The Abtomat Kalshnikova, a proven design. simple economic mass production, low costs, simplistic construction, loose tolerences, and it's ease of use have made it the worlds most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love. From the mountainous regions of mother Russia, to the desert regions of the middle east, from the jungles of Vietnam, to the plains of africa, from the icy winterlands of Finland, to the tropical regions of south and central america, the AK has spread through out the world, having seen conflict on just about every continent. The choice of mercenary men and peasant farmers to those indigeinous peoples who seek to topple oppression and seek to overcome imperialism. It's always been seen as an icon of the socialist cause, and a symbol of revolution. Simple to operate, no expensive or widespread training is necessary, it can handle abuse with no problem. It can be said it's the most copied and cloned rifle, the most borrowed from rifle. From the East German MPi KM rifle, to the Romanian AIM, from the Egyptian Maddi to the Iraqi Tabuk, from the Chinese Type 56 to the Korean Type 58. Those rifles were weapons based on the AK's design, which was introduced by the generousity of the Soviet Union. It has contributed much to weapons of similar build, from the Czech Vz.58 to the Finnish m/62, From the Indian INAS to the modern AN-94 Abakan. It has contributed to western weapons such as the Beligan FNC, to the South Korean Daewoo K2 and the Singapore made STK SAR-21 bullpup, and the SIG SG550 which is said to be one of the finest rifles in the world. The AK family of assault rifles, what can be said about such a rifle? Maybe Mikhail Kalshnikov put it best when he said, "It's the best assault rifle in the world."





Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov. The man who was born in Kurya, Siberia. Drafted into the Red Army as a Tank Driver, his mechanical mastermind landed him a job in a Leningrad factory overseeing manufacture of Tanks. Sent to the front lines during the Great Patriotic war against Germany, he was badly wounded. While recovering he studied semi automatic weapons. Later he would be moved to the Matai Arms Depot, here he began designing a sub machine gun, though this SMG would be turned down, he studied and did more designing. In 1946, a prototype rifle was built, this would be the begining of a legend.

In the world of airsoft, there are many AK variants to choose from. All of course, in keeping with the spirit of the AK design, are durable, reliable, and one of the best AEG's around. Sporting a Ver.3 gearbox, it can handle power upgrades with ease. The sights on these rifles, easy to use, and are very user friendly even when wearing a bulky face mask or goggles. With the rifle configuration, the barrel length and hop up provide superb accuracy. There are many AK's to choose from and even more coming to the scene, it seems that the AK fever has hit. How long it will last, who knows? But it is assured that the AK will remain one of the most popular series of AEG's. We shall take a close look at the G&G RK103, G&G's take on the AK-103 of the Kalashnikov Century Series. We shall see if the G&G lives up to the AK name.

I had already owned an TM AK47 and knew of how good these could be. Though the TM had it's share of problems, mostly lying in with mistakes I had made earlier, I had decided to set it aside for a bit and pick up a new gun, leaving the TM as a project gun as I did not want to change it's appearance. It was no contest, I had seen the G&G RK103 before and I knew I had to have it. Joe having bought one and told me of it's greatness only further deepened my reserve to procure one. Ever since the release of the RK104 previously, I knew of the all metal construction and of course it's best feature, the realistic bolt assembly. During researching for the Airsoft WIki project, I took a look at the specs of the RK103 and they were good. The stock pictures of them from G&G did not do it justice at all. Things were sold, money was horded and an RK103 was purchased from Airsoft North West, the only retailer carrying it stateside. It was a special, with the price tag on many items lowered, one being the RK103. The price was only a few dollars higher of than that on Red Wolf, even with the price for shipping, it was quite the deal. A deal further sweetened when I went back to the description of the RK103 to find a "Out of stock" message, ANW having an automated system that updates their inventory, I knew I had snatched up the last one available. I quickly paid via paypal and awaited a message from ANW, I believe it was a wenesday, and I had not recieved any e-mail from ANW apart from the reciept. It was the week of my baptism and I really wanted to get my gun before then, it being on Saturday. The weekend came and went, I was crushed, it had not shown up. It was early Tuesday, I believe and I sent an e-mail to ANW which was quickly responded too. They were sorry for not getting my tracking number to me sooner, but they offered HOPE!! It was on it's way and it would be delievered that same day!!!.

It was noon when I recieved that e-mail and I was stoked. Though the day came and went, I began to feel the anxiety. I had gone in to my room, it is my usual custom to take the laptop to the backyard, intraweb surf with some good tunes on. The clock read 7:09, it thought to myself, "WTF, when is it getting here?" At the end of the sentence, I heard a loud vehicle rumbling. My house is located amoung small side streets, I knew what it was. I looked out my window to see the UPS truck coming down the street.



