For the price of a Marui battery, you get a great expensive looking and feeling mp5-j.



Introduction
This review is not about one of the new 300+ euro/dollar/pound aeg's that’s out from Marui or CA. Nope, its about a surprising bargain from Cyma. Cyma you say, isn't that the cheap stuff from China? Yes you would have been right, up to now cyma mostly produced very cheap feeling and badly produced airsoft equipment. Imagine my surprise when they released the mp5-j on the market, known to Cyma as the Cyma023.



Out of the box
The package arrived and the box already looked interesting. Its a well produced brown "professional" looking box. All the items are neatly packaged, it comes with:

    * Battery and charger
    * Top RIS rail, red dot
    * Silencer and normal muzzle
    * Fast loader and cleaning rod
    * 2 magazines 1 standard low-cap and 1 automatic high-cap(!)
    * Screwdriver, 300bb's, safety glasses, sling



A very complete and total package if you ask me...

First impressions
Taking the gun out of the box makes you think that Cyma mistakenly put a Classic Army or ICS mp5 in the box. The gun is heavy and feels sturdy. There is no creaking or flexing. The finish is very good, there are two different kind of plastics used on this mp5. One type is grained and textured and used on the lower receiver and foregrip. The other type smooth and looks very metal like. Size is of course similar to the real thing:

    * Length 58-74
    * Weight about 2 kilo


The magazines
This gun comes with an amazing amount of gear, the most important stuff apart from the mp5 are the magazines. The first one is the standard long magazine which takes about 24 bb's.It's well made and feels heavy and metal-like even though it’s plastic. The spring is quite strong, and you can actually see the bb's on the rear of the magazine through a small transparent strip. The fit is very thight, it takes some practice to get it in the gun quickly. However because of the thight fit there is not rattle of flex.
In a weird way, it's kind of fun to see the spring guide move up with every shot. You are going to know when the magazine is empty, which can be a tactical advantage. Having only 24 bb's however is not, enter the high cap:



The second magazine is an automatic high cap. It looks like a double magazine, the "Second" magazine even has a few fake bullets in it. The bullets slide backwards to reveal an opening for the bb's. Filling is quick and easy. The magazine then has to be wound-up. The high cap also has a sturdy fixation to the gun, and it has worked flawlessly up to now. You do notice when the last bb has been fired, as the remaining spring pressure is released in a loud "whirr". I have seen this high-cap magazine sold separately for around 75% of the price of the total package.

The tour
The stock rails are metal and this gives the gun a very sturdy and cold feel. A rubber piece is attached to the plastic shoulder plate for a good fixation to your shoulder. The stock is held in place by a locking lever, which makes a reassuring "clunk" sound when you lock the stock. It has two locking positions so you can adjust the length of the stock to your taste.



The mp5 comes with a detachable short top RIS rail. The rail is plastic and can be snapped on. Cyma supplies also 4 screws and a screwdriver to fix the RIS rail to the top of the receiver. Also supplied, well normally as I didn't get one, should be a red dot sight which you can screw onto the RIS rail. There are 2 sling points on the gun, the rear one is metal and the front, plastic. The mode select switch has a soft feel to it and it moves a bit too easy from the safe to the semi and auto modes. However it does stay in place once you leave it. The trigger is ABS and needs medium pressure.



There is also a cocking lever on the mp5, which actually functions. You can slap it back and forth all day if you like. Of course doing so has zero use, apart from strengthening your wrist muscles. The fore grip hides the real small 400mah 4.4 volt battery, which comes with its own charger. Opening the fore grip could not be easier, after opening the lock the whole thing swivels out front to back. The battery fits tight and doesn’t rattle. Amazingly for such a low power battery I fired already 600-800 rounds with it and its still going.

Performance
The gearbox seems to be a copy of the Tokyo Marui boy’s gearbox. This in this price range is a good thing. The claimed output is around 170FPS using 0.12 bb's. I have done both semi and auto tests at 3,5,7 and 10 meters distance. The grouping is tight up to 7 meters. Effective range is around 20 meters, of course it won't penetrate paper anymore at that range. The flight path of the BB is badly affected by this gun main problem; the absence of a hop-up. Of course you can always point the gun 45 degrees and shoot the bb's ballistic..



The claimed fire rate is around 10 per second, I timed it and got about 8 per second. That still empties the high-cap in 14 seconds. Great for supporting fire! No one will know that the bb's don’t make it over 20 meters, the sound alone will scare them. That’s another good thing about the mp5; it does make quite a racket.

