CA G3 SG-1 Review

Specifications:
Weight: 3.25 kg || 7.2 pounds
Length: 1036 mm || 40.8 in.
Height: 225 mm || 8.9 in.
Barrel Length: 495 mm || 19.5 in.
Barrel Caliber: 6.08 mm
Prometheus Tightbore Length: 469 mm || 18.5 in.
Prometheus Tightbore Caliber: 6.03 mm
BB Capacity: 500
BB Size: 6 mm
Initial BB Speed: 85-105 m/Sec || 279-345 ft/Sec.
Battery Type: Large Type (8.4v-12v)

The BB speed for the gun is really vague…I don’t know why that is, but that is what it said in my manual. It is really weird because it looks like someone put a sticker that says 85-105 m/Sec in place of the one that should be there, but I don’t know why. I got the Prometheus Tightbore put in by AirsoftExtreme, so maybe they made it higher to 105 m/Sec, but I don’t know the real reason.

History:
The beginning of the Heckler & Koch G3 can be traced all the way back to the 1950s. The project was begun because the Germans had wanted an assault rifle that was chambered for the NATO sized rounds (7.62 x 51mm). It actually used the CETME 7.62 x 51mm rounds that are very similar to the NATO rounds except for the fact that they have a reduced power load. It was a combined effort with both CETME (Centro de Estudios Técnicos de Materiales Especiales), and Heckler & Koch both contributing to the final product.

The G3SG1 was a more accurate version of the G3. The SG in its name stands for Scharfschützengewehr, or “Sharpshooting Rifle.” They were each selected individually from the production line because of their better accuracy, and then they were upgraded with a Zeiss 1.5-6x magnification scope attached by an HK claw mount, an extended stock, a heavy dual-stage buffer, and an adjustable cheek rest (I wish the airsoft version had this!). It also had an improved trigger over the regular G3’s so that it made for a crisper trigger pull of 1lb. Also, the automatic fire was taken off of it. Now enough of the history, lets get on to the airsoft version!

1. Why I chose the Classic Army G3 SG-1 (SAR Taktik)
At first, I was looking at getting the Classic Army M24 sniper rifle since I LOVE sniping. I thought of all the possible upgrades that I would get, and I decided that it would be way too expensive. I then thought of getting a CQB weapon to basically use stock, and just have fun with. I have always loved the Heckler & Koch line of guns, and so I looked at the Classic Army Mp5, and the G & G (Guay & Guay) UMG. I decided against getting one of those, because I just loved long range shooting too much to go for CQB. I then finally decided to get a gun to upgrade and make into a DMR (Designated Marksman Rifle). I still couldn’t go away from the H & K, and I thought the CA G3 SG-1 looked so sweet, so I decided on getting it in the end. I decided against the Tokyo Marui version because I just had to have a metal body, and I knew that the plastic body was weaker on the TM. I also knew that the CA version had problems with the hop-up, but I knew I could fix that with a cheap upgrade right away.

2. First Impressions:
When I pulled this gun out of the box, I couldn’t help but notice that this thing feels great in my hands. It is really long and heavy. I am a tall guy with long arms so it was just right (even though it still felt long). I think that the length could be a problem for someone who is not very tall, but they could still probably get by alright. This gun feels extremely solid, and there are no weak points at all that I have found. This gun does not creak at all like the TM version is said to do. The only thing that I have found that is not too good is the bipod. The bipod is pretty wobbly, and could definitely be replaced with a better bipod. I like having a bipod with this gun; however, I have not ordered a different one yet since the one it comes with is not too good. This gun comes with a 500 round mag, and a manual that shows all of the parts—both internal and external—and how they go in the gun. Since this is my first high-priced gun (and first gun to skirmish with), I was really amazed at the great realistic look of this gun. The trademarks are very nice. The trademarks are laser etched on and a bright white color to make them stand out. They just look NICE! I love seeing a gun that looks like the real steel with lots of metal.

3. Externals:

Full Stock:
The full stock is made of a very high quality material. It is very thick, and is made of glass fibers and nylon to make it extremely durable and makes it so it doesn’t flex like the Tokyo Mauri stock does. The inside of the butt plate is plastic with a hard rubber on the outside to make it more comfortable to your shoulder. The large-type battery goes into the full-size stock, and is a very tight fit (at least with my 9.6v 4200 MaH battery). You have to take off the butt stock to insert the battery, and the wires come out the back. There is also a rubber cheek plate on the top of the stock so that you can rest your cheek while you look through a sight. I think that the cheek rest is not meant for the iron sights that are on the gun, because it is really high (and not adjustable). I can’t hardly even see through the iron sights because it just gets in the way completely. I think it is meant for a sight that whoever buys it puts on it.

