Ares G36K (AS36K) review/rant

[Rapture Hitler]

My review of the Ares G36K can be summed up like this: :banghead:
Don't get me wrong, this is not a terrible gun...for the most part. It's just...troubled.

Packaging:
It's a cardboard box with black foam...that's about it.

(Imagine Brad Pitt from Se7en saying this) What's in the box:
Ares seems to have cut costs with this gun and only included a 470rnd high cap magazine, a short, but well written manual (with parts breakdown), and, of course, the gun (with a quality control tag attached to it).

What you really care about, the gun:
First off, I'll give credit where credit is due. This gun looks and feels GREAT. The plastic externals and finish are very nice and the materials used are comparable to that of a PTS Masada. It's that sturdy! The gun has a few nice features that you would find on most higher end G36Ks and some that are unique to this one, such as: a folding stock with a rubber butt pad, a metal flash hider and outer barrel, a small metal rail atop the integrated 3.5x zoom optic, a completely ambidextrous design, and a mechanical blowback system. Here is where I would usually tell you how each feature is and how the gun is as a whole, and I will do just that: it's...not very good.

As I said, the externals are great, but in every other aspect, it's a bit of a mess. When I picked the gun up out of the box, I went to go aim through the optic, only to discover that I couldn't see through it. I aimed in a little closer, still no sight. I aimed a little again, still no sight. I, yet again, aimed closer and finally found the zoom sight......the horrible, blurry excuse for a 3.5x zoom scope. There is absolutely ZERO eye relief on this scope. You have to be, and I measured, 7mm away from the sight to get any sort of picture. I was very disappointed in this. I put in the stock magazine and it seemed to fit just fine. I put in my DBoys G36 mid cap magazines and they didn't want to fit in the gun. Once again, I was very disappointed.

I decided to do what I do with all of my new guns, and plug in a battery and test fire. I popped in a freshly charged 9.6V 1600MAH nunchuck NIMH battery and proceeded to test semi auto. I fired the gun once and found that the mechanical blowback didn't work. On the second shot, I heard a terrifying grinding noise coming from the gearbox. On the third, and final shot, the gearbox decided it was tired of barely working and decided to die, leaving me with a whirring motor, a piston stuck in the middle of it's cycle, a mock bolt that barely moves back, a ruined spring, and a blowback system that doesn't work

I'm unsure if it was the piston or a gear that stripped (I don't want to void the warranty, so I didn't open the gearbox), but all I know is, I'm unhappy. I bought a $300 gun and straight out if the box, it commits suicide. Wonderful! The biggest middle finger to me is the fact that some a-hole at Ares signed his name on the quality control tag and sent the gun out in this bad of a condition.

I'm not going to give this gun an overall score because I haven't been able to see it perform or use it. But, I will give Ares a big middle finger.

[Ratters]

You know that cool bolt holding open device behind the trigger guard that also acts as your anti-reversal latch release? DO NOT fire the gun with the cocking handle locked back. Best suggestion: next time the gearbox is out or you want to replace that sector gear, disconnect that bar that releases the antireversal latch. also, change out that hop bucking, i think they use the same recipe making hop up buckings as gummy bears. Shim it, do an angle of engagement mod on it, switch your connectors for the battery to something more reliable and you'll have an awesome, reliable and very accurate gun. My son has one, i game it the odd time or carry it with my LMG and it's one of the straightest most consistent shooting gun i've used so far.
Hope this helps.
p.s. I was referring to a G36C so that sight issue on yours, i can't relate too but i get what you're referring to.

[targetGspot]

I've got an ares tavor tar21. Externals are beautiful! Internally not so much. I was "lucky" and my piston shattered and I was smart enough to stop firing right away. Back to shop where I bought it. Upgrade piston(no cost) and throw in a tightbore while she's apart. Good to go, almost...my teams tech needed to rip her apart and fiddle a few games later when she couldn't decide whether to fire or not or not stop firing. Not sure all of what he did, trigger and selector switch tweaking and new tappet plate and who knows what else. Now she's a mean sounding 410fps and about 18rps on 11.1v lipo, but I can't say I'll ever buy another Ares, wouldn't have bought this one if anyone else had a Tavor at the time. Worried me when I bought my pts pdr as the gearbox is supposedly ares or at least ares inspired. Pts apparently had a lot of input in the box so I decided to give it a shot and love the gun.(use it way more than the tavor).

[Rapture Hitler]

I'm aware of the anti reversal latch function and Ares's bucking are not made of Gummy Bear....they are made of Jello (trust me, I do A LOT of research before I buy any airsoft gun or anything for that matter)! Sadly I've fallen out of love with the gun and I'm thinking of just sending it back and picking up a PTS Masada instead (hence why I never popped open the gearbox). Nonetheless, I appreciate the help very much and if worse comes to worse, I'll just open her up and tech away.

[skalnok]

you do know the pts masada is made by ares aswell right

[Kratisto]

The scope in the carry handle is not really Ares fault, it has very bad eye relief even in the real gun, it's just a bad design.

Otherwise, yes: Ares has bad QC. The blowback mechanism in the G36 is fragile and it will break the piston, or the pot metal piece that connects it to the fake bolt. It's better to remove it.

[Ninja_En_Short]

ARES is known to have always made THE very best bodies for G36, one thing I'm curious about however is the hop up and barrel assembly : in all the ones I had (3 so far all different generations) evrything in contact with the barrel was specific which meant if you changed hop up block, seal or barrel then all three had to be changed.
Still the case ?