Real Sword Type 56 rifle review - NOT 56K FRIENDLY!!
 

Today I came home to a nice surprise sitting between my doors - a package that I knew containted my new Real Sword Type 56 rifle. So without delay, I raced my ass inside to get this thing out of the box and take a good look to see if this thing was truly worth the $890 I paid for it. After close inspection (from my noob perspective), I must say I am genuinely impressed, and am content that I spent my money on what is without a doubt the finest AK variant available in the airsoft world. And here I am to share the story with you guys. Yes, there's another review posted here, but it's for the Type 56-1, so I figured I would give this baby its own review from my point of view instead.

I'll start with a VERY brief history for those who aren't familiar with the Type 56. It's the Chinese variant of the AK-47. More modern Type 56 rifles have the stamped (vs milled) receiver of the AKM, but the rest of the gun is undeniably AK-47. Real Sword offers 2 version of the gun. There's the Type 56 (wooden stock), and the Type 56-1 with a steel folding stock.

First off, just a quick note to say what makes this gun so special compared to other airsoft guns. It's the first AK to be made to 100% accurate dimensions of the real steel. Normally, AEG bodies are slightly wider than the real steel to accomodate the mechbox. Airsoft AKs are typically a bit longer, also to accomodate the AEG internals. Real Sword have managed to make everything fit inside the space of a real Type 56 rifle by using a modified V3 mechbox that is 5.5mm shorter than a standard V3 mechbox so that it can fit.

Secondly, all steel and wood are made using the same materials and processes as the real Type 56 rifle. It's widely rumoured that Norinco (Chinese state factory who produce the real Type 56 for export) produce the basic steel and wood parts. While I can't find 100% confirmation of this anywhere, it seems widely accepted in other reviews that this is the case. Judging by the construction and the inclusion of internal 'notches' that have no purpose in an AEG, I tend to believe that the lower receivers were stamped on the same machinery used to produce the real steel. And the end result is an AEG that is 100% authentic and true to the original.

I unwrapped the box from the outer packaging it was shipped in to see a rather plain box with minimal markings. Its subdued look really belies its content. Upon opening up the carton, I was what was the best AEG packaging I had seen to date. The gun and its accessories were well packaged in sized foam to prevent any moving or rattling during shipping. The magazine, an all steel magazine, came wrapped in oil paper. Everything was very well packaged.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...all/01-Box.jpg

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...Box_Open_1.jpg

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...Box_Open_2.jpg


As a side-note here, I'll take a second to make a rather odd observation about this gun. It's the best smelling AEG I've ever encountered. While that may sound a bit odd at first, the first thing that struck me when I opened the box was the smell of gun. I'm talking the smell you get when you pick up a real steel weapon. Whether it's the smell of the finish on the steel, the oils, solvents used to clean it, it all contributes to that 'gun smell', and this thing has it. As a matter of fact, I haven't actually handled the gun in close to 45 minutes, I've washed my hands twice (to make and eat dinner), and I still have that smell on my hands.

So back to our regularly scheduled review already in progress...

Taking the rifle out of the box, I was immediately stricken with its solid feel and substantial weight. As solid as my other metal-bodied AEGs feel, this eclipses them completely. The gun is 100% steel and wood. Other than the spike bayonet, there isn't an external piece of plastic to be found anywhere on this gun. This is as close to a real AK as you can possibly get without being in criminal posession of a prohited weapon. There isn't a loose part or rattle to be found. It's solid and well built. And it feels substantial too, weighing in at only 100 g less than its real steel counterpart.

