JG AK-47 RIS TACTICAL BLACK

By Cryozen!

First Impressions

I was sitting at my desk in my room when I hear the doorbell ring. My father answers it, my mother asks who it was and he says "The UPS guy." My heart skipped a beat, but then he went on to say "Its about time my tools arrived." I was heart broken until I got an email saying "Package sucessfully delivered" so I rushed downstairs stole the package with my dad giving chase close behind, ran to my room and tore it open to see this!





included; Chinese battery, plug in wall charger, For grip, sight adjuster*, standard TM/clone AK-47 manual*, a 200 round packet of bb's*, the 600 round High cap, a cleaning rod*, and a sling that wasn't stitched but GLUED together!*. the styrofoam came wrapped in plastic, which was nice, but the box didnt have a bottom so that was meant to keep everything in the foam should the top come of (my guess is anyway)

*= Not pictured!

The box is nice but the gun was even nicer! it was my first AEG and it was love at first sight! I loved its heft and how every part but the Hand Guard, Pistol Grip and Stock are metal! (Albeit with a wierd brownish tint) I was feeling the gun up all night, but I couldn't use it until the next day because my younger sister was having 30 of her closest friends over that night . So patiently I waited . . .



Real Steel History

The AK-47 (short for Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947) was made in response to World War 2 by Mikhail Kalashnikov in response of power of the German StG44 (which one can see, because of the similar shape and colors/materials) and other early assault rifles. The AK-47 was adopted by the Russian Armed forces. It became known for its reliability, ruggedness and easy production. Pretty soon, every nation who couldn't afford a powerful standard issue gun found refuge in the AK-47. It is Arguable that it is the most easily recognized and popular gun in the world. (Its on the Coat of arms of Mozambique, for crying out loud!) and can be bought in other countries from anywhere between $30-$150. Im not going to lecture more on this, but feel free to check out the wikipedia article; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ak-47


Appearance/Feel/Build Quality

The AK is quite nice, the metal feels solid (although I'm sure there are better metals out there) and the plastic has a rugged and durable feel to it, yet the stock has a strange rubbery feel. how ever, that doesn't mean its put together well. My main concern with the gun is the Front part of the Ironsights:



After attempting to take off the Orange tip it was wobbling back and forth like no body's business. Time for an Exercise, relax your neck and let your head hang loose. then shake your shoulders. yeah, it was wiggling that badly. So, now I have to tighten the screw holding that bit in a lot and the screw is getting worn. eventually I had to paint it black.

Another part I had problems with is the selector switch:



It came loose rather quickly, which concerned me greatly, how ever, it was an easy fix but the worry will always be there.


Also, the Butt plate seems eager to pop off when the gun is in transit, easily fixed with tape I suppose. Otherwise, externals are solid! My gun has been bumped and beaten plenty. but it still works fine and no unfixable injuries, but again every other metal part they used is some strange dark brown.



Internals

I have yet to take my gun apart, because I lack a screw driver small enough to take out the final screw that holds the gun together. But heres what I know, its a version 3 gearbox. And it's probably not put together the best way possible, but I have not had a problem after 3-4 months and about 6-8k rounds.

I like the hop-up, but it does take a while to find that sweet spot. even then though, the shots do vary away time to time! The Hop-up is located inside the . . part where the shells come out (Im not entirely knowledgeable ) , simply pull back the slide and the hop-up will be behind a small metal rod. there is a little handle (which I accidently removed and lost) that helps you slide it back and forth! The sticker that gives you a setting isn't very nice, Its as if someone licked it and stuck it on there hoping it would stay there for ever. The material its made of is pretty cheap as well.




Performance

Performance is decent, I wouldn't expect much more out of a $90 dollar gun. but I did some field tests, and here are the results!



where you see 50, thats 40 feet.
where you see 100 thats about 80.
(I counted by putting one foot in front of the other, I have size 13 (extra wide) feet which are about 9 inches)
Hop-up was set at 0

at 40 feet I had an 8 inch grouping on semi. on auto I had a 6 inch grouping.
at 80 feet every shot I made with single missed :(, I had to fire a ten shot burst to hit with auto and the grouping was about 14 inches. please take note those where with the for grip
I would recommend a better hop-up bucking and a tight bore to get decent accuracy.