Overall
The most important thing to remember during reading of this review is the price. This is a quality gun, heavy, well made, lots of metal parts, and enormous amounts of extra kit. Detailing is very good; you’ll find a lot of fake weltmarks on the right places. The most amazing part of this gun is the price, so much quality, metal and fun for only 64 euros. That even includes the taxes. The high-cap magazine alone can be found on the net for around 50 euros.

Final Grading
Appearance: 5 out of 5: Even if it was 300 euro it would still be good
Build quality 4 out of 5: some small plastic irregularities
Performance 4 out of 5: in its class its great
Upgrade-ability: 4 out of 5: well there is a RIS rail.
Value for money: 5 out of 5: Best deal ever if you like mp5's


Photo below: Green = metal, Blue = Rubber.

Introduction
Ever since I have been into Airsoft, I have always wanted an AK-47. It is a gun of every single major war in the last 50 years, featured in nearly every action movie, and just looks cool. When I finally moved from springer guns to AEG’s, the AK-47 was my natural choice for a first gun. I had heard it was a sturdy gun, just like the real steel, shot fairly accurate for a stock gun, and had a nice high capacity clip.

First Impressions
When you hold the AK-47, you feel a nice solid gun. There is absolutely no body flex to speak of. The gun has a high metal content, and the fake wood is simulated very well. On the full stock version, the version tested for this review, the large battery is held in the butt stock. There is plenty of room in there for an 8.4v battery, but do not expect to fit any 9.6v battery over 1600mAh in it.

There are not many trademarks to speak of, but that is because there have been so many manufacturers of the AK-47 over the last half century, that even half of them don’t have trademarks. There is, however, writing is Russian on the gun. On the selector switch, the different firing modes are written in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Weighing in at around 5lbs., this is a fairly heavy assault rifle. The length is very long at 875mm, not a CQB weapon at all. The size comparison between it and a P90 can be seen in the figure.

The Hop-Up is the easiest to adjust in any AEG I have ever seen. You simply pull back on the dust cover, and move a slide. Pull it back if you want it to go up, push it forward if you want less hop-up effect.

Accuracy
For the accuracy portion of the review I used Airsoft elite .20g bb’s and a Sanyo 8.4v 1500mah Battery that has been fully charged.

The first test I wanted to see how it grouped with single fire mode. As you can see in fig. 6 that the accuracy is ok, not the best but not too bad either. The grouping turned out to be just about 1.2 inches on average, not bad at all.

On the figure you can see the results of full auto fire of the AK-47. The grouping is still not bad and it even has a shot in the very middle.  Overall I find the accuracy of the AK-47 very good, very pleasing, and compared to other Guns, it’s above average.
 
Power
Like all Tokyo Marui AEG’s they all seem to have the same fps no matter what the model because they all use the same stock internals. The AK-47 is no exception. As you can see in the picture, the average fps I got was 268, normal for most AEG’s. Please note that Marcus’ AK-47 is almost 2 years old, and to maintain this power in such a long period of time is astonishing.
 
Conclusion
Overall, the Tokyo Marui AK-47 is a great gun for beginner and veteran alike. I have had my AK-47 for about two years completely stock, and not a single thing has gone wrong with it. If that is not durable, then I do not know what is. There are not as many accessories for the AK-47 compared to other guns, but there are still a few. You can get, for instance, an RIS, scope mount and double magazine holders for it, but if you want a highly accessorized gun that has a ton of after market parts, then get an M4A1-RIS. If you want a gun that is durable, has a fast rate of fire, not a run of the mill at many fields, and with a very high capacity clip (600 rounds), then the AK-47 is the gun for you.  I will write a follow-up when I get the gun upgraded, and perform the same tests. Until then, good luck on the field.

UPDATE:
Here a little update from Maxim Baele, which reports that he is succesfully using a 9.6V battery pack in the TM AK47. This makes the replica a lot more attractive. He is using a medium-type 9.6v 2200Mah from Begadi. He did minor change on the batteries and they fitted perfect. So take this into consideration guys!

Introduction
Tokyo Marui has done it again, and this time they didn’t make another variant of a Colt (Thank God). Marui has decided this time around to continue an old series the sig. With the old SIG’s failing and many problems documented, Marui went back to the drawing board to make a new SIG, the SIG 552. Hoping this time it wouldn’t fail like the rest of them.