Iron Sights:
The iron sights are just like you would find on the Mp5, or other H&K guns. It has a little “wheel” that you can change between different holes for whichever setting you are most comfortable with. As I said earlier, the cheek rest is too high to actually use them, so you should definitely buy a sight for this gun right away when you get it. The cheek rest is a little too low (for my tastes) for the sight rail that I have on it in the pictures (an HK claw mount), but you can see my picture of what the gun looks like now to see the lower profile sight rail on it. I would definitely advise getting a low-profile sight rail because it seems to be the perfect height. If you want a bigger sight like mine, you should probably get a little bit higher one than the regular low-profile ones. If I were to use a low-profile one, my sight would be against the gun and wouldn’t fit. I searched around, and found one that was the PERFECT height for my sight. It is very comfortable when I am sighting in with my gun with the scope on the new sight rail because my cheek is resting comfortably on the cheek rest while I steady my aim. In my opinion, if you get this gun you should definitely get an aftermarket red dot sight or a mil-dot sight like mine. (Mine is a little overkill, but it suits my purposes and I like the looks of it a lot. I only use the 4x magnification even though it can go to 9x because that is too far to be practical for an airsoft gun.)



The Receiver:
The receiver is made out of full metal, and is very nice looking. The grip is not made out of metal, but is made out of the same very strong materials that the stock is made out of. Everything is very durable, and feels like it could really take a beating. As you can see, the trademarks are just like the real steel trades, and are very nice looking. The bolt cover does not go all the way back, but goes back far enough to be able to adjust the hop up level.

(Right side of the gun showing the hop-up and trademarks)


(Left side of the gun showing the selector switch)


Fore Grip, Outer Barrel:
The fore grip is made out of the same high quality materials as the grip and the stock, except that it is thinner and more flexible. It can be taken off with the bipod still attached to reveal the outer barrel, which is made up of full metal. The flash hider looks really nice on this gun, and is made out of full metal also. It has more of a brushed metal feel to it. The orange tip is just painted on, and will be easily removed by using fingernail remover on a rag and rubbed on it for a little bit. If you want to add a silencer on the gun (like I did), you have to unscrew an allen screw (shown on picture 2 below). Then you will have to buy a muzzle adapter that is threaded so you can put a silencer on. The inner barrel will protrude out a little bit (2” maybe), so I got the PDI Long muzzle adapter so that it completely covered that up. The stock barrel however is a little longer than the tightbore, so it will stick out a little bit farther than a tightbore barrel. The bipod is also made out of metal with high quality plastic tips on it. They come away from the fore grip really easily, and lock into place. To put the bipod up, you need to push up on a little lever (found on each of the legs), and then you can individually put the legs up. The legs are kind of wobbly, and I will maybe be upgrading to better ones in the future.

Picture 1:


Picture 2: The red circle just shows the allen screw used to take off the flash hider.


3. G3 Mechbox Takedown and Ver. 2 Gearbox Disassembly Guides:
I will not go into the takedown of the gun, or the disassembly of the gearbox since other people have already done that. I will mention though that this is the easiest gun that I have ever seen to take apart. I have taken it apart about 15-20 times to upgrade it, and you only need to take off 3 push pins (very tight, and they shouldn’t be able to fall out on their own), and you have it apart.

Here is the link for the G3 mechbox takedown guide as done by KrYpTiK: G3 Mechbox Takedown Guide

Here is the link for the Ver. 2 Gearbox Disassembly guide video as done by mechbox.com:
Ver. 2 Gearbox Disassembly Video

These are both VERY good guides that anyone who wants to do upgrades and service the G3 should definitely take a look at.

