THE ARMOURY
and is another of the reasons this AK feels
so solid. The release catch for the top cover
works smoothly and, unlike many other AKs,
the top cover clicks back down effortlessly,
with or without a battery fitted. I own a
couple of AKs from two other well-known
manufacturers and I wish they fitted back
on this easily. With the top cover off there is
plenty of room to fit an 8.4v stick type battery
(to the point that you could quite easily fit
another cell in the space that is left). A 9.6v
would obviously up your rate of fire, but may
well invalidate your warranty with the retailer!
The small Tamiya connector is located at the
rear, close to the locking catch itself. The
magazine release catch is where you would
expect it to be, just forward of the trigger
guard.
The pistol grip (in black) is again something
I have not seen fitted to an AK. It is an
M249 type grip, which adds to the overall
chunkiness of the rifle, but does give an
excellent feel. The safety switch/fire selector
is solid, unlike many other AKs (which end
up all loose and floppy), and it gives an
audible click when it selects one of its three
positions. For those that have not owned or
used AKs before, safe is at the top, one click
Overview
The box itself is very unassuming, plain
brown with just a couple of labels on it to
let you know what you have purchased –
but hey, it’s only a box, stop picking on it.
But once you flip the lid, however, you will
see that this is probably the best and most
protective internal packaging for an airsoft
rifle ever seen. There are two layers before
you get to the gun itself, then the pre-cut
layer that rifle sits in, and another two layers
the other side of it. Alongside the rifle and
the magazine is a simple but informative
instruction sheet.
I couldn’t help but be surprised by how
chunky and solid-feeling the rifle felt as I took
it from the box. It has a decent heft, weighing
in at 3,500g. The other thing you cannot help
but notice is how striking the rifle looks. At
first, surprisingly, I wasn’t sure whether I’d
fall into the ‘love it’ or ‘hate it’ camp. Based
on an AK74, it’s not just an AK with a rail
system slapped onto it and called a ‘tactical’
“Based on an AK74, it’s not just
an AK with a rail system slapped
onto it and called a ‘tactical’
version – there is far more to it
than that!”
version – there is far more to it than that!
The stock is a Magpul PTS CTR stock (in
black), which is fitted onto an M4-style buffer
tube. The CTR stock has been available on
its own for some time, but for those of you
who aren’t familiar with it, its main feature is
a friction lock system which eliminates stock
movement when locked onto the buffer tube.
The receiver is dark earth in colour and has
ambidextrous charging handles (more about
them later). The receiver itself is full-metal
down is full-auto and two clicks (fully down)
is semi. It has standard AK front and rear
battle sights.
As I said earlier, a unique feature of the
Beta Project Tactical AK is the ambidextrous
charging handles. Although this gun is not
an electric blowback it does allow left- and
right-handed users to get to the hop adjuster
(located just inside the ejection port) more
easily. The hop adjuster itself is a sliding lever
and very simple to operate.
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