so here's my first question.

first off thanks for the warm wellcome, definately appreciated. so I've been on the asc forums for around 8 months now and in that time I'm pretty sure I've read close to a hundred reviews and pretty much narrowed down my choice of aeg to either a kwa g36c or g&p m4 varient (there's a g&p m4 commando in the classified section on asc I've been twitching to pm the guy about) the only thing that stopping me from buying either is that --- I'd rather have a metal bodied aeg than one made of abs and since the real g36 isn't metal niether is the airsoft version, however I might be willing to trade the metal body of an m4( g&p or kwa) for the v3 mechbox of the g36. There are a few other advantages that swing me toward the kwa g36 mainly the large battery compartment in the foregrip(huge advantage in my mind cosidering I'm pretty much set on either a retractable or folding stock) thought mags are definately easier to find for the m4, so after all that ranting really the last thing thats on my mind is how does a v3 stack up against a renforced v2? from the dozens of reviews I've read kwa in general seem to build rock solid aeg's thought the reviews i read on g&p all said fairly good things as well so if a renforced v2 will hold up allmost as well as a v3 i might shoot the g&p guy an offer in the next couple days. anybody with a kwa /g&p lets hear ur 2 cents help me spend some hard earned money ha! cheers ya'll

Alright, since I am the proud owner of 2 KWA AEGs, I think this makes me the most qualified to discuss the KWAside of this discussion. Currently there are 4 KWA AEGs in our club (2 x G36c and 2 x M4 A1). I own a KWA G36c converted to a G36k and have now mounted an AG36. I have now owned TM, CA, JG, Echo and KWA AEGs and the best by far is KWA. The internals are fully upgraded out of the box and they are very solid. Don't get too excited about the enlarged battery compartment. It was the first thing I got rid of after I opened the box. The compartment is way too wide which allows the battery to slide around and rattle. You also need to be careful of the aftermarket mags and other non-kwa accessories you purchase. Most will not work. Mags are hit and miss for both the M4 and G36. The KWA forums will tell you what works and what does not.

In short, I will not buy another brand of AEG unless something drastic happens. Everything is upgraded and you can get parts direct from KWA. It is going to be tough to find one for sale if you choose to go with KWA but you can't go wrong if you go down that path. If somebody out there has any input on the G&P, lets hear it.

PS: If you want any more info about the KWA G36, shoot me a pm or email and I'll answer any questions you might have.

To add something Green Devil missed, the Version 2 and Version 3 gear boxes are not interchangable. The version number of the gearbox refers to the designed shape of the gearbox to fit into different guns, not that it is an improved version of the previous number. It is impossible to physically fit a V3 gearbox into any Armalite (M4/M16) gun.

oh ya that much I know man it's not weather or not the mechboxes are interchangeable that I was was asking but more so from what I know the inherent shape of a v2 makes it more prone to break.My question was more about the duribility of a renforced v2 compared to a v3, could have been the way I worded it.

By it's design the V2 is weaker then pretty much any other gear box. Reinforced ones are stronger, but are still weak in the front. Really nothing you can do about that gearbox wise. I replace 1 or 2 broken V2's a year, while I've only heard of 3 broken V3's, ever. Now that dosen't mean it you get a V2 gearbox, it'll break, you just have to use it properly. Avoid high rates of fire (ROF), cold weather shooting (<-10°C), dry firing and hot piston springs.

There are some upgrades you can do to help prevent breakage. Instead of slamming a kick ass spring into it right off the bat, look at the gun in a holistic manner. A hot spring adds a ton of stress to the gearbox and gear train components. Instead a milder spring with a ball bearing spring guide, a ball bearing piston head and a Sorbo pad on the piston head. Adding a different hopup chamber (depending on what you start with), tight bore inner barrel (biggest bang for your buck) and maybe even a better nozzle can increase your fps and accuracy without adding too much stress on the gun. If you're looking for something around M4 length, pretty much anything over 350 fps is a waste unless you have a ton of high end upgrades in the gun.