5. Magazine:
As I said earlier in the HISTORY section, the magazines for the real steel were made for the 7.62 x 51mm rounds. Therefore, the magazines are bigger than the M4’s 5.56 x 46mm NATO rounds. Because of this extra size, the high-capacity magazine for the G3 SG-1 holds 500 rounds as opposed to the 350-400 round hi-caps for the M4-style rifles. This was another selling point for me as I didn’t want to buy a bunch of mags to achieve the same amount of bb’s as in several of the G3’s mags. I filled the mag all the way full, and then dumped it out and counted it. I counted 484, so it is very close to the advertised 500 rounds. I had heard some complaints against the CA G3 high-capacity magazine, so I decided to get a couple spare TM magazines. The complaints against the CA mag that I had heard were that it sometimes misfeeds. From all the firing of the gun during, before, and after the testing, I did not experience any misfeeds, but if I do get any misfeeds, I will edit this review to reflect that. I compared the externals of the magazines, and the CA mag looks and feels more durable. There is a little bit of plastic on both types of the magazines (CA & TM). The plastic on the TM mag looks thinner than the plastic on the CA mag, but I can’t tell any difference in quality though. There is a lid that opens so that you can put the bb’s in, and on the TM mag the lid does not stay up like the CA one does, and it just falls down all the time while you fill the mag. (it’s only a little bit annoying). So far, I would prefer the CA mag since I haven’t had any misfeeds or double-feeds so far.





Red – Magazine wheel (spin the wheel with your finger to wind the spring up inside the magazine so that it feeds the bb’s into the gun while shooting).

Note: You will need to wind the wheel for approximately 30-45 seconds until you hear the distinctive clicking sound that tells you that the spring is fully wound. With the spring fully wound, you should not have to wind the wheel for a while, or until the mag is emptied.

6. Hop Up:
The stock hop-up is not very good. Many people say that it is really finicky and unreliable. I would suggest replacing the Hop-Up to be one of the first upgrades to do. Another thing that would be great to get would be a new bucking and nub because the CA buckings are not very good. I experienced a huge difference in the shooting of the gun when I put a new Madbull bucking and an x-shaped nub on it. The CA G3 Metal Hop-Up Chamber that I got for my gun can be found on AirsoftExtreme.com for $35

Here is a picture of the finicky stock plastic hop-up chamber that I replaced.


With the cocking hammer at the regular spot, the hop-up adjustment wheel is hidden by the bolt cover, but with the cocking hammer lever pulled back, the bolt cover is pulled back revealing the hop-up adjustment wheel.

Here’s a picture of the bolt cover back showing the hop-up adjustment wheel.


7. The Gun to be Tested:
I will be doing tests with my brand new CA G3 SG-1 that has Leapers 3-9 X 40 Red/Green Dual Illuminated Mil-Dot Scope, and a 9.6 v. 4200 MaH Ni-MH battery. The gun already has some upgrades in it, so it won’t be a completely stock field test. I have a Prometheus Tight-bore barrel in it, and a CA G3 Metal Hop-Up Chamber (the stock one is supposedly really bad—and plastic—so I upgraded it right away). I have not had the chance to see how much fps it is shooting, but I would estimate it to be shooting around 340fps because of the tightbore barrel.

8. Field Testing:
I will be using KSC .20g bb’s and Airsoft Elite .25g bb’s. I just shot from a distance of 50 feet just so you can see at least a little bit of the accuracy.

The day I did my testing on, there was only a slight breeze, and it was about 35 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I used the bipod so that I could have the most stable platform possible. For my target, I didn’t have any actual targets like you would find at a shooting range, so I decided to use 1 ft. X 1 ft. pieces of cardboard that would dent so I could show exactly where I was hitting.

The first thing I did was to get my hop-up set right so that I would get the best performance for the range. I then put out the target and shot 10 shots with each .20g KSC bb’s and .25g Airsoft Elite bb’s. Here are the results from 50 feet with the two types of bb’s.

Here are the 10 shots with the .20g KSC bb’s. I put a blue circle around each of the hits because some of them are hard to see on the picture. You can hardly see the one directly in the bulls-eye, but one of them definitely hit dead-on. It was probably a one in a million, but it is really there. (and yes, the red in the middle is kind of retarded, but I just wanted to show where the exact middle of the target is, and where I was aiming for)


Here are the 10 shots with the .25g Airsoft Elite bb’s. I put a circle around each of these also, even though the marks are a lot more noticeable.


