ICS AK74 Review request
 

:!: I have had my eye on the G&G RK104 and the CA AK74 but now that the more affordable ICS AK74 has been released (or close to release) I am thinking of buying it (the ICS one). If anyone could post a review of the ICS AK74 in comparison to the other two, I would be incredibly grateful. Thanks in advance and I appreciate the help. :infantry:

There is a detailed one in the works by me. Should be completed with pics this week. But I'll save you some suspense and tell you buy the ICS one. It's the best of the bunch so far.

A Review by Solomon From Arnie's, and Red Alliance.


Greetz,

This is the gun i have been waiting for, for a loooong time, mainly due to ICS messing about with gearboxes (more on that later) but at last, i have the precious, AK74M assault rifle. Much debate has sprouted about the trueness of this gun over the past months, and many bent to pressure and bought a Classic Army SLR105a1 instead, with its very sexy, 'Made in Las Vegas' Arsenal Trademarks. The ICS AK74M is Full licenced with the Kalashnikov trades

http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/2572/trades4wd.jpg

'm not going to bore you with it's history, as noboody reads these bits anyhow. The AK74m is in use at the moment in the Russian army, it is a fully modernised version of the AKM, which in turn is a moderised version of the original AK47

Okays, on with the review!

First impressions:

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/9033/akbox9ku.jpg

Opon seeing the box, i was wetting my self with anticipation, in the middle of this, i happened to notice some little boxes on the box, which say:

http://img113.imageshack.us/img113/2383/omg1zl.jpg

As you can see from the pictures, it is obvious that ICS intend to release more varients, lets just hope that the AKS74, is a side folder!

Moving on, opening the box, i am greeted with much sex! And a speedloader containing 1000 bbs, a cleaning rod, two mags, site adjustment tool, barrel plug and instruction leaflet. The whole gun seems far better packaged than the other iCS guns.

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/7711/sglory0bd.jpg

I must confess that my first impression was: ZOMG!

The Gun:

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6440/ak74m20ix.jpg


Picking up the gun, i was quite suprised at the weight, 3.5kg! It is nicely distributed Not too heavy at either end. The finish is supurb! I cannot tell it from the real thing! Slotting the mag in, there is a little click, and absolutely no wobble to be seen, or creaks to be heard, anywhere.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/1431/ak74m15qz.jpg

To Adjust the hopup you must pull the bolt back, and it goes back, all the way, unlike the Classic Army version ^_^ The Hopup is extremely easy to use, and is adjusted by pushing the slider back or forth. The bolt makes a very satisfying sound when racked

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/6...ghtside5qe.jpg
http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/549/hopup9zb.jpg


Everything on this gun strips like the real thing, the handguards come off by pushing the dissembly latch and pulling them off, and the dust cover comes off very easily to expose the full bolt, which you take out (simply) to get to the gearbox, which i presume, by looking at the manual, is very easily done.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/7007/frontend7qu.jpg

On the left hand side of the gun, there is a sight mount, which on every other AK model on the market at the moment, isn't present, an you would have to buy one, and drill into the body to fit it, to be able to mount any sort of scope or sight. THis, in my books, is a biiiiiiig plus.

http://img128.imageshack.us/img128/2...ftside20hy.jpg

The flashider, can be taken off very simply, to reveal a 14mm thread, of which direction, i don't know.

http://img129.imageshack.us/img129/6433/thread9ml.jpg

Many people have critised the handgrip, saying it is too big; i find it to be extremely comfortable, and the right size for my hands (for the record, i have 'normal' sized hands) Another point of complaint was the stock, in the flesh it is fine, looks good too ^_^

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6030/stock9zu.jpg

The battery is still charging at the moment, but when it finishes i will do a breif technical overview.

Overall, i am very impressed with this gun, if it fires as good as it looks, we have a surefire winner! The only cons, being the 'big' pistol grip, and the cleaning rod rattle about a bit, but, nothing a bit of 'leccy tape can't fix!

I am in love with this gun, and i hope you enjoyed reading my review Very Happy




Firing!:

After the battery had now fully charged, i could take her out for a nice bit of target practice in the garden : D

My first impression when i shot, was: Christ, this is loud! It has a very distinctive sound, very loud and intimidating; like no other AEG i've used : D

The RoF is decent, had no trouble emptying the 550 round hicap : )Though i will be getting rid of these for some mids : )

It is very accurate; the bbs seems to go, wherever you want them to go Smile Though, the sights don't seems to be quite dead on...But that could just be because of the wind outside : )

The range this has is moderate, i'd say around the same as most guns of this price, like an ICS m4 for example. I must say, i will be upgrading it to bang on 330, even with the hop full up, it seems to drop quite quickly, but i suppose i have been spoilt by the long range advantage of my APS2 which is firing at about 400fps

I shot at one of the little (4x6") TM targets that came with my MP7, at 10m, it was quite windy:

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/3545/target9aw.jpg

Then again, at 20m, still fairly windy, starting to rain : ( :

http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/1671/target22qk.jpg

The grouping is very satisfactory : D


In conclusion i can say that this is 100% worth the money i paid for it, it looks stunning, and doesn't shoot half bad either : D

I am in love with mine : )



VIDEOof solomon shooitng his ICS Ak74M
Click here

Wow, thank you for such a prompt reply. So far I've almost completely narrowed it down to the G&G 104 and the ICS 74. I can't really decide because I want the extra power of the G&G and the nice asthetics. But I also like the affordability of the ICS. Anyway how hard does the ICS shoot (FPS) consistently. Also how far does the bolt pull back and does it feel balanced. Is there any authentic or replica scope mounts for the ICS that fit.

Here is a review by Gish who is also on ASC, on the Ak104 (i didn't copy it cuss i haven't gotten permission yet.)

http://www.red-alliance.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2719

The bolt goes all the way back, which is pretty awesome.
The ICS has a scope mount on the left side of the body, and is used for mounting Russian scopes, i have also seen some rails that mount onto the mount

If your going for a Russian theme then a Ak74M might be better because its widely used in the Russian army and interior forces of Russia.(im pretty sure : D)

I'm going for a Private contractor look and the Ak74M just seems to fit with my loadout. Can you get the AK goove with this (the wearing of paint along the selector switches path). So does anyone know the FPS that the ICS consistantly shoots at. Also has anyone skirmished with this, did it work well, and did it jam frequently?

I can tell you it's consistant at about 315-320 fps with .2g bb. It has the best mag fit of any AK on the market now and will feed fine from Star, C.A. and Marui mags.

i heard that the receiver cover was the same size as the real steel ones. is that true?

Can anyone get me some glamor shots of the the ICS (and the RK104, SLR105) if you have any. I want to have some visual comparisons to look at. Anyway thanks everybody for the help with the other stuff above ^^^

No one has any photos.... If anyone has a pair of these (a ICS AK74M and a RK104) could you do a side by side comparison. Also which of the three do you think could take the most punishment. :salute:

You're in Florida, go down to a retailer and hold up the three of them - they may even let you shoot 'em.

The threading is 14mm-.

Probably not. Airsoft dust cover is longer and wider. It would require modding of the receiver and mechbox in order to fit R/S dust cover.

What about rusting? Another review (I think for the CA version) had mentioned that some parts were rusting.