KWA G36C Review after a year of use

[Davidious]

Imgur album for people who like to use that: http://imgur.com/a/JpDD7



The G36 is a 5.56×45mm assault rifle, designed in the early 1990s by Heckler & Koch (H&K) in Germany as a replacement for the heavier 7.62mm G3 battle rifle. It was accepted into service with the Bundeswehr in 1995, replacing the G3. The G36 is gas-operated and feeds from a 30-round detachable box magazine or 100-round C-Mag drum magazine. -Wikipedia



I purchased my KWA G36C from Toronto Airsoft through their online store. The purchase was nice and simple and arrived to me in a timely fashion.



Having held a few G36’s before buying this one (JG, ARES), I wasn’t sure what to expect out of KWA. Needless to say I was impressed to find the quality of the polymer to be grades above the fit and finish of the other brands I had experience with at the time. The polymer has an odd glossiness to it, and I understand that means it is injection moulded ABS. After having handled this gun for a year, I have noticed the body to be less sturdy than I originally thought, especially compared to the recently released G&G G36C, which uses a much tougher nylon fibre composite. The hand guard was easy to remove by the fitted pin, which was a straight pin with an o-ring, unlike the standard pin that is used on the real steel rifle. The rest of the “pins” are actually screws which hold the magwell and pistol grip to the main receiver. The railed carry handle is made of polymer but the ironsights are made of metal, and are adjustable for distance. The folding stock locks snuggly in place both folded and extended, however it swings somewhat loosely on the hinge when not locked in place. The rails on the hand guard are made of metal as well. The gun carries the correct trades on the receiver, and weighs in at 3175.15 grams (7lbs). Overall the gun feels solid out of the box with no creaks or flexing. It is important to note that I seem to be making a review for a G36C and providing pictures of an MG36. This review will mainly cover points on the original gun itself, but will dabble into points of the new hardware when I feel necessary. I’ve always liked the G36C, but was fond of the uniqueness of the MG36. To my dismay it seemed that the only long G36 variant on the market was the JG and the ARES, so I decided to build my own. A parts list of external body pieces I have added at the time of review: Unkown brand (I believe G&P) carry handle 3.5x optic S&T Red Dot Sight w/ Laser S&T G36 Grenade Launcher Hand Guard G&P Full Length Folding Stock JG Full Length Hand Guard and Outer Barrel JG Bipod



Gearbox: KWA V3 2GX You would expect that a gun that is on the higher end price spectrum for G36 rifles would boast some kind of performance stature to make up for it. With the KWA G36C you will not be disappointed. I have run nothing but an 11.1v LiPo battery in this gun from day 1, and the gun has simply trucked along without complaint. With a mediocre 11.1v LiPo you should expect to see a respectable 25RPS. The gun has a very small battery compartment and you need a decently small battery to fit in the hand guard. The gun shoots fairly consistent 380fps with .2g bbs. This gun is decently accurate for its size, and has a pretty good stock hop up, however do not expect to be doing DMR/Sniper levels of shooting. You can fairly accurately shoot up to 125ft but after that you start to spray and hope some of the bbs make it to the target. The gun feels like the piston hits with some force, but does not make any out of place gearbox noises. Like with many V3 gearboxes, if you go nuts on semi auto the gearbox will lock up and “jam.” A short burst in full auto will quickly rectify this and get you back to shooting.



This gun has run from day 1 with a 11.1v LiPo battery with no issue. A couple months into its life I installed a Gate Merf3.2 Mosfet as well as wired the gun to deans. The stock KWA internals have thoroughly impressed me at this point. The gears are solid and made of steel. The piston and spring guide are standard, but what really impressed me was the compression of the stock parts. The stock compression set is somehow able to create a damn-near perfect air seal out of a piston head that is just a flat head with an o-ring. Everything is designed specifically for this gun, (KWA only does one V3 AEG rifle) and as such everything just fits, no if, ands, or buts.



Over the course of putting many rounds through this rifle, I have only had one part fail; the cylinder head. This one piece is the exception to the otherwise phenomenal internals this gun comes with out of the box. KWA decided to use a cylinder head that was half plastic/half metal and as such the metal and plastic separated. Slap in a new one-piece aluminum cylinder head and away you go.



Over time the molded "pin" or "notch" on the left side that holds the magwell in place had broken off. The magwell sits snug in this location and is still held by the molded pin on the right side, so there is little worry of it coming off accidentally.



A crack has developed on the part of the body that houses the gearbox itself. The crack does not affect performance, and is not in a structurally important area.



The stock had cracked and became unusable after a friend I had loaned it to tripped on a tree root and fell on it, however this need for replacing the stock helped me realize this gun as the full MG36 I wanted it to be.



Shortly after receiving the gun, I had painted “Gisela” on the hand guard, (finding suitable names for my guns is a thing I like to do) and after receiving the longer hand guard I had painted “Gertrude” on it.



The stock and optic rail from the original setup. Externally the gun faired decently, but not perfectly. This gun has taken a lot of use and abuse but still powers on.



The KWA is a stelar G36C variant right from opening the box, and once you replace the cylinder head the parts inside will last a very long time. I know this route of getting an MG36 wasn’t the most economic or the easiest, but at this point this gun has been a great workhorse from day 1 and has turned into something I can be proud to bring out on game day.