G&G AK47 Full Wood CAS Version Review

[WARFIGHTER]

We have been looking into retailing Canadian legal airsoft weapons for a while now, and are still working things out with several prominent dealers to offer our customers quality products at competitive prices. We have established a dealer account with CAS (Www.CanadianAirgunSupply.Com), and are pleased to have our full review of one of their products we will be retailing.

The piece we are looking at today is their version of G&G's 'Pro Series' Full Wood AK47 with the dark tinted receiver.

The retail price on these AEG's is $454.00, CAS does have them currently in stock/in country, and they are available to order for age verified individuals through Warfighter Tactical.


Initial Impressions

I'll start with the actual box itself... It is on the nicer side of many I have seen. Both the external printed box and the internal styrofoam box are good looking, with cleanly cut sections on the internal box and everything is packaged very tightly and securely.

The package comes with the following:
-AEG (Obviously)
-1400mah NiMh split battery (Mini Tamiya Connector)
-Ballistic Glasses (Clear, w/ cloth pouch)
-Wall Charger (Mini Tamiya Connector)
-Small Bag Of BB's
-Manual/Catalog
-Unjamming Rod
-Hi-Cap Magazine (Metal)
-Large to Mini Converter
-Front Sight Adjustment Tool

The first thing that I noticed and the first thing people usually comment on when initially seeing/holding the AEG is the wood. While it is unfortunately not the 'red' color traditional to most AK's, the wood is excellent. The grains are prominent, the finish is silky smooth, and the stain is very even with no discoloration. The pistol-grip, fore-stock, and butt-stock are all of the same wood and the same finish and color. I am not sure what kind of wood it is, but as mentioned, the grain/finish looks top notch, and it feels fantastic.

Everything is very solid, no creaking or wobbling, the metal parts feel very high quality, even the composite body feels very good and strong. As I understand it, the 'Pro Series' G&G AK's (AK47 Wood, and Beta Spetz) are G&G's 'higher-end' line, which use the higher quality materials/internals, where as the 'Rec Series' which in this case there is only the one AK47 model, is G&G's lower grade line, which use lower cost metals and (of course) composite fake wood grip/stocks. I am as of yet unsure as to the differences in the internals between G&G's lower end lines and their higher grade lines, but once we do get one of the 'Rec Series' to evaluate, we will share that information.

Everything save for the smoked composite receiver and wood parts, are metal, and the gun has some heft to it. It is not overly heavy as some other full metal/wood AEG's I have used are. It is a good scirmishable weight; heavy enough to feel solid, light enough to carry around for extended periods without being over-fatigued.

The bolt handle and cover are full metal, the cover is a thick gauge unlike most others I have seen, and can be manipulated fully to reveal the hop unit. The spring on the bolt cover is quite strong, and when released makes a pleasant clack. I am told, G&G make this part reinforced to specifically handle being pulled back and released without the need to be gentle with it. A nice feature in my opinion, as I know of numerous cases on M4's in particular where the user tries to manipulate the charging handle, and it comes right off. I wanted to make sure the bolt and handle are indeed as durable as G&G claims and I have been racking the bolt quite often in the few weeks that we have had the AEG, it is showing no signs of wear or degradation.

The hop unit is a 'bar' type that is pushed forward or pulled back to decrease/increase the hop, it does have a set screw you can tighten once the desired spot is reached. I found with Bastard .25's it was ideal almost directly in the center of the 'bar', and it has stayed tightened on that spot since I set it, and has performed superbly ever since from game to game.

The rear sight is full metal, adjustable for height in the typical AK fashion, and it does flip up completely, using a magnet to retain it. I am not sure if this is native to most AK's, but I do not like the flip up feature along with the magnet retention, I have found a few times after crawling around that I'll go to shoulder the weapon and the rear sight will be sticking up. A minor annoyance, but I assume this is true to a real AK, someone can correct me if I'm wrong. The front sight, also full metal, is solid and looks great, there is a sight adjustment tool included, I left it the way it came, no complaints really, since it's airsoft I rarely line up the sights exactly on my targets regardless.

Trigger and guard, full metal. Feel great, not much else to say about them really.

The selector switch, yes, you guessed it, also metal. Is sturdy and moves into positions with an audible click. There is a small opening between the composite lower receiver and metal upper receiver that is exposed when the selector is on full or semi, that I am not a fan of. It seems like that is a ideal spot for stuff to get inside the receiver. As I understand it, that is an AK feature, not something particular to the G&G version, however, I would like it better if they closed that up to prevent debris from getting in.

Sling loops, it has two solid mounting points, one near the front where the fore-stock ends, which is for a clip type attachment, and the rear is a 1 1/2" loop. Both a full metal, and seem to be very sturdy, I have had one of our slings on it in several different configurations through a number of games and they have been fine.

