean REALLY like them, but the price is very high and to buy one of them and get dodgy internals would be insane.

 

[Ian_Gere]

The motor does not affect the FPS. A weak motor gives a poor trigger response time (the milliseconds between pulling the trigger and the gun firing). It may also result in a lower rate of fire, however once the motor is turning, it may run at an acceptable speed, so full-auto fire may not feel too slow.

You must understand that when we (at least Unrustle_T_J and I), are comparing the performance of guns and/or specific parts of guns, we are comparing them to the performance, of custom upgraded and tuned guns, plus the best parts available at sensible prices, that we know of. The truth is that no 'off the shelf' guns, would get our stamp of 100% approval.

But you may very well be happy with what you get out of the box. It is only after you upgrade a gun yourself, or pay a gun-tech to do it for you, or borrow a well set up gun, that you may feel disappointed with a stock gun. I feel very sure, that you would not be disappointed by the performance of one of the CYMA CM.048 range, but the externals are not as good as LCT, especially the woodwork. I have some doubts about the performance of LCT guns, out of the box, but I doubt you would be disappointed straight away - and the externals are definitely very nice. But hey, if you want a pretty gun, out of the box, you will have to pay more for it.

But if you want pretty and good performance, you will have to upgrade something. The choice then, is whether to buy a cheap gun, and spend your money upgrading the externals and a few internal tweaks; or buy expensive and replace a few key internal parts. If you want the holy grail, great externals and great performance*, you will need to replace and/or tune almost all the internals, of almost any gun you buy, and you will also need to either start with a very nice looking gun, or spend a lot of money on replacement parts, and/or a lot of effort refinishing the externals you have.

*60m head shots, first shot, raising the gun to your shoulder from muzzle down, with an AEG firing 0.25g BB's @310FPS

Edit: and if you do spend €500 on a gun, and another €350 on upgrade parts/work, you will still get shot by some 14 year old with a €100 G36 :lol:

 

[team flex]

Edit: and if you do spend 500 on a gun, and another 350 on upgrade parts/work, you will still get shot by some 14 year old with a 100 G36 :lol:

You say it like it's a bad thing. Could well be me

Wait, ik gargamel lives in a different country, never mind lol

 

[Gargamel]

Edit: and if you do spend €500 on a gun, and another €350 on upgrade parts/work, you will still get shot by some 14 year old with a €100 G36 :lol:

I get it. At least i'll go down in style

Hard to choose. From one point i would like a gun that looks great, because that gives you that feeling that you just want to grab it, shoot it, work on it etc...

But of course breaking a bank to get it means i'll need to pay big bucks for the parts and accesories too and when i hit a tree with that gun it will hurt a lot more

You all say that best low to middle priced AKs are Cymas from CM048 and up. E&L which i already had was very good from the outside but lemony on the inside so guess i have no choice at the end. Cyma and add some mods to it.

Ian, your "60m head shots, first shot, raising the gun to your shoulder from muzzle down, with an AEG firing 0.25g BB's @310FPS" sound scary. my local field Airsoft team needs to shoot A LOT of BBs to hit someone. The name of the game is just put the gun in auto and spray BBs around.

 

[Ian_Gere]

I get it. At least i'll go down in style

And that, may friend, is the name of the game! :lol:

Ian, your "60m head shots, first shot, raising the gun to your shoulder from muzzle down, with an AEG firing 0.25g BB's @310FPS" sound scary. my local field Airsoft team needs to shoot A LOT of BBs to hit someone. The name of the game is just put the gun in auto and spray BBs around.

Ahhh... the "spray and pray" approach. I used to do that, and it is a lot of fun. But games often go to stalemate that way; with each side behind cover, at sufficient range that they cannot get an accurate shot on target, because the BB's are out of energy, just dropping. Which is when a well tuned gun, is worth every €uro you have spent and more, because you can pop someone who only shows his gun and head, and do it quickly, which is important, because once they know you can shoot that far, they will not sit there looking at you so long!

But to get that performance, you need very consistent power, which requires a better air-seal than any stock gun is supplied with, and very stable hop up, which few stock guns have, and even those which do have it, lose much of that stability in the barrel. Plus you need quick trigger response, which requires a gearbox cycle speed of at least 18/s, which is faster than most stock guns, unless they can use 11.1V LiPo batteries. Most stock gearboxes will wear out fairly quickly, if you use an 11.1V battery, and those which do not are actually not cycling that fast anyway - much of the battery energy is being wasted on high resistance circuits, and poor friction characteristics of gears, shims, piston, etc. so, although they are cycling faster than average, say 16/s, that is still not impressive, when you consider that a good rewire, MOSFET, grease, and shim job, will get that from an 8.4V NiMh battery...

 

[Sitting Duck]

opening can of worms......

Or rich bastids with tippmann/polarstar

(but I ain't THAT rich and tbh I feel they aren't real airsoft guns - ooh 2 x cans of worms now)

 

[Gargamel]

And that, may friend, is the name of the game! :lol:

Ahhh... the "spray and pray" approach. I used to do that, and it is a lot of fun. But games often go to stalemate that way; with each side behind cover, at sufficient range that they cannot get an accurate shot on target, because the BB's are out of energy, just dropping. Which is when a well tuned gun, is worth every €uro you have spent and more, because you can pop someone who only shows his gun and head, and do it quickly, which is important, because once they know you can shoot that far, they will not sit there looking at you so long!

