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Reviews
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Date of last review
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3
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25239
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8/1/08
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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100% of reviewers
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£126.89
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7.3
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Bow chica bow wow
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Sh0ty
Bow chica bow wow
Registered: March 2006
Location: Wouldn't you like to know
Posts: 1,113
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Review Date: 21/10/07
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: £126.89
| Rating: 8
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Looks good, Sturdy, Decently powered
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Cons:
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Dissapointing accuracy, inweildy for closed comabat
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Heckler & Koch G3A3
The Grandfather
Real Steel
The G3A3, manufactured by Heckler & Koch is an assault rifle chambered in 7.62mm NATO utilizing the roller lock cycling system. It is box magazine fed and traditionally holds 20 rounds, though shorter and longer magazines are available. To keep from delving into ballistics, as per forum rules, I will stop there, but more information can be found at world guns or HK pro.
Packaging
The gun arrives in a box that is 1.09 m long (roughly 43 inches) so plan for that if you wanted to store the gun in it. The box looks good, a little tacky compared to the more minimalistic Tokyo Marui boxes but still decent. I personally prefer a more stoic box, so I know that my money is going to the gun and not the box. Inside the box is the gun,a magazine, a manual, the CA product catalog and a cleaning rod. The Styrofoam cutout holds the gun snugly, so it doesn't move around and break it's self.
First Impressions
As soon as I lifted the lid off of what was to become my baby, I noted the smoothness with which the lid came off and the sight that lay before my eyes. My first though was “wow”, my second being “jeez this thing's long!” Before I touched the gun, I expected it to bend, flex and creak, seeing as my mp5 SD5 (TM) does just that and it's 40 cm shorter! I lifted the gun and noticed two things, firstly, it was HEAVY, secondly, there was no bending, no flexing and, NO creaking. That alone near made the gun for me.
A Closer Look
Once the fuzzy euphoria of getting a new gun washed over, I looked the gun over, and played around with it. The closer look at the finish showed that it was fairly even with no marks or blemishes, but the metal body was not of the best material. The body looks like it's pot metal (when viewed from an unexposed, unfinished edge) , despite it's incredible strength and feel. The trade marks are etched in and don't mar when scratched with my fingernail, but are kind of shiny. Whether or not this is intentional, it isn't my personal favorite kind of marking. The spine (or top) of the rifle bears a unique serial number, a cool feature that sets this rifle apart from several others, in more ways than one. The fire selector moves smoothly, with a reassuring click with each mode it passes, and doesn't wiggle. The OD furniture looks great in real life, a stark difference from the light, plasticy look forum pictures give it. Unfortunately, my flashhider was Über glued (yes, Über, not plain old super) on to the barrel. To remove the flash hider, I used a propane torch (heating for 4 minutes) and a 48 hour acetone soak and a ton of torque to ratchet it off.
Shooting
After charging the 8.4V Large battery (1700mah) I bought with the gun, I slapped in the loaded magazine (500 rd high cap) and set the selector to semi. I pulled the trigger and immediately got a responsive CRACK! Out of the end of the barrel. I grinned and pulled the trigger a couple times more, then switched to full automatic. As luck would have it, the rate of fire is very close to that of the real steel model and was very smooth in the gearbox. The gun has respectable velocity and made clean holes in my paper targets. The gun ranges around 75 feet before it takes some compensation to hit a human target. Accuracy was a bit disappointing, considering the mammoth barrel, but was decent compared to my mp5 SD5. The high cap magazine included with the gun jams and unwinds far to frequently to be considered reliable to me, and is a major weak point in the gun. Luckily, there are standard caps and low caps out there for the gun, making this a moot issue in most cases.
Overall
CA's G3A3 is a very satisfying rifle and is the best of that model available as of this writing (October, 2007) despite 2 minor drawbacks and one major one (in my particular model, the trigger contacts burned out within 5 months of use, thought this may be an isolated incident). The gun costs in the area of $260.00 from most U.S. Retailers, a low price for a full metal rifle that shoots near 1 Joule. I recommend the rifle to anyone in the market for a DMR or a great showpiece.
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||CA H&K G3A3||KSC Glock 23F||Tanaka M37||TM Mp5 SD5||
I'll answer any KSC,KWA, HFC, KJW or Marui Glock Q
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bob-o_jones
Registered: August 2006
Location: Los Angeles CA
Posts: 5
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Review Date: 23/10/07
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Rugged construction, good range
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Cons:
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Questionable internals
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Outward Looks: =9: This gun is based off the HK G3A3 assault rifle. THe AEG looks very much like the real thing, down to the weld mark on the bolt. The CA version weighs in at around 6 lbs, and offers a full metal body with green plastic stocks. The over all feel of the gun is very good, it is very sturdy, with no play in the stocks or receiver area.