Battery storage wise, the wood stock has room for a large battery, which I was also pleased about. It is a tight fit, but not difficult to insert or remove. The connector is a large tamiya type, whereas the included battery is a small tamiya, and is also split. It would have been nice if they would have included a large type, higher mah battery, but the small one does work fine with the included adapter.

The magazine included is a high-cap (600rds), it is full metal, and seats very well in the magwell with no wobble and a reassuring click to let you know it is in place without doubt. It has fed perfectly, and I have not oiled it at all in the several weeks I have used the AEG. All total I have had approx. 6 mags (3600 rds) through it. After last weekend, I sent it home with Amos to have him break it open and give his review on the internals, which should be up shortly. The bottom plate on the magazine, slides out too easily in my opinion, this as I understand is a common issue with many AK47 mags, again not a huge deal, but can be an annoyance, and ugly if lost.


Performance & Reliability

I was impressed with the accuracy out of the box, and it's range once the hop was adjusted. The speed was average, nothing terribly impressive, it chrono'd at 320 fps. I believe Amos has a few things to add with regards to that, but that will wait for later.

ROF was decent, it isn't the fastest I have seen, nor the slowest. The MP5G5 we recieved from CAS and will also be reviewing shortly was noticeably faster, which I thought would have been the other way around as the MP5G5 is in their lower range models. That being said, there isn't anything wrong with the ROF for the AK, it is very reasonable.

The sound it makes is pleasant, it doesn't 'whine' like some other AEG's I have used/heard it is a sharper 'bark' not overly loud on the receiving end or if you are beside it when shooting, but fairly loud if you are the shooter. I personally enjoy it, I think it adds a little to the experience. I would expect it to take a bit of work if I wanted to make it quieter though.

The trigger pull is very clean and crisp, and has great response. I was using a large 9.6v 4200 mah battery, and the included 9.6v 1400 mah split battery.

The range is surprisingly far, with good accuracy within realistic 'airsoft' distances which I consider up to 100-175 feet depending on conditions. The hop unit seems to have a point just beyond half-way that will arc bb's straight up extremely high, just below that point is the best trajectory that I found, quite straight and far with little rise throughout it's flight path, and a good long range before dropping off. I am not sure if something is mis-aligned with the hop system or not, as it seems that it changes very drastically once you set it slightly beyond halfway rather than slowly changing with small adjustments as most others I have used.

The BB's used were .25 bastards, supposedly these barrels are 6.08mm, I have no way of checking this, but for a stock barrel, I was very impressed with it's accuracy and really have no complaints. If I was going to invest in upgrades, a after market barrel would probably be one of the last things to go in her, and I am big on accuracy.

Reliability wise, it has not failed me yet, I have used it at several games, had approx 3600 rounds through her. One of the days was quite wet and I do crawl a lot when I play and it weathered that very well. After a cleaning, it looked like new again. The hi-cap mag has fed without issues, and I have not oiled it at this point. I have only used .25 Bastards, so I cannot comment on it digesting other brands.

Conclusion

I have used a wide variety of AEG's in the past from several major brands, all of which have been (new or used) significantly higher priced than the Full Wood G&G AK47. The partially clear receiver isn't as preferable as a full metal one of course, but it is certainly a sacrifice I'll make to stay legal, and I don't have any wall-hangers, performance and reliability are more important than aesthetics to me. All in all, from my experience it is a very solid and usable piece, with a reasonable price tag, and great out of the box performance. As icing on the cake, the wood and metal and even the composite receiver look and feel fantastic.

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I think that concludes my review at this point, as I said, Amos will have pics and comments regarding the internals shortly, and we will be reviewing the CAS version G&G MP5G5 as well in the near future, as well as other Canadian legal airsoft weapons as we get our paws on them. The AK will continue to be used and abused and I'll update accordingly, I do plan on installing some upgrades and I'll comment on how those work out as well.

Individuals interested in purchasing the Full Wood AK47 or any other of the CAS line can PM me or email us.

Cheers.

[Amos]

G&G AK47 STANDARD VERSION







































G&G AK47 REC VERSION

FPS: 321-345 on .20 gram BB Bastards

Initial impressions of this gun were extremely poor... This thing feels like a child's toy... I feel sorry for anyone that purchases this gun as their first gun.. in my honest opinions it seems as if it would ruin the "awesome" factor of airsoft. Everything is fairly solid... But I'm 100% sure that this gun would degrade rapidly over time.







Notice a trend here? Yea. That's screws threaded into plastic.. G&G decided against putting a nut for the screws to thread into.

This will become a HUGE problem for this gun, eventually the screws will wear through the plastic and become "stripped." This will cause the gun to fall apart and preform TERRIBLY.

Places where screws are threaded into plastic without any reinforcement: Butt-stock Cap, Stock Trunnion to butt-stock, Front end (These will strip if the gun is taken apart more than twice), Hop-up screws.