History
Back in 1997 when the SIG series was created by Marui, it seemed like a sure hit. It was different than all of Marui’s AEG’s, it sported the coveted 3 round burst. Although it seemed like a sure hit, it wasn’t. Taking down the gun was a hassle, the internals were of low quality parts, the stick battery made upgrading a hassle, not to mention limited to low capacity shooting, and the three round burst has been known to blow the fuse. It almost seemed like Marui rushed in creating the SIG, thus leading to many consumer complaints, and leading to the discontinuation of the production of the SIG series. Fast Forward 6 years later, and Marui attempted to try the SIG series, this time trying a tried and true formula of the reliable Version 3 yet again, and removing the 3 burst function. But is the wait worth it? Let’s find out…

First Impressions
At first glance, the gun is smaller than I thought. Holding it is very comfortable like most small guns similar to the MP5 series. The front barrel is very short, giving this gun a CQB feel, if you are looking for a field rifle this may not be the right gun for range, but more likely a gun that is used for close quarters.
The stock is like your average Marui stock. The folding stock is a great addition to the gun, making the gun really short and maneuverable.

The charging handle is a nice addition to the gun, as you can see in the picture is an actual handle like the AK-47 series, making it easy to access the Hop-up unit.

The hop unit is similar to the AUG hop unit, a rolling adjusting hop-up. I prefer the AK-47 hop-up unit, but I guess this is ok and easy to adjust.

Removing the hand guard to put the battery is a snap. Simply take out the pin, pull back the bottom hand guard, and the top removes easily. Although Marui recommends using the new s-type battery for the SIG 552, I see no reason for buy a mini that has a Marui label on it. Instead, a regular mini 8.4v 600mah battery will suffice and fits perfectly as seen in the picture.

Now here is something new, the loader. The loader is the most innovative loader I have ever seen. All you need to do is load it like a hicap, put it in the standard mag hole and push down the button until it is loaded, kind of like a plunger. I only wish Marui would sell these separately, as it is more innovative than the SIG 552 itself, and not to mention a lot cheaper than buying an electric auto loader

The magazines, including the hicap has the capability of putting themselves together, for easy reloading, with out buying a separate dual mag clamp.

The trigger guard is an innovative thing. It can easily be flipped up for when you wear gloves, and closed when you are not. No tools required to flip up and down the trigger guard.

The sights are very similar to the sight of an MP5, but a little cooler. The front sight has 2 modes, I am not sure if you can see it but the middle part can be flipped up to be ticker, which I believe is for longer range, and the thin one is for close quarters.

The back sight are adjustable like the MP5, looking in a small hole and aligning it with the front sight.

Like most new Marui guns, the Flash hider can be easily removed so you can add a silencer or tracer unit.

The rail on the gun allows the option of putting the PEQ-2 Laser box, for using a larger battery and the laser can be easily adjusted and zeroed from the side.
 
Testing
In testing I used a hicap and the standard, a fully charged 8.4v 600mah battery, and Airsoft Elite .20g bb’s
 
Accuracy
Out of the box the gun’s hop up isn’t set well, which would explain the crappy grouping I have. But once adjusted the average grouping is a little under 1 inch, a definite plus.
              
Power
The power is above the average FPS of a Marui gun. 284.6 fps being the high and 276.3 is the low. Not bad at all.
 
Comparison
Comparison to other AEG’s, it is very small. It’s about the size of the G36C, but a little smaller. But compared to the G3 SG-1, the difference can be seen.
               
Overall
Marui has done it again, and this SIG is a great gun to have in your collection. The version 3 gearbox makes this gun shoot super smooth, and the rate of fire is great with eg1000. The gun really has no outstanding flaw, as expected from Marui, except for the exception of the small battery compartment, which can be easily solved the PEQ-2 Battery box. We have yet to upgrade the gun, and I will update you when we do. But so far Marui has made a successful SIG.

Introduction
I always dreamed to have a nice airsoft rifle, and especially a M16 rifle. Nowadays there are a lot of brands on the market when we are talking about M16 series; Systema, Marui, CA, ICS, G&P, G&G etc. Marui has been known for there great AEG’s, because they were very durable and literally never broke down. Also Systema is well known because of their durable parts and exelent finish on their rifle's. But I was looking for something different, more solid, something heavier and something more smashing and not to expensive. In search for something matching all my preferences I was looking at the Classic Army range of M15 Armalite rifle’s. The one who immediately became my favorite was the M15A4 Rifle. This is just a personal question here and a matter of taste. My first thoughts were; Should I buy this rather new kind of equipment from CA? Heard several bad stories, had some negative advice on them but finally there he was...


[CA M15A4 R out of the box]


I would like to thank Classic Army and in special Sergio from Evolution Airsoft for providing this review model. We are very glad to do a review of this rifle ourselves. Thanks for your great support and effort for this review!

