I have had the opportunity to review several of TSD’s products including the TSD Tactical XM8 and TSD Sports M4 AEGs. Both of these products I gave positive reviews for and for both was impressed by their performance considering the price. Now for those of you familiar with those guns or at least with those reviews, I must say that the G36c out of the box is the most impressive. It sports a modest $260 MSRP, higher than the other products I have reviewed but at the lower end of what you would expect to pay for a 330-350 FPS AEG.

The gun comes in what I have come to find is a pretty standard TSD Tactical box. Cardboard with Styrofoam to keep it in place, the box is usually a fold over with an attached lid, and everything comes very neatly packaged. The box is usually made to hold all the models of the particular gun, and comes with the specs listed on the front, with all of the “highlights” of the gun such as in this case the steel gears, 330-380 FPS velocity, pre-installed bushings, metal hop-up and the list goes on. They also include 2 high capacity magazines for this particular gun, which hold 470 rounds each and conveniently snap together. So instantly this small G36c can become somewhat of a force on the battlefield with 940 BBs immediately at its disposable. And there is nothing stopping you (besides perhaps some sort of common sense or feeling of BB conservation) from attaching as many magazines as you want.

Look and Feel

The gun is fairly compact and has a rock solid feel to it. I have searched up and down for a flaw in the guns design, but so far have had no luck. I guess I could be a little picky and complain of it being a little front heavy, but that is expected with a gun with the battery in the front and even that is hardly noticeable on this model. The receiver is very realistic on this gun as it is made of nylon, which is reinforced by fiberglass. Definitely a much better feel than your typical plastic found on AEGs, and gives it a more authentic feel. Everything about the build of this gun was done the correct way, and that really reminds me of what you would expect from a company like Tokyo Marui. Like with Tokyo Marui’s this model does not possess any noticeable defects, and the operation of the gun is flawless out of the box. Obviously we will have to wait and see how this holds up.

The only other G36c I have had the opportunity to use was the Tokyo Marui G36c when it first became available several years ago. A guy I played with fairly often got it, so I got to see it in action up close. One problem which plagued that gun was the selector switches would fall off fairly frequently, and the one on the right side of the gun was eventually lost. Appropriately I guess, on this gun the selector switch on the right side also fell off, but it would only take some tightening with a hex wrench to keep that thing on. I imagine it will be kind of an annoyance since it will have to be something to worry about, but since that is the only flaw I have found so far I think I am just going to deal with it.

While holding and aiming the gun I absolutely fell in love with it. It is compact but yet big enough to be comfortable for my 6’ frame. Feels solid in my hands and is very easy to move about with. The one concern of those who have tried the gun (besides me) is where to put your front hand, as there is a rail underneath the front part of the gun. My response to that is getting a vertical grip to mount onto the rail. For me personally I naturally hold the gun in front of the rail and that is perfectly fine, but if you happen to pick up the gun and want a better place for your front hand, the rail in the front provides an alternative option for you (which does make the gun look that much more awesome by the way).

Performance

The guns performance is pretty impressive. It does exactly what you would expect it to do, shooting in the 350 fps range with .20g BB’s and out of the box is very consistent. This gun has a good ROF with the 8.4v 600 mAh battery I was using. The gun fired noticeably faster than the TSD Sports M4 but still not too large of a difference there. The gun seems to have a lighter trigger than most guns I am experienced with, it seems that on semi it only takes a little more than a tap to squeeze off a round. Each shot is also accompanied by a pretty satisfying ‘pop’ noise. It is rare that I am satisfied with the sounds of an AEG firing, they usually sound too electronic and machine like for my taste (because that is exactly what they are obviously) but this one had a noticeably different sound to it. I would definitely check out the video review so that you can experience it for yourself.

