Real Sword Type 56 Indepth Review by: James Bernatchez This is

Real Sword Type 56 Indepth Review
by: James Bernatchez
This is my entry into the Real Sword Review Contest. I can only hope people vote for
me if they honestly think I deserve to win. I have been looking forward to the
release of the Real Sword SVD for a while now and if it is anything like their Type 56,
I am sure everybody will be proud to own one. I look forward to hopefully doing a
review on the SVD when they are released.
Contents
1. Real Steel History
2. Overview of the Real Sword Type 56
3. Disassembling the Real Sword Type 56
4. Issues with the Real Sword Type 56
5. Performance
A. First Impressions
B. Skirmishing the Real Sword Type 56
6. Pro's and Con's
7. Ordering info
8. Final Verdict
I have had this weapon for a while and have used it countless times on the field. It
has seen mud, sand, rain, cold, and dirt. Yet it has come back for more. The only
differences between mine and a stock Real Sword Type 56 is that I installed a Tokyo
Marui AK air nozzle and a Prometheus 6.03mm tightbore barrel. Below you will find
my indepth review with an extensive amount of photos showing all of its features as
well as it taken all the way down to the mechbox.
1. Real Steel History (taken from Wikipedia)
"The Type 56 assault rifle is a Chinese copy of the Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle,
which has been manufactured since 1956. It was produced by state factory 66 from
1956-73, then by Norinco from 1973 onwards. Originally, the Type 56 was a direct
copy of the AK-47, and featured a milled receiver, but starting in the mid-1960s, the
guns were manufactured with stamped receivers much like the Soviet AKM. Visually,
most versions of the Type 56 are distinguished from the AK-47 and AKM by the
fully-enclosed hooded front sight (all other AK pattern rifles, including those made in
Russia, have a partially open front sight). Many versions also feature a folding
bayonet attached to the barrel just aft of the muzzle."
"The Type 56 is likely the most widely proliferated AK-47 type rifle in the world
having shown up on battlefields in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, South America, etc.
While exact production figures are not known, it is commonly estimated that as
many as 10-15 million Type 56 rifles have been produced since the 1950s which
means they may account for nearly one-fifth of the world's AK production."
"Type 56 – Basic variant introduced in 1956. Chinese copy of AK-47 with fixed
wooden stock and permanently attached spike bayonet. Beginning in the mid-1960s,
the guns were manufactured with stamped receivers, mimicking the improved (and
cheaper) Russian AKM, while the permanently attached bayonet became optional."
Weight
Type 56: 3.8 kg (8.38 lb)
Length
Type 56: 874 mm (34.4 in)
Barrel length
414 mm (16.3 in)
It is a gas operated rifle firing a 7.62mm x 39mm cartridge. There have been 10-15
million of these weapons built in the world. They fire at a rate of 600-650 rounds per
minute.
2. Overview of the Real Sword Type 56
As you can see in the first photo the gun comes in a nicely labeled box with a few
accessories. The box has some really nice foam holding the gun in place to protect
it during shipping. First class packing job all the way. First things first, the manual.
The manual is thick. It is written in three different languages, of course one of them
being English. It explains how to do everything, from getting the rifle ready to use
to basic maintence, you can find it in the manual. A nice surprise is a full color pull
out poster. On this poster it shows all the parts of the gun disassembled and clearly
labeled. On the bottom it goes through each of the steps in order to strip the gun all
the way down to the mechbox.
The included accessories are bb loading tube(not shown), orange flash hider(not
shown), steel flash hider, steel threaded flash hider(not shown, to be used with
silencers), oil can(empty, replicating the oil can the real steel version came with,
rear sight base assembling wrench, and the accessories box（inside is a screwdriver
and two tips for the cleaning rod）.
Upon pickin up the gun the first time you will find it is extremely solid! Nothing, and
I mean nothing on the outside of the gun is plastic. The only exception is the plastic
bayonet, which you can purchase an aluminum one for display. Even the included
mid cap magazine is metal.
Everything is screwed on tightly and fits together very well. There is absolutely no
play in anything on the gun. The magazine does wiggle from side to side when in the
gun, but it doesn't detract anything from the overall package. The fire selector
switch makes a satisfying click in each position so there is no need to worry about
accidentally switching from one to the other.
The wood kit on this gun is unbelievable! It is solid as a rock and looks wonderful!
Granted, you will see some marks on mine, but that is from months of use. Plus, it
adds to its worn used look. The receiver is steel and looks very close to the real steel!