The time was 7:10 pm, I ran my ass outside and picked up my package. I brought it in and went to work on the box, it was taped up real good, so I got out the bayonet and made work of it. The box the gun was in was a G&G box, good I thought, since the TM box was inside a larger plain brown box. The G&G box I cut open and got to the box inside with the AEG inside. The AEG box, was nice, but no time for that, I got it out and opened it up.




I found the AEG to be nicely packaged inside and further protected with some bubble wrap. I tossed the bubble wrap aside and caught my first glimpse of my new baby. It was a real sweet moment. I got out a couple of my things and I fiddled with the gun a bit, checking out the G&G mag, Looking at the bolt assembly.






My first thoughts on the gun:
I really liked the bolt, REALLY REALLY liked the bolt. The weight of the gun dissapointed me a bit, I felt it was too dam light. The magnesium reciever is nice, but the Inokatsu Steel reciever spoiled me and I can't fully accept anything less. I don't like much the non ribbed reciever cover, I feel that the selector lever and reciever cover are too lightly colored and should have been a darker color to more fully match the reciever. I didn't like the light coloring of the barrel, should be dark just like the rest of the gun. The pistol grip is nice, but a little too light in coloration but it's pretty comfortable and not hard plastic like the Inokatsu pistol grip on the Inokatsu reciever. The stock, I don't much care for the stock, it has a sand paper like finish. It's also that dam NATO length, not the original length. Sure it houses batteries no prob, but it's a little too long. The muzzle break, it was rapped with orange paint. Not just your average paint, this particular paint looked and felt plasticy. I also think that the muzzle break was glued on or something, till this day I have yet to remove it. I can live witht that tho, there's a reason why I have sand paper and paint on hand. G&G went the crazy route and made the muzzle break 22mm threading (like the RS) but it was in CC not CCW like all other AK's. Also the muzzle break is a bit over 1/2 an inch longer than the RS, meaning no bayonet fun for me. Overall I was impressed with this gun.

A look at the RK103 from front to back and in a kickass 56k killa detail, Enjoy:

Here's my RK103, tucked away inside it's foam lined gun case, the short 36 inch length requiring me to remove the stock from my gun in order to fit it inside. When I removed the stock form the body, the wiring from the back of the gearbox and the stock wiring are wrapped up in shrink flex, I removed it in order to allow removal of the stock. In the pic we can also see how badly the muzzle break was raped with orange paint, the 6mm just wasn't enough Sad.


This is a close up of the front sight block, it's an accurate AK74 type FSB. The FSB threads at the front are 22mm CW, not the usual CCW threading on AK's. The pitch? I do not know, it would have been nice if G&G had made the threads 22mmX1.5 CCW, which would easily allow installation of the RS muzzle breaks. The fitting of RS muzzle breaks is quite easy to do on the TM/TM compatible AK47's which have 14mmx1 CCW threads which are compataple with RS muzzle nuts (AK47) and AKM slant muzzle breaks and some assorted AK74 and other muzzle breaks with 14mm threading. The G&G RK's are sweet because of it's compatability with RS stuff. Sadly the muzzle break on my gun must have been glued on or something, couldn't get it to budge so I just said F it. It's nice to see that the RK103 has a functional bayonet lug, shame you need to replace the muzzle break to make use of it. Unlike the TM FSB which mostly one big piece, the G&G FSB is made of individual parts. Notice the hole above the barrel at the end of the FSB and two holes/pins at the bottom. Those are funtional, unlike other guns which screw the FSB to the barrel on the underside, G&G went along with the RS design and used pins to hold it in place. It does a good job as the FSB is rock solid. The drum shape you see in the FSB can be removed when you completely unscrew the front sight from it, just like the RS FSB.




Here we see the hole above the barrel at the end of the FSB, it's purpose is to hold the plunger spring in place. The plunger being the part that keeps the muzzle break from turning. Unlike the TM plunger spring which can pop out the front if you hit the FSB with some force, G&G puts it in from the back and it's kept there in place by a screw. By look at the back of the FSB, we can see the screw. It's a hex key screw, a very small size, don't remove it. I did, screwed up the spring, popped in the one from the TM and I was good to go again.




Here we see the underside of the FSB and we can see the bayonet lug. Next we see the TM FSB without the cleaning rod in the way. See the difference? No worrying about a tiny screw, wobbly front, or the possibly weak threading for the FSB.




No I don't like big orange tips on my guns, it serves it purpose, but I don't like them. I went at it with this paint and varnish remover which was semi gelatinous. It burned like hell when ever it touched my skin. It sort of just plopped onto the surface and fizzed a bit and was just different than using paint thinner.




