Four months with a CM028s

[NegativeCambre]

I bought a CYMA CM028-s back in September of last year after a friend had purchased one and told me, without a small amount of surprise, that it was actually a decent piece of kit. I ordered one up from eBay for a paltry 80 dollars. As soon as it came, I was immediately impressed with the build quality of this knock-off (being intimately acquainted with a Tokyo Marui M4A1, my standards are decidedly low.). The gun felt rigid, the finish was good (albeit a little mismatched!), and it had a weight feeling of purpose, if not utmost quality.

 

Behold the CM028s, in its inevitable condition: stockless.

 

The gun was never purchased as an intended primary skirmish weapon, I had aforementioned M4 for that duty, but I had many non-airsoft friends that I knew would get interested in the sport if I got them out playing, and thus was my humble AK's primary mission. Knowing that it had a hard life ahead of it, the patsy of green noobs, I built the gun a little bit. In went metal bushings, a careful shim job, and a Classic Army spring. In front of the gearbox an element hop-up and stock Tokyo Marui inner barrel took care of the lacking accuracy of the initial gun. Those were the only internal modifications made to the gun.

 

Since those initial modifications, all in all totaling well under 50 bucks, the gun has performed flawlessly. Once or twice, I had to have some of the wiring connections resoldererd by a friend, since they seem to be made of the most shotty solder in existence.

 

The gun fires consistently, reasonably accurately, and those who have been loaned it really seem to enjoy it. The rate of fire is very low with the stock battery, but I have no real motivation to blow some money on a decent one (even though with even a low-mAH quality 8.4v stick battery, the ROF is much much better), and the OE battery seems to last skirmishes fine.

 

Electrical tape over gaping hole in body prevents dust from fouling up your junk.

 

The only huge fault of this gun is the ###### metal the folding stock is made from. Seriously--its garbage. My friend's shed its stock before the lock had a chance to break on it. On mine, first the stock locking mechanism broke in half, and then the stock itself cracked at the pivot ring. Like I said, ###### monkey metal. So, if you want a CM028, go for the full stock--in the long run it'll be less painful. For me, losing the stock wasn't a huge deal (read: this gun is a loaner), but I can see it being extremely frustrating for someone who uses one of these as a primary.

 

All in all, my cheap and cheerful CM028s has been to probably a dozen skirmishes in the last few months, introduced half a dozen new players to the sport, and most of them went on to buy equipment of their own, but still wax fondly about this AEG.

 

I gotta say, I'm impressed. This thing cost me around 130 dollars new, including upgrades, and has been instrumental in widening the player base in my local area. I'd say that’s pretty fantastic, especially for such a humble AEG.

 

The plastic 'wood' not surprisingly scratches like plastic, and not like wood.

 

And hey, with the stock missing it looks remarkably like N64 Goldeneye's KF7 Soviet...

 

 

My final verdict on this AEG is simple. It will never, ever EVER have the refinement of its more expensive relatives, that is just a fact. But for what it is, it’s absolutely brilliant. My recommendation for new players is buy something used and generally in the Tokyo Marui vein, and then branch out into projects like this aeg. In the long run, you'll be happier. But there is definitely a niche for guns like this CM028s, and I've definitely found one for mine.

 

My CM028s in the hands of one of my favorite stand ins: my dad.

 

In the hands of my sister's boyfriend--pre stock destruction.

Thanks for reading--

 

 

 

Steve

[RPK]

Nice article. I've been thinking about getting one for the same reason

[renegadecow]

Shouldn't this be posted in the Readers' Review section though?

[The Crunchy Bunny]

My stock is too fudged beyond repair. The locking mechanisim broke.My stock is still on though. For some realism. I will soon get a King Arms metal body and real wood grips and stock to make mine into either an AIM or AK74.

 

Behold my humble (and very ghetto) CM028S:

 

I think the Chinese guy that assembled mine was either retarded or stoned. The screws attaching the front sight and gastube are both stripped, my handguards wobble, and the mag only feeds like 6-10 BB's and then you have to wind it or wack it on something hard to make it feed. I still need a mag. I might buy some of those STAR 85 rounders and a TM hicap for my gun and do something with the standard mag. But, I love my little gun. aprox. 18000 rounds and still goin' strong!

[zentaurus]

Shouldn't this be posted in the Readers' Review section though?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

or in the articles? and post updates (quarterly) till it dies. . . hopefully not but reincarnates instead had two of those: one is now a bulgarian ar-sf, the other waiting to go into a guarder ak74su kit. like the famas, the 028S is very underrated imo

 

nice one mate you should get the OAA (Order of Airsoft Advocates) knighthood for your efforts

[NegativeCambre]

or in the articles? and post updates (quarterly) till it dies. . . hopefully not but reincarnates instead  had two of those: one is now a bulgarian ar-sf, the other waiting to go into a guarder ak74su kit. like the famas, the 028S is very underrated imo

 

nice one mate  you should get the OAA (Order of Airsoft Advocates) knighthood for your efforts 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I like what you've done with your guns, zentaurus... I believe I've seen your efforts in the beryl thread, is that correct?

