Firepower AK47

Darklen · June 13th, 2006, 01:16

Firepower AK47
Cost - $250 cdn (from CEL Surplus in Morinville)
Comes with: Gun, 1 Metal clad lowcap (68 rnd), 1 8.4v Nimh battery (guessing 1100mah, as it's not marked), simple wall charger, unjamming/cleaning road, pistol mag type speed loader, horrible mesh type mask (not suitable at all for play), a small bottle of 0.12g bb's (mismolded for the most part, totally worthless) and the shittiest sling I have ever seen. No manual or box is included.

The gun is pretty much the same as a TM AK from what I can tell. Externally. There's a reasonal amount of metal: bolt dust cover, mag, trigger guard & mag release, rear sight, some of the gas assembly and the muzzle break (which is removable and painted orange). The rest is plastic, similar to TM.

Internally, the barrel assembly is the same, thought the barrel was filthy. Hop up assembly operates the same as TM. the big suprise is the mechbox, which is, well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

That's right folks, it's plastic. Almost all of it. Shell, piston, piston head, cylinder head, cylinder, spring guide, gears, etc., etc., etc. Even the bushings are plastic, which with TM are about the only plastic parts in the mechbox other than the tappet plate, switch & the spring guide.

I have only managed to chrono the gun, which shoots a solid 204pfs, +/- 1 fps. Yeah, a joke, but it is about half the price of a new TM. I have no inclination of upgrading this gun unless I find a metal V3 gearbox, preferably an AK. BTW, it's advertised as shooting 300 fps with 0.20g bb's

I compared the Firepower AK with a fellow team members TM AK47S and they match up pretty close, visually. The "wood" on the TM is nicer, but that's about it really. Pretty much whats metal & plastic on the TM is the same on the Firepower.

Performance testing did not go well. The gun has a range of about 50 feet. It does not matter what the hop up is set at, it just shoots like crap no matter what you do. It sounds pretty cool though, slow and clunky, just like a real AK.

Also, the mags are NOT compatible with TM. The lip on the back of the Firepower mag that locks into the gun is thinner than TM so the TM mags won't lock in place, though they do feed well if held in place. So, you have two options, modify the TM mags to fit the Fiepower AK, making them worthless for TM guns again, or modify the gun to take TM mags, making the stock Firepower mag worthless as it's now too loose.

Buyer beware, you definately get what you pay for here.

Greylocks · June 13th, 2006, 07:10

That's a LOT of money spent for what you got. Why did you get it in the first place?

Spitfire · June 13th, 2006, 10:46

sorry dude... but thats wase of money... :roll:

Spitfire · June 13th, 2006, 10:46

sorry dude... but thats waste of money... :roll:

Darklen · June 13th, 2006, 11:20

I bought the gun as a low priced rental. I'd hoped it would perform similar to the UTG MP5, so it'd be ok for newbies but if it broke after a season, so what, it'd be paid for. I hadn't read or heard anything about Firepowers stuff, so I also figured someone needed to be a guinea pig.

I haven't had a chance to take the gearbox apart and see why it's shooting so crappy. I'd had a UTG MP5 I worked on that shot a range from 64fps to 108fps. I changed out the cylinder, cylinder head & nozzle and swapped the piston for a TM (all old parts I had kicking around) and now it shoots consitently 275fps. Hope I can do the same here.

And if not, well, let's just say, better my money than yours. I'm not going to waste anymore cash on cheapo crap now. Rentals are going to be TM's.

Darklen · June 14th, 2006, 00:00

Ok, it's worse than I thought. I took the gearbox apart and I dare say there is not one swapable part in it! The cylinder, cylinder head, nozzle & tappet plate are all molded as one piece! The piston is about 25% longer than a regular one and is about 25% smaller around. The gears are all different than standard, the anti-reversal latch is on the opposite side of the gear box. Even the spring guide is a different size at the base, the standard being smaller so it doesn't fit properly. I'll post some pics later, after I calm down a bit more.

