A&K M1 Garand

[joker23]

Hey everyone,

Been awhile since my last post. I hope everyone is doing well. Just a piece of information for y'all on evike's new arrival there is a pre-order for a A&K M1 Garand.

Features:

Full size replica of the trusted M1 Garand battle rfile
Beautifully stained real wood furniture
Metal receiver and barrel assembly
Adjustable rear sight
Front and rear sling rings
Stacking swivel
Adjustable hop up
Functioning trigger guard safety
Drop free magazine feeds from the bottom of the rifle
Low profile magazine release on the left side of the receiver maintains traditional M1 styling
Version 7 gearbox
Length: 1120mm
Weight: 8.25lbs
Inner Barrel: ~445mm
Magazine Capacity: 20 round A&K M1 Garand magazines
Muzzle Velocity: ~400 FPS (Measured with 0.20g BBs)
Thread Direction: N/A
Gearbox: Ver 7br> Motor: Short Type
Fire Modes: Semi-Auto, Safety
Battery: 9.6v Small Type recommended (Battery not included. Wired to stock with Small Tamiya connector)
Hopup: Yes, Adjustable
Package Includes: Gun, Magazine, Manual

Manufacturer: A&K

Basic description listed on evike. Has anyone heard anything about it? From the pictures it looks promising. Going for $299.00 real wood full metal. 

-Joker23 
 

[stuka]

the link, looks a bit off but hey, for 300$ that is a great move for the hobby

www.evike.com/products/67808/

[2nd Bat]

Looks like a GnG clone with a one 3rd lower price. Definitely something to follow closely. Sadly this is often what happens a company (like GnG or ICS) spends the extensive development cost to provide a new, unique product and then another company reverse engineers it (saving all the R&D) and are able to sell it at a way lower price. And we wonder why companies are reluctant to come out with something new that we all want or need!

Given that it offers a 20 round clip and looking at the pictures it sure seems to be a GnG clone. That would be a real pitty for GnG although as mentioned a real boost for our hobby. Hopefully at 20 rounds clips will be available and affordable!

[stuka]

Well to be fair, the stock looks off but given that it supposedly uses V7 parts, then we won't have to worry about proprietary shenanigans if something breaks.

[wwiiguy]

This is great!! I personally dont like the handgrip. However we finally have a inexpensive m1 Garand! This will get more people in the hobby and then companys will make more replicas!Like i said before i really dont like the handgrip and in my opinion the G&G is a million times better... However this looks to be in better porportions than the ICS.

[volkssturm]

Yes, it'll be interesting to see if they got the dimensions correct, instead of being oversized.

[2nd Bat]

I have spent an enormous amount of time around all things M1 Garand. It is only after the mention about the handgrip area that I went back to take a closer look. Indeed the exaggerated shape is a bit distracting but not so pronounced that it would keep me from. Buying it.

[stuka]

It appears to be in stock but it looks like there are only 8 of them in stock at the time of this post. It is eligible for discounts (No MAP). Provided somebody didn't mess up and accidentally post it in stock ahead of time, this may be something to jump on rather quickly, well if you were wanting this anyways. As always, until reviews come out, don't expect first gen to be perfect

www.evike.com/products/67808

[Dracul]

Its really tempting, and was on the verge of buying one, but I already have three Garands... I hope its really good though, to make up for the faults of their 1903.

[volkssturm]

OK, I'll probably kick myself tomorrow, but I went ahead and ordered one. We'll see what we see....

[2nd Bat]

Let us in on a full review once you've got it in your hot little hands. I nearly jumped on it. My hesitation as with the GnG is the 20 round magazine. I'm fine with the capacity (even like it actually) but availability and cost are a concern. Perhaps A&K will offer them at a more reasonable price than GnG. The ICS comes with two which hold more rounds to begin with (32 rounds)and from time to time they come up at low cost offers. $300.00 for a real wood semi auto AEG M1 Garand is the fullfilment of a decades plus dream of mine. I am hopeful that the stock infidelities are less apparent in person than they appear in the pictures?

If you have an actual M1 Garand a side by side picture would be awesome!

[Dracul]

We should all thanks Volkssturm for potentially taking one for the team.

