CYMA AKS-74U

[Bob the Angry Potato]

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.

[KNIVEZS]

thanks for the nice review

[KND]

Very good review, I agree most of ur review. I jut got into the sport just a few week and I got one of this AKS-74U exactly same as you and I still haven't known how it funciton so much, also I don't know how to complain about it at all cos I never use airsoft before. Anyway, Good review. Keep it up. I will try to do a review like u too, My next gun is coming this week G&P M4A1 with granade luncher and full upgrade with internal and external part.

[Skladfin]

I just got an Kalash AK74MN and it's a mother fucking beast, and that's all I can say. The newer China AKs are awesome.

[Cheesevillage]

Bob - I'm interested in infos about mags.

Wobble?

What feeds and fits well?/doesn't?

It'd be nice to see an ongoing review as time goes by and you acquire mags of different brands.




PS: I know they should all fit...

[Bob the Angry Potato]

I've got 2x G&P Bakelite mags on the way, so I can answer your question when they arrive.
So far, I've put the stock CYMA mag through it, and it works flawlessly- also, I bought two metal standard TM AK mags and they both work great. One had misfeeding problems at the beginning (due to the mag being old), but it randomly stopped after firing two mags through it. One can only assume all TM mags will feed flawlessly, now. No wobble, all the mags I've tried fit perfectly and snugly.

[Cheesevillage]

Perfect. I actually wanted to hear about the G&P mids specifically.

For $15 these STAR lows caught my attention too...

http://cgi.ebay.com/STAR-AK74-Airsof...742.m153.l1262

[Bob the Angry Potato]

Holy fuck, $15 70-rders? I want some.

May get a few, I should be able to give you a report on whether the G&Ps feed in the next few days. I'll snap some pictures after work, too.

PBS5 silencer in the works, so's a VFC tactical handguard (if anyone knows where to get those).

[Amos]

Is the front end TM compatible?

What's the hopup system like? Is the barrel standard?

[Skladfin]

It's all TM compatible as far as I know

[Bob the Angry Potato]

Originally Posted by Amos

Is the front end TM compatible?

What's the hopup system like? Is the barrel standard?

Hopup system is completely TM compatible.

Barrel is tightbore, I think 6.03 or 6.04, according to Arnies.

Not sure about the front end.

[M76]

I own most of the cyma Aks out there and resale too The Cm035 is a great product and perfomce very well (+35m dead on target). But the Cm036 AKM now that Ak is really good , for the price.This aeg is the best I have found out of the Chinese Clones. Only real thing that needs to be changed is the spring and degrade it down. There is one Cyma AEG which is very under valued by players it is the Cyma CM031b out the box it shoot 380fps and is dead accurate, all you have to do is slap in a 9.6 batt. I have ordered the some new CM031d and Cm042s for resale it should be here in the next few week via boat and from waht i hear they just as good. It seems Cyma has improve in leaps and bounds even the Cm028 is now a a version3 and shoots at 350fps.

[Bontic]

Yeah... and this all explains why the Kraken I have shoots insanely accurately. The newest Krakens are the newest CYMA CM.028s... presumably as they filter through whatever channels they take to get there, and all the oldest stock gets depleted, even the Krakens will improve. The brass barrel MAY be a tightbore, and the hopup is certainly at a gen 3.5. The internals may be beefier to match too. The mag has fed thousands of rounds flawlessly too, so none of the old mag quality issues seem to exist for the newer models. All this is good news...

However, having just held and shot my friend's new KWA M4A1 with only a small type battery, I can only guess how long it will be before these monsters sweep the airsoft scene in Canada. Think Dillon Aero minigun ROF..... with Honda Civic reliability.

[M76]

This year is when the Chinese have start to up the overall product in quolty, performance and price, the main stream manufactures like CA TM ,G&G are all worried they are loosing ground thats Y they are all bring out cheaper products to compete against the Chinese products, it can only be good for us players and suppliers ,The same thing happened in Paintball , in the beginning Chinese products were bad , now 80% of all product are made and they are of very high standard, brands like Dye , Planet etc ........ So what will the main stream players do to stay ahead head of the pack and how long will it be before the Chinese copy there products......

[Bob the Angry Potato]

Got a rail on it. It looks rape.
Pictures in a minute.