I have to say, I was quite stricken with the wood furiture. This is serious quality, and 100% real-steel grade stuff. You could easily use the buttstock to beat on things and not damage it any more than you would a real AK. The finish on the wood is excellent, but not "furniture" good. This is an assault weapon, and its finish is what you'd expect out of the real thing. "Upgrading" to real AK furniture would be pointless, as you'd be getting exactly what's already installed on the gun out of the box.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...-Buttstock.jpg


http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...Hand_guard.jpg


I popped the upper receiver cover to inspect the inside and prepare for battery installation. I immediately noticed the neat and tidy internal construction in terms of wiring. The blade-style automotove fuse is nicely tucked away. The wiring is run through guides so that it doesn't go all over the place. You can tell that they paid good attention to detail.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...ompartment.jpg


The battery installed easily, sliding into the upper gas tube, and left plenty of space. You could easily fit a 9.6V or 10.8V battery without a problem. As a matter of fact, you could easily add aother 4-5 cells to the battery and still have plenty of room left over. It would more than likely fry something, but physically, there is nothing preventing a veyr large stick battery from being installed. In the picture below, the battery is only slightly inserted into the gas tube, but believe me, it goes in COMPLETELY if you want it to. This gun was well thought-out in the design stages.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc..._installed.jpg


Popping off the end plate on the buttstock, I was very pleased to see a second battery compartment for a larger size battery. According to the manual, the wiring connects in parallel to the receiver battery connection, so you can actually use 2 batteries at the same time to give you more than enough power capacity to play extended games without ever running out of juice. This is a very nice touch, and I applaud Real Sword for including this. It's so simple and brainless that's it's absolutely brilliant.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...ompartment.jpg


Next I decided to inspect the accessories that came with the AEG. Included are a small steel cylinder tool kit that includes the cleaning attachment for the cleaning rod, a multi-tool that includes as a screwdriver, and an adjustment tool for the fron sight elevation. The tool kit itself also serves as a tool to release the upper hardguard latch. Believe me, you won't move this latch without some kind of tool. It also includes a blued steel muzzle (to replace the orange plastic tip that comes pre-installed) and a silencer adapter. There's also a tool for removing the front sight (not pictured). Also included is a plastic oil can, although I don't see this as being all that useful without a small nozzle on the bottle to be able to apply oil precisely where its needed. It's a nice touch nonetheless, although sort of useless IMO. The cleaning rod itself is attached to the gun under the barrel as it is on its real steel counterpart.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...ccessories.jpg


http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...eaning_rod.jpg
As stated earlier, this gun is made as its real-steel counterpart using the same materials and processes. The quality of the steel certainly makes me believe this, as this isn't your typical steel AEG. The receiver and upper cover are both engraved with a unique serial number, with mine being 56-RS000359. The markings are consistent with the export version of the Type 56. I would have preferred to see Chinese markings on the gun to maintain that authenticity, but it in no way takes away from the beauty of this gun.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc.../14-serial.jpg

This next pic is my only real sore point with this gun to date - the bolt. Its movement is VERY limited, and this makes the hopup adjustment rather difficult to reach. Pulling back the cocking lever all the way only opens the bolt about -3 cm. While hopup can still be reached, those with large fingers will definitely find it challenging. I removed the bolt and its guide rod and determined you could easily cut up to about 2 cm off the end to make it open farther without affecting its stability. I cut 2 cm off the end and now the bolt opens enough to make hopup adjustment easier. I will be performing another small mod in order to be able to open it up about another 2 cm. I'll update this review with new pics when I do.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...Adjustment.jpg

A note on the magazine - it rattles. It really sounds like a real AK mag. And it has a very satisfying click when locked into place. However, it also wobbles a lot when in the gun. There is a lot of side to side play. While firing it in semi-auto, I tried wiggling the mag, moving it from one extreme of its travel to the other, but I never experienced any feed issues. Despite this motion, the mag is held in place firmly and will not come out until the magazine release is pressed. I tried using a King Arms plastic AK magazine (I have a box of them) and they fit and work well. However, they DO NOT hold securely into the gun because their locking tab is thicker, and the mag catch can't lock onto them properly. A hit with a dremel and sanding bit will quickly fix this issue. Even without being locked in completely, the KA mags fed without issue. I should also note that the KA mags have very little side to side wobble compared to the steel RS mag. And the KA mags feed as well as the RS mag. So with a little work, these mags will work with this gun.I had no feed issues