[volkssturm]

It showed up today. That was fast. My first impressions are generally favorable. It's very close dimensionally, about an inch too long, but otherwise good. The sling swivels are the right size. It has a unique magazine. The magazine actually come close to fitting in the pockets on the cartridge belt. A little too long for the flap to button. There's a small lever on the left side for semi and auto, though what good full auto is with a 30 round mag is an open question. The mag holds 32 bb's total. The fit of the magazine is poor and on this one there seems to be a problem with the magazine latch not catching. Might be fixable.

imgur.com/kwEjJ4N

imgur.com/QApfjPx

imgur.com/6ZaXetS

imgur.com/IRV9rot

imgur.com/P1cJ1nJ

[volkssturm]

The stock is a nice shade of brown rather than that reddish color the Chinese seem to like. It's reasonably well finished, as is the metal. I'm curious to see the inside, but it doesn't disassemble like an M14. The trigger guard swings, but doesn't seem to do any thing. The only manual that came with it is a generic airsoft manual with nothing about the M1. I imagine someone will post a YouTube video sooner or later. For the moment I don't want to force anything. I haven't shot it yet, since I need to charge a battery. It takes the small type.

[2nd Bat]

Wow! That was fast! Posting your comments so quickly is likewise much appreciated. The magazines look cheap which is a good thing if indeed they are. Offering both semi and full auto is strange although with 32 rounds (probably feeds 28 or so). If you did three rounds bursts occasionally firing four you'd get eight bursts between reloads. Some players need multiple hits to register in their heads that they were hit so...maybe offering full auto is a good thing? That is of course if spare mags are available at reasonable cost. In side by side with your actual Garand the disparity in length appears to be in the length of the butt stock which is more M14 like than Garand. It looks pretty darn good overall to me.
Anxious to hear how it shoots, how easily it loads and reloads, hop up, accuracy and any other thoughts you care to share. I have an A&K M60 and have been quite pleased with it.

Thanks Volks for getting the word out on this so quickly! Looks like another great new choice for GIs and one more reason to see less Thompsons on the field. I'm curious, where is the feed hole with regard to the clip? Front? Center? Rear? I couldn't see the load port as I looked down the exposed mag well. It's clearly a different set up than either the ICS or the GnG which is fascinating.

[shiftysgarand]

The full auto is certainly an interesting choice. I would bet it is at least partly to be able to easily clear a jam (if the trigger doesn't reset completely on semi, a quick switch to auto could clear it without disassembly.)
I think the feed port is on the front of the mag. I saw a picture on a Japanese website showing spare magazines available.
If I can find an excuse to buy this gun, I probably will.

[volkssturm]

The feed port is on the front of the magazine. It's hidden under the wood. The hop up is a collar type, exposed by pulling the bolt back.

I apparently won't be testfiring this until I buy a new battery. My last two seem to have died from boredom. It didn't come with either a battery or chargers. Just a speed loader, small screw driver and some allen wrenches.

[2nd Bat]

I recently discovered that a huge batch of my batteries died of old age which was enormously disappointing! Jeremy do you by chance have a link to the site offering the spare mags? Any idea on the cost in US dollars? Spare magazines (cost and availability) is a serious consideration when deciding if and when to buy this gun. Good point shifty on the ability to do a quick reset. One of the reason some people asked me to leave the selector switch on some of my M14 conversions.

Volks keep us posted once you're able to acquire and charge a battery. Delighted to hear the mag holds 32 rounds vs 20. 30 rounds frankly sounds ideal and is the same as the ICS 6mm although it says 42.

[volkssturm]

An update: It chronos from 388 - 396 with .20's. Can't complain about that. The first mag was hit or miss as far as feeding. After that it seemed to loosen up and the next couple mags ran fine. I was actually able to get 34 bb's into the mag. The only issue at this point is the mag catch not holding. The mag catch is worked by pressing the clip release button on the side of the receiver. You can see that it's almost flush, which suggests it's not closing all the way. A little silicon oil might fix it or it might loosen up on its own with use. We'll see. One of these days I'll take it apart. Now all we need is spare mags.

[2nd Bat]

Great news on the performance. For rifles a vicinity somewhere around 400 fps for .20 gram seems to be a great balance of power and reasonable safety. The reduced percentage of full auto weapons and smaller mag loads in my opinions allow us to shoot more powerful FPSs than I like to see at the "spray and pray". BB fests most airsoft events turn into. Hopefully the mag catch challenge takes care of itself or is fixable? What exactly is it doing? (Failing to hold the mag in place?, Requiring you to hold it in? Not releasing easily? ).

