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Product Information:
Hmmm G&G or CYMA M14? If you have the money, get a G&G. But if you are just itching for and sort of M14 and do not have the budget to pick up a $300 rifle, this is a decent substitute. For the price it is an alright rifle. You really do get what you pay for here. But keep this in mind – you can buy two of these for the price of a G&G M14. With that line of thinking, you could buy one of these for you and one for your girlfriend whom you are trying to get into Airsoft. Or, you could have a second one for spare parts, which is similar to what I did. I traded a fellow Airsofter an old A&K SR25 I had that had problems for an M14 (which was a mix of CYMA, AGM, and Echo 1 parts). The gun ended up having some pretty severe problems right away, so I decided to pick up a CYMA M14 and use the broken M14 for spare parts. Thus far, it has worked out pretty well. If I lose a screw or something minor breaks, I have a spare over in my parts box.
Before I go any further, realize that I have worked on Airsoft guns for about seven years and have a good deal of experience. This example of CYMA quality is about the same as any of their other products. They look pretty nice, but their tuning, and performance somewhat, leaves something to be desired. I gave this gun a try for about a week before opening it up and tuning it. Put around 1500rds through it before hand. I even let a few of my novice Airsoft teammates play around with it for a bit, which is something I rarely do. If they cannot break it, then chances are it’s constructed well enough for my taste. I did try out everything it game with, except for the spring, BBs, and charger (all of which you should throw out right away). The battery is not the greatest, a 1500mah 8.4v nicd battery, but it is good enough for a beginner Airsofter who is just picking up his first gun. With it, the gun ran about 10rps. Not very fast, obviously, but then again, it only takes one BB to tag someone out.
Testing this right out of the box I found that 0.2g BBs gave very poor results. The rounds dropped after about 100ft, even with the hop up adjusted. After switching over to 0.25g rounds the range improved significantly. The rounds were dropping at about 175ft, giving the gun an effective range of about 150ft accurately (measured with an insanely long measuring tape). The accuracy, however, was average – about a 4-5ft spread at the max range of 175ft. If you really need to push the range, I recommend you spray and pray at that point.
There were several things I did not like about the gun out of the box. First, the sound the gun made. I don’t mind a gun being somewhat high-pitched or whiney, assuming it is properly shimmed, AOE is corrected, etc, but the gun actually made a mild grinding noise. I have heard of very few stock guns doing that. It worried me a bit, but it figured that if it broke that first week I would just send it back for a new one. No gun should break in under a week, stock. To my surprise, the gun held up fine. Saves me two weeks of shipping guns around.
Upon getting the gun back home I decided to open it up and check out the internals and whether or not there was any wear and tear from the first week of usage. Luckily, there was very little. Let’s start with the barrel/hop up and then get to the gearbox. The hop up chamber itself feels pretty cheap. I have actually seen them break with very little use, for instance, I found one with the side of the chamber broken off from normal use. I really wish they made metal TM style M14 hop up chamber. I would buy one in a heartbeat. The barrel is chrome (nickel plated), and is rumored to be a 6.04 bore barrel. Judging by the average accuracy I got while testing it, I do not feel that is true. I do not have an adequate caliper, however, to double check.
Once I opened up the gearbox I found the usual Chinese grease job, which is never good. I absolutely hate the toothpaste green gunk they use to “lubricate” literally everything, even things that do not need grease. After destroying several paper towels and getting my hands nice and greasy, I got the gearbox pretty cleaned up and was able to actually see what I had in front of me. The gear set is CYMA’s usual quality. Pretty nice, but poorly shimmed. I found that the grinding sound was actually coming from the bevel gear being too low in the gearbox. It was literally grinding against a portion of the shell under it. A quality shim job fixed that, now the gun hums nicely. The compression is decent for a China-made gun, so I left it alone after lubricating everything with Teflon grease. The stock M100ish spring was only shooting about 340fps, even though AirsoftGI claimed they clocked it in at 370fps…maybe a disconnect between the tester’s pen and the paper? After shimming the gun, greasing it, and correcting the AOE (which really needed some work), I closed up the gun. I had also installed a new motor, a stock JG motor that I had lying around, and a spare M120ish spring, as well as a Mosfet. It is worth noting that the trigger contacts showed wear after only a week of using them on the stock battery, A Mosfet might be worth getting if you want to save them in the long run. After reassembling everything, the gun was shooting about 390fps with 0.2g rounds and 345fps with 0.25g rounds. Not amazing, but it was better than the stock speed.
Overall, this is a decent beginner’s gun. For the price it is hard to go wrong. If you are a seasoned gun tech, then this should be a simple job of tuning and you have a decent upgrade platform. If you have the money and skill I highly recommend getting a new spring guide, motor, and piston head. A Mosfet is always a plus, and a new piston might be a good idea as well. I found be barrel to be adequate with a higher fps.
Pros:
-decent range and accuracy
-relatively easy to work on internally
-light weight
-no creeks or loose parts
-looks clean, the metal parts are a matt black, not shiny like some other brands
-could make a good upgrade platform if you have the patience and skill
Cons:
-poor stock shimming, lubrication, and AOE
-irritating grinding noise from stock shimming
-poor range with 0.2g rounds (many new players will use the gun with that weight ammo and get poor results, make sure to use 0.25g rounds of good quality)
-everything included with the gun, except for the magazine, or poor quality and should be trashed and replaced
-limited battery compartment room (will not fit an 8.4v large type battery, I highly recommend using a 9.6v mini)
-some parts are poor quality and may break (spring guide, hop up chamber, and possibly the piston)
-no rails for mounting optics, sold seperately
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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