Holy shit.
Ho-leee shit.
It's been a long time since I've written a review, but after getting this rifle, I feel it honestly deserves one.
Haven't taken any pictures yet, expect them soon. Here's the one from the sale thread I bought it from, NIB. The gun came with a 8.4v 1100mAh battery, a cleaning rod and a foreign charger.
Anyways, I didn't really have high expectations for this gun (CYMA and all, $400 NIB, et cetera- too good to be true if it's a good gun, no?), but I was VERY pleasantly surprised.
Taking it out of the box was a treat, it certainly did NOT feel like standard pot-metal, at all. The weapon was pretty hefty, it felt like it could take a beating with no qualms at all.
The wood grips are fantastic- while they chipped with some pretty heavy use/being thrown around (I don't exactly store my rifles like I should, nor transport them in very professional cases), a few chips have been taken off- so a re-staining may be in order.
General feel and aesthetics are top-par- the flip-sights are cleverly designed, though they seem identical and quite pointless to have two different settings (one labelled 4-5, the second having a small 'U' under it. I've since coloured those in with white crayon, along with the fire selector markings).
The weapon itself can take a beating, being swung around, dropped, etc- when I fold the stock I treat it a bit violently, giving it a smack that either sends it flying home to folded, or back with a satisfying 'ching'. Unfortunately, the stock wobbles top-to-bottom a bit, not really sure how to remedy this.
There's a genuine AK side-'rail' for mounting of Russian optics, if you feel so inclined. I bought a 20mm rail that clips onto this, for the mounting of a red dot sight in the near future.
Unfortunately, the front sight seemed a bit crooked to the right, I'm not sure how to remedy this at all. I started mostly barrel-aiming with it thanks to this, as the sights were near useless for me.
Performance-
While I've gamed it twice in smaller, non-official settings, I'm simply blown away.
Pitted up on a one-versus three (I was the odd one out, and was against a fellow with a TM AK, a TM P90, a TM VSR Gspec and a TM FAMAS as a spare on their hill), and the outcome truly surprised me.
This gun had the effective range of the VSR- on semi auto only, I was able to put suppressive fire on all three of them and quite literally walk towards them in complete open, having three panicked players blind-firing wildly. The gun sounds intimidating as hell, with a loud 'thwap' every shot, and it shoots pretty far (other reviews and players chrono the gun at 380 (hence my shooting semi-only), meaning it's definitely not a good idea to use indoors). Arnies suggests that the new CYMA guns come with pre-installed tightbores, which would also probably add to this. Another review described the accuracy as abysmal- I digress, but they were probably referring to the sights, or had an older model. This gun's definitely bang-on accurate for me.
The rate of fire is a bit low, I REALLY need a 9.6v or higher stick battery. The design of the AKS-74U allows it so you can have up to a 12v stick battery in it, as the battery extends all the way into the hollow handguard.
Haven't taken a peek at the internals, yet.
Mods planned- VFC AK tactical foregrip, rail, reflex red dot sight, rubber buttpad for folding stock, serial number engravings
Pictures will be added ASAP.
Pros-
High velocity, insane effective range
Amazing external quality
Wood grips, metal body, low price
Accurate as hell
Cons-
Crooked front sight (I keep having to push it to the left, I tightened a screw and think it may've been fixed)
Wood chips slightly with heavy use
ROF is a bit sad (probably not for most, but for someone used to a 9.6v in my AUG)
Overall rating- 9/10. Having played with a LOT of different guns and owning 2 Maruis (one stock FAMAS, one heavily upgraded AUG), I can say this is probably one of the best I've used, period. Will probably need a bit of internal reinforcements to keep up with the spring, so one of Tirador's piston heads will be in order, along with some other little bits to preserve longevity.