[Non Credo]

Side by side, yes the CA is going to look much better. Just externally, there is an obvious difference in the quality of the plastic and metal used in the weapons, however, the CA is ungodly expensive, and for the price, the A&K is an excellent weapon. Carry handle and bipod, despite what I have heard, have held up just fine for me, however I removed my bipod as I dont really use it. Dont know about RIS compatibility, I just took off the stock plastic grips and bolted some rails to the thing. << Also lets you attach RIS compatible bipod of your choice, of course. I wouldnt know how it is for outdoors, though I know that out of the box mine was shooting about 340 fps at ~16 rounds a second. With a CA highspeed, Systema HS gears, 9.6v 4000mah, and an Angel piston it is quite faster. THE BOX MAG kicks ass. Runs off of 2 AA batteries, and has 3 modes: Off, Sound Controlled, and Constant On, the switch for the box mag is located on the bottom of the box, it is small, black, and it protrudes from the green box. Unless you want to flip your heavy-ass gun over mid-game, (~12-15lbs), to find the switch, it requires some memorization of which setting is where. Also, it has been able to keep up with my ~30 rounds per second setup, miraculously, even if my pistons and gears cant. I swapped out the stock Paratrooper extending stock (with shoulder rest, full metal), for a G&P Mk2 stock. The A&K Mk2 stock is nasty plastic, and the buttplate slides off. G&P was about $75 USD shipped, and it unscrews, has a metal buttplate with shoulder rest and can fit just about any battery. I'd highly recommend the G&P stock. I have had issues with the safety, though this is after messing with the internals, so I may have left something unaligned, the issue is that every now and then the trigger is retained by the safety mechanism when it is in fire. All it requires to take it out is either pulling harder on the trigger, or swapping back and forth between safe and fire. Barrel set releases just like real steel, rear sight on Para at least is adjustable, removable, (bolted to feed tray cover), though I'd imagine its about the same on the Mk2. Box mag has 2500 round capacity. Front sight is height adjustable, gas block on Para is silver, features a vehicle mount, Para has 20mil rail on feed tray cover, and Mk2 has compatibility with CA feed tray covers, so you can get a railed one. Does not come with fake cartridge belt, does come with nice large hard OD/black case with 2 clamps featuring holes for masterlocks and whatnot. If you're having issues with feeding like dryfiring, make sure the inner barrel is rotated properly, so the hop up will allow bbs into it, (look through the M4 magwell and rotate inner barrel until you see the air nozzle). And, yes, M4 mag compatibility. S arms mags work well, G&P mags feed but must be held in, (dont lock, would require bending with screwdriver), sorry those are the only M4 mags I have. (midcaps yeeeahh!)

You also might want to consider the G&P Mk46. Like the CA, its insanely expensive, but its so awesome. I had the pleasure of playing with one about a week ago and my god... I love G&P. It features an AK style gearbox, not PGC, and has a killswitch at the top in the end of the reciever to cut power from the battery. Because its actually a Mk46, no M4 magwell, so no M4 magwell compatibility, which also means you cna only buy G&P box mags, no CA or others, but you probably only need one really... Its a few thousand rounds. The plastic and metal used int eh gun are obviously of extremely high quality, and the fluted barrel = hot. Plus, it comes with RIS, so no searching around for expensive aftermarket parts, and then ending up having to ghetto rig it. Yes its expensive, but I can tell you that after owning the A&K, and firing the G&P I'd totally get the G&P instead if I could. Its worth saving for.

And sorry for the super-long post. Thought you might like all the info you could get before buying.