Real Sword Type 56

Real Sword Type 56-1 contest entry
I have been keeping my eye on Real Sword products for a while now. They
seem to make amazingly realistic AEG's but sometimes the price seemed too
steep to try out.
Well Christmas came and I couldn't resist buying myself something airsoft
related, and like a sign from god, Airsoftatlanta had a sale on Real Sword
AEG's (they still do i think)
So for $299 shipped I couldn't pass it up. So I ordered a Type 56-1 AEG. It is
a Chinese version of the AK with underfolding stock.
Airsoftatlanta.com took care of my order flawlessly as usual and had this thing
at my door in 2 days ground shipped. OUTSTANDING.
Initial Impressions
Real Sword does a good job boxing up the Aeg. They padded everything up
Similar to how Star boxes up their AEGs.
They really padded the stock well which is the main part that could possibly be
scratched up in transit.
There was a small Foam pad here, but I replaced it with a small piece of 4oz
leather to provide better protection and look more realistic.
Leather clamped and glued.
They even wrapped the magazine in oil/wax paper like a genuine real steel
peice. Pretty funny.
I was impressed with the colorful takedown guide. A quick glance will allow
you to disassemble this AEG with ease and everything you need to accomplish
the task is pretty much included.
The gun is supposed to come with a steel flash mock suppressor and a
14mm/cc adapter.
But airsoftatlanta only included a plastic blaze orange one!
Externals
Other than that, the asthetics speak for themselves. The gun is all steel, wood
as promised. As rock solid as a real AK this thing is the AK PTW until Systema
says otherwise. There is nothing else on the market that compares to this
thing. Externally it is in it's own class.(I say this while owning a VFC UN DX and
RMW RPK)
The magazine is very heavy guage stamped steel as well. I read some reviews
of the mag fitting loose, but this wasnt the case with mine. Specs are just spot
on there isn't anything to complain about.
As far as mag compatability, My VFC mags fit no problem. I ordered MAG
brand ak74 mags along with a set of King Arms Metal ak47 mags. I will let
everyone know which worked or not or what mods needs to be done to make
them work.
The folding stock is a little wobbly when folded, but then again, so is the real
deal type 56 folding stock.
STock Performance
I read all reviews on this gun available before purchase. Here is what i was
worried about.
-
Stock accuracy
Stock range
stock bucking
stock barrel
propietary parts
Velocity drop with hop up on
I also read that the velocity was at 300 fps or so. Living in Japan, this was
perfect for me since I can't exceed 328 fps anyways.
This was especially good for me since I hand carried the gun into this country.
Imagine my suprise when i chronoed this thing at 430fps!
I was using SIIS .2g bb's for all chrono tests.
Apparently they upped the spring power to an M120. They added a sticker to
their manual to indicate the change but not even Airsoft atlanta knew this yet.
I cranked the hop up to full and retested the chrono and as promised there
was a 100 fps drop! (more on this later...)
ROF stock was as expected 13-14 RPS with an Elite 8.4v 1500Mah battery.
Range and accuracy is unknown. I would have to guess that it would be
horrible due to the hop bucking which i will get to very soon.
Internals!
Ok my favorite part! Whats inside this beast. Does it measure up to it's
unrivaled externals?
Top cover removed reveals very carefully well protected wire. Automotive
spade fuse. and a foam padded gearbox to reduce noise and vibration. not a
bad touch.
Disassembly is similar to Inokatsu/LCT/RMW
The front barrel assembly is held on by two set screws that fit into a slot on
the outer barrel.
So after removing the front handguards(exactly as you would a real AK)
you need to remove the rear sight to access the screws. You can do so with the
included tool.
The disassembly was simple as I mentioned and is very well illustrated so i
won't go too into it, but there was one tricky thing that i feel the need to
mention.
typical allen keys will not fit into the second set screw's cramped area so i
chopped down this one to allow room to get to it.
Here is the barrel removed with hop up unit.
The barrel is top quality with a nice smooth inner bore and a nicely cut target
crown.
The problem is the Hop up Bucking!!!! It seems as though they glue it or melt
it to the barrel as you are required to literally "skin" the thing off.
It is fused to the barrel somehow.
Clearly they did this to save the factory workers a headache of finessing the
bucking and barrel into the hop unit.
But the result is bad accuracy and huge fps drops. A $5.99 Systema bucking
will solve this in no time though.
I also installed a SYstema barrel, but looking at the stock barrel's quality I can
tell that this wasn't needed, but i already bought it so I installed it.
Here is the stock barrel next to the Systema. Notice the blackened end of the
barrel where the hop bucking was melted to it.
Here is a shot of the padded gearbox housing.
the gear box is a work of art. 7mm ball bearings, No swirl marks, flash, or gaps
between the two halves. It is the best i have seen save KWA.
Here is the gearbox decompression lever. I wouldn't use it with the M120
spring installed. I needed pliers to activate it and i cracked a tooth off of the
bevel gear doing so.
Cracked open, first thing i noticed was the Brass sector gear feeding chip and
very nice set of gears.
The gold spring is too hot for my current location so it was replaced with a
more japan worthy sp90 guarder spring.
The piston head resembles a systema duracon and has ball bearings.
Piston resembles a prometheus hard piston design. Two metal teeth so you
can lop another sector gear tooth off without any issues. side reinforced strip
of teeth and only $11.99 for replacements. Count me in.
Gears are well made. They measure up to industry standards. The sector gear
is missing one tooth more than a normal sector gear. The bevel gear
resembles the Type 89 bevel with 10 latch catches.( i had to put a marui one
in there since i ruined it though)
each gear is 13.99 to replace. Again, count me in.
Standard non ported cylinder with a decent polish.
Polycarb spring guide with metal base. Not the best, but not the worst.
Standard Cylinder head in polycarb
Nozzle
The nozzle is o-ringed. It is about 1.5mm longer and slightly longer diameter
that guarder or prometheus. I reccomend NOT changing it out. It is great
quality and works great anyway.
Motor. about on par with an EG1000 or G&P M120
The internals are great save the hop up bucking this gun is ready to skirmish.
Pros
Simple Take down
Best Ak externals period
True to life AK dimensions allow Real Steel compatability
Cheap replacement parts!
Great takedown guide included
Strong gearbox and gearbox components
Cons
- Hop up needs replaced
- Some mag compatibility issues.
- Propietary piston and Tappet
Overview
This Gun was everything I expected and more. The externals are best in
class. The price was very reasonable. about $30 more than any of the
potmetal offerings from G&G, CA, Marui, etc etc. Not that those are bad guns,
but for the money they don't even come close to the Realsword.
Since this review i have installed...
- Simple Mosfet
- Sp90 spring
- TPE cylinder head pad
- Deans plug + 16AWG wire
- Systema bucking
- Systema barrel
- G&P leather AK sling
with the gun shooting at 330 fps i can hit a 2 foot tree at 150 feet 9/10 times
with ease.
This gun is pheonominal. and worth the few extra bux over other brands
without a doubt.
If you are an AK fanatic you need to sell off your collection and buy one ASAp.
*Update*
Mag compatability.
I think the reason that there seems to be some mag incompatability is this
piece here on the trigger guard. It is a spacer that is pinned in place. It seems
to be thicker on other AEGs than on the real sword(left)
The King arms metal AEG mags and the MAG brand AK74 mags came today,
however, They do not fit.
BUT they can be made to fit. Just file down this piece a little....
Comparison of a stock King arms and a modded one.