Title's kinda self explanatory.
I was looking at my ARP-9 the other day, great little gun, nice trigger response, nice ROF (around 22 RPS in its stock configuration), compact size and somewhat lightweight.
But it has a few niggles, namely the hop chamber being a bit meh, the stock bushings being brass, the gearbox (as with all G&Gs) lacking a QC spring and having the screws on the other side and the magazines. Most of these cons aren't really an issue, bar the last one.
The available magazine really kill the gun's potential..
The stock high cap sucks, can't feed more than 10 bbs before needing winded again, needs to be bashed often (bbs get stuck inside because of the slim design) and the winding mechanism itself is crap.
The G&G midcaps are shit, €30+ per mag and they only hold 60 rounds. Absolutely impossible to find.
The Classic Army X-9 mags are about €25/30 per mag depending on the retailer, hold 120 bbs but 3 out of 3 mags that I have come with springs so weak they feed the first 10 bbs and then don't have enough tension to lift the other 100. Also really hard to find here.
Then there is the drum: that thing is marvelous, feeds everything, is rock solid and being mechanical it doesn't require extra batteries. Very little that can go wrong with it, props to G&G for making it good (also available in 5.56 form which I have, mp5 version and others).
Don't get me wrong, the gun + drum combo lets me run really lightweight loadouts (belt, small pack, that's it) which is fantastic for summer games, but sometimes I feel like I'm missing something by not having to reload.
So I'm here questioning the permanence of the ARP-9 in my "armory", ideally I should just buy some superfeed springs but, just like them magazines, they are hard to come by.
While browsing the internet I've come across a few neat looking PCCs, namely the KWA QRF series, specifically the MOD 1 with its curved MP5 style magazines.
The thing is way out of my league though, retailing at €350+, being out of stock everywhere and has the same issue of proprietary magazines.
Following that style, I have found the King Arms PDW 9mm series of AEGs. They take regular MP5 mags, opening up to a whole lot of different mags (high caps, midcaps and G&G drums) for much less than say G&G/CA/KWA mags. From what I've seen online they are mostly polymer, feature a weird 7mm QC gearbox and a somewhat basic mosfet, along with a supposedly decent 25k motor. Oddly enough they come with an older style gear hop unit.
Price wise, they aren't the cheapest, being mostly unavailable in Italy (can get some from the UK for roughly €210/220 posted).
A few variants available, the shorty with a 5" ish front end, the long that should be around 7/8", the M-Lok and the SD (M-Lok variant with a suppressor).
I'm particularly interested in the Long version, it has that MP5A5-esque look that is very intriguing, plus it's of decent length.
But I've heard mixed feelings about these guns, some say they're great, others say they're shit (as with all things really), some complain about the magazine wobble.
I don't care too much about the internals, if I end up buying one I'll be doing the same shit all over again (13:1, HT motor, good FCU, blah blah blah).
What should I do?
Halp pls 😢