Airsoft Forums UK

e&l- nicer externals and internals that are actually good (aside from the hop rubber/nub which are ok but setup for much higher fps)

they're close enough to RS spec for handguards and the like (repro parts are a few mm too short)

otherwise mostly summed up my thoughts on the 2 brands here:

I'd say it would depend on what you are going to do with it.

I don't think I can add more than what was added in that thread. The only other AK74SU to look at would perhaps be a Bolt, They have a standard and tactical variant. Both have the Blowback feature, and it's a different blowback to most guns running on the piston rather than a compressed air leach system. The only real disadvantage is both variants  are forward wired with the battery sitting in the fore grip, so they only fit small batteries and not the big sticks that most AK's use.

https://gunfire.com/en/products/aksu74-b-r-s-s-assault-rifle-replica-1152222694.html
 

https://gunfire.com/en/products/aksu74-tac-b-r-s-s-carbine-replica-1152226152.html

The only way to get a better variant over that is either a Daytona conversion, or GBB variant.

The bolt's are very nicely finished, pretty sure the bodies are being oem'd by e&l

Have heard mixed stuff on the recoil, best i can make out the early versions shook themselves apart so they solved it with megathreadlock on everything so now they're meant to be a bear to take apart.

Take that paragraph with the pinch of salt third-hand information merits though.

Gbb i'm not so sure, for ages i kind of assumed ghk was the default but i've heard some convincing arguments for the we's having better design/features (particularly full stroke bolt and the proper click of doom) although executed with we's usual flair for pot metal components.

Although again third hand information.

Functionally it'll likely be a nice looking back up, I've got my 'main runners' or at least what will be once I'm back playing regularly. This is very much a passion project of wanting to make something look a specific way. Internals can be dealt with as and when they need to be, I've got a mosfet, some 13:1 gears, compression parts etc sitting there ready. Whether that be something that's advised to swap out when something dies... or put in from the start as I have them and they'd improve reliability (a performance bump is always nice, but as a back up reliability ranks a touch higher).

Predominantly just looking for something that'll take the B11-U handguard without it being super loose. I currently have a TWI repro and it just fits like absolutely crap on the Cyma, even once that's been shimmed and adjusted to fit without any slop there is going to be a 'step' between the receiver and where the handguard sits (somewhat hard to explain and I'm far too lazy to take pictures). Given this is a RIF I've wanted to put together for a fair while I know having it fit like that will just irk me everytime I look at it, even if noone else notices.

Once payday lands I'll be ordering the RS B11-U and I know at the very least part of the mount on the backend will need squaring off to fit on an AEG, though I imagine to varying degrees based on which brand of AEG it's going on. Which combined with some unexpected funds is largely what left me where I am. The 'end game' was always for the Cyma to eventually become an LCT or E&L (or maybe GHK, but I think I've largely gone off that idea) and given the modifications to the handguard to get it to fit right will be unique to each brand it seems daft to modify things to fit the Cyma when I can sell that on stock and pick up something a bit nicer as the base RIF for the project.

The final list of bits being:

B11-U (plus some rail sections as and when they're needed, and an A-2L sling mount)

DTK-2

RP-1

B18 w/ T2 replica on it

US Palm Grip

'Tactical' Selector

So nothing wildly OTT, the only thing giving me a headache is the handguard... which just happens to be the bit which needs to be the most secure ?. Apologies for the wall of text, looks like E&L may well be the way I end up going then.

Was the handguard i bought off you the twi one? Because i think i know what you mean about the step.....

If it was that one (yes my memory is that bad....) Then its a fair bit short for the e&l although it can be wedged into the lower reciever (with a hammer because russia) makes it secure enough (for me being a poor at least)

There seems to be a split in the airsoft ak world when it comes to forends, the likes of the e&l's (possibly lct never tried changing it on the one i had) have a slightly longer handguard (which seems closer to rs spec) than the likes of the cyma's.

Certainly if the goal is rs zenitco fitment and a decent backup then e&l would be my pick.

Internally the air seal is pretty damn good- one peice cylinder looks rough but holds air just fine, gears are strong and the ones ive met have been decently shimmed (not absolute perfect but much better than you'd normally expect), motor is good. Piston is a weird one, ive seen them fail quickly but i reckon from the circumstances thats more pme due to weaker spring/strong battery than the piston being bad per-se. The stock piston head is the much thicker mushroom type so stock aoe is fine although will need tweaked for a standard piston head. Hop unit and barrel are decent (although combat union master race..... )

At the most basic level a warfet and macaron/omega combo would have a very respectable gat, only reason i bothered going further is because i'm cursed with being a serial tinkerer who just cant leave well enough alone.....

Btw if your thinking of the pts us-palm grip it doesnt fit, i have one i'd be happy to sell you if you dont beleive me

Nah, the one you had off me was a 5KU one. I honestly have no idea how they compare, though, picked up the TWI one purely for ease of availability. But yeah, assuming it's they fit roughly the same the bottom of the handguard (at least sitting at the correct angle) doesn't sit flush with the receiver... like, at all. Granted, the TWI one was listed as fitting E&L/LCT and needing modification for anything else. Suffice to say I took a punt and it didn't pay off. But with that in mind maybe I'll hold off on the Zenit order until I pick up the Cyma replacement.

It's actually the Cyma one that I have, picked it up to bump me up to the required spend from TG. Fit and feel on the Cyma is great, if it fits an E&L then ideal. If not, it was a couple of quid wasted which I can live with.

Gradually creeping back to hating AKs, the variance in different fits from the various brands seems so entirely uneccessary. They're like the epitome of airsoft when it comes to inconsistency, it's almost like they don't want us to change anything. The main thing I see LCT having an upper hand with is that they produce their own line of repro Zenit parts, which would within theory fit properly... but who knows given how out of whack everything seems to be with them of late.