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...-Magazines.jpg

Next I will mention something that usually get very little attention in AEG reviews - the included documentation. There are 2 pieces of documentation included. First is the instruction manual. It is NOT your typical Engrish manual. This is a 56-page, bound manual. The first 23 pages are English, and the last 23 Chinese. I was surprised to find that for the most part, it's very detailed and well-written in good English. Yeah, there's a bit of Engrish, but generally, it's quite good. It doesn't have the generic illustrations and warnings accompanied by atrocious Engrish found in every other airsoft manual I've seen to date. It's well written, well illustrated, and very concise. Secondly is a 2'x3' FULL COLOUR pictorial guide to disassembly of the gun. Other airsoft manufacturers should pay very close attention to the effort that Real Sword have put into their product documentation. They could learn a thing or two.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...down_guide.jpg

So finally, I got to fire this thing, and it was a pleasure to shoot. This is easily the quietest gun I've heard to date in terms of internals. There's very little motor sound, and the mechbox gears are pretty much inaudible. The only thing you really hear is the POP-POP-POP sound of the piston and the subsequent sound from the barrel. At the short ranges of 15 and 30 feet that I have to shoot it at in my house, it performed admirably. A small hopup adjustment was all that was needed (at that range, at least) to tap out groupings of less than 1". I don't have a chrony to test this out, but it failed the pop can test, so the advertied 90 m/s (295 fps) out of the box is probably close to its actual velocity.

Unfortunately, I'm not a tech guru or mechbox expert, and I'd rather not have my noob self tear this thing apart to inspect the insides. The other review posted here on ASC has more than enough details on its internals to satisfy the most experienced airsoft tech. That being said, RS have equipped this gun with a rather weak spring, more than likely to accomodate laws in other countries and to make the 'one size fits all' AEG. All reviews of this gun clearly cover its reinforced mechbox, gears and other internals and make no bones about saying you can easily install a 400+ fps spring in this gun without having any worries of damaging internals or the mechbox itself. Of that, I have absolutely no doubt. If the internals are as good as the externals (and from other reviews, they are), then this gun can probably even handle 500+ fps springs without requiring any internal modifications other than the spring itself.

So in the end, I can't really find anything bad to say about this gun other than the easy-to-fix bolt problem. This is as perfect of a replica as you can possibly get without getting a non-firing AK. Try as I might (with my limited airsoft knowledge) to find something wrong with it, I simply can't. This is the perfect AK.

If I have to nitpick a bit, I would have to say that the only thing that irks me a bit is the bayonet. I find its position when retracted a bit annoying, as it sits out of the lower hand guard. It's not a major annoyance, but since it's made of relatively soft plastic (for safety, or course), it tends to bend easily as you grip the hand guard. I'll probably just either extend it or remove it if I use the gun in a game scenario, as it serves no functional purpose. An aluminum bayonet is also available and would eliminate that problem, but for safety reasons, it's probably best to not install that for gaming purposes.

So in the end, this is the very best airsoft AK variant that money can buy at the moment. With these things available, there's no reason for someone to spend $600 on a Tokyo Marui AK then spend another $500+ to upgrade it to steel and wood and to upgrade its internals. In the end, the upgraded TM would still not be as good quality as this gun out of the box. For just under $900 Cdn, this thing is far better than anything to come out of Japan, or any other country in terms of airsoft AKs. Outside of Systema, I don't think you can get a better, more realistic, and more solid AEG than the Real Sword Type 56. Consider this thing the PTW of the AK world, at least in terms of its external construction. And even its internals are of a high grade not usually found in even high end stock guns. This is the best AK on the market - FULL STOP. Nothing else even comes close, stock, or upgraded. Anyone who thinks you can't get a quality airsoft gun out of China (Hong Kong in this case) needs to take a good hard look at this gun. All other AK airsoft makers have just been served notice.

