List of full steel Airsoft guns - A.K.A. the I want a gun that will last a long time thread [WIP]

[Drakker]

This is a collaborative list of full steel Airsoft guns. If you want a gun that will last for a long time and that can take punishment, this is the list for you.

You will notice that guns on this list are made from sheet metal in real life (or piping in the case of the Sten) and are good candidates to be made at a reasonable price in Airsoft. This is why you won’t see modern plastic guns like the G36s, or guns that would require a significant amount of CNC work to be made of steel, such as Armalites (M4/etc), which would make them cost prohibitive.

To qualify as full steel, a gun has to have its externals made of steel and have no exposed pot metal. Other metals, such as aluminum, in non-stress areas are okay, as long as it's machined and not molded. With that said, pot metal is sometimes appropriate and can be overlooked if it is in a non-stress area inside the gun. This list ignores the quality of the internals because they are easily replaced.

The guide has two levels of “steeliness”, full and part. Part steel guns have steel parts where it counts, for example the receiver on Cyma AKs. If you are on a budget, they are still a decent buy, but they will not be as tough and durable as the guns listed in the full steel lists.

While it is possible to upgrade quite a few guns to full steel, getting restricted parts such as receivers in Canada is awfully hard, so these guns are ignored. Same for upgraded full steel WE pistols sold by RA-Tech and other Asian companies, getting them in Canada is hard and cost prohibitive, so they will not be listed.


Electric Guns

Full steel AEGs
Action Sterling
AGM Sten
DBoys Aks (some models are full steel, be very careful)
Classic Army SVD (full steel version with real wood only, maybe discontinued)
E&L AKs
ICS MP5 Pro (not to be confused with the Proline Series)
G&G MG42
G&G SIGs
LCT AKs
LCT M60VN
LCT PP19 Bizon (Discontinued)
LCT PP19-01 Vityaz
LCT RPK
LCT RPD
LCT SR3
LCT VAL
LCT VSS Vintorez
Real Sword AKs
Real Sword SVD
RWA Tec-9
Silverback PP19 Bizon
SRC MP40
SRC MP5s
VFC AKs (discontinued)


Part steel AEGs
A&K MK46 SAW (newer models)
Ares PPSh
Beta Project Sterling
Classic Army AKs (newer models only, watch out for the old stuff)
Cyma AKs (new style with pins, you have to be careful, they have a lot of poor quality pot metal models)
Cyma SVD
DBoys AKs (most other models)
Echo1 GAT (Tec-9)
ICS L85/6
S&T PPSh


Upcoming steel AEGs
LCT MP5s
LCT G3s


Gas Guns

Full steel GBBRs
GHK AKs
WE MP5s
WE SVD (full steel and real wood version only)


Part steel GBBRs
WE AKs
Well clone of the WE AK74UN (terrible gun according to early reviews, avoid it, even though it’s mostly steel, the rivets holding it together are made of cheese)


Full steel GBB Pistols
Inokatsu 1911a1
RWA GRP 1911


Spring Guns

As far as I know, none exist.


This list is a work in progress, any help is welcome. I listed the steel guns I know about, but I’m sure I missed a lot. If you know of a full steel gun not listed, reply to this thread and I will add it. A source showing it is full metal would be good to have, but I’ll take your word for it. If I included a non-steel gun by mistake, feel free to correct me.

I would need additional info on these guns:
All brands of PPShs : mostly steel as far as I know, a second opinion would be great.
Snow Wolf Grease gun
Snow Wolf M1938 Italian WW2 SMG


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Crap, I managed to post this in accessories discussion, big brain fart of inattention on my part. I would appreciate if the list could be moved, otherwise delete it and I will repost it.

[Kingsix]

Hey Dboys makes a full steel line too, It's just they keep changing the production codes to confuse us all. VFC AK's are discontinued

Should the title to I like Rust on my guns :P

[Drakker]

Haha, yeah, steel rusts, but at least it doesn't snap in half if you fondle it too hard.