Facts and features
Let’s start with the facts of this rifle. What is this gun able to? These are the stock specifications listed in the Classic Army voucher and the additional manual supplied with the gun. You can find this manual at the end of the review. Later on we will test the rifle if all the facts are really true.

Product Name     CA M15A4 Rifle
Model Number     AR003M
Weight     3143.0g
Barrel Length     510mm
Barrel Caliber     6.08mm
Bullet Capacity     300
Bullet     6mm BB
Initial Bullet Speed     85-95 m/sec or 280.5 - 313.5 fps
Battery Type     Large Type (8.4V - 12V)


History
In this part we will briefly provide some more background information about Classic Army themself and there previous M15 series. Classic Army also known as Yick Fung Industrial International Ltd. is located in Hong Kong. Here their company profile as stated on their website:

    Quote:

    With experience in die casting and CNC computerized manufacturing, Yick Fung is one of the largest airsoft gun manufacturers in South East Asia.

    We specialize in producing 1:1 scale metal casting airsoft guns, metallic accessories and spare parts under our brand name "Classic Army". Our replica products present a sense of realism.

    With our good endeavor in providing high quality airsoft guns, wide range of metallic accessories and spare parts, we have gained a good reputation in this industry. Many training schools for SWAT and law enforcement units in the world also use our rifles for training.

    The delicate design and the finest furnishings of the metal body is very popular and being presented on the MP5, M15 and M24 gun series. Especially the M15, because of the real gun logo - ArmaLite is used and each rifle has a serial number, this raises the interest of collection among users.

Classic Army and their M15 series. Classic Army is well known for their full metal body AEG’s, have failed numerous time in trying to surpass Marui is terms of quality and value. In the previous gun series of the M15 there were a lot of mistakes made and there were many complaints. The plastic that the stock and foregrip were made from being far too weak, and prone to snapping, the barrel tightening ring lubs snap off, the foregrip fell off far to easily, the gearboxes regularly jammed etc. Just to mention several problems. Because of there many failures in creating quality AEG’s many players and dealers alike have decided not to buy them. Classic Army had bad reputation. But Classic Army came back and has released yet another version of the M15 series named the “Classic Army M15A4 AEG's”. This time with legal trademarks of Armalite Inc., steel gears, pre-upgraded, high speed and high torque motor, and under 300 dollars it seems like a nice deal. And sure they have improved their rifle this time! The official list looks like this:

    * New Metal Body - ‘Armalite’ Real Gun Logo / Laser Script
    * Improved material of Hard Grip, Fore grip and Retractable Stock (Change from Plastic to Nylon & Glass Fiber)
    * Individual Series no. will be added
    * New Gears will be used (high speed gears and motor)
    * Re-enforced Adaptor Ring for Fore grip
    * New Version of Hop-up Chamber & Rubber
    * High Speed & High Torque Motor
    * Harder Fixed Stock which can use 10.8 V battery
    * This review model also got the latest fiberglass improved stock and hand guard.

First Impression
Here are my first thoughts when i saw this rifle. Taking the gun out of the box and immediately checking all the mistakes of the previous version I was truly impressed. Holding it made me think, “This is what you call a rifle!”. The rifle felt a lot better than the Tokyo Marui series I have played with. The glass fiber reinforced hand grip and sliding stock is the first difference I notice. Compared to the TM M733 the hand grip feels not so smooth and toy like. It feels more realistic. I was also astonished by the metal body, it is a great feeling and it makes the gun rock solid! The trademarks of Armalite inc. look very nice, even as the serial number which makes your gun unique. They are both laser printed and that gives a nice professional look. Overal I really had the "wow!" effect :)


[Metal Body & Trademarks]


Externals
The metal body feels sturdy, just like a metal body should be. The metal body adds a lot of weight to it, and makes it cold to the touch giving the user an added sense of realism. A definite plus here, compared to Classic Army metal body in the past. The bod of a Marui can't even come close. I also like the color of it, Classic Army made there a solid black. A very nice touch. One minor thing is, that when you look very carefully you could see the difference between several materials used. There is a slight difference in color between the metal body and the fire selector fore example. But this is hardly worth mentioning.

The hop-up is similar to the Tokyo Marui M4A1, but by pulling the charging handle will Nnot open up the dust cover. Instead Classic Army did a more innovative solution which is more durable. They used magnets to open and close the dust cover. In the past I had my dust cover latch break, and I think this is a better solution. it works perfect during the use.


