E&L Airsoft New Essential Version AK-74MN Airsoft AEG Rifle

"I've owned E&L AK's since the Gen 1's first came out, and have owned the Gen 2's, the "Spartans", and whatever other names they came up with. Always been a fan of the build quality, inside and out. The new "Essential" line kind of made me scratch my head and most people are wondering what the story is now that they've re-tooled and re-introduced their line up, so here goes: Same outstanding E&L external build quality: Everything is steel, beautifully finished, ultra realistic. Only external difference is the use of solid wood instead of laminated plywood. This is less realistic but I suppose saves them labor in production. I bought an AK-74MN with polymer furniture, so no issue for me. Where they cut costs is on the internals. The motor was previously a genuine neo magnet high torque motor; the new one is a standard, run of the mill, toss in the trash bin, garden variety motor. Piston and piston head are cheaper, and need replacing for a more dependable, higher performing build. Cylinder and cylinder head are also down-graded and I replaced these as well. Gearbox also has solid bushings now, instead of ball bearing bushings. I'm a 'semi only' player, so not an issue. Hop unit and barrel appear to be the same, as are the gears. So these are still great guns, they've just cut costs on the internals. If you're like me and always re-build everything under the hood, this is not an issue, and the external build quality of the "Essential" Line is still at the top of the AK food chain. Great price for what you get.

"You will not be able to attach legitimate side mounting optics due to the side mount rail being to fat and rounded. I have tried mounting my 1PN34 and 2 PSO scopes and they do not fit. However you can get a AK Master mount and slide that on (it may be very tight) for any other red dots and optics. But other than that the gun is very sturdy and accurate.