Cheapsofting
From Airsoft Community Wiki
A new breed of airsoft.
China recently seems to have opened the floodgates on their airsoft replicas, and the news seems good.
Generally exact, or close to exact, replicas of the models already out from one manufacturer or another (Tokyo Marui seems to be a favourite for these "clones"), the weapons seem to be produced with a similar external finish to the Tokyo Marui versions, and internally, seem to be fairly good normally too, often with higher FPS ratings that the marui originals. All of this, at a price usually around £40+P&P.
This sort of cost, for what seems to be a weapon of typical reliability and quality (bar a few reccurrent problems, such as crosswiring) complete with a battery, charger, and often a hicap, could open the door to many people, of many ages, with much lower budgets. It lowers the cost of starting the sport to newbies, and whats more, possibly the most important part of this revolution, the price of these replicas means they are a way for airsofters to own every replica they wanted, at a fraction of the price...
Also, as most of these weapons are clones of Tokyo Marui ones, it is believeable that most aftermarket accessories, including upgrades and metal bodies for example, should fit these weapons too, remedying the lack of trades that most seem to suffer from, although, it must be noted, that Chinese manufacturers are starting to trademark weapons, for example the M203 and BELL M1911 which feature 'COLT' markings and the D-Boys FN SCAR, which uses pictures from the FN website.
Since many of the companies such as Jing Gong have been found to work with the Tokyo Marui components adds to the popularity of the clone guns. Although in order to keep these in working order a good clean out an new internals may be required more often than a Tokyo Marui, Classic Army or ICS gun.
As a final note, the Chinese seem to be in tune with the market too, having released all the models that are selling well for the Japanese manufacturers, and also being the first in the world to produce the SCAR.
For more info, contact Misklin on ASCUK, Or visit; [1]