I then started to lightly scatch off excess paint and went too deep, I ended up scratching up the original paint job and hit bare steel, so I just went with it. I would paint it later. When the paint starts to chip, I might consider leaving it steel colored.




You can put your gun with the right side down.



Using a hammer and a small screwdriver I tapped the pins from the FSB out. This allows you to remove the FSB from the gun.




Going back to the plunger spring, again, small hex key screw, remove, lets spring out. It's a small screw. Again, don't do this unless you have too.




This is the gas block, also held in place by pins.



Here we see the gas block and gas tube. This is the AKM gas tube, uses an improved way of bleeding off gas after it has hit the gas rod (on the RS) over the old AK47 vented tube. We also get a small glimpse of the handguard retainers and handguards.



The gas block from the ICS AK74M, it looks quite good, made of a rather nice looking material with a good finish, makes use of a spring for some reason, held in place by a tiny screw from underneath just like the TM.



Here we take a look at the gas tube/gas block form the TM. Other companies like VFC,G&G,Inokatsu,etc. have two piece, TM has one piece. So does the CA, since the front end's are different from the before mentioned companies. We notice the gas tube has vent holes, as it would be expected as the AK47's made use of these vent holes to bleed off gas. We also notice the area for the front sling swivle. It is also held in place by one tiny screw, gas assemblies that need screws to hold them in place aren't all that great because screws that tiny can easily be lost or fall off.



Here we see the handguards, they are made of fiber glass/nylon and feel very nice. We also see the lever that holds the upper handguard in place, unlike in the TM/CA AK's, this one is funtional and no need of unscrewing any screws. Notice the pattern on the lower handguard, not sure of it's origins, but it's dead sexy.



Here we get a good look at the bulge on the lower handguard, the bulge was added to the design of the handguards starting with the AKM, with good reason as it makes holding the the rifle much more comfortable. Even more so with the feel of the fiber glass/nylon, I must say that it's not as shiny as it might appear to be, too much light in the background, goes the same for most of my pictures.



Here we now take a look at the reciever area, the area where all the action starts. There's the selector lever, the best AK bolt ever made in AEG's, AK47 type reciever cover, Type 3 (AKM/74) pistol grip, trigger guard/mag release (don't have to worry about the pin falling out of the mag release like in the TM), the trigger (feels much different than the TM AK) and all the goodness of realistic looking faux rivot pins on the reciever.



We see the engravings on the reciever which are abbrivated, the top for automatic fire abv. in cyrllic and the lower for semi automatic abv. in cryllic. Notice the finish on the reciever itself which is very different that what I've seen on other AK's. It's very nice, feels magnificent, it's pretty dam good (painted magnesium) not as great as steel but it's close. We also see the dimple over the mag well, no it's not for straightening or hold the mags in place, it's for helping soldiers find the mag well opening easily in darkness.



The selector lever, it's made of steel and looks pretty nice, though it's slightly to light in color for my taste, but I can live with it. The trigger guard is held in place by hex key screws and has a lever stop, so you won't be setting it beyond what it's supposed to go. We see a bit of the reciever cover and what lays beneath.



What's this? Theres a black tube under the reciever cover like in the TM, but it seems to move with the bolt handle, WHY?? Well that's the G&G kickass bolt/gas rod assembly. Just like all other AK's pulling back the bolt reveals the hop up, it's quite different from the TM, for one, the adjuster on the hop up is one piece, unlike others. You will see that the front end of the reciever is quite different from other AK recievers, just like few other AK's, the front end isn't squared in that weird way to help it hold the front, but more realistic, like what you see in real Type 4 recievers.



Unlike what you might find in the sweet Guarder kits and other standard AK's, you will notice by looking at the previous picture and then this one and see that the G&G bolt goes back further, not a big deal but a nice thing to have. The bolt shown here is a Gaurder steel bolt, also found on Guarder conversion kits.



As with most AEG's, you'll find that one sticker on the gun. Unlike other guns that have the warning or some other sticker, the one on the G&G was simple, "MADE IN TAIWAN". You won't find anything else on the gun with exception to the G&G logo (hidden), the "trades" and the fire mode indicators.



We take a look at the end of the reciever, we see the very front of the stock and the end of the reciever cover along with the reciever release button. The end of the stock that attaches to the reciever is much different than what you see on most AK's.



The pistol grip, you'll have your hand on this for a long time. Good thing it's made of a soft material, it's firm but not super hard. It has a some what rubberized look and to some extent, feel, but very comfortable to hold.



Here's another view of the trigger gaurd region, we see the hex key scews holding it in place as I mentioned earlier. The pin on the mag release looks the same on booth sides, so no worrying about it falling out.



Here we can make a comparison of the G&G trigger guard and the trigger gaurd from the Inokatsu steel reciever kit for TM AK's. The Inokatsu has a much nicer color but the way it has the end of it rest under an area under the gearbox, which takes some doing because of the shape of it.