On the left side of the receiver you will see a serial number on the gun. On my
particular model you can see that I have #398. Also in the second photo below you
will see the fuse under the receiver cover. Very easy to replace if needed.
Below, is the rear wood stock. This gun is unique because you can put a battery
either in the stock or above the receiver. Real Sword includes a jumper for whichever
plug you are not using. I needed to hollow out the stock a bit more in order to
comfortably fit a mini 8.4v battery pack in there.
Here is a nice shot of the reciever, receiever cover, fire select lever, cocking lever,
handgrip, and magazine. The color of the steel and word is perfect! The "L" position
on the fire selector is FULL AUTO, while the upper position is SAFE, and the lower "D"
is SEMI AUTO.
This side shot shows the front end assembly. This includes the outer barrel assembly,
front sight, plastic bayonet, as well as the upper and lower handguard. The bayonet
locks in place when it is closed or open. In order to open it you push the bayonet
towards the butt of the gun and swing it down and towards the front until it clicks in
place. To close it you do the opposite.
Here is a close up shot of the adjustable iron sight.
With the top receiver cover removed you can see the top of the mechbox as well as
the fuse, cocking lever set, and battery connector. This connector has the jumper
wire connected because I use the buttstock to house my battery.
The Real Sword mid cap magazine is a replica of a real steel thirty round magazine.
it holds about 140 bbs fully loaded. It is solid and very well built. The magazine
makes a very satisfying click when setting the magazine in the gun.
Something that didn't need to be done, but adds the over quality and level of
awesomeness is the fact that the cleaning rod is actually removable. You screw on
one of the two tips that come in the accessories box to either swap the barrel or
remove a jam. In my opinion that is above and beyond!
The handgrip is held on wit one screw via the bottom. By unscrewing this screw, the
grip slides off and exposes the motor and motorcage. A nice feature that is included
is a spring release lever. You can see it arrowed in the third photo below.
3. Disassembling the Type 56
The gun strips pretty simply and once you have done it once or twice it will be like
second nature to you.
First, remove the receiver cover and take out the cocking lever set.
Next, use your accessories case to push the lever up to free the upper handguard.
Use the rear sight wrench to push down as shown on the iron sight. This will allow
the iron sight and spring below to come out. It does require some force and I found
that this is actually the hardest step. The second shot shows the sight and spring
removed.
Above the lower handguard on the inside right you will see a lever. Flip that to the
front of the gun and slide the metal retaining piece forward. You can then pull the
lower handguard out and set it aside.
Now it is time to remove the inner and outer barrel assembly. First, remove the two
screws holding the hop up in place shown below.
Next usse a 3/32 Allen key to remove the two set screws that hold the outer barrel
in place. I am pointing at one and there is another one just forward of the one shown.
Doing this will allow you to slide the outer barrel assembly off as well as being able
to remove the inner barrel. NOTE: The stock inner barrel is brass. The inner barrel
shown is a Prometheus tightbore AK barrel.
To remove the stock you just need to unscrew this one screw on top to slide the
stock off.
You should be left with only the receiver and mechbox together.
To remove the mechbox you will need to remove the fire selector lever. The piece I
am pointing at needs to be unscrewed by hand. Once this is done, you just need to
pull the lever up and set it aside.
Now it is time to remove the mechbox from the receiver. It just takes a little bit of
wiggling while pushing it out of the top of the receiver. I find it easiest to tilt it
towards the back while removing it. Just help guide the wires out and your done!
Take note how the selector lever is positioned when assembled correctly. Look at the
otherside too before going futher.
Remove the lever and small metal piece under it towards the front of the gearbox.
Remove the two screws holding the motor cage in place. Once the screws are
removed, the cage can be pulled off and moved out of your way. Before opening the
gearbox make sure to release spring tension by hitting the spring release lever on
the backside of the gearbox. Now you can remove the small plastic clip behind the
trigger as well as the last 4 screws holding the gear box together. When you are
ready to pull the box apart put pressure on the cylinder so the spring doesn't go
flying. Release the spring from tension and you can now release the cylinder.
The inside of the gearbox looks very well built. The gears look strong and are
stamped with "RS" on each. The box is pretty well shimmed and all the gears are
lubed well.
To reinstall everything just follow the steps backwards and you should have no
trouble at all. It really is a dream to take apart.