PROS:

• Solid, real-steel quality construction
• 100% accurate reproduction of the real steel Type 56
• Built with the same processes and materials as the real steel
• Heavy weight (100g short of the real steel weight)
• Incredible feel
• Impeccable accuracy and shot consistency (at the short ranges I could try it at)
• Can hold 2 batteries at once for extended gaming.
• Cheaper than a fully upgrading a Tokyo Marui AK with metal, wood, and upgraded internals, and still better external quality.
• As close as you'll ever get to owning an AK without owning the real thing

CONS:

• Travel of the fake bolt is limited, making hopup adjustment a bit difficult (I've already fixed this by cutting about 2 cm off)
• Soft plastic bayonet is a bit annoying when folded back under the hand guard.
• Availability

Here are a couple of full size 1600 x 1200 pics. I figured I'd add them as links instead since they'll throw off the layout of this page.

Bayonet extended: http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...6/IMG_1984.JPG

Bayonet collapsed: http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...6/IMG_1985.JPG

Very nice Crunchmeister ;)

If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have this baby. Thanks dude.

The bayonet looks like shit compared to how nice the rest of the gun is. Take it off. :)

nice moccasins. Nice rifle tho! The Bayonet looks more like a prison shank

Yeah, the bayonet is the weak part of this gun for sure. I'll probably eventually order the aluminum one for show, and just remove it altogether when gaming, since it's useless.

the funny thing is that It's completely made in China but it has a Japanese/Chinese manual.

Thats a really nice touch with the parrellel wiring job. Will the stock compartment fit a 9.6v large or just an 8.4v or for some...the dreaded 7.2

Good Review. Cant wait for mine to get in

Awesome review. Awesome rifle! Love the capability to use 2 batteries.
It makes so much sense, it's ridiculous how no one else has thought of it...

BTW where'd you order if from?

nice review and good to hear you got it thru safely, as an old saying goes the quality will remain long after the price is forgotten :)

Cool!, Cant wait for the Japanese to clone it LOL

The manual is English and Chinese only. The takedown guide includes Japanese as well.

It takes a large size battery, but not the standard size one. It's the one with the 'offset cell'. Sorry, don't know what they're called.

Ooooo... you're getting one too. You getting the full stock, or folding? You getting it from Hellfire too?

Yeah, the dual battery thing is a nice touch. I have 2 8.4V stick batteries - 1500 mAh and 1800 mAh, so I wouldn't ever need more than 1. I could see if someone was playign an extended game wiht 600 mAh batteries, it would be useful. I think I may consider ditching the 8.4V completely though and go for a 9.6V instead. I didn't realize there would be that much space for a bettery internally.

As for where I got it, scroll up a bit and all will be answered...

Well, I didn't get it through myself, but I too am glad it made it into Canada ok. I can't get enough of this gun and how well it's built all around. This is a level of quality in a league of its own. Now, I can't speak of durability, since I've had it less than 24 hours at this point, but I would be really surprised to ever have any real problems with this gun.

Well, I would think even the Japanese who had 'perfected' AEGs could take some good lessons from Real Sword. From all I read about RS, they were out to prove that you could get stupidly high quality airsoft from China at a reasonable price. I believe they attained their goal.

I just ordered the aluminum bayonet. The plastic one just looks way too plastic and sort of ruins the look of the gun IMO. Otherwise though, still crazy happy with this thing.

Just a small update on my bolt mod and shooting performance.

As I had noted in my original review, the action of the fake bolt is rather limited. You can only open it about 2 cm, making hopup adjustment rather difficult for anyone with fat fingers. I had make the suggestion that a couple of cm could be cut off the end to improve bolt travel. Well, this is true, but still, it doesn't let it travel quite far enough for my liking. It's both a matter of practicality and realism.

The motion of the bolt is stopped by a nub on the guide rod intended to block the spring from sliding off the rod. This nub, unfortunately, also is what prevents the bolt from travelling back far enough, even with a bit cut off the end. So, I made a small modification that allows the bolt to travel over the nub.
http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...6/bolt_mod.jpg

First, I removed the fake bolt, and used a grinder bit on my Dremel to grind a notch out of the tip so that it could "ride over" the nub. I installed it and it worked - most of the time. But the notch would still sometimes get caught up on the edge of the nub. So, I used the grinder bit to slightly grind the squared edge of the nub to allow the bolt to ride over it more smoothly.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...round_down.jpg