Hop up unit is made out of metal, it appears to be the standard G&G AK hop-up unit.
The barrel is cut from a low grade aluminum and was EXTREMELY dirty.





Mechbox:

Selector arms are very nicely machined! If only G&G would have done this to the REST OF THE BLOODY GUN.
6mm brass bushings, I'm not a fan of brass bushings because brass is so soft... Eventually the harder metal of the gears will wear the brass away and start wobbling (this is very bad)
Standard gears and Anti-reversal latch
Solid chunk of mystery metal for the spring guide... no thrust ring or bearings on it (That's a bad thing)

Shimming:
Bevel gear is loose, over .5mm of play
Spur gear has over .5mm of movement
Sector gear is shimmed well

I would give the shim job on this a 6/10

Airseal parts:

PISTON HEAD STILL SUCKS.

The cylinder is coated in a black material (teflon?) to make the gun look black through the body... The finish on the cylinder is flaking off and will eventually cause problems in the gearbox.


OVERALL:

I would highly recommend saying away from the rec line of this gun... It's poor build quality will make this gun an absolute disaster after a short period of time. This gun isn't 100% TM compatible externally, so upgrading to full metal will be very difficult.

The magazine also fits this gun quite poorly, it need to be held in place to insure 100% reliable feeding.

Avoid this gun, Buy the normal or advanced version of it.

[Amos]

Internal reveiw pictures up.

[Ripperman79]

A review of the "Rec" grade AK would be very helpful, Thanks

[WARFIGHTER]

For sure we'll be doing the rec grade as soon as we can get one in. Thanks Amos for the internals review. Good stuff.

[kalnaren]

Good review, very thorough. And Amos, love the post-it note review.

One thing though:

Originally Posted by Knyte

The partially clear receiver isn't as preferable as a full metal one of course, but it is certainly a sacrifice I'll make to stay legal

Even since these G&G halfbreeds came out, eveyone seems to think it's illegal owning a full black airsoft gun. It isn't. Feel free to put a metal body on that sucker.

[WARFIGHTER]

Originally Posted by kalnaren

Good review, very thorough. And Amos, love the post-it note review.

One thing though:

Even since these G&G halfbreeds came out, eveyone seems to think it's illegal owning a full black airsoft gun. It isn't. Feel free to put a metal body on that sucker.

Ooops, I had mis-worded that, I meant for us to retail (Of course if we had the firearms importation/retail we could do full metal but as of now...)

[canind09]

Both of you did very good job at reviewing this AK.
I am just wondering though how well the butt cover will hold after many times of unscrewing and screwing back in to the wood for charging/ replacing the battery?

It is really hard to see if there is a metal nut in that butt screw. Is there?

I found this and here is the sample picture of RS Type56-1 butt stock (The screws place look more durable with brass nut in there)

Thanks for the reviewing guys..

[WARFIGHTER]

I will keep the review thread updated with any issues I encounter including the screw holes in the buttstock. If all else fails, I would think that simply longer screws could be used as there seems to be a lot of wood to grab in that area so I don't think it will become a problem. The included scews are fairly deep and set in very tightly so it would probably be quite some time before it became a problem as far as I can tell now. But like I said I will keep the thread updated.

[Sim123456]

It's sad that the wood kit look ugly and that you still need to buy a metal receiver. Let's say 454$ + taxes + shipping + metal receiver. But it's still nice for a Canadian airsoft!

[Amos]

Originally Posted by Sim123456

It's sad that the wood kit look ugly and that you still need to buy a metal receiver. Let's say 454$ + taxes + shipping + metal receiver. But it's still nice for a Canadian airsoft!

The wood on this is actually beautiful... That's its real grain, not some painted, fake texture...

This is something that you need to actually feel to appreciate, the wood on this gun is the most solid AK wood I've seen (Aside from real stuff) and I've seen TONNES of brand's of wood, from the Ebaybanned crap all the way up to Craft Apple Works, Guarder and G&P wood. The G&G wood is better than all of that.

I do however agree that the color sucks and it could most definitely use a re-finishing... Once War fighter starts to retail these I believe they're going to get me to offer upgrade / re-finishing services

[Sim123456]

Yes it look very solid and I also considered to buy one, just didn't see it on the classified when I wanted one. I know what you mean by beautiful wood that is not so durable, LCT wood is superb, but a bit thin to my test when thinking about field abuse. Nice review by the way!

[johjoh]

Very nice review i guess G&G stepped up their game alot in the past years

[WARFIGHTER]

Amos put in a new piston head and shim job. I'll report on the performance in a while here and see how much of a difference it made.

[Strelok]

Just bought one of these. Any idea what bodies are compatable with these things? Theres a lot of element bodies that are going around, but i've heard a good share of horror stories regarding them.
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