Thoughts of the 50 foot tests:
The grouping with the .20g bb’s was more-or-less erratic. Some of them went high right, and then others went low left, and then one went dead center, and the other went high left. I was kind of expecting this with the lighter bb’s because they could have been affected by the breeze, or other things. I was still pretty pleased that they all went on target at least.
The grouping with the .25g bb’s was a lot closer together and much less erratic. I had expected this, because of the fact that they are a little heavier. The heavier the bb, the less erratic, and more accurate it will be. They will all be much less affected from wind and other things. The .25g bb’s were all on the left hand side of the target, and the farthest one away from the center was only 4 ¾ inches away. It was not too bad, but I was hoping for a little better than that. I’m thinking that the problem with the accuracy is that the Prometheus Tightbore barrel isn’t broken in yet. I have heard that the Prometheus tightbore’s take 10,000 shots or more to fully break them in. Also, the hop-up might not be broken in yet either. That could be the case because the shots with the .25g bb’s were fairly straight in the grouping that they made, but the hop-up just had more of an effect on some than on others. I had only shot about 1,000 shots out of it when I did the testing, so it was probably because of the slight breeze, and the gun just not being broken in yet.

9. Overall Performance
The performance of this gun was really better than I had expected it to be coming right out of the box. I did have it pre-upgraded with the CA G3 Metal Hop-up Chamber, and a Prometheus Tightbore, but all the internals were stock when I tested and shot it. With a 9.6v battery put in the gun, it has a very good ROF (rate of fire). I had not expected it to be as good as it was since I thought it was mainly to be used as a DMR, and therefore didn’t need to have a high ROF. This gun, however, shoots just as fast as most stock CA guns. I was used to just using MPEGs, and this gun has almost twice the ROF of the MPEGS that I had ever used. Because of its high ROF, this gun could really be used as a medium range rifle, as well as being a DMR. It would not be too good for anything close range (especially CQB) because of its length. You would not be able to turn corners very well and be in position to shoot before you would get shot yourself. I would recommend a TM P90 or some type of Mp5 or UMG for the CQB stuff, and use this gun for the outdoors where you have an immensely large area to operate in, and no buildings to go into. Overall, this is such a great gun for people wanting to get their first high-priced electric gun, or for someone who is looking for a gun to be upgraded into a DMR. I would say, however, that this gun is not meant to be stock, but upgraded a bunch to make it great. If you want to get a stock gun and use it as a DMR out of the box with minimal work to it, I would suggest getting the TM M14. It has great range and hop up out of the box, and it has very durable internals. BUT if you want to upgrade your gun into an awesome DMR, then this CA G3 SG-1 is perfect for you!

There are a couple things that I wasn’t too impressed with on this gun. The first of these problems is that Classic Army guns don’t have the best internals, so those aren’t incredible on this gun since it is a CA. CAs are known for their great externals, but their internals are just average. They are meant to be tinkered with, and replaced with better parts to get to the performance you want. You can definitely go without upgrading the internals since the internals are better than any MPEG out there, but if you want it to perform as a great DMR, you would first need to upgrade the internals with more durable and better parts. The one thing I am impressed with in regards to the stock internals are the gears. They are very durable gears, and many people have had them working flawlessly with high fps setups without needing to replace them for a long time. That is basically the only internal part I have not replaced yet after owning the gun for about 6 months, and it works so incredibly well. The last of the problems with this gun is its hop-up. There are no awesome alternatives to go with for the hop-up. The CA metal hop-up chamber I have is still not incredibly great, but it sure is a heck of a lot better than the stock one. As far as I know, the CA Steel hop-up chamber is the only hop-up that you can get for this gun. No other manufacturer makes one as of right now, but in the future when someone starts making a better one, this gun would be just that much more awesome! I would definitely recommend getting a new bucking for this gun because when I replaced the bucking it made the hop up TONS better. I was amazed at how much just the Madbull bucking and x-shaped nub helped with the hop up’s consistency and range. Therefore, in terms of first upgrades to get it working much better, I would definitely suggest getting a new bucking and nub (for consistency and increased range out of the hop up), the CA G3 Metal Hop Up Chamber (since the stock one isn’t very good), and a Prometheus Tightbore barrel (for better accuracy and groupings at any range). With those 3 things, your gun will be on its way to being a great DMR.

Problems I Have Had With the G3, and How to Fix Them:
1. Double Feeding Problem
I had recently been having problems with my gun double feeding. I was able to figure it out, and I decided I would share with you how I was able to fix it, and how to keep from making the same mistake that I made. First of all, there is a piece that attaches to the back of the gearbox with a screw.

Here are a couple pictures of the piece that I will be talking about (sorry I don’t know what it is called, so I will just call it the black plastic piece… :a-grin:).


Red – This is the black plastic piece (do you see why I call it that now? :a-grin:).