But to get that performance, you need very consistent power, which requires a better air-seal than any stock gun is supplied with, and very stable hop up, which few stock guns have, and even those which do have it, lose much of that stability in the barrel. Plus you need quick trigger response, which requires a gearbox cycle speed of at least 18/s, which is faster than most stock guns, unless they can use 11.1V LiPo batteries. Most stock gearboxes will wear out fairly quickly, if you use an 11.1V battery, and those which do not are actually not cycling that fast anyway - much of the battery energy is being wasted on high resistance circuits, and poor friction characteristics of gears, shims, piston, etc. so, although they are cycling faster than average, say 16/s, that is still not impressive, when you consider that a good rewire, MOSFET, grease, and shim job, will get that from an 8.4V NiMh battery...

So in terms of "best possible" out of the box airsoft gun, which one (or a couple of them) would be good by your terms? AK or another type. Which one gives you the most in terms of accurate and reliable shooting and is also durable and apropriate for future upgrades?

 

[Ian_Gere]

opening can of worms......

Or rich bastids with tippmann/polarstar

(but I ain't THAT rich and tbh I feel they aren't real airsoft guns - ooh 2 x cans of worms now)

HPA doesn't guarantee hop up stability.

So in terms of "best possible" out of the box airsoft gun, which one (or a couple of them) would be good by your terms? AK or another type. Which one gives you the most in terms of accurate and reliable shooting and is also durable and apropriate for future upgrades?

I bought a CYMA CM.048 - so far I have refinished the woodwork, replaced the pistol grip, replaced the hop up bucking, replaced all the wiring, replaced the small Tamiya connectors with Deans, and added a MOSFET. The spring was downgraded to a Guarder SP100 by taiwangun. It is good fun as it is and i am happy to skirmish it. It's good for 55m, snap shooting, man sized targets.

But I will eventually replace most of the internals...

My next new AK will be a D-Boys (Boyi) AKS-74, and I will replace all the internals, before i even skirmish it. I will also replace the handguards with those from a real steel AK-74, and wrap the stock with a real Soviet era rubber tourniquet.

...oh yeah, and that's an Element Butt Pad, and the straps are from a Soviet issue portupeya.​

 

[Gargamel]

Why is Dboys so much cheaper from Cyma? As i can see, the externals are better then Cymas and internals are not that worser at all. Difference in price is at least 25% or more. I can get Dboys AKS-74 for around 150 to 160 Eur. Cyma AK74 is more in 190 eur range.

 

[Ian_Gere]

Don't be fooled - the internals of D-Boys AK's are not to be trusted. I wouldn't bother with most of their externals either, but they do make a steel AKS-74 which is a VFC clone, the same as LCT and CYMA CM.048 and above. It turns out cheaper to buy the gun, than to buy the steel body parts separately. Also buying the whole gun, allows the new internals to be fitted, before i have to pay for the new externals I want, so it will not be so expensive all at once.

 

[Gargamel]

Well i guess Cyma Cm048 it is plus extra rails. Too bad there isn't a version with foldable stock. From Cyma, others have it. Now i need to wait for someone to stock it

 

[Gargamel]

Would anyone help me put together a really good looking gun? Performance would be stock Cyma CM048 like.

So i'm planning to buy Cyma CM048, which is a stock wooden AK 74. I want this gun looks more badass that already is so this is what i want to do with it:

- Buy extra waffle midcap magazines. Which one would fit without extra work?

- Buy barrel - handguard upper rails: http://www.taiwangun.com/en/ak-74-aluminium-handguard-with-gas-tube-cm?from=listing&campaign-id=19 that will replace upper part of wood

- replace wooden stock with folding one (don't know which one really and if that works at all)

- buy silencer that will maybe even give me more accuracy (longer barrel). Which one would be a direct fit?

- Scope or IR dot...i have no idea which one and what is best for skirmishes and home practise

 

[Ian_Gere]

Well, the CM.048 is an AK-74, and waffle mags are generally AK-47 banana mags. You can get Beta Project AK-74 mags with a waffle design though, but they are not cheap. You may want to have a look at the CM.048M which is an AKM-47... although many 47 mags will fit in airsoft 74's.

Longer barrels do not improve accuracy, generally. Although if you replace the stock barrel, with a much better quality one, it will improve accuracy, however that would be true, even if the replacement were shorter than the original.

To fit a folding stock, to an AK with a wooden stock, is not so simple. AK's with side folding stocks, have a different receiver design, to those with wooden stocks. You can fit a stock adapter, which will allow you to use AR stocks - like this, or this. But the classic tactical AK folding stock, like this, does not fit onto a CM.048 - you could modify it however, because the basic design is similar.

But if your plan is to turn a CM.048 into a TX-63, you will not be able to do it with off the shelf parts.

 

[Ian_Gere]

How about one of these? You could fit a wooden lower handguard to that...

The body is not steel however.