Too bad there's so much plastic. With a bit more metal, it's be a decent boat anchor.

Beware DO NOT BUY A FIREPOWER GUN!!! This thing is worth $100, absolute tops.

Tankdude · June 14th, 2006, 00:24

the question now is, "can you drop in a TM mechbox?"
OR
"Are the gun parts reusable on other ak's?"

You might just want to part it out and sell what you can.

Darklen · June 14th, 2006, 02:13

There's only one AK in our team and it's brand new, so I don't really want to be tearing it apart on a fellow team member, at least just yet. I'll try to drop in one of my G36 boxes to see if at least a V3 will fit. The original box "looks" the same. Everything else looks reasonably on par with TM, so if a TM AK box will drop in and I can find one cheap enough, that'll be the way to go.

sam0182 · June 15th, 2006, 02:17

You should be able to drop a TM (or other full metal v3 gearbox such as CYMA, DE, UTG) in there NP.

I do agree that you may have paid a bit too much for the gun...but I also believe that you could make that back and more as a rental.

That's odd that you're only getting a range of 50ft though...I can hit man targets to about 80ft w/mine - performance looks just like a TM Springer but w/semi and full auto.

Hmmm...

Darklen · June 15th, 2006, 03:02

I'd hope to rent this gun out for the summer season to pay for itself (with the misguded belief it was similar in manufacter to the UTG line) and sell it off if a decent offer came along. But it'd pretty hard to rent out a gun that is outclassed by a stock UTG MP5. I have a stock shot to st*t TM MP5 that shoots better than the Firepower gun.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not pissed about the performance, I pretty much expected that, I'm pissed I can't just plop in some standard AEG parts to fix the problem because Firepower saw fit to ensure the gun is: 1)not upgradable (at least with standard parts) and, 2) not repairable (at least readily). Also, it's not like version 3 gearboxes are falling off the vine around here. I see Version 2's for sale every once and a while, I don't remember seeing a Version 3 up for sale.

To put all this work into what looks like a decent, entry level AEG only to f*** it up by not having a gearbox than can be readily repaired/upgraded is crap. The UTG at least uses standard components, allowing damaged parts to be easily replaced and/or upgraded with commonly available parts.

Skruface · June 15th, 2006, 09:01

Have Mark from A&A Airsoft (in the retailer's bar) order you one of these:

http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwol...p?prodID=20504

He does weekly orders from Redwolf. $90 bucks US for a complete gearbox with motor and motor cage isn't bad, and it's 100% TM compatible. Yeah, the internals are mostly junk, but if you have extra bits lying around you can drop them in.

MMMiles! · June 15th, 2006, 13:18

Wow.... *rubs eyes*.... still wow.

Plastic gearbox would be kinda neat as a demo to show people how gearboxes work... but that's about all I can think of getting out of that gun.

Darklen · June 15th, 2006, 20:07

I'd thought of that when I first pulled it out for the first pictures. But since most of the moving parts in a standard gearbox aren't present in this one, it's kind of useless even for that.

Here's some pics of the parts I'd hoped to replace, but can't

Standard piston on top, Firepower piston below.

Standard cylinder, cylinder head & nozzle on top, Firepowers All-In-One version below, with attached "Tappet plate"

End on view of cylinders, standard on left, Firepower on right

Piston heads, standard on left, Firepower on right

NuttyHunter · June 16th, 2006, 13:33

Why did you. How could you ever. And the. Heartattack.

Why would you do somethign like this to yourself?

That thing isn't airsoft.. it isn't even soft air....

It's.... an abomination.

Someone put this man out of his misery.

M

Darklen · June 16th, 2006, 14:58

Geez, thanks for the "support" guys (jk). Well, someone had to get this POS and let the rest of the community know. Otherwise, I'm sure most would have thought, like me, it was just another "UTG" type gun, and it could be "fixed" with leftover TM parts, which is impossible. I'll just bide my time and get a complete gearbox from HK next time I do a local group order.