Reliability: =(2-Stock) Well, after replacing the first gun that not only stripped the piston, but the gears as well, I gave the second gun a try. Out of the box it chronoed at 330, not bad, but at the field I could not adjust the bloody hop up!!!! Also, the motor got hot after short bursts totaling 300 rounds. According to AEX it seemed fine and sounded good, but rather than error, it could be bad shimming so it will be torn apart and re-shimmed. A Plus is that AEX only charged me for the M120 spring I had them put in. Hopefully, this will be the last of my issues, with a new hop up re-shimmed gears, the gun kicked some serious butt. I get well over 120 feet with reasonable accuracy with .25s
Accuracy and Range: =7 For being a stock factory gun, I am very impressed with the range and accuracy. At home I shot the gun at a card board box at about 60 feet and kept the groups in a 5" diameter. The new design hop up seems to do wonders. I was able to make a 150 foot shot from our staging area to a plastic turret bunker at Lenix Not to shabby for shooting at 380FPS, using Evike Matrix .20bbs. I think a tight bore would greatly increase the accuracy of the rifle.
Rate of Fire: =5-6 Rate of fire is about average on an 8.4 3600 mah battery, and become more impressive with a 9.6 3300 mah. The factory hicap feeds without flaw. I will be buying standards for the gun in time and figure they should feed flawlessly.
FPS out of the Box: = 5 The gun chronoed on .20 at 325-330.
Charging handle locked back:
How it stands up in Action: =(8)
After a few moths of use, the gun still performs like a champ. The G3 is rapidly replacing my M14 and G36 as my standard primary.
At first impression I give the gun a 6 overall, but as time and use go on this can change. This AEG is a full sized rifle making the gun suitable for field use, but difficult for CQB, even though the Bundeswher trained to use the rifle in a CQB environment. Being stock, the gun shoots well, it has metal bushings, allowing the use of a 9.6 battery, offers a realistic charging handle that locks back, making access to the hop up unit easier than any other AEG I have used, except the G&G M14. The hop up is very similar to the G36 style knob, so for my that is a plus, being used to G36's. The full stock allows the use of a large battery, and fits a 8.4 3600 comfortably, while the 9.6 3300 is a difficult fit with the butt plate.
Concerns about the gun are follows:
1. The rear pins that hold the butt stock in place are loose, and could potentially fall out in the heat of battle.
2. Being I am lefty, the pistol grip is set up for a right handed shooter. Also the selector switch when engage in full auto, tends to get in the way of my trigger finger, and is not ambidextrous.
3. If you are not familiar with the G3 or M14, you will have some difficulty loading mags in the gun, but that was not the case with me.
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Panzergraf
Registered: August 2005
Location: Locked up in my Fruitcage, banging my head against the bars
Posts: 1,135
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Review Date: 8/1/08
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 7
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Positive aspects of the product (pros):
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Full metal, not too expensive, old style green furniture, decent performance.
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Cons:
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Stock attachment is weak, the gun isn't heavy enough
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I bought my SAR (or G3A3 as I will refer to it as from now on) used from some guy on a local airsoft club forum.
I got it really cheap because he had already broken the stock.
As soon as I got it, I replaced the inner barrel with a Prometheus barrel I had, and as with all CA guns, I replaced the hopup bucking with a prometheus soft rubber.
With exceptions of the broken stock, the rest of the gun felt pretty solid, if a little too light. The body is made out of an aluminium alloy of some sort.
Years ago, CA made pot metal bodies for the marui G3, these were much heavier. These felt really good, almost exactly like the real steel. I hope that some day, someone will make steel body kits for the G3, but I digress.
After fixing the stock with silly ammounts of superglue, I brought this with me for a game. Performance was really good considering I only changed the barrel and hopup. Rate of fire was nice with a 9.6V, and having used the AG3 during my military service, this gun felt really familiar, if a little light.
There's no flex or wobble in the body, the takedown pins feel like the real ones (put them in with the heads facing towards your body when carrying it, this way they will be pushed in rather than out) and disassembly is quick and easy.
The selector lever clicks into plase like it should, and doesn't feel flimsy like on many other AEG's.
Unlike CA's similar rifle, the CA33E, the lugs for mounting a picatinny rail or clawmount to the top of the reciever are properly sized and placed, so you won't have any problems attaching a scope or red dot to it.
This is by no means a bad AEG, actually its better than most.
Being a CA, the hopup bucking isn't great, and the nub is easily crushed. From experience I know the piston isn't the best either, but mine has held up so far.
But then look at what you do get:
The only full length, full metal G3A3 out there, and with green furniture. To some, this alone is worth the price.
And a really nice gearbox, with solid steel gears and metal bushings.
Being that the cons are so cheap and easy to fix, CA is one of my favourite manufacturers.
The easily breakable stock is what stops this gun from getting a good 8.
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Registered: March 2006
Location: Wouldn't you like to know