CYMA vs. Unicorn AKS74U (56k nyet!)
 

Inspired by Bob The Angry Potato's thread I thought I'd throw this up.

I just got my CYMA AKS74U (properly the AKS74UN because it has the side rail) and I'm pretty happy with it. It's my second AKS74UN, the first being my Unicorn that came in last week. I thought some comparison pictures would be neat.

The CYMA AKS74UN is on top, the Unicorn is on the bottom.

Right side full view, no mags:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us001.jpg

Left side full view, no mags:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us002.jpg

Undersides. Note that the CYMA gun makes extensive use of Phillips head screws which don't torque down as tightly as the heavy Allen head screws on the Unicorn.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us003.jpg


Receiver detail, left side. The CYMA is tighter on tolerances than the Unicorn in most areas. This can either be viewed as a positive for the CYMA as being better built, or positive for the Unicorn as being more true-to-life as a sloppy AK.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us004.jpg

Front end view. The flash suppressor on the CYMA is cocked at an angle while the Unicorn's cuts are perfectly horizontal. The Unicorn's flash suppressor's edges are also sharp as a razor, I might add.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us005.jpg

Mags in:
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us006.jpg

Personally I like 7.62x39mm better as a caliber. In this configuration the gun is known as the AKMSU and is in current production in Bulgaria.
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...AKS74Us007.jpg

In the looks and materials department, the Unicorn wins out simply because it's steel whereas the CYMA is mostly pot metal. The blued steel is a far more attractive and realistic appearance and doesn't have a plethora of ugly screws around it. A significant advantage of the steel receiver is that it's thinner, giving you a LOT more room to rewire the gearbox with quality wiring.

The CYMA wins in build/solidity. The Unicorn's primary criticism is its poor tolerances, citing the wobbly flash suppressor (easily fixed with a few turns of teflon tape) and folding stock (not fixable as far as I can tell). The bolt on the Unicorn is sub par and gets bumped out of place, but it does look nice. The CYMA is a lot tighter all around. You also get a battery, BBs, manual, and cleaning rod with the CYMA; it also comes with a charger but in some strange Euro plug configuration and 220VAC, so it's essentially useless in North America. An interesting side note - I had a hard time finding Engrish in the manual. It's fairly well written.

Overall I'm very happy with both guns!

A couple of action pics from last Sunday:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...a/DSCF1108.jpg

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y28...a/DSCF1848.jpg

The Unicorns finish looks really nice. Where'd you get it?

It came from Grim Fandango, he'd had it in the Buy & Sell for a little while and apparently I'm the only one who showed any interest in it. Perhaps everyone else had read the mixed reviews of it and shyed away. Good for me! :) Next up is the Kalash (D-BOYS) AKS74U! I've seen a few of them spring up now and it's supposed to be excellent.

I also really like the finish of the Unicorn. It has a worn look too it, which makes it look good in my eyes. :D

I saw the Unicorn one on sunday, and I must say as an avid AK lover, I thought that the Unicorn AK felt at least as good as VFC counter-part. Very nice, going to have to scope me out one of those!

the unicorn finish looks nice ,more realistic

Great review- how do you think they stack up to each other performance wise, though? I chose the CYMA thanks to cross-compatibility with Marui.

The Unicorn was shooting 355 fps out of the box and was pretty consistent. It was cold and wet Sunday as you can see so I don't know if the hop was performing to its full capacity, however it's worth noting that the Unicorn comes with an H bucking installed. I did notice the hop unit had a tendency to loosen itself during automatic fire and will need to be tightened down.

I plan to give both of them a whirl the next time I'm out. There's a scrim this weekend but it being Mother's Day I doubt I'll have the chance. Honestly I expect the CYMA to outperform the Unicorn as they've been around longer and have had more time to perfect their gearboxes.

so whats the problem with the unicorn stock? i read the review again and i didn't see a mention of it unless i missed it twice.

i really like the unicorn alot cause of the to hell and back look. also would it be hard to mount a PSB on the gun? so i can hide a longer inner barrel.

I like your comparison photos, I cant believe you guys still have snow.

Snow's finally gone but it's still pretty brown out here. Global warming, my ass.

The stock has a bit of vertical play in it but nothing that causes it to move around a lot. The CYMA does the same in fact but to a lesser extent. The only real fix would be to shim it in the hinge but that involves tapping out the rod and potentially mucking up your gun. Not worth it for the tiny bit of play.

Oh, and I lost the D-ring on my CYMA on Sunday when it slipped right out of the stock with my sling attached, and disappeared into the underbrush. Not too impressed but what do you expect for $350. At least it shoots like a dream!

is the D ring where it holds the sling?

What sort of ranges are you getting with your CYMA? I'm still completely blown away by mine- it shoots like a dream for me, and like a nightmare for the receiving end.

IMO, the Cyma wins for being TM compatible...

:) Andrew if you want, I could make your Cyma look like the unicorn one :D

No, you cant.