CYMA CM028 Ak47 Review

     This is my in-depth review of the CYMA CM028 airsoft AEG.  It's low price tag and high performance make it one of the most popular and successful airsoft AEG's on the market.

Different lighting

     I bought my CM028 off of Airsoft GI on sale for only $90 with free shipping.  For a metal AEG that is an awesome deal.  http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?products_id=1484

     Airsoft GI did a good job, the item took about a week and a half total to ship, but the contents were good.  They included a sponsored T-shirt and a slip certifying that it was tested.  More on Airsoft retailers on the links page on the tabs bar.

     My first thought when I picked it up was, "not bad!"  This is a very heavy and realistic Airsoft gun on first feeling it, and it's rather impressive.  It's around seven pounds and a bit front heavy.  I would like be able to remove a little of the weight from the front to make it less front heavy and heavy overall, but I'm not going to take it apart.  The weight makes it realistic feeling but less practical.  However, it is a very good tradeoff since the real Ak weighs about 3.5 lbs more, which would be over the top heavy for an Airsoft gun and not worth the realism factor.

      Most of the exterior is good plastic, but a fair amount is metal too.  All parts that look like wood are plastic and the lower receiver is plastic.  All the small parts like the trigger, sights and the selector switch are metal, but the mag, barrel, bolt, and upper receiver are all metal as well.

     The selector switch locks well on automatic (middle) and (bottom) and locks alright on safety.  It does leave a mark from where it moves, but all Ak's do that.

The fake wood is decent

     The upper receiver is a bit of an oddity.  It is full metal, which is definitely nice, but also wobbles a bit.  You take it out by pushing a black button on the back of the gun and pulling up on the receiver.  I fixed the wobble with a few layers of duct tape on the front edge of the upper receiver.  If done right, the tape measures under 1/4" deep,  about 1" wide, and only 1/16" tall and is barely noticeable but removes the wobble with hardly any work.

     The mag is actually very nice.  It is full metal but my favorite part is how solidly it clicks into the receiver.  There is no wobble whatsoever.  I also prefer the mag release behind the catch to the M4 style on the side, which is a plus.  I tried to do a Call of Duty MW2 FAL style reload where you use one mag to depress the mag release and your fingers to flick out the existing mag and it does in fact work.  Not something I would do in a battle by any means, but neat nonetheless.

     The bolt is full metal and fun to mess around with as well.  It slides smoothly and makes a decent clink when you let go.  If the piece it hit were metal as well it would probably sound a lot better though.  Pulling it back reveals the hop up unit, pulling back on a little bar increases hop, pushing away decreases the hop up.

     One thing I truly didn't know what to expect from were the sights.  They were actually better than I had expected.  For fast acquisition they work great, just point and the sights line up.  For more precise aiming, they work okay but that's not really what Ak47's are made for.

     The rear sight can be adjusted for elevation, but I think that is more for realism than for practicality.  The front sight comes with a key to adjust for elevation as well.  Between both of those and hop up, it is almost too many choices and variables for adjusting sights for distance.

     I found that I actually liked the far eye relief sights a lot.  Instead of the rear sight having the "ghost ring" effect where it basically disappears, both stay in focus when aiming, and it's pretty nice.

     It is quite comfortable overall.  I like vertical grips a lot better than level foregrips and the way the Ak47's handguard is shaped gives it a more sloped shape that allows it to be both vertical and horizontal, depending on the way you hold it.  If it were a little less front heavy it would feel just about perfect.

     Just as an interesting comparison I compared the CM028 with the Saturator Ak47 water blaster.  Here are some numbers to put things into perspective:

• 350 fps
• 30 - 40 fps
• 7 lbs
• 2 lbs
• 600 shot capacity
• 100 - 200 shot capacity
• 12 rps
• 4 rps
• 200 ft range
• 25 ft range
• 3 ft long
• 1 ft long
• $100
• $20

     Overall the CYMA CM028 is very solidly built and of excellent quality for the price, at least the exterior.



Part 2
Performance

     Power
When it arrived, it came with a slip from Airsoft GI stating the FPS as they chrono'd it.  It said 380.  However, it being such a round number as well as the advertised FPS, I'm not so sure they really did test it.  Either way, I don't have a chronograph of my own to test, so I'll take their word.

     Here are the can test results:
From 10 feet
     Side:   Easily punctures one side, dents other
     Top:   Dents
     Bottom:   Heavy dents
From 50 feet
     Side:   Sometimes punctures one side
     Top:   Light dents
     Bottom:   Dents

Given those results, I'm going to estimate a more conservative 350-360 FPS.


     RoF
The RoF is not bad at all.  It isn't the fastest by any means, but is more than enough and not disappointing.  It comes with an 8.4V battery rather than a 9.6 but it isn't needed in this case and I would rather not push internals, as it is still on the lower end of AEG's.

     Accuracy
For me, this was the real part of the test.  I knew how the RoF and FPS would be before I even got it since those are so advertised, but I really wanted to know how the accuracy is.  At ranges under 15 feet hitting a can is pitifully easy, sights are unnecessary.  I hit it very consistently even firing from the hip, but that can be said for pretty much all AEG's.  At longer distances, the accuracy proves surprisingly good.  Being an Ak47, it has a 17" barrel, which, while not sniper length, is more than average and seems to do the trick.
     At 30 feet I could still hit cans easily every time with sights and it wasn't hard even without.
     At 50 feet, hitting cans was noticeably more difficult, but could be managed just about every time with careful aim.
     At 75 feet hitting cans is a bit difficult because wind takes more effect, and hop up begins to fight against gravity to keep the BB traveling straight.  Hitting a 12" circle is easy, hitting people would also not be a challenge.
     At 100 feet, the trajectory of the BB is still unusually straight, both horizontally and vertically.  Environmental factors will make a large difference but hitting people is still no problem.

     Here are the results taken from 50 feet away on a 7 1/2" square target with light wind.  15 out of the 19 shots fit in a 3" grouping!  That's pretty impressive for a $100 China AK47 clone.  The grouping was a little up and to the side, but there are negative factors like wind and human error that are hard to take out of the equation.  Overall accuracy really surprised me.  It shoots extremely straight and the hop up is great for out of the box.  I got a whole lot more than I expected.

     CYMA has a really bad reputation with a lot of veteran Airsofters.  I was rather worried to get one after reading some of the reviews and comments about CYMA.  However, my experience after actually getting one completely proved them wrong.  The internals might not last as long as say, a KWA or G&G, but I'm willing to forgo that since I'll be paying about a third the cost and not really competing anyway.  The externals are very good overall and fantastic for an AEG of this price, and it makes a perfect first AEG, or even one for a more experienced Airsofter looking for one that won't break the bank.

The Bottom Line

Pros:

     FPS - 350
     Decent externals
     Very reliable
     Low price for an AEG
     Fairly accurate
     Comes with battery (and charger)
     Heavy / good feel

Cons:

     Minor creaks and wobbles
     It's an AK, so bad sights and no rails
     Isn't free

Summary:  This is literally the perfect first AEG.  It's cheaper than most by around $50 and is all around good.  It isn't knockout amazing but it'll do the job well.

Overall Score: *****

AR&M Performance/Value Score:

1.617


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