Pros & Cons

Pros:

90 dollars
Solid externals
commendable rate of fire (with a crappy 8.4v chinese battery)
about 350 FPS (about the level a lot of people would like it, including myself)
the body has plenty of metal, more then I thought it would.
Will accept TM compatible parts.
Comes with a for grip and weaver rails

Cons:

Isn't put together, too well. could use a little work there.
Its a Clone
considered by many to be an ugly POS.
Internals could be better (from what I have read and considering its a clone, again haven't taken it entirely apart yet.)
stock wont accept 9.6v sized batteries, and I can barely fit in an 8.4.

Ordering:

There are plenty of sites to order from! the cheapest I found was Hitguns.com ($90) its on ASGI for about $110, not much was damaged in transit. even if it did get a few bumps, I'm sure not alot would be damaged considering its packed in the foam nice and tight!


The Final Word:

If you are hell bent on getting this gun, by all means get it (but don't expect to be taken seriously by more hard core players). You'd probably be better off ordering the Echo1. again, get a tight bore and a better bucking.

Externals: 8/10
Internals: 7/10
Accuracy: 6/10
Upgrade ability: 8/10
Value for price: 7/10
Durability: 7.5/10

Over all rating: 7.25/10

Assorted Pictures!











EDIT- Bet your bottom up that I will occasionally update, and as soon as I find a screwdriver small enough I WILL take apart the gun.

EDIT2- Made the review a little more neutral, took out comments regarding the 'tacticoolness'

This post has been edited by Cryozen: Jul 21 2008, 08:32 AM

Good review. Useful pics, although you should also take pics from things like field strip, hop up and if possible internals.

It is good as it is, and I will approve it, but I recommend adding said things.

thanks a bunch! and like I said, I will tear it down as soon as I can, then I will post those things.

EDIT- when you say hop up, do you mean where it actually is? do you want a photo of the bucking? drop me a line here :P

This post has been edited by Cryozen: Jul 20 2008, 05:40 PM

I meant how you adjust the hop-up I.E slider hop-up, wheel hop-up etc.

Show where the hop adjuster is located.

What's the rof like on that?

Not bad at all actually, Ive recently played a game with it and I wasnt disappointed. Ive come to realize the accuracy isnt as bad as I made it out to be. but thats not the question, was it?

My guess would be around 15 RPS give or take.

I also had the JG AK tactical..I had all the same problems...Loose flashider/front ironsight,lost the butcap and selector switch,lol..ROF was about 800 rpm and was fairly accurate...The hop up is behind the breach and is a slider type...mine also didnt like staying in one spot so much...

I made my own suppressor and added an upper rail for a scope and was happy "Before the problems started that is,lol.."



This post has been edited by Ranger420: Oct 13 2008, 05:53 PM

and dude ranger... your ak looks almost exactly like the tacticool ak I built my bro from parts

lol..Right on..I loved my AK till all the problems arrived..

Nope, its metal. Im pretty sure its Pot Metal though.

And I realize it is in the wrong place. After my botched attempted at taking it apart I didnt have the barrel put back in correctly and the top handguard was loose, so I used the "little black thing" to keep it in place. And I fixed the problem so its back where it should be.

EDIT- I gave the reciever a good rub down. If it is plastic (which I wouldn't doubt but wouldn't go around proclaiming.) Its some of the strangest plastic I have felt.

This post has been edited by Cryozen: Oct 16 2008, 09:47 PM

Good review, well written.

take a screw driver or dremel and scratch the receiver somewhere where it wont be seen, then youll know for sure if its metal or plastic
I know what you mean though. thats how my a&k sr-25 was. I knew it was sposed to be metal but I picked it out of the box and I coulda swore it was plastic for like a whole day

This post has been edited by Dusti69: Jun 2 2009, 05:21 PM

I own the full-metal version of this gun, which does have a metal receiver.

It has around 35,000 rounds through it, mostly from a drum mag (I play support). Long bursts are not uncommon, and it's held up well. No internal issues whatsoever. The front sight is a wobbly piece of crap, and I'm only on my second buttplate, as I took to taping it on after I lost the first.

Mine's currently painted blurry medium-green and tan and is only _slightly_ less ugly than it was black. Yes, this gun is hideous.