4. Issues with the Real Sword Type 56
The day I received my Type 56 in the mail I promptly took it out to shoot it for the
first time. I was very excited for it to arrive and couldn't load it up fast enough. With
the battery loaded, hop up off, and a full magazine I went out to test it.
The first shot dropped due to having the hop up off. Adjusting it in small increments
I began to add hop and test fire the gun. With the hop up half way on it still was
dropping off way to quickly. I wasn't even getting 75 feet out of it. I tried adding
more but with too much hop it jammed. Ran back up stairs cleared the jam easilly
and tried again. Same thing. Now from reading that the hop up bucking was too
hard stock I swapped it out for a stock Classic Army bucking. Once doing this it
performed much better, with range closer to 140 feet. Semi auto shot flawlessly, but
full auto left something to be desired.
In full auto the Type 56 would misfire every now and again. I thought it was sort of
odd so I got to thinking. Long story short, I found the issue to be the air nozzle. it
was just a tad too long. In full auto it wasn't clearing the bb feed tube to allow
another round to chamber. Don't worry though, it is a very simple fix. I replaced the
stock Real Sword air nozzle with a stock nozzle from a Tokyo Marui AK-47. After
doing these two small changes the gun is perfect.
5. Performance
A. First Impressions
Once those two small issues above were resolved I proceeded to empty some mags
at trees 75, 100, and 140 feet away from me. I found accuracy to be spot on for a
rifle of this length. I added the tightbore barrel to futher enhance its capabilities on
the field. The gun consistantly chronos right around 300 FPS with a .2g BB. This is
with the new bucking and nozzle as well as the tightbore. I am assuming stock
would be a bit lower. The deviation wasn't bad. I would get 301, 305, 300, 301, 298,
394, 296, 301 on the chrono. It seems to be a very consistant gun.
B. Skirmishing the Real Sword Type 56
In Connecticut, we have a local hobby shop that has a 50 acre wooded field
(www.groundzeroairsoftusa.com) that we play each and every Sunday. I have
fielded this gun many times and always found it to be reliable and perform well.
Everybody that held and shot it couldn't believe how well it felt. It just feels right
shouldering it.
The real test of this gun came on a weekend in September of 2008. We had a two
day, non-stop Vietnam era game planned. The game started Saturday morning and
ended Sunday afternoon. We slept out in the woods, the whole time while fire fights
were going on. Seeing as I had my beautiful Type 56 I chose to be on the Viet Cong
side. We were vastly outnumbered, with the US Troops being 60 or more strong,
while we only had about 22 or so teammates. The weather was perfect too. Rainy
and cold all day everyday. I was sure this game would give me a good idea as to
weather I could rely on this weapon or not. During that game the weapon got
covered in rain, dust, dirt, mud, and more. It was pushed through underbrush and
banged into trees(of course not on purpose). Overnight surface rust started to form.
The only thing I did during those two days was to occasionally wipe it down with a
rag. Over two days of use and abuse the Real Sword Type 56 NEVER failed me in any
way, shape, or form. Despite being rusty, wet, and dirty the gun fired true each and
every time I pulled the trigger.
When I came home later that night I gave it a quick once over, wiped away the dirt
and sand, and gave it a wipedown with WD-40 on all the metal parts. To this very
day, the gun is still performing flawless.
6. Pro's and Con's
Pro's
Solidly built
Well shimmed and lubed gearbox
Great wiring job
Wood finish is excellent
Takedown is very easy
Excellent packaging and accessories
Manual/Adendium is one of the best i've seen
Con's
Stock Nozzle is too long
Stock Hop Up bucking is too hard
Inside of stock needs dremeling to fit 8.4v mini comfortably
7. Ordering Info
I ordered this gun from Airsoft Atlanta(www.airsoftatlanta.com). The price was right,
shipping was quick, and it came to me in excellent condition. Airsoft Atlanta is a
great place to do business with.
8. Final Verdict
What can I say: BUY IT! I have owned over 30 high end AEG's and I find the Real
Sword Type 56 to be one of my favorites. I was hesitant at first to try it out because
there wasn't much information on it that I could fine. Boy, am I glad I did. While it
needed two small upgraded parts out of the box, that was a small price to pay for the
quality of this rifle. I did this unbiased review to educate others about the Real
Sword Type 56. Weather I win the contest or not, I hope this review is helpful to
anybody considering purchasing this fine weapon. Even after owning it for five
months I still get all excited just picking it up and smelling the wood. It is a weapon
I am very proud to own and look forward to skirmishing with it for many years to
come.