Let's hope spare mags quickly become available and aren't rediculously costly. 32 rounds sounds fabulous. I felt that 20 rounds is too restrictive although if every player in your event has similar capacity (and lots of spare magazines) it can actually be pretty cool.

Certainly makes the crew served machine gun more significant!

[volkssturm]

The mag will shake loose and drop out. When I get enough nerve I'll start trying to figure out how to disassemble it.

[shiftysgarand]

How does it do in terms of accuracy and range?

[stuka]

In case you missed it in the deal poster thread, the a&k garand is down to 224 for preorders/restock whatever it is called. Even if it falls apart, for 224 you got a base rifle and can use V7 parts, that isn't bad at all

[2nd Bat]

Volks any opportunity as yet to shoot it at range? Try other weight BBs perhaps? Sometimes long barrel rifles shoot quite differently than you expect them to. I am also convinced that every airsoft gun has a "right" weight of BBs that they work best with. For example my ICS Garand seems made for .28s.

I am also anxious to hear of any efforts you might have had firming up the mag? This price is a dream come true if the gun is even decent which it sounds very much like it is.

[brownien]

Generally it seems to me that the "right weight" pertains less to the gun itself and more to the type of barrel and hopup setup in use.
I've had guns that brand new, shot crappy with .25's and were better with .20's (marginally), but with a good quality hopup setup (I use flat hops) and a tightbore barrel (some factory barrels are indeed "tightbore" but being brass, the tolerances are less precise) the guns run beautifully with .25's which are my universal weight for all my guns

[2nd Bat]

For most AEGs .25s are overall the best weight. It's not coincidence that Marui always shipped their guns with .25s. As players became more obsessed with FPS gun manufacturers discovered that .20 BBs produced a noticeably higher FPS at the muzzle and this gave them an advertising and marketing advantage. Pretty soon .20 became pretty much the standard for all but the cheap cheap guns which use .12 gram. In reality most AEGs will have a reduced FPS when they fire heavier BBs but interestingly within 20 feet of the muzzle the lighter BBs will have lost inertia and will be travelling slower at 35 feet. The result is the .25s will typically fly farther and with greater accuracy. There is however a diminishing return on this. Figuring out the best balance point in BB weight for each gun requires a lot of experimentation at long range and hop up, barrel size and length as well as the power generated all factor in. I find with a longer fitted barrel generating power around 400 fps w/ .20 grams a .28 BB is consistently best for range and accuracy. A .25 is absolutely better in this regard than a .20. I have guns whose unmodified hop ups simply can't accommodate BBs heavier than a .20.

.23s which are around are sometimes a nice compromise. I have a friend who for years has always used .23s. When I get this A&K Garand I will try assorted weights as I did with the ICS.

[volkssturm]

Nope. Haven't had a chance to get out where I can shoot it in the open at range (they're real touchy about airsoft guns around here).\

That sale price is fantastic.

[2nd Bat]

Indeed,. Real wood, low production numbers, skirmishability. I never imagined such a thing would ever come into the marketplace under $350.00 let alone $250.00. S&T is obviously serious about supporting our hobby. Let's hope this does extremely well so they will continue to fill voids in our needs at affordable prices.

Keep us posted Volks. Sounds like you lucked out to get one of the first. With Evike I find their pre order delivery times are usually way off with guns arriving months after their posted expectations. The price however is sure appealing!

Since I have five AEG Garands in my rifle rack now there really isn't any hurry. Maybe someone will have spare mags by the time they hit! So glad we got an advanced report on this rifle from one of our own. Thanks Volks. You have an ICS as well don't you?

[volkssturm]

I sold the ICS. I didn't like the oversized appearance. I've got an M14 conversion and another one partially done.

[2nd Bat]

Are you going to be okay with the visual infidelities of this A&K do you think? I did quite a lot of cosmetic tweaking on my ICS and as long as it is away from real Garands or even my M14 conversions Im okay with the look.

I think the GnG is the best of the three (visually) but like that this is a pure version 7, has full auto to unfreeze and a somewhat higher capacity magazine. The price point of course is so good as well. If it proves reliable it's going to be a real winner.