Unicorn AKS74UN issues

Fiach Dubh

Per request I'm putting this post up on the problems I've encountered with the Unicorn so far. First a quick rundown;

Cheap bolt with handle welded on (may snap off under heavy pressure)
Wooden foregrip not seated correctly.
Folding stock wobbly on some production models.
Upper body not seated properly on some guns (Dealer construction error)
Front sight post not seated correctly on some guns (Dealer construction error)
24mm muzzle break adapter is missing it's grub screw.
Cheap wiring on gearbox.
No fuse on gearbox.
Gearbox fire selector arm miscast and missing teeth (Critical failure is 100% assured)

Now the problems in more detail;

Bolt: The bolt is incorrect for a start. It's an AK47 style bolt and about 30 years out of date for the AKSU. The finish on the bolt is bad and doesn't match the rest of the gun. The bolt runs free along the gearbox and has no guide arm, when the receiver cowl is opened the bolt will fall out.

Foregrip: The foregrip is strong being made of Oak but the finish is very bad, one coat of cheap varnish. Sanding down and revarnishing is no problem however and only takes a few hours. There are two ways of reseating the grip so there is no gap between it and the body, the first being to open the grubscrew holding the front sight (which also holds the grip assembly) and moving the assembly back a few mm, this will put more pressure on the grip tang (a little metal piece located in the lower foregrip that looks like a pair of fangs) replace grubscrew when desired look is found. The other way is to take a pliers and bend the tang a small amount to make it shorter, although this may result in the lower grip being able to slide back and forth a bit.

Folding stock: Some have no wobble at all, others have a small amount of up and down play, no more then 1-2mm's. This isn't much of a problem as many RS skeleton stock AK's have this issue. Some Unicorn's have a more acute play in the stock though. You can shim the stock by taking it off the body at the hinge joint and slipping a small washer into the hinge, this will close up the gap causing play.

Upper Body: The AKSU has a spring loaded cowl that stays on the gun when opened unlike the AK74/47 which the cowl comes off completely. If the body is not assembled correctly the cowl won't sit on the receiver correctly and the retaining catch can't hold it in place as the cowl spring is pulling it upward with more force then the catch can resist. The result is while the cowl may look secure it isn't, when firing the AEG the vibration from the gearbox will slowly work the catch forward and the cowl will shoot upward, that's a large slab of steel flying into your face at high speed. I got hit in the cheek bone twice with it, trust me it hurts. The problem is located in the large metal block in front of the receiver cowl, it's this part that holds the entire upper assembly of the gun onto the lower portion. Inside this block is another grubscrew, remove this screw and slide the block back and forward until you find the correct position where the cowl locks down completely, replace grubscrew, job done.

Front sight post: This one is easy, if you find the sight is lying to the left or right and not square on then remove the sight post grubscrew and reseat it.

24mm Thread adapter: They all seem to be minus the grubscrew, all three of mine and every other person who's posted about them. The lack of screw can cause the muzzle break to rattle. The only fix beyond getting a grubscrew is to remove the muzzle and tighten up the adapter, then screw the muzzle back on, slowly! The muzzle and adapter are contra threaded so when the muzzle reaches it's tightening limit the adapter will start to unscrew and you'll have to start the process all over again. Annoying but not insurmountable.

Gearbox: The word on the net is that the Unicorns have CYMA 031 (AK74) gearboxes installed, they don't, I own 3 CYMA 031's and the gearboxes are excellent on all 3, the gearboxes in the Unicorn's are the antithesis. For a start they have 028 cast on the side clearly indicating they are CYMA 028 (AK47) gearboxes, however having seen 028 gearboxes before I have a hard time believing they are even that. The wiring's of the worst quality I've ever seen, the insulation is rotten and will rip like paper very quickly. Instead of having a fused portion of wiring connected to the gearboxes main connector it has just the main connector so you have no failsafe if anything untoward happens, all the way up to the battery overheating and exploding in your face during a game, not incredibly likely but not impossible.

Now we get to the real meat and potatoes of the gearboxes problem, the fire selector arm; it's junk. All three of mine were miscast and I've heard of others being the same. This makes me believe these gearboxes are factory seconds, seconds not good enough to be put in clones, think about it! With the missing teeth the selector arm will keep slipping it's timing as you move the selector switch until ultimately it will fall down completely and your AEG is bricked right in the middle of a game. This happened to me with two of them in the space of an hour during a game. I know of nobody who sells these components seperately, so you are looking at so much junk inside your AEG from day one.

With all of that being said I'm still optomistic about the Unicorn, it has it's high points, the full steel construction can't be ignored, the thing feels great. It also has a tightbore barrel installed which is a nice plus. Fortunately I have a spare Tokyo Marui gearbox from my stripped AK Beta so I'll be installing it and see what occurs as soon as I put a 1 joule spring in it, it's only firing 242 fps at the moment.

I'll update this as I install the new gearbox. Pictures to follow.

Masada

isnt this more of a review than a reuest for help?.,
maybe better off in here.,
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=997

Fiach Dubh

No it's not a review, I'm putting it up as more of a techinical guide as I'll be detailing the work I'm doing on it. It doesn't have many of the things to qualify it as a review. However if the mods think otherwise then fair enough.

Masada

no was just ment as a suggestion mate, thought you might not have known about it since it was only added lasy week.,;)

Fallschirmjager

well i think its a great post fiach...nothing short of disgraceful on the gearbox...outrageous is a better word....why didnt they just sell it without them for gods sake then putting piles of ****e like that in it...talk about cheesing off your customer base...

Fiach Dubh

Thanks Fall I agree with you, they should have sold it as a kit and not a complete AEG as either way you slice it it's not a gun for new players or those who aren't mech minded, it just has too many problems. Without the gearbox in the cost it would probably be worth getting a Systema gearbox for it.

Fiach Dubh

vtec wrote: »

no was just ment as a suggestion mate, thought you might not have known about it since it was only added lasy week.,;)

No problem man. I've been having a bit of a crappy week, sorry if I seemed short.

kinkstr

Fallschirmjager wrote: »

well i think its a great post fiach...nothing short of disgraceful on the gearbox...outrageous is a better word....why didnt they just sell it without them for gods sake then putting piles of ****e like that in it...talk about cheesing off your customer base...

I agree 100% on this, if it wasnt for Fiach buying his ones first id planned on buying one and fcuk im glad i didnt now, nothing pisses me off more than paying good money on something only to find out the build quality and components are dirt.
I see that Cyma and i think Dboys also have released 74's with wood kit to, i wonder how they will compare to the Unicorn version.

Boston

I'm glad to see this here, I was pretty amazed when reading your posts on another thread, and I think the issues with this AEG definitely need to be highlighted, both for new players looking to buy, and experienced ones looking to mod.