I don’t really know what this piece does, but it attaches to the spring guide through the back of the gearbox, and it also has little tabs that kind of stick out. I think what it is supposed to do is to stop the gearbox from going into the gun farther because of these tabs (but you will see why I now think this from reading the next stuff).

This black piece is loose at first, and I was really curious as to why it was this way. For the first several times that I took the gearbox apart, I left it loose because I figured that it was just supposed to be that way since it was that way to begin with. After I took this gun apart a total of about 10-15 times in about 2 days to tweak it and get it to shoot right, I just decided to tighten this piece on all the way just in case that could somehow cause problems later on. After I put my gearbox together, and completely reassembled the gun, I had to go back to college and forgot all about what I had done with it. Once I came back home to test my gun, I realized that it was double feeding while I was shooting. I took the gun and gearbox apart several times not realizing what was causing this problem besides the fact that the nozzle was not sticking far enough into the hop up (it was about 2mm too far back), and was therefore allowing bbs to feed in too easily and double feed while shooting on full auto. Also, I noticed that the whole gun wasn’t fitting together right either because I couldn’t fit the body pin that goes on the front of the receiver on because it wasn’t aligned right. Because of this, I ordered a new nozzle and a new cylinder head in case it was because of a mis-alignment problem with the cylinder, or just a nozzle problem or something of that sort. When I got them I put them in the next weekend and still didn’t get the problem fixed. I was very frustrated with it, but I decided to take it apart one last time before I let someone a little more knowledgeable take a look at it to fix it. This time, I just decided to not tighten the screw attaching the black plastic piece to the back of the gearbox, and put it on like it had been before. With that piece loose, it allowed the gun to fit together all the way because of the extra room that was allowed to that black piece as a result of not being right up against the gearbox, but back by about 2mm. Also because of this extra room, I was able to fit the front body pin in. Because the gun fit together better, it allowed the nozzle to go in the 2mm that it needed to stop the bbs from feeding in too easily while shooting thus making the gun double feed.

So the lesson that can be learned by my mistake is that this black piece is supposed to be loose, and is not meant to be tightened onto the gearbox. If it is tightened on all the way, then there will be double feeding problems, and if it is loose it will function properly. This is the only problem that I can think of that is because of the G3s design, but if I find any others, I will add them to this review. This piece might be on other guns too, but I don’t know of any right now, so I am just assuming. Anyways, I hope this helps someone out because it would have been wonderful if I had known this while I was having my problems.

That is the end of the review of the gun basically stock (besides the Prommy tightbore, and the upgraded Metal Hop up chamber).

Future Plans for This Review:
I will be adding onto this review how the gun performs when upgraded with the things that I have on it in the near future at farther ranges (probably even 150 feet and 200 feet with a torso sized target) just for fun, and so you can see the potential. Here’s a list of the upgrades that are installed as of now:

Barrel and Hop up:
-Prometheus G3 Tightbore Barrel (469mm)
-CA G3 Metal Hop up Chamber
-Madbull Blue Hop Up and X-Shaped Nub (Great nub, but only an average bucking.)

Internal Upgrades:
(I have only chronoed it with .25g bbs, and it was shooting at 336-340fps with them, so it should be somewhere around 380fps w/ .2g bbs.)
-G&P Polycarb Piston (white)
-PDI 170% spring
-Systema Duracon Piston Head w/ Bearings
-Systema Metal Spring Guide
-Systema Switch Assembly (wiring)
-Area 1000 (Systema) Metal Cylinder Head
-Guarder G3 Air Seal Nozzle
-Systema Selector Switch

I would definitely recommend every one of those upgrades that I got since most of them are about the best you can get in their categories with the exception of the bucking. I would probably go with the Systema soft bucking if I would have done it again, but I was in a rush and the site I was ordering from didn’t have it in stock, so I just got one that came with a great nub. I do like the x-shaped nub that Madbull has with their buckings though. It is probably about second best behind the H-hop nub. There probably isn’t tons of difference in the two though.

Here’s a link to pictures I have taken of my gun in the “Pictures of My Gun” section of this forum.
KS Sn1per’s CA G3 SG-1

And here's a picture of the gun in action (without the silencer):


It looks great any way that you change it. It is just a NICE looking gun! Thanks for reading through this whole entire review! It took long enough to write it, and I am still not done! lol

Also, thanks to New Guy On The Block for letting me use some of his ideas from some his incredible reviews! You should check them out if you haven’t already. He reviewed the CA M15A4 and the UMG G&G. He reviewed the UMG so well, that I think it will be my next AEG!