New AK Decision????
 

Trying to decide on two different routes and between two different brands. Do i buy a cheaper brand AK such as a CYMA and upgrade to a higher quality gearbox with motor? Or.....Do I go straight for a higher quality AK such as a E&L full steel with very minimal upgrading?

Please help make my decision :)

Get the one with the best externals you want as you'll be able to upgrade the internals but you're pretty much stuck with the externals.

+1

lct

+1 Red Dot.
I'd recommend going E&L. After handling that thing, I fell in love. Upgrade internals later.

Doesn't matter what aeg you buy, you ALWAYS need to upgrade the internals -_-
even realswords and ptw's need hop upgrades

Always start with a good base. If you start with a CYMA, no matter how much internal work you do it will still be in a CYMA body. What's the point in building a gun if its going to be half assed? You will be stuck in a world of mediocrity.

Cheees guys i appreciate the feedback :)

The cyma hate hate hate! Lol. I have a cyma ak that most people mistake for something better. I also recall its mediocrity killing you a few times at finch's;).
You have just worked on too many shit boxes at TA lol.

I disagree, these days most high end brands you can run them for years without anything other than a spring change for a velocity adjustment.

There are still a lot of players who will blow $300 on internals for a brand new gun, when they are really pissing money down the drain.

Just my opinion though. Mileage may vary, like the new G&Gs where they are an abortion internally.

I've never seen a new gun that didn't get a substantial performance increase from installing a new hop rubber and fixing up/regreasing the compression components.

Most new guns will last more than a season stock, but they all benefit from regreasing, and many of them have compression leaks.
You absolutely don't have to throw $500 worth of prometheus parts into them, but a $10 metal cylinder head, $10 air nozzle, and a $13 hop rubber can make a big difference.

Get the one that's not an AK....

I have 7-8 year old CA SLR105 steel/wood version and 5-6 year old VFC AKS74U DX (V2). I did open SLR couple of times just for checkups after it would get flooded with water or mud but I don't remember replacing anything over the years and I never even opened VFC. SLR had more abuse than all my guns put together, it's beat up to shit and looks like a real AK because of all that snow/water/mud it's seen but both guns still fire and hit targets at expected ranges just fine. I don't suggest buying SLR though just because it has Arsenal trades and not the best wood furniture but back in the day that was the only option for a steel/wood AK. VFC has a very nice externals and like I said, gearbox on mine never caused a problem. LCT's are nice too. I know 2 guys who own LCT's and use them all the time. I only hear good things about reliability. My honest opinion. Read tons of reviews. Visit couple of stores, look at different models, find what you like. Find something that has nice externals/dependable internals and run it until something breaks. You are not looking for a bolt action. You are looking for an AEG that will probably be used as an assault rifle for the most part. If one bb misses your target, pull the trigger 5 more times :)

I personally went for the first option: I bought a CYMA, then did a shim job, changed compression parts and bucking and it shoots fantasticly. All this costs like 50$ and a couple of hours of work. However it is not as good looking externally as a LCT, far from it buy it is a very cheap way to get a AK that shoots fine.

It's all a matter of how much money you want to spend for the externals.

I was interpreting your initial response and changing the guts out completely - apologies.

LCT/E&L or if you can find one a VFC

GHK if you want a gbbr :P