All I see is G