 

I had plans to build my ak up with parts from gunner, but availability put an end to that, and probably for good reason. It's a loaner, and any money dropped into it would be a little foolish--I think boredom was fighting with my bank account.

 

Steve

[Docv400]

Nice one NC

There was some discussion recently about how some people think the Chinese 'clone guns' will actually harm the Airsoft world, by taking so many sales from Marui (and to some extent from the other 'quality' brands.

You've just made an excellent argument against that way of thinking.

Of the people you've introduced to the sport, one or two will almost certainly go on to get a Marui (or CA/ICS/etc) at some point, and these are people who probably would never have gotten into Airsoft at all, without the availability of cheap guns that people, like yourself, don't mind lending out.

Well done mate, keep up the good work

 

 

p.s. have a well deserved +1

[Mike_West]

One guy here asked the retailers about how many CM028s were sent back for repairs. The answers were all similar - from "none" to "not much", citing weak wiring as the most frequent case of failure.

[Skorn]

Very nice imo. I would get one for that reason.

[NegativeCambre]

Nice one NC  

There was some discussion recently about how some people think the Chinese 'clone guns' will actually harm the Airsoft world, by taking so many sales from Marui (and to some extent from the other 'quality' brands.

You've just made an excellent argument against that way of thinking.

Of the people you've introduced to the sport, one or two will almost certainly go on to get a Marui (or CA/ICS/etc) at some point, and these are people who probably would never have gotten into Airsoft at all, without the availability of cheap guns that people, like yourself, don't mind lending out.

Well done mate, keep up the good work

p.s. have a well deserved +1

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes, in fact, of the 6 or 7 people I have let use the AEG to start playing, 2 have gone on to Tokyo Marui's and one onto a Classic Army.

 

I'd wager that people who buy this gun for their own primary eventually will buy either a Tokyo Marui or Classic Army themselves.

 

Mike West, that has been 100% of my non-function problems as well, just bad solder. That's easy enough to remedy, and AK's come apart easilly enough (gotta love a captured motor!) that it's not a huge ordeal.

 

Thanks for reading,

Steve

[HannibalSmith77]

That was a great story and write up. I'm affirming the same type of story.

 

I bought 2 of the 28s's off of ebay in September as well. Perhaps from the same person??? I have done nothing to mine. They were loaners and I wanted no part of them as far as putting any money into them. They have been used on 4 occasions now in multiple games. No problems with either. They may not have quite as much use, but we play typically from before lunch until the sun goes down. So we have multiple games in a day. One was even lent to my friend who consistently abuses equipment like nothing. It still works flawlessly after his 2 days of repeated dropping, dragging and all around abuse.

 

I would recommend them to anyone based on the price alone. I think most will find that they are a steal for the money and value you get in return. Especially when they're used for loaners!

 

Hannibal

[zentaurus]

NC: the mini-beryl is another cyma, the 031.

 

doc: amen to that. and halelluyah to chicom clones. the ACM (All China Made) Games boards here actually arose from the abundance of chinese clones and there are over 150 ACMgames teams nationwide. most ACMgamers of course eventually upgrade to higher-end parts but they all would still be staring at their wish lists if not for the clones. some high-end airsofters, in fact, have transferred over from the high-end boards FAS to ACM mainly, i suspect, from the very inviting low cost or acquiring a base gun.

 

in my case, for almost two years i had to keep going over my TM, CA, WA literature while trying to save for these expensive toys. got the TM M92F pistol as my first airsoft buy, then some taiwan GBBs, and the TM P228 springer but my hankering for a rifle kept eating my insides out till the DE M93. now I have an armory (sort of ), can mod to my heart's content, and am part of an international community of enthusiasts. all because of chicom clones.

 

may send a link of this thread to cyma/well in the us. may hearten them up since they're now behind JG and the other upstarts in the releases race

 

lol to all and kudos to u again, nc.

 

edit: one other thing the clones allow you to do is buy a gun just to keep your hand in. my JG, for example, i bought 'cuz i wanted to check just how true the raves were. decided it was a keeper and it will be morphed into an MVD urban assault rife. the BE G36K 'cuz i wanted to check if BE was improving. definitely not, just holding steady but with better looking externals. can't talk about a gun if you haven't had experience with it, can you he, he

 

prices, however, are going up and may not be able to do this pretty soon

[Docv400]

I'd wager that people who buy this gun for their own primary eventually will buy either a Tokyo Marui or Classic Army themselves.

 

And the ones that don't will most likely still buy Marui (or similar) parts to upgrade/improve their cheap Chinese guns.

And like Cars/Motorbikes/etc, manufacturers make more money out of spares sales than they do from complete items, relatively.

Someone with a lot of spare time should price up the cost of building a complete gun from spares, that would be interesting...

[NegativeCambre]

Thanks for the kind words, Zentaurus. I had no idea for the all china made teams, thats pretty interesting.

