Being a huge fan of the AEP and setting a goal to collect the best models I could find,I finally got my hands of two models that I was in search of. One was the CYMA CM.121 Desert Eagle, which has been covered pretty well already, and then CYMA's new CM.122 P226. Was it worth the wait?

As most of us know, the latest AEP's from CYMA are comming with metal slides. The CM.122 is no different here. The slide is pretty well made and has a very flat black color. Sights are minimum in size with no white dots. However, at the range these pistols are used at, I have not found it to be too big of a problem. Not as good as the real Sig or the various other Gas and Springer Sigs already out there, they are howver better than you would find on a WWII 1911 style pistol. There are no trades of any kind what so ever!

The frame is plastic and very well finished. There are grooves cut into the front strap of the grip as well as the front of the trigger guard. Grip panels are lightly pebbled on the sides and a small panel of the backstrap.

The barrel has a red tip that protrudes form the front of the slide for about half inch. While some would sugguest to just remove it, as is done on the CM.030 G18c's, this is really not a possibility for the CM.122 as a very small part of the inner brass barrel is also protruding past the end of the slide. Not very much (maybe 1/10 of a inch) but enough that snaping off the red-tip, might cause some problems in protecting the end of the inner barrel. I'm sure we will all come to some manner of correcting this issue or will just leave it alone.

Now here's where some "purists" are going to have major (and I mean major) problems with this pistol. It's in no way a 1 to 1 replica of the Sig P226! This pistol is nearly as wide as the CM.121 Desert Eagle. Thats in the frame and the slide. Think of it as a P226 on steroids. It sort of reminds we of what you'd have to do to a P226 to get it to chamber the new .50 round that has been developed for a larger size 1911 style pistol. When you grip the CM.122, its almost like your gripping a M9 style pistol.

Still, even my 12 year old has no trouble gripping the P226 or the Desert Eagle pistol and reaching the trigger (made of metal) to fire it. The thumb release for the magazine and selective fire control (what would be the de-cocker on a real Sig) can be reached with just a slight adjustment of the shooters grip. The slide release buttom (at the top of the grip) serves as the locking and release mechanism used to remove the slide and adjust the standard hop-up.

As large as the CM.122 pistol is, it WILL NOT fit in any holster designed around the real Sig P226. However, it does fit all the other holsters that you generally find in the field that are made of cordura nylon (like many drop leg, belt and vest holsters) that can carry more than one type of pistol.

Another problem was the rail system. If you use the M3 style lights or lasers that use the usual rail, you'll be slightly disappointed here as the CM.122's rail is too wide. This is a shame, but it may be correctable with a little careful sanding. Still, we should'nt have to deal with something like this.

As the pistol is selective fire, you use the Sig style "hammer drop" lever to choose semi or full-auto. Up (next to the single red dot) gives you semi-auto, while down (next to the two red dots) gives you full-auto. Movement of the lever is very short between modes of fire. The manual safety on this pistol, is what would be the disassembly latch on a real Sig P226. Don't worry, you wont be using it-no one ever does on these things anyway.

Well, you heard about some of the problems, what about the good points?

The pistol is very, very well made. A big jump over the CM.030 (one of my favorites-I own 4) in fit and finish. The CM.122 is quite a bit heavier than the G18c (mostly due to the metal slide). The grip is hand filling and comfortable with a very good grip angle.

Trigger reach is fine and the trigger response, with a fully charged battery, was very good. The trigger itself is wide, slightly rounded and smooth.

The 28-30 shot magazine is basically the same as the magazine from the CM.030 G18c. There is a very slight difference in the thickness of the bottom of the magazine, but this causes no problems and YOU CAN USE YOUR CM.030 MAGAZINES IN THE CM.122!! Three cheers to who ever woke up over there and figured this might be a good idea. I used twenty of my G18c magazines and they all worked in the P226 perfectly. No more waiting for specific spare magazines to become available.

Using TSD .20's, I found the accuracy to be better than that on my CM.030's and nearly as good as my TM 93R. Inside of 50 feet, you can take head shots all day long. I was actually able to hit my usual plastic milk bottle (in semi-auto mode) at 90 feet on a regular basis and could hit a torso sized object out to 120 feet. Not bad.

At 50 feet and under, the pistol gave me groups that were very much like my TM GBB's, which is more than adequate. At 25 feet, my groupings could be covered with the palm of my hand.

Full-auto mode on the CM.122 is a bit better than with CM.030 in that, in burst of 3 or more bb's, you don't see as many of the later bb's dropping early. I found that most of the bb's fired in full-auto mode, easily made it to 100 foot mark with average dispersal. It will certainly get the job done.

Power? With the 450mah battery that came with the pistol (the two Eagles came with 500mah-go figure) fully charged, I found the CM.122 appeared to shoot a bit faster than my CM.030's. Not by much, maybe 5-10-15 fps more, but any increase here is welcome (mind you that TM's new GBB Five Seven only reached 250 with 134A).

Dependability, well it's only a day old, but I did manage to put through 500+ shots and the pistol functioned perfectly. No failures. Naturally time will tell.

Trades-NONE! Not even the CYMA logo (which I'm not a fan of at all). The "Made in China" markings are at the bottom of the grip. The are very small and hardly noticable.

So here's how I call it on the new CYMA CM.122 AEP pistol (I'm calling it the P226+):

Cons: Size. It would have been nice if it was 1 to 1 scale. Rail system too large. Sights a bit too small-white dots would have helped. I'd have liked a little more movement of the selector lever in order to change modes of fire. The red tip issue. Power is getting better but still wanting. I can deal with it.

Pros: Well made. Good fit and finish. Very solid. Shoots accurately and has good range. USES G18c MAGAZINES. Motor seems pretty smooth. Pistol appears to be very surviceable.

Was it worth the wait? For me and some of the other AEP lovers out there, I'd have to say yes. The pistols shoots well and for me, thats what it is mostly about. For the purists who need the pistol to be exact in size and shape? Probably not, but most of them don't like AEP's anyway.

CYMA-a pretty good job done here and I'm keeping mine. Keep them comming.

This post has been edited by Wingman: Jul 25 2009, 01:35 PM

Nice mini-review. I think I might get one to go along with my DE USP... Where did you get it from and any pics for comparison?

I also have the CYMA P226, I got one awhile ago. Its well worth the money spent.

I didnt do pictures as there is just nothing that dramatic about the pistol. It's pretty plain and some pictures, much better than I could do, are already out there.

I really need to get hold of a decent camera.

I got the pistol from a local retailer who just had two shipped to him (along with a couple of CM.121's that I had ordered). Price was around $70.00 and the second pistol was gone less than a hour after I bought mine. Naturally, like anything else, when they are more available and older, the price will drop. I'm definately getting another.

I still have not shot the DE USP yet, I've been trying to get a TM USP and some spare magazines from a retailer in the USA, but I'm not having any luck.

Is there a US retailer that sells the new CM.122 P226?

Nope just RSOV. but don't worry about buying from them, you will get your package within a couple weeks and the price equals out to about sixty bucks.

Do you mind me asking where you bought the Cm 121? Thanks!

He just said rsov.com is where you can buy it.

Does anyone know how much thicker this Sig is compared to real steel?

Much more. About the width of a Desert Eagle in the grip area.