[Hop-Up unit with dust cover open]


The removable carrying handle is also made in a nice metal version, the design is similar to most of the M16 rifle series, it has also the standard adjustable sights. With the carrying handle taken off, it turns the m15 into a flat top receiver to put scopes mounts and other accessories on the top rail. There are a lot of accesoires available nowadays, but we won’t go into detail in this review. At the end i will finished with a nice picture of the CA M15A4 R with several accesoires added.


[Carry Handle]


The battery is stocked at the back of the rifle in the new designed fiberglass reinforced stock. The stock is made really nice and looks perfect. The material used feels good and sturdy. The stock can fit a 10.8V 2000mah battery, there is no modification needed at all! The battery cover is nicely made of metal and has a firm lock on it, no moving parts there. So do not hesitate to go for a 10.8V battery because this will lead to optimal performance. Some people say a even a 12V battery can fit, but i would not advise to use a 12V battery to extend the lifetime of your airsoft rifle.


[Stock]


The grips also looks and feels good as mentioned before. It has a nice finished and is solid. However a friend of mine fell on his gun during the games and his grip was broken at the end, also his motor was highly damaged. So the grip isn't rock solid ;) Just use the rifle properly and there won't be a problem.


[Grip]


Magazine's are also very important. What about a gun without BB's and a lot of feeding problems? Useless! Therefore we also take a quick look at the magazine included in this package. The magazine fits needly into the metal body. I also used an EasyCompany Thermold mag in this rifle, Diemaco style all the way ;), and there were no problems at all. Fits good and feeding went well. Compared to a TM magazine, they are nearly identically, there might be a slight difference in color... Classic Army provides several different Magazines, to start with a 68rd low cap magazine, a 190rd mid cap and a 300rd high cap!


[Mags]


Internals
A quick look on the internal parts. Takedown, Inside the gearbox, Stripping the gearbox etc. We did not yet do an internal investigation because the gun didn't need to have one. Sofar no internal problems, when we need to fix something, we will add our impressions to this review.

Usage
This gun is really a pleasure to use during the games. I now tried it for a couple of months and it just works fine! No jams, no feeding problems, no broken parts, no hop-up problems etc. So the mechanical side of the gun is just fin. I am also very satisfied about the performance of the gun. I did not experience any outrange by other rifle's :) Also the accuracy and the reliability is something where you can count on with this gun. The feel is also good, it is heavy indeed, but that's the way it is. You really feel you've got a rifle between your hands! Besides many people argue that a rifle is way to long during the games. This is offcourse always a matter of taste and habituation but personally i don't think this gun is TOO long, maybe also because I am about 195cm.


[During the game...]


Performance
FPS
Off course we did also a FPS test. We need to mention that we tested the rifle with 0,20 Gr KSC BB's and the excellent Guarder SPEEDER-2000 chrony. And we were very supprised here again. The gun shoots on average 330 fps out of the box! This is a very nice result for a stock gun at this price level. The mayor peak was at 342,5 FPS and the lower limit was at 305 FPS. So when you buy this rifle you don't need to worry about an upgrade at all! We did also a test 2 year after the purchase, the gun now shoots at 304 FPS with up's and downs of 5 FPS, still very good and consistant.

Grouping
Grouping is a very important issue and here are our test results. This CA M15A4 Rifle performs good and has grouping of 6cm by 8cm. We used the standard target of [NL] Airsoft.com and printed it on a A4 paper and we shoot from 10 meters we also need to mention that we used an Elcan scope here during the test which was configured well. See the results below...

Overall
It seems that after all what classic army has done in the past, they have deffenately learned from there mistakes, and made a superb rifle for a affordable price. With all the tests passed, I feel this gun is a great gun, it has a high rate of fire, it’s quite durable for now, and it’s a great value for all you get. But there are a few problems which i discovered and however they are minor problems i would like to mention them:

    * As i discribed in the usage section i had a problem with the fire selector at the beginning. I needed to open the gearbox to fix te problem. Now it is working properly.
    * Also the color difference on the metal used is a very small issue.
    * After 2 years of usage, the hop-up unit does not stick well anymore, it loosens back to zero when shooting 2 or 3 times, very frustrating. A new hop-up unit is needed!

Besides those minor problems the gun works realy fine. All Marui magazines including the 190 hicap, Classic Army Magazines, and G&P magazines work well with it. So to close with, I would say Classic Army’s M15A4 Rifle is a must have! And here is a nice picture of the rifle louded with several additional accesoiries.

Final Grading
Quality: *****
Reliability: ****
Comfort: *****
Value: *****
Over-all: *****

[Ca M15A4 Rifle & Accesoiries]


External links

• www.classicarmy.com 
• www.evolution-airsoft.com