Updated, thanks!

[Foodbasics]

The pp19 Bizon is discontinued too.

You can add the pp19-01 Vityaz to the list instead

[Kingsix]

Originally Posted by Foodbasics

The pp19 Bizon is discontinued too.

PP-19 steel is still done by Silverback I recall.

[Drakker]

Thanks for the info, updated.

[Kingsix]

ICS M3 Grease gun uses a Die Cast Upper Receiver (Zamak 3 or some other Aluminum alloy.)

Lower is Nylon Fiber

Steel parts are: Stock, Magazine Catch and Iron sights

ICS MP5 Pro not to be confused with the Proline Series does have a stamped steel upper.
AGM Sten is steel with (Stainless stock tube) Last part Surprised me and my father (CNC Machinist Aerospace). Since it had weld marks but didn't past the magnet test.
ICS L85/6 Models have a stamped steel lower receiver and some stamped steel parts. I will get more information on it tomorrow.

[Drakker]

That's a lot of great info. Thanks!

Yeah, the Sten is pretty damn impressive, once you shim the stock with a few layers of your favorite type of tape, nothing moves on that gun. It's really though, and with the mag on the side, you don't have to expose yourself much when shooting it lying down. It's my new favorite gun.

[Pfeil]

Don't forget the entire SIG-series of electric AEGs by G&G:

SG550
SG552
SG553

Every part that is steel on the real gun is steel on the replica (stamped receiver).

As well as G&G's truly hefty, full-steel MG-42 (GMG-42) WWII machine gun! This thing is great for doing chin-ups as well by the way... And is actually reasonably priced PER KILO at nearly 11 kg if you find a good sale like I did!

[Drakker]

Wow, thanks. I didn't know G&G did steel, I always wanted a SIG, they are now on my buying list!

[Pfeil]

Originally Posted by Drakker

Wow, thanks. I didn't know G&G did steel, I always wanted a SIG, they are now on my buying list!

I have the SIG553 and it is truly beautiful. My only complaint would be that on the new version (at least the one I got) G&G no longer paint the gearbox so when the stock is folded, you can see the aluminum color.

Also, the L85 series by G&G uses full steel bodies as well. In fact, the G&G GK74 series (GKS74, GKS74U, GKMS) are also full-steel (bodies made by LCT).

The downside of full-steel like on the E&Ls, for example, is that they rust fast if you don't take care of them. A number of new E&L AK 47 owners at my field have been unpleasantly surprised by how quickly they are affected.

The G&G GMG-42 is parkerised like the real steel by the way.

[lurkingknight]

lct released pics on their facebook of stamped and welded steel g3 and mp5 upper receivers. There is much intensification of heavy breathing.

[Drakker]

Originally Posted by Pfeil

I have the SIG553 and it is truly beautiful. My only complaint would be that on the new version (at least the one I got) G&G no longer paint the gearbox so when the stock is folded, you can see the aluminum color.

Also, the L85 series by G&G uses full steel bodies as well. In fact, the G&G GK74 series (GKS74, GKS74U, GKMS) are also full-steel (bodies made by LCT).

The downside of full-steel like on the E&Ls, for example, is that they rust fast if you don't take care of them. A number of new E&L AK 47 owners at my field have been unpleasantly surprised by how quickly they are affected.

The G&G GMG-42 is parkerised like the real steel by the way.

Ok, thanks for the info. Any way to differentiate between the steel G&G AKs and their old pot-metal stuff?

A bit of rust on AKs makes them more realistic. Most AKs, even the cheap ones, have steel parts and rust anyway. My old CYMA AK had a pot metal body but a steel outer barrel, and the outer barrel would rust. I'd take a rusty AK over a broken AK any day.

[Sputmilk]

Is this strictly for steel externals? The GHK M4 has steel internals.

[Drakker]

We don't care about internals, they can be replaced anyway. All that matters is how indestructible the externals are.