Just let all the newbs know not to get this gun. Getting an underperforming entry level AEG is bad enough for newbs, never mind buying this POS that can't shoot farther than I can throw.

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June 13th, 2006, 01:16	#1
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	Firepower AK47 Firepower AK47 Cost - $250 cdn (from CEL Surplus in Morinville) Comes with: Gun, 1 Metal clad lowcap (68 rnd), 1 8.4v Nimh battery (guessing 1100mah, as it's not marked), simple wall charger, unjamming/cleaning road, pistol mag type speed loader, horrible mesh type mask (not suitable at all for play), a small bottle of 0.12g bb's (mismolded for the most part, totally worthless) and the shittiest sling I have ever seen. No manual or box is included. The gun is pretty much the same as a TM AK from what I can tell. Externally. There's a reasonal amount of metal: bolt dust cover, mag, trigger guard & mag release, rear sight, some of the gas assembly and the muzzle break (which is removable and painted orange). The rest is plastic, similar to TM. Internally, the barrel assembly is the same, thought the barrel was filthy. Hop up assembly operates the same as TM. the big suprise is the mechbox, which is, well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves. That's right folks, it's plastic. Almost all of it. Shell, piston, piston head, cylinder head, cylinder, spring guide, gears, etc., etc., etc. Even the bushings are plastic, which with TM are about the only plastic parts in the mechbox other than the tappet plate, switch & the spring guide. I have only managed to chrono the gun, which shoots a solid 204pfs, +/- 1 fps. Yeah, a joke, but it is about half the price of a new TM. I have no inclination of upgrading this gun unless I find a metal V3 gearbox, preferably an AK. BTW, it's advertised as shooting 300 fps with 0.20g bb's I compared the Firepower AK with a fellow team members TM AK47S and they match up pretty close, visually. The "wood" on the TM is nicer, but that's about it really. Pretty much whats metal & plastic on the TM is the same on the Firepower. Performance testing did not go well. The gun has a range of about 50 feet. It does not matter what the hop up is set at, it just shoots like crap no matter what you do. It sounds pretty cool though, slow and clunky, just like a real AK. Also, the mags are NOT compatible with TM. The lip on the back of the Firepower mag that locks into the gun is thinner than TM so the TM mags won't lock in place, though they do feed well if held in place. So, you have two options, modify the TM mags to fit the Fiepower AK, making them worthless for TM guns again, or modify the gun to take TM mags, making the stock Firepower mag worthless as it's now too loose. Buyer beware, you definately get what you pay for here. __________________ *ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta*

June 13th, 2006, 11:20	#5
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	I bought the gun as a low priced rental. I'd hoped it would perform similar to the UTG MP5, so it'd be ok for newbies but if it broke after a season, so what, it'd be paid for. I hadn't read or heard anything about Firepowers stuff, so I also figured someone needed to be a guinea pig. I haven't had a chance to take the gearbox apart and see why it's shooting so crappy. I'd had a UTG MP5 I worked on that shot a range from 64fps to 108fps. I changed out the cylinder, cylinder head & nozzle and swapped the piston for a TM (all old parts I had kicking around) and now it shoots consitently 275fps. Hope I can do the same here. And if not, well, let's just say, better my money than yours. I'm not going to waste anymore cash on cheapo crap now. Rentals are going to be TM's. __________________ *ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta*

June 14th, 2006, 00:00	#6
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	Ok, it's worse than I thought. I took the gearbox apart and I dare say there is not one swapable part in it! The cylinder, cylinder head, nozzle & tappet plate are all molded as one piece! The piston is about 25% longer than a regular one and is about 25% smaller around. The gears are all different than standard, the anti-reversal latch is on the opposite side of the gear box. Even the spring guide is a different size at the base, the standard being smaller so it doesn't fit properly. I'll post some pics later, after I calm down a bit more. Too bad there's so much plastic. With a bit more metal, it's be a decent boat anchor. Beware DO NOT BUY A FIREPOWER GUN!!! This thing is worth $100, absolute tops. __________________ *ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta*

June 13th, 2006, 07:10	#2
Greylocks Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Gatineau, Quebec (Near Ottawa)	That's a LOT of money spent for what you got. Why did you get it in the first place?

