AK-47 - ArniesAirsoft - Review Archive

Author

otherrandomhero

Making Stallone feel inferior since 1991

Registered: March 2006
Location: hangar 18
Posts: 2,449

Review Date: 26/6/06

Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: �50.00 | Rating: 9

Positive aspects of the product (pros):	100% marui compatible, heavy (lots of metal), good power for a low price, accurate
Cons:	Rather slow rate of fire compared to others, fair body flex, iffy hopup unit

Everyone knows the AK-47, airsoft player or not. It is currently the most used firearm on earth, known for its reliability and low cost to produce. Onto the airsoft model...
Pick up the CSI AK for the price of an LPEG and get the feel of a full AEG. Weighing in at about 7 pounds unloaded, the CSI is no cheap gun, excluding the low price of $50-80. This is a true marui clone to the extent that every part on the gun is interchangable, you heard me, every part. The gun also has an extremely high metal content with a metal: inner barrel, outer barrel, mock cleaning rod, orange tip, rear sight, full magazine, cocking bolt, upper receiver cover, receiver cover release button, selector switch, butt plate, trigger, trigger guard, magazine release, and both sling mounts. It has a quite impressive wood print for its price. I don't have a very good picture of the gun, but the same wood print is found at http://www.evike.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=Kit_Matrix_Ak47&Category_Code=UP_STOCKS. After seeing this beauty I had to try it out.
After charging the 8.4v 600mah battery with the included charger (3 hour time normally), i opened up the back and got it ready to shoot. This was my first gun with adjustable hopup, so it took me a minute but i found it quite easy to use. Unlike some others, you turn it up by pulling the little tab towards you. I find .2 bb's to work best in the middle of the p in "hop." While you are playing, the hopup seems to move itself a tad but is an easy adjustment before you're ready to rock.
After clicking the sight into place, i tried it out on an old guitar case (about man sized). The tight brass (yes, the barrel is indeed brass, i estimate 6.10-12mm) barrel works wonders in this gun, as i was engaging my target at 130 feet away, consistently! Something unusual about it is that the selector switch goes safe, full, semi. Unusual, but you get used to it quickly. After being impressed with accuracy, i moved onto power.
By testing on thin cardboard and paper, i used my homemade chrono to measure this at about 230 fps, but some lube brought it up to 250! at about .5J, this gun really raised the bar for lower cost rifles of its time.
Now onto the magazine and the battery. The included full metal (except a tiny bit at the top) mag holds 70 rounds, and comes with a tube loader. The magazine feeds very well. The problem i noticed is that the gun does not allow the last 3 bb's to shoot. Annoying, but it still works all right. I was promised 2 mags and a clamp, but airsplat only sent me 1 so i complained and got a free star mag out of them. BTW, this gun is available there under the name "well ak-47," don't worry, it's not a WELL. The battery fits snug into the stock, and even though 600mah lasted me about 800-900 rounds in this, i wanted more so i pulled out the foam spacers and knocked one out of the stock so i could fit a UTG 1800 in there. This also kicked up the RPM from 600 to about 750. The battery has a large connector so you can put a bigger one in there. I noticed that this gun has a significant amount of body flex in the stock IF you remove it. Otherwise it's sturdy as hell.
Included with the gun is: 8.4v 600 battery, 200mah charger, cheap strap, 70 rd magazine, loading tube, manual, clearing rod, and some cheapo goggles that cracked with 1 shot from my ppk.

PROS:
Cheap price ($50)
Marui compatible
lots of metal
heavy (7 lbs, or 3 kg)
very accurate
pretty powerful
sounds really cool when its out of ammo

CONS:
body flex (just don't remove stock)
front sight rattles a little bit
hopup is kinda iffy
ROF could be a bit faster
plastic gearbox

Overall, i would really suggest you buy this if you're first getting into airsoft. I got a CA36E so I may sell my AK, but who knows. It is built with a very nice amount of metal, leading to a lot of weight. It is well balanced and can be customized with marui parts. Out of 10 i'd say 9.5, a very good deal for the price.

EDIT: First off, i want to apologize for the horrible pictures and probably a poor review. This is my first one, coupled with the fact that i have a bad camera. Moving on, I got a chance to do some groupings. No pics, but i will describe it. I used a bipod for maximum accuracy, as well as KSC .2 bb's. First on semi, then on full auto. I will use 5 bbs and record that. FYI, groupings are in diameter of a circle i drew around the holes:

10FT-semi-------1.5" groupings
10FT-auto-------2" groupings. This pleasantly surprised me, as 3 bbs went in the same hole, and 2 were close by.

30FT-semi-------3.5" groupings
30FT-auto-------5.5" groupings. It seems that auto isn't much worse than semi at close range.

60FT-semi-------8" groupings
60FT-auto-------10" groupings

100FT-semi------16" groupings
100FT-auto------18.5" groupings. I was quite impressed that a $50 gun put groupings within a foot and a half at 100 feet.

130FT-semi-----23" groupings--3/5 fell short
130FT-auto-----29" groupings--2/5 fell short. I appears that auto can put bbs farther, but not quite as accurate.
This put me in complete awe that a MPEG costing $50 managed to put groups within a foot and a half at 100 feet away, a feat barely managed by a super 9 (if at all), a sniper rifle that costs more. After 125-130 feet the bbs all go to hell and just fly in every direction. Until then, it's pretty damn straight. If you are getting into airsoft, this is DEFINETLY the gun to get.

EDIT: I did some new grouping tests, but this time with lube and cybergun special selection .23's. Note that these are the best bbs i have ever used, so don't rip on me for using cybergun.

10FT-SEMI:.9"
10FT-AUTO: 1.2"

30FT-SEMI: 2"
30FT-AUTO: 3.5"

60FT-SEMI: 5.5"
60FT-AUTO: 6.5"

100FT-SEMI: 11.5"
100FT-AUTO: 14"

130FT-SEMI: 17" 2/5 feel short
130FT-AUTO: 21.5" 2/5 fell short

the .23's drastically improved accuracy. I noticed that lube didn't do too much when i used .2's. The bb's still went to hell after 100 feet but body sized shots are possible. Past 80 feet i had extreme difficulty hitting a piece of paper (8.5"x11") because the bb's seemed to go around in a cirle around it. This was probably because of the slight wind in the air. Still a very impressive gun.

ANOTHER EDIT: there has been controversy about the reliability of this gun. I will debunk this, as mine has lasted 15,000 round with the same performance as when i got it (or at least close). The plastic reciever came back to haunt me, as at 10k rounds the tube in the magwell snapped. I just put some superglue on it and it stays perfectly, not a problem. Also, note that the only places that sell this gun without the 2 mags and clamp are airsplat and shortyusa.

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