The more I fired and tested this gun the more I liked it. The one flaw however also comes back to the selector switch as I mentioned before. It is on both sides of the gun to make the weapon suitable for both right and left handed shooters as is done with the real steal version. In addition to the selector switch on the right side (for left handed shooters) falling off, the switching mechanism is not 100% smooth. Now it really was not all that bad, as it will ‘click’ into place at semi, auto and safe, and the most important thing, the safe, works perfectly. But what did occur a couple times during the testing phase was it would go a little beyond semi-auto too easily, and be in fully automatic when I in fact thought I had switched it to semi. So pushing it just pass the semi slot is a little too easy and will cause it to fire in full auto. Is this really that big of a deal? No not really, it is a very common flaw in AEGs and usually becomes more common in AEGs as they get used and worn down, but I figured I would point it out anyway.

The role of this gun really reminded me of the M4a1. It is a compact gun that is very easy to move around with, and packs a pretty solid punch with a good combination of ROF and accuracy. This gun will definitely be able to perform right up there with any of the AEGs I have ever owned, and out of the box is superb. As is always the case durability will be the main factor, and so far none of the AEGs from TSD which I have tested have had any mechanical problems (knock on wood), but that is not to say that it could not happen. But so far so good, this now is the third TSD AEG I have reviewed and like the others its out of the box performance is rock solid.

I would also like to take the time to mention a problem which occurred with the XM8 from TSD Tactical I had, and that is the gun stopping when trying to shoot rapidly under semi-automatic. This has happened to me with every AEG I have ever owned at some point and tends to happen more when the battery gets weaker. With the XM8 I noticed it happening more frequently than other AEGs, so every time I tried to fire as fast as possible on semi it would lock up and I’d have to switch to full auto and fire a few before being able to switch back to semi. The G36c has no problem like this and I would not expect it ever to happen to you while skirmishing. I was able to force it to lock up once or twice but it took an absurdly high rate of trigger pulls on semi to cause it to happen, and you should never be pulling the trigger like that anyways. So for raw performance this gun was nearly perfect.

The Battery

The battery compartment is extremely easy to use, especially considering its unique positioning on the G36c. In order to get to the compartment you must remove a pin at the top of the handguard, which slides the handguard and the RIS rails completely off of the gun. You then see where the battery plugs in, and simply plug it in and slide the whole front handguard back on and put the pin back in. Simple and painless. Now despite what some may think the battery compartment does have plenty of space, and should be able to fit a 9.6v battery quite easily. I base a lot of this on the fact that the 8.4v battery moves around a fair amount within the compartment. This may annoy some out there, so you should know that the battery will move around inside the compartment if it is an 8.4v and will make a fair amount of noise. It would not be much trouble at all to make some adjustments to remove the noise and rattling altogether, but the bright side is that the extra space means more options. Usually the more space the better since then you are able to fit a larger battery in there. I do not plan on testing anything radical, but a 9.6v battery should fit in there perfectly.

Stock

The stock folds in to the right hand side of the gun, and snaps into place. When bringing it back it also makes a clear and reassuring ‘clank’ back into the regular position. The stock appears to be very well made and it appears to be the same material as the receiver (nylon reinforced with fiberglass). The stock is pretty lightweight however and this is because of its design. There really is not much to the stock and this is what causes a feeling of the gun being front heavy, but it really is not as bad as I would have expected considering the design. The stock is always a risky point for breaking, but I do think this stock will hold under a beating. That is not to say it will not break, but it would require a large amount of pressure to actually break this thing; it is rock solid. The stock also has a hold for mounting a sling if you are looking to do that.

As a little bit of a side note, if you place with the stock folded in, you can not really clamp magazines together as it does not give you much room to slide the two magazines down, since the stock is in the way.

Accessories

This gun comes with a total of four metal rails for mounting all sorts of accessories. There are three on the front hand guard, two on either side and one on the bottom. There also is nice long rail on top of the gun for adding any sort of aftermarket sights you might want. For those of you looking to have a unique gun on the field, or a unique set up these rails will come in handy. Anything from an additional grip, to a flashlight, to a laser can be added fairly easily to this thing adding both to the look and performance of the gun. So right out of the box this product gives you more options than most Airsoft guns out there for customizing and changing it around.