So now, when the bolt is pulled back all the way, the bolt easily rides over the nub. ow the 2 parts mate together very well and the bolt rides over top of the nub without any interference. I managed to keep the length of the fake bolt as to not expose the AEG's internals to dust by shortening it, and managed to get good range of motion.

http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...ype_56/fit.jpg

This gives it close to a full range of travel as it should. It's still about .5 cm off from having a full range of travel, but now it's the fully compressed spring that's blocking it from moving fack to its full range. I'm pretty happy with this though. It's about as close to perfect as I need it to be - opens enough to allow easy hopup adjustment, and the action is more realistic.
http://www.societyssorrow.com/_crunc...olt_travel.jpg

So today I had the gun out at a friend's place in the country and was shooting it. It's a very fun gun to shoot. Its ROF is decent enough, although I'm considering switching for 9.6V batteries (now that I know there's plenty of internal room for them) to increase that slightly. A stiffer spring will be a certain addition down the road, as I just don't feel the stock 300-ish FPS is quite enough for this beastly of a gun. Even with the stock spring though, 150 foot ranges were nothing for this gun to hit accurately.

If you know how to shoot, there's no way you could miss a man-size target at this range as long as it's not moving. And since we were accurately shooting at a 9" aluminum pie plate attached to a 2 x 4, I would say it's realistic to say that you could accurately tag a human head sized target at that range with little effort. At that range, there's the odd BB that will stray from its target a touch, but for the most part, they hit where intended. And this was using the cheap Wal Mart .20 bio-BBs (still working off some leftovers I have).

A note on the hopup adjustment. The other RS T56 review here on ASC mentions that this is a 400+ FPS gun loaded with a weaker spring, and the hopup rubber installed is intended for a high FPS, and not the low out-of-the-box performance. It takes very little adjustment to get the BBs flying straight.

My first 'blind' adjustment attempt had me move the hopup about 25%. I figured that would be a good start point. That effectively converted my gun from an assault rifle into an anti-aircraft gun. BBs would travel about 50 feet with a slight upward arch, then suddenly turn skywards. It was one of the funniest sights. More hopup adjustment only helped to increase this effect. Hopup of over 50% with the stock spring will cause the gun to jam. It's just not intended to handle this type of low power. I found that the best adjustment was to have the hopup at about 10%. That keeps the BBs flying in a nice straight path.

just out of curiousity, would this be the first real sword aeg in canada?

There are no other KNOWN RS T56s in country. If not the very first though, it's one of the first. At the very least, I'm the first Canadian member on ASC to have one.

Cool, with products like RS coming out, it really sucks that airsoft is so hard to obtain in Canada.. I'd totally get a type 56 if i could (darn university is such a cash drain...) and their type 97/97b is starting to grow on me..

Since I saw a thread posted about these guns back last fall, I wanted one. There was a lot of speculation in the said thread about whether or not these would even be allowed into Canada because of the source of the steel parts. When I had the chance to put in a custom request on an gun order, this was my first (and only) selection. I'm glad that I got it.

And I got one of the early ones, since these are a relatively new product. Assuming that the serial numbers are inscribed sequentially into the guns, I have the 359th gun made.

hm, thats good to know. I should get one asap then, just in case they do get banned from entering canada.

I believe that having an import license also allows importers to bring in non-firing props and sometimes blank firing guns too (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) for use in movie shoots. So if that's the case, I don't think they'd have any harder of a time importing one of these over one of those other guns.

Wanted to add that with a 9.6V battery, the rate of fire on this thing is crazy. For kicks tonight I took off the receiver cover and connected my C8's 9.6V, 2000 mAh battery. I did a quick dry-fire test, and rof was significantly higher than the 8.4V 1400 mAh battery that's in the gun. I'd highly recommend this option for anyone getting this gun. There's plenty of room in the gas tube for even a 10.8 or 12V stick, but not sure if that would be pushing it too much.

I'll be getting some 9.6V stick batteries for this thing shortly.

I got my chrony today and tested the gun. The average of 10 shots was 302 fps, with the lowest being 294 and highest 308. Most were around 300 to 305. Rate of fire with an 8.4V 1400 mAh battery was 13.8 bb/s. With a 9.6V, 2000 mAh, rof was 19.3 bb/s.

