whilst i can see your point, there is still some rough and tumble which can lead to issues over time and a weaker gun isn't going to hold up the same. i mean just look at every site's rental guns for testament to that and whilst players do take better care of things that cost them personally, there's still leaning it against a tree where someone knocks it over, or dropping it, or leaning it against cover when shooting etc. i'm pretty sure you can drop a real mg42 from waist height and not break it but not the agm airsoft version.....
granted the preference/feel/look/weight thing is generally the bigger factor.
funny story many moons ago when a younger hamster was still renting he tripped, his mind filled with "shit shit don't break the gun" and somehow (to this day i don't know where the grace came from) excecuted a perfect forward roll ics m4 tucked in his belly and emerged spreadeagled on the ground both himself and rifle completely unscathed to the merry chuckling of all who observed.
real sword, although e&l's ak's are pretty tough in some regards, although granted the barrel mounting isn't remotely as solid as a real ak as you can't press-fit and pin a part that you later need to remove.
never worked on a real sword so not sure how they get around that problem, unless you have to pull the hop unit off the back and slide the inner barrel out the front.