Unlike the Inokatsu trigger gaurd, the G&G bends upwards and has an area for the end fo the trigger gaurd rests in. It keeps it in place real good and no worrying about messing with the #3 gear cover.




A closer look at the trigger revails some of the grease in the gun, seems they greased up a lot of the internals. We can also see a the #3 gear cover a bit.



Looking back at the previous three pictures, you will notice a difference in the shape of the trigger. These two are from a TM and CYMA AK, they appear to bend forward a bit more and are more rounded, while the G&G is more sqaured, leading to a difference in feel when you pull the trigger.



Here we look at the G&G selector lever and a TM AK47 lever (Painted), we can see the differences, but they attach to the gun the same.



Looking at the graph, you can see the TM lever is a Type 1 and the G&G lever a Type 2, as it would be expected.



Now we look in the mag well itself, there we notice the G&G trademark, it's nice that they put it a place where it won't interfere with the sexiness of the gun. We can also see that the part of the mag well is padded, like some other AK's. Holds the mag in place, works great with the G&G mags, but it makes the gun picky about other brand mags. We also see the feeding tube part of the hop up unit, which is made of metal.



Here we see the mag well on a TM AK with a Inokatsu steel reciver kit and G&P front set, TM AK's make use of screws in the mag well and behind the lower handguard, in the Inokatsu only needing these two in the mag well and making use of the front end and front set holding each other, making the gun not only less accurate in apperance but some slight ugliness. The G&G dosen't make use of any visible screws to hold the front end, which is a plus for those of you who like the looks.



Now the stock, it's a perversion, how could you use a NATO length stock on a proud Eastern weapon? The stock is slightly longer than your standard AK (Warsaw Pact) stock, which makes it possible to run custom T shape AK and other larger sized batteries with no modding and have some room to play with. The stock has a sand paper like finish, which I don't like. It has that noticeable indentation on the stock which identifies it as 5.45 caliber, the G&G stock is different in shape from other AK74 stocks. The sand paper finish ain't to bad, but I'm going to replace the stock and furniture so I don't have to worry much about it.



The stock is held in place by the two tangs, the top tang is triangular in shape, the screw hole is in a very different position than your TM AK. One thing about it is that it might break, if you take care of your weapon and not abuse it, you should be fine. If it breaks, contanct G&G and tell them about it, do what you can and you might end up with a free new reciever.



The lower tang is more of a rectangular shape, shorter than the upper tang, only one screw hole here. The Stock is held in place by two screws, unlike other AK's that need three. Real AK's with a Type 4 reciever only needing one screw up top.



Now let's compare the G&G stock to the TM AK stock (painted). Immediately we see the size difference. It's just over half an inch longer, it's also shaped more differently than the AK47 stock as expected, but also different than your standard AK74 stock.



Here's the stock of my Inokatsu bodied AK, the stock being pulled from a CA SLR. Now I must say while I don't think very much of the CA SLR, the stock itself and the materials it's made of are fabulous. G&G would have been right making the stock much more like it (no sand paper).



The butt plate of the RK103, ribbed of course. It's very nice, the coloration on it is very different than anything else on the gun, lookin at it one would think it's from a real gun. While the Type 3 (AK74) buttplate with the trap door would have been more accurate, this non trap door buttplate is more pratical and good enough.



Here's the Type 1 (AK47) buttplate used on the TM, it's an accurate replica of Type 1 buttplates on real AK47's, with the screws being more towards the center than at the edges. Though the system that TM used to keep the buttplate on the gun was not all that great. The short screws weren't all that great either. Lots of lost butt plates or butt plate screws.



With the screws removed and some elbow grease, you can remove the stock. Unlike most AEG's, originally the wiring as seen in the picture had shrink flex. I removed it to be able to disconnect the wiring and remove the stock. We can see from the picture that the stock has an area of it that slightly goes into the reciver, making the stock more stable, also making removing the stock slightly harder. Possibly an idea from the method of attaching the stock from RS AK's? With Type 4 recievers keeping stocks held in place by one tang/screw and a long part that goes into the reciever. We can also see the the space between the stock tangs is less than CA/TM AK's, closer to RS specs. Another thing, the tangs are integral to the reciever, not like TM/CA methods. The G&P body is integral with the stock tangs as well.





My RK with the stock removed for easier more spacious storage in my 36 inch gun case.



Here's a good look at the end of the stock, we can see the little part that extends a bit further into the reciever that I mentioned earlier. What are those marks on the edges of the stock? From me trying to remove the stock form the gun.







The stock wiring, top G&G, middle TM, bottom Guarder. G&G comes with the standard 15A fuse.