June 13th, 2006, 10:46	#3
Spitfire Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Switzerland	sorry dude... but thats wase of money... :roll:

June 14th, 2006, 00:24	#7
Tankdude Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: East Coast, New Brunswick	the question now is, "can you drop in a TM mechbox?" OR "Are the gun parts reusable on other ak's?" You might just want to part it out and sell what you can.

June 14th, 2006, 02:13	#8
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	There's only one AK in our team and it's brand new, so I don't really want to be tearing it apart on a fellow team member, at least just yet. I'll try to drop in one of my G36 boxes to see if at least a V3 will fit. The original box "looks" the same. Everything else looks reasonably on par with TM, so if a TM AK box will drop in and I can find one cheap enough, that'll be the way to go. __________________ *ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta*

June 15th, 2006, 02:17	#9
sam0182 Trader rating Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: BC	You should be able to drop a TM (or other full metal v3 gearbox such as CYMA, DE, UTG) in there NP. I do agree that you may have paid a bit too much for the gun...but I also believe that you could make that back and more as a rental. That's odd that you're only getting a range of 50ft though...I can hit man targets to about 80ft w/mine - performance looks just like a TM Springer but w/semi and full auto. Hmmm...

June 15th, 2006, 03:02	#10
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	I'd hope to rent this gun out for the summer season to pay for itself (with the misguded belief it was similar in manufacter to the UTG line) and sell it off if a decent offer came along. But it'd pretty hard to rent out a gun that is outclassed by a stock UTG MP5. I have a stock shot to stt TM MP5 that shoots better than the Firepower gun. Don't get me wrong, I'm not pissed about the performance, I pretty much expected that, I'm pissed I can't just plop in some standard AEG parts to fix the problem because Firepower saw fit to ensure the gun is: 1)not upgradable (at least with standard parts) and, 2) not repairable (at least readily). Also, it's not like version 3 gearboxes are falling off the vine around here. I see Version 2's for sale every once and a while, I don't remember seeing a Version 3 up for sale. To put all this work into what looks like a decent, entry level AEG only to f it up by not having a gearbox than can be readily repaired/upgraded is crap. The UTG at least uses standard components, allowing damaged parts to be easily replaced and/or upgraded with commonly available parts. __________________ ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta**

June 15th, 2006, 13:18	#12
MMMiles! Part man, part machine Trader rating Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Toronto, Ontario	Wow.... rubs eyes.... still wow. Plastic gearbox would be kinda neat as a demo to show people how gearboxes work... but that's about all I can think of getting out of that gun.

June 15th, 2006, 20:07	#13
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	I'd thought of that when I first pulled it out for the first pictures. But since most of the moving parts in a standard gearbox aren't present in this one, it's kind of useless even for that. Here's some pics of the parts I'd hoped to replace, but can't Standard piston on top, Firepower piston below. Standard cylinder, cylinder head & nozzle on top, Firepowers All-In-One version below, with attached "Tappet plate" End on view of cylinders, standard on left, Firepower on right Piston heads, standard on left, Firepower on right __________________ *ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta*

June 16th, 2006, 14:58	#15
Darklen Administrator Trader rating Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Red Deer, AB	Geez, thanks for the "support" guys (jk). Well, someone had to get this POS and let the rest of the community know. Otherwise, I'm sure most would have thought, like me, it was just another "UTG" type gun, and it could be "fixed" with leftover TM parts, which is impossible. I'll just bide my time and get a complete gearbox from HK next time I do a local group order. Just let all the newbs know not to get this gun. Getting an underperforming entry level AEG is bad enough for newbs, never mind buying this POS that can't shoot farther than I can throw. __________________ *ASC Age Verifier for Red Deer & Area Alberta*

Firepower AK47

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