 

I'm starting to feel the itch to dig into an AEG again, so I might go for the newly released MP5k--I have a Maruzen kurtz, but thats really more of a novelty then an actual skirmish weapon, although it has been bulletproof reliable and the host of some of my favorite 'kills' I've gotten while playing. This time though, I'll see if its possible to build a clone into a gun that I am willing to play with even after being accustomed to the refinement and quality of the higher end guns.

 

I'm glad you guys enjoyed this thread, I enjoyed writing it and hope I will be able to make other threads like this in the future.

 

Thanks,

Steve

[Pants of Death]

I agree, (I have 2 of these, full and folding stock models) these guns are awesome loaners, great for getting people interested. My big question is (and it may sound stupid) how do you remove the folding stock?

 

Also has anyone had problems with the CYMA batteries? After about four months of ownership, both the factory batteries exploded while charging on my counter!

[airsofthawaii]

I have had my AK47 paratrooper for less than 2 months now and it is great. The only problems I have had is the stock (good stock, but...) and the ROF. The stock wobbles a lot and I am considering removing it. The battery is not very good either, so I tryed to rewire it and buy 18 gauge wire from radio shack. The wire is way to fat and the original wire is cut so I have to get some 16 AWG wire from cheapbatterypacks.com. I do think that this is a good gun though, it could shoot through one side of a can and almost exit the other side.

[renegadecow]

I'm starting to feel the itch to dig into an AEG again, so I might go for the newly released MP5k

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The china-clone K PDW (made by Galaxy) released just recently is ok. You'd probably be happier with it than your AK. I just dropped mine 3 times earlier this afternoon in a game and its pretty tough.

[zentaurus]

The china-clone K PDW (made by Galaxy) released just recently is ok. You'd probably be happier with it than your AK. I just dropped mine 3 times earlier this afternoon in a game and its pretty tough.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

that's fast, rc, still waiting for mine

 

pants: the 028S? there's a tiny hex grub screw in the round cover of the folding stock axle mechanism. right side. size 1.5 iirc. remove that, the cover then comes off and you can dissasemble the mechanism.

 

airsofthawai: must have gotten a lemon batt. china guns tend to do that -- some are good, some are pos. my cyma ak batts are doing well so far, but my be aug batts are s**t

 

nc: you'd be surprised at the upgrade potential of the clones. some ACMgamers (and some FAS too) have achieved double the forum limit (not a boast, just stating a fact ). some mekbxs have failed, of course, due to the xperimentaton. if you run into problems, http://acmgames.proboards66.com/ is a great source of info for the clones. ASR, Airsoft Canada, and some other sites have in fact used some of the material in the forum as clone info references (what a shameless plug, no )

[BiGSeXyFLaVoR]

I was wondering if the CYMA AK has metal gas block, metal gas tube, and the small lower reciever right below the rear sights.

[The Crunchy Bunny]

I was wondering if the CYMA AK has metal gas block, metal gas tube, and the  small lower reciever right below the rear sights.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yes, Yes, and No. the rear sight block is plastic, but the sight is metal.

[zentaurus]

I'm starting to feel the itch to dig into an AEG again, so I might go for the newly released MP5k--I have a Maruzen kurtz, but thats really more of a novelty then an actual skirmish weapon, although it has been bulletproof reliable and the host of some of my favorite 'kills' I've gotten while playing.  This time though, I'll see if its possible to build a clone into a gun that I am willing to play with even after being accustomed to the refinement and quality of the higher end guns.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

as RC said, you should definitely get the galaxy mp5K have had my pair (one will be a project gun) for two week now and very pleased with them -- good power, good accuracy, good handling, good build selling like hotcakes here. good thing i had preordered mine

[NegativeCambre]

I was wondering if the CYMA AK has metal gas block, metal gas tube, and the  small lower reciever right below the rear sights.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

The gas block and tube is metal, and depending on which CYMA you get is finished to match the outer barrel. The Trunnion, however, is not. It is plastic, and the finish isn't that great of a match for the remainder of the receiver.

 

Steve

[BiGSeXyFLaVoR]

Im looking for a .028. Is the small receiver under the rear sight metal? The one right behind the front grip.

[NegativeCambre]

Im looking for a .028. Is the small receiver under the rear sight metal? The one right behind the front grip.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That is called the trunion, and it is plastic on both the Tokyo Marui and CYMA AK's.

 

Steve

[NegativeCambre]

 

Current state of loaner AK. Got some minor surgery mid-game when the stock battery died, I had an extra large-type niCad, some cussing and e-tape later, and voila, ROF upgrade!

 

It'll remain that way for awhile, since the players seem to appreciate the added rate of fire and believe its a worthy concession to have the gun look all nuts.

 

I've ordered a couple chinese friends for my loaner--one will be a birthday present for my dad (what do you get the man who has everything? Something he'll only use twice a year with his son...), and one will join the loaner ranks with this beauty.

 

The KWA G19 in the photo is my first ever non-springer airsoft gun, and it now enjoys loaner status with the AK.

 

Steve