Introduction
In my eyes, the AK47 is a normally associated with terrorists, bad guys, Iraqis, and other forigen countries as their staple weapon. The real steel AK47 is highly regarded as the most reliable and durable assult rifle there is. It's relatively cheap price tag allows it to be mass produced and affordable by terrorists and other foreign countries and organizations.

Tokyo Marui is the first manufacturer of an AEG AK47 and is currently the only manfactuer of a high quality AEG AK47. This review focuses on the Full Stock version. Just as a small note, the Tokyo Marui AK47 is not exactally an AK47. The gun is actually modeled off of the Chinese Type-56 Assault Rifle, which is essentially a clone of the AK47 with minor differences. The Marui AK47 only lacks the permanently attached spike bayonet to complete its replication of a Type 56.

First Impression

I was really lucky when I got this gun. I had been longing for an AEG for some time but due to parental restrictions I was never able to buy one. Luckily one of my friends whom I helped get into airsoft was kind enough to sell me his AK47 under my parents restrictions. When I finally recieved my AK47, the first thing that came to my mind was "This ain't no SMG AEG, this thing is huge!" Streching in at 870mm, this is one of Tokyo Marui's larger AEGs giving it the size to boast it's assult rifle background.

Because my AK was preowned, the previous owner had left these items in the box: Loading tools, 70 round standard magazine, cleaning/unjamming rod, 8.4v 1.3ah NiCad battery, and the manual. In addition to those, the fake wood (which is made out of plastic) on the AK was painted over black. Nice touch if I do say so my self. I think I like the black better than the fake wood (not that I've seen the origional fake wood up close anyway). It gives the AK a more tactical, SWAT type of look.

Function
With this gun being an AEG and all my previous guns being a GBB I expected quite a bit from this gun. Gas guns normally shoot anywhere from 300-350 FPS stock. The AK47 shot in at a steady 260-265 FPS using the shitty KSC BBs. Rate of fire is amazing for an AEG. The Tokyo Marui AK47 uses their 3rd generation gearbox, and I have to say that either something is different about how the gearbox works or I'm just lucky because although the internals for Version 2 and Version 3 gearboxes are nearly identical, the rate-of-fire(ROF) on the AK47 easily outpaces the ROF on a stock ICS MP5SD5.

The magazine capacity on this gun is advertised as 70 rounds, but I counted 72 instead. The loading tool that came with my gun was hard to use and I found it pretty useless since you can load about 50 rounds or so by hand (very very slow) or just use a speed loader (my preferred way of loading).

The standard 70 round magazine should last enough rounds for just plinking around but for skirmishing, something a little more substantial is required. I purchased a 250 round Hi-cap AK Beta magazine. I counted that it only holds about 238 rounds though. A full wind and it'll fire all of it's rounds in a continous burst.

Marui AEGs or this one at least has .25s recommended for it (information taken from Japanese text inside box). I of course being a cheap bastard, use KSCs .2 BBs because they are cheap as hell. The only .25s I used are my Excel Bios, but because of their black color I couldn't track them beyond 40' and therefore I cant say the effective trajectory for .25s. For KSC .20s I have to say that the effective range is about 120' with hopup set correctly. Hopup is accessable by pulling the bolt cover down and sliding it so it locks down (friction fit).

If more firepower is required, Marui also sells a 600 round Hi-cap which is the same size as the origional 70 round standard. With this optional magazine, the AK can be a pretty effective support weapon. For a bit of realism, that all to cheap company STAR makes 30 round Lo-caps for the AK. In my person opinion, the 250 round Beta magazines are great for the shooting who doesnt just pray and spray. They keep the AKs profile a little smaller while still giving you enough ammo to last a while.

The sights on the AK aren't anything special to gloat about. Although, it is an AK and who really aims with AKs right? The back sight has lots of side-to-side play, but is adjustable for elevation and distance only (no windage adjustment). The front sight can be adjusted for elevation with a small metal tool. The front sight assembly was a little wobbly but nothing that can't be fixed. Scope mounts are avaliable from a number if different manufacturers (JUST, Laylax, Guarder, and a couple others). A word of caution though, traditional side mount scopes cannot or will take a lot of effort to mount on the AK47 because of the fact that the side mount panels require either drilling or the real steel holes on the gun (which are absent on the plastic reciever). I've also read that the reciever cover scope mounts do not work either as they are normally too short.

Appearance and Build

This is where the AK has its ups or downs, whichever way you want to see it. Some love how the AK looks, others say its butt ugly. As I recieved the AK black, I feel in love by the way I thought it looked so tactical. As time went on, the black paint started to flake off and cause me trouble so I took the liberty of removing the paint to its semi-origional finish. Because of the black paint, the AKs fake wood actually was made to look darker and more realistic.

The AK is rock solid. No doubt about it. No barrel wobble at all or anything of the sort. A few things I'd like to mention that would affect the nit-picky and the accurate shooter is this. The front sight of my gun was incredibly wobbly, but that can be fixed by tighting the screw and aligning the site properly and applying a little loc-tight. The pistol-grip section on the gun is a little creeky if you try and bend it as much as possible and shake it around like an idiot. Other than those few things I think the AK is one of the most solid AEGs I've used. One problem I should mention is that if you reload the gun upside down, beware of stray BBs in the magwell. If one happens to get itself lodged under the front mag catch during a game, you can consider yourself screwed, unless you use the built in unjamming rod (more on that later). So you should always reload with the gun facing upright and just waste those 4 few BBs.

The cleaning and unjamming rod on the gun is fake, but that doesn't mean you can't use it for anything. I remember playing around with it one day while a BB was stuck inside my magazine well, and I jammed the rod in there and the BB came out a lot easier. I found this useful in field situations when a BB just gets happened to jam there and you dont have a stylus or anything to pry it out with.

This being my first AEG I'm biased towards saying that this gun is awesome and everyone should get one, but I'm not going too. The size of this gun isn't for everyone, especially CQB players, and unless you want to be lugging around a 6.4 pound (2800g) gun all day, it's not for you. The stock accuracy, performance and ROF is good enough to take anywhere on Oahu, although for CQB I reccomend either a different gun or that you are skilled and experienced in external modifications.

Contact Information Staff Page Entry E-Mail: Five7@APOH.tk AIM: FunboyHI *As a side note I'd like to mention that the Red and White trademarks on my gun were colored in with Crayons and are not colored in on a stock gun. The fake wood present on the guns have also been slightly modified so they may not be representative of the actual fake wood. The sling in some of the pictures is also an aftermarket part and is not included in the actual product.