thanks for the clarification. I'm assumeing by your' last statement the point you were trying to make is that a barrel around m4 lenght just isn't long enought to support the range and accuracy that the kinetic energy of a bb traveling at 400 fps generates? would make sence to me. Odds are pretty good that I'll end up purchaseing a kwa g36c which out of the box I've read comes stock with a spring equivilent to an m120 so 400fps+ stock? which I was hopeing would settle to somewhere around the 375-385 mark and really the only internal upgrade I was planning on for the time being was a tightbore and possibely a different hopup to increase accuracy (hopefully giveing me enought to hit man sized targets at 75-100 ft considering my marksmenship is likely a bit better than average). The only other rifle I haven't crossed of the list yet are the g&p m4 varients, which brings me to another question since I see you're a gun doc have you worked on the g&P m4's, any comments on the duribility of the internals? Possibly had the chance to compare the g&p/kwa m4's?

You are correct. I have found that basicly any gun with a 14" (or so) or less barrel, shooting over 350fps doesn't really give you much extra. You're just using the same amount of air, but pushing it out faster. The speed alone is an issue with lighter BB's (0.20g - 0.25g), but the additional air turbulence caused by the higher speeds will cause the BB to be more unstable in flight. Heavier BB's only help to a point, but a longer barrel pretty much solves the problem. I've seen lower FPS guns shoot farther and more accurately than more heavily upgraded counterparts, the BB's just take a bit longer to get to their target. BTW, a PTW's hopup is proprietary and will not work in a non-PTW gun.

Any G36 varient will be more accurate than an equivilent non-PTW Armalite do to the differences in the hopup design and the way the barrel is secured to it. It will also remaining more accurate, requiring little to no resetting, also due to it's design. Green Devil has more experience with the KWA's than I. I have two G36's, an MG36V and a G36KSDV, both TM based, though very little TM remains internally in either. Though to me a V3 is a V3 is a V3. They all work the same, the all have the same issues, which are very little to none, depending on the make. KWA has a good rep. and I haven't heard of any outstanding issues. Arnies has a good review of it and KWA's site lists its FPS @380, the reviewers chorno was averaging 396, though he didn't say with what. I'd presume 0.20g.

G&P are ok. The older armalites seemed to have issues with brittle tappet plates. An easy fix, but shouldn't have happened in the first place. The newer ones with the transperent bodies are really recent and I've only seen one, TCLP's. I haven't serviced it, however I understand the ones 007 sell are the same as their regular metal bodied ones, just with the clear, dark lower receiver. The ones CAS are wholesaleing to other retailers are G&P, but a lower quality of G&P with more plastic and cheaper metal parts.

As far as comparing the two, I have not seen a KWA M4, but as it has a V2 gearbox, it will still have the same weakness issues of all V2 gearboxes. The only V2 gearboxes that don't have this issue are the Prowin series (most of which are discontinued and are a nightmare to assemble unless you know exactly what you're doing) or a M. Hanyes aluminum Billet machined V2 gearbox (which was also discontinued several years ago and only 350 were ever made).

Personally, I love the G36 series. They fit my body type well, are very ruggered, accurate, easy to maintain and upgrade. My only issue with them is the mags. They are big (2 to a pouch vs 3 for an Armalite) and the tabs on the sides seem to hang on everything or break off. You can get an adapter to fit AR mags in a G36 (this exists in the real world as well) and makes the gun damn near perfect all around. Not as cool as having the "live round" look in the mag, but a lot cheaper and easier to haul around. The only other issue, if you could call it that, is lack of storage for a large type battery. There are a few front handguard upgrades the will allow for a bigger battery, but the G&P "V" stock allows for a full sized large battery.

I have to admit, I do have an Armalite in my armoury as well, an HK416 (HurricanE version) and it's a great little gun (I'm running it with the 10.5" barrel. I find it great for when I do "command type" roles), but I wouldn't even have it if I didn't have an M. Hanyes gearbox. It originally came with a G&P M120 factory gearbox, but it explosively disassembled itelf after just two games. M120 spring + ball bearing bushings + high speed motor = failure on a massive scale. A bearing bushing failed and caused a brutal chain reaction. Basically, the gear box shell is about all that was worth salvaging.

Oh, I should hope you can hit a man sized target out to 100'. Most good quality AEG's should easily hit that far, stock.