"I have had this gun for 8 months now, and I am going to be completely honest here and say I did not buy this gun with very high expectations. In addition to playing airsoft at fields, I also occasionally have a large group friends over to my large property to play some casual airsoft, and most but not all of them have guns, so i bought this as sort of an extra weapon I can loan out to people should one of their guns be temporarily broken or they are in need of something to use at some point, mainly because it was inexpensive, looked pretty cool, and I wanted an AKS74U anyways. I already knew that CYMA AKs were really good for the price, so I went ahead and bought this with a few extra mags. But I have to say, upon receiving it I was pleasantly surprised at what just over 100$ can get you.
The whole thing is a block of metal, with the exclusion of the handguard and imitation wood grip of course, which although plastic, it is very hard, durable, and does a good job of replicating wood. The sights are mediocre, but close to true to the real AKS74U. It feels overall very sturdy, and comfortable to hold. The folding stock also closes very solid on the side of the gun with a a very satisfying clang both when being folded and unfolded. So I decided to rig up a sling and when you keep it on your back with the stock folded, it is almost like it is not even there. It is very compact and comfortable to carry.
The gun also comes with pretty astounding accuracy and velocity out of the box. Mine shot between 410-415 fps on my chrono with .2s, which is very respectable. WIth .25g bbs from a range finder measured distance of 150 feet on my range, I could hit 12x12 inch paper target on semi-auto a pretty decent amount of times, about 7 out of 10 shots always hit this target. This is definitely a gun that can be used in woodland, but CQB might give you a heartache with the FPS limits at some courses. I've heard of these things chronoing much higher than the one I recieved, so it seems to vary.
The only cons I could find with this gun were pretty minor. Like mentioned in the last review, the front sight does wobble, but on mine it only wobbles a slight amount when it is touched. It is almost not notable in my case. I don't really see it as anything to be worried about, and I see many ways to fix it if I really cared about this minor issue. The only one that really bothers me is in the disassembly process. The gun is very upgrade-able obviously, but when removing the hop up and barrel assembly from the front part of the gun, one of the two screws holding it in place is very hard to remove efficiently, because of the fold up receiver on the gun being in the way, meaning you need a very small, short screwdriver to remove it, and even then, getting enough torque to get it out from that angle is a pain, and I can see desperate attempts at pulling this screw out leading to stripping of this screw. It is fine on the right side as the cutout for the charging handle allows a path to fit a full size screwdriver in. This does not affect getting to the gear box, but I prefer being able to maintain my hop up easily. Obviously the top cover not coming off is true to the real AKS-74U, and makes handling the gun easier during battery changes, but as far as I can tell, there is no easy way to remove it from the front of the gun to get it out of the way for maintenance.
So what does this add up to? Well for the price, it is simply amazing. For just over 100$ you get a very durable, compact aeg that has a very effective hop-up and a good velocity, and in turn an accurate gun with decent range suitable for woodland. This gun makes a great primary, and it is what I see as a good choice as a starting gun. It also a makes a great secondary, and I can speak for this, as I have personally have run it as a secondary before on a 2 point sling alongside my PKM, which I know sounds pretty ridiculous and too hardcore, but it is very manageable and effective to use in that manner in my case. But if your not willing to carry a heavy kit this weapon alone still makes a great all around primary for outdoor gaming. In more advanced games. I see it being very useful where vehicles are in play. I have had this weapon slung on my back while driving a vehicle around a map once, and it really works and feels like one of the best weapons for such a role.
Although I do understand that the quality control of guns in this price range does vary, and I might have gotten a better one out of the batch, I was very happy with what I received thus far, it has exceeded my expectations, and I have already used it quite a bit. I highly recommend this gun to anyone, whether a beginner or seasoned airsofter, looking for a really good, accurate AEG that wont break your bank. I look forward to going ham on this thing with the upgrades soon.