Two of the front rails, there is a third on the side you can not see

Top rail for mounting sights

Magazines

From my experience with the Tokyo Marui G36 magazines I was a bit suspicious of these, because with the Marui magazines I have seen, they would break (the attachment pieces) and several times the screw on the bottom would loosen causing the magazine to start slipping apart. Both of these problems are not a big deal, and are avoidable. For the attachments make sure you are always turning the magazine the right way when unclamping and do not drop them while attached. Then you also should make sure the screw on the bottom is tight and that will prevent it from falling apart. Both of these things seem to happen over time not right away so I will keep you updated. I do have the advantage of seeing the XM8’s magazines which are the exact same thing and while they did not fall apart like Marui’s they had the same problem with the attachments being broken off as that did happen in a skirmish.

Overall these magazines are well made, and perform very well. They are mechanically sound which is the most important thing and shoot nearly all 470 rounds without additional winding. The other little issues though annoying at times are not all that important and seem to be unavoidable with this product type.

Hop Up Unit

As advertised this gun comes with a metal V3 hop-up unit. It performs as expected and I had no trouble changing BB weights from .20g all the way to .28g and everywhere in between. It seems pretty solid and stable, and shot consistently for the 1,000 or so rounds I tested with each setting. To reveal the hop-up unit you must pull back the loading handle which can conveniently be pulled back from either side making it easier on lefty shooters. Pulling back the handle removes the dust cover, where on a real steel gun the shell would be ejected, and on this gun houses the hop-up unit.

Metal hop-up unit revealed

Charging handle which can go to either side and a spring will recenter it once you let go.

Who should get this gun?

To me this gun is like an M4a1 but for someone who does not want to be cliché. At times it feels like all there are on the skirmish field is M16’s and M4’s and to a certain extent that is true. So if you are looking to be different but want the same type of gun then the G36c might be for you. Why do I compare it to the M4? Similar size, similar roles as a result; it can perform in both close quarters and outdoors in the woods. They also both have a lot of accessory options. The M4 more because it is such a popular gun, and the G36c because it comes with the extra rails.

As for those who love the look of this gun in the pictures, I would also recommend it as it definitely lives up to the look with its rock solid feel in your hands. Anyone looking to play Airsoft and wants to have one AEG to perform in nearly any role this would be a good gun. It is compact with a good ROF for close quarters, but yet is still big enough with good enough performance to play at the longest ranges. The only role which you really could not take on is that of a sniper, and that is expected of any AEG for the most part.

This gun also comes pre-upgraded, and from my experience with all the TSD guns the upgrades seem to be well done as I have yet to have any issues up until this point (knock on wood). This added velocity does make a big difference on the skirmish field and is kind of becoming the new “stock” velocity for companies with the exception of Tokyo Marui of course. So this gun really does give you all the options and sets you up to perform right out of the box. All you would really need besides this gun is a battery and charger and you would be ready to go.

Overall

Overall I am excited about this gun. It feels great, looks great, and performs great out of the box and that is always exciting. I personally really like the look of the G36’s and think it is a very unique series that performs up there with the best of them. If the G36c is not the exact model you are looking TSD Tactical also makes the G36k which is the longer version which is more of an assault rifle.

This gun really does everything right, and is satisfying to use. Assuming the durability holds up this might be one of my favorite guns. The only flaw I could find was the selector switch for left handed shooters wobbled off, but with a hex wrench that can easily be tightened and fixed. Other than that I really have nothing bad to say about this gun and therefore recommend it to anyone out there interested.

Got ammo?

j0shuaramz - September 9, 2008 Nice review - awesome gun. When i get more into the better airsoft guns im looking forward to buying this gun.

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