Why dont you just drive down to the good old U.S.A.? i live there and i can buy all the guns i want, for less:);

Because there is a high chance that our good old customs will turn people around or confiscate the gun.

This gun is everything Crunchmeister says about it... and then some. I love mine.

Soo much gun oil everywhere

Cool. So now you own one too. Nice to have another Type 56 owner here. Which one did you get?

You know, one thing that I really noticed recently that I hadn't noticed before is the responsiveness of the trigger. On my other AEGs when firing in semi, it's possible to quickly tap the trigger and just 'cock the spring', with the next hit on the trigger giving an instantaneous shot. It's not possible to do that on this gun. The trigger response is pretty much instantaneous. As soon as it 'clicks', it fires. It feels very much like shooting a GBB or real steel in that respect.

Oh yeah, and my your gun oil comment, I take it you've also notice "the smell" I referred to. lol

One word...........SOLID!!

Woah, that pic was small....try this one...

I'm interested on getting one of this babies.
How much is it?

Crunch paid $890, its in the first post somewhere :D

Im more impressed with this then I was with my PTW.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y14...t/IMG_1291.jpg

Memel somethings wrong with the front of your gun!

Oh boy,
love the NVA load-out!!!!!!!!!!

That's nice to hear. I want to reserve my judgement till I can actually get to try a PTW, but I'd really be surprised if they could surpass this thing, at least externally.

haha, I was wondering how long it would take for you to notice.....btw, it's staying on!!

Porkchop, I hope you can make it to the LZ Woodstock game...you'll have the privilege of eating BBs from several of these Type 56.

Word is there's about 10 people that got Type 56s in the last week or so. Nice to see that I'm not the sole, lonely Real Sword owner anymore. ;)

Starting to see much higher quality and lower costs with chinese and taiwanese airsoft now. I've got a KWA M4, and it's pretty solid. The days of TM being the benchmark are ending.

Well, I don't see Real Sword as fitting in the same category of any common airsoft manufacturer. They're really in a league of their own, up there with Systema, but at almost 1/3 of the price (internals aren't as high tech, but top quality). Take the best AK model on the market, upgrade the bejeezus out of it with metal, wood, etc, and you're looking at a $1200+ gun that doesn't match up with a stock Real Sword.

But I agree. I've had TM, and I have 2 JGs. For the price, I'll take the JGs over the TM any day. Most Chinese manufacturers haven't quite caught up yet, but I believe JG is almost there. If they can tighted up their quality control (which is their only real issue), they will surpass TM in every way.

dude you guys should get rid of those bayonets period.
make a peice of wood that fits on there and finish it to match the gun. make it so that it smoothly fits in the gap in the wood and contoring it to the part its fitting into making it more comfortable to hold

The bayonet is what gives the Type 56 its unique look. Even though it's there for show, I wouldn't get rid of it.

And with the aluminum one in place, it doesn't affect the holding of the gun the way the plastic one does.

it just reminds me of the part that sticks down into the dirt on things like flowers, flags, and stuff you put at peoples graves

Well, with 2 of those words, you got the point of the bayonet "stick" & "grave".

Nice review Crunchmeister and a very nice rifle indeed. Still don't understand why they had to do that bolt move so little, probably to keep the internals from showing too much and maybe compromising the looks of the gun, but anyway a nice gun indeed.
I have the real thing and you're making me take off the steel bayonet and send it to you, that would end your bayonet torment ...:) Anyway, since China has produced millions of this gun, they couldn't miss this one. One of the most successful aspects of an AK is the cheap production cost, fast and easy assembly and production and the simplicity that gives unsurpassed reliability.

lol Well, I have the aluminum bayonet now, so that's ok. :) No more problems here...

I finally got to field this gun today and I was very pleased with its performance. I didn't get any kills with it. Unlike my M15 rifle that shoots about 360 fps with .2s (I was using .25s today), it didn't have the penetration in the thick bush, but its range, accuracy and reliability were outstanding. I still prefer my upgraded M15, but once I get a nice stiff spring into this gun, I'll be pretty torn as to which one to use.

We found the hop-up too finicky, and hard to adjust.
Well of course after putting a few BB's through the new rubber things went better, but still we had problems of the hop-up doing its own thing.

Did you encounter that as well?

Mind you, this gun is still amazing, very nice quality. But its a very raw gun stock. As you said harder spring is the answer. My teammate did that and I believe he chronied it and it was something like 1 FPS off after quite a few rounds.

The other T56 review here on ASC states that the hopup rubber is far too stiff for its low stock velocity. The other guy states that this is really a 400+ fps gun with a 300 fps spring. Installing a softer hopup rubber and / or stiffer spring should fix that easily.

With .25 Bastards, I had to just slightly nudge the hopup on to get the BBs to fly straight. And the trajectory of the BBs outranged every other gun at the game today. Ditto for accuracy. They shot straight and far every time.

But like I said, the weak spring didn't give it the penetration power for the thick brush where we were playing. My M15 had no problems punching through the woods to get me kills. I didn't get any kills with the Type 56, even though I could clearly see my targets and was shooting right at them at about 75-100 feel. The M15 tagged them very easily at that range through the brush, even though it's not quite as accurate.

Got mine last night
 

What a satisfying feeling.

I own a lot of AEGs.. none have come close to this one in realism. Set it next to a real one.. and I doubt you could tell the difference ( its been about 15 years since I handled an AK but still.. as I remember.. )

Weight is close.. its a bit light in the butt.. but once a mag is fitted the balance is close to correct.

SOLID ....

This thing is essentially a real AK with a mechbox fitted inside

Can't wait to field it.

Personally, I'm an AR fan, but these are sw33t.

It feels illegal. Like it's got "bodies" on it. If someone pulled this out of a trunk, I'd swear it was real.

I've handled 2. I have a couple of guns and have handled alot. This one is way up at the top.

I have to buy one.

+1, I handled Nacchi and Brian's real sword last night and I must say it is one of those up there on the list of must have. About it being at par with a PTW, I think they still have a ways to go. For one, the option of changing the cylinders on the fly gives the PTW an advantage.

That aside, I will eventually have one in my collection in the near future.

Without a doubt this is as close to a real gun as you currently get in the airsoft world, except maybe for the other Real Sword guns. Be it for play or collection purposes, this is truly the ultimate airsoft gun in terms of realism.

Unloaded, the RS is about 100g lighter than the real Type 56, so it's pretty close. The hollowed out stock is probably responsible for some of that "weight loss".

Install a new spring to get decent velocities and if you like AKs, this will probably become your main favourite field gun. Even though I don't like the feel of AKs much (hence why I don't game mine much and didn't bother upgrading it), it's still the crown jewel of my AEG collection.

"On par" is more intended in terms of realism than in terms of features and technology. The RS is for all intents and purposes just a slightly modified V3 mechbox, so it doesn't compare in terms of its internal technology wtih Systema. Its internals are top notch compared to most other stock AEGs, but it's basic V3 technology with a couple of proprietary parts to accomodate the shortened mechbox. But in terms of externals, you can't get much more authentic than Real Sword. They truly are in a league of their own.

I delight in seeing people happy with their new toys ^^

Now where's the gun pr0n, me gots some of my own :)

http://i215.photobucket.com/albums/c...ta07/aznrs.jpg

awww man im so very jealous, I didn't know you had one o these beauties too V!

That's a picture I took of one of the RS AKs before I dropped them off @ TAC on Friday.

I know I'm bringing this thread back from the dead, Just had to thank you tho. I was in the market for an AK and the Type 56 was mentioned to me, I wanted to check it out so I read your review. I bought one last week mainly because of this review. Seriously thanks for opening my eyes to this gun! I just got it and it is awesome and heavy! Easily the best feeling AEG I've ever held. I also got the stock 430 FPS spring in the box and the bolt does not need a mod. I guess they changed things cause the bolt on mine goes as far back as yours does in the pics after the bolt mod. Just had to say my peice about this fantastic gun and let anyone know if you are looking for an AK AEG get a Real Sword (if you can afford it that is.)

Well here's another revive, why exactly does it cost close to 300 dollars more to buy one of these in Canada then in the US? Yes, I get the paperwork, the licences, blablabla, but there are plenty of stores out there that sell airsoft and they only markup the prices between 50 to 100 bucks. What's with the huge cost here?

Rare AEG, exact AK dimensions maybe? But worth the little extra.

Also I think that there is only one importer for these.

Your pretty new to airsoft but this issue is not.

Airsoft in Canada has and always will always carry a markup. Usually around the 100% mark when compared to the US, but in some cases that can fluctuate between 50% and all the way up to 750% in some rare cases.

The reason? because the retailers can, simple as that. Get used to it until Canadian Importation laws surrounding airsoft change if ever. Also expect considering the quality of build of this rifle I think its set at a fair price.


Cheers.

Yea, I figured all of that, I just hadn't crossed a markup of 100% before, so that shocked me. But still, for 640, this thing costs as much as any CA, but is by far superior. Will be trying to buy myself one once I save up the money (only a couple hundred to go, woohoo :P)

Well worth the investment. Couldn't be happier with mine. you can probly get one from the classified here you just need to get age verified. go to FAQ there will be a link on telling you how to do so.

Oh I know how to get AV'd. I've been a member for a few months now, that's not the problem.

The problem is I live in a 'remote' area of Nova Scotia, in that I'm 2 hours away from Halifax, and that's where all the AV'ers live. Top on the fact that every weekend when I could make it into the city, something arises to prevent me from doing so. So, I just haven't been able to, and there haven't been any big games lately, so they haven't come down.

Damn, that sucks hard.

The general consensus with the RS line is that your getting what you pay for.

Also I applaud you for taking the steps to "save your money" and buy the "good stuff" as a Student I can relate and I know it takes time but in the end you will be much more satisfied that you spent your money wisely.

Well I'm up to about 520 dollars, it's 640 + shipping which is like 40 bucks. So that's a couple hundred to go haha.

Edit: Oh, but in case you thought so, this isn't my first AEG. My first was an SRC M4, not a bad gun, but has some issues that I need(ed) to address.

The apartment I am in right now costs $100 a month.
My average spending on food per day is less than $4.
My airsoft spending in the last month and a half has totaled over $1400.
This month, I will spend $600 more on parts and accessories.

They're called priorities. Get yourself some.

Damn I pay 700 a month :( I have a RS type 56-1 and love it. It's a beast! Ive played in the pouring rain fell on it ran into tree's with it and dropped it off the side of the Clay hill's in Claybank and she still shoots like the day I got her. Best AEG Ive ever owned.

Back from the dead again? But I just HAD to include this video review since they go a bit beyond your regular airsoft reviews:

http://youtu.be/LxsnfFB-lo0

I just picked one of these up last week and i was wondering, if i want to swap the hand guards for ones with a fore grip do i need to buy the real steel ones or will the airsoft one's work?

Sexy accent and gorgeous......the Type 56 was nice too.

Well I think ive settled on my first AEG :P

Real steel guards for Real Sword.

Quick question, is this gun able to handle lipo (After reading all these and watching reviews i dont doubt it but would like to hear a suggestion) batteries? And do any retailers here carry extra Real sword mags? I know ehobby asia has them but id prefer they were in country.

I run an 11.1v lipo - I have had absolutely no problems with it. Awesome trigger response. Highly recommended.

I got my mags from eHobbyAsia.

Never really paid attention to peoples posts when talking about shipping costs but how many mags did you pick up and about how much was the shipping and any other fees total it to? Thanks.

I picked up three AK mags, four m11 mags, a pistol mag, an AK tightbore, a couple slings, and some various other small things.

I think the shipping was around $30-35 for airmail, which took around ten days if I remember correctly. Don't remember the exact price and I can't find it in my records. Could have been less.

It was pretty reasonable.

edit: They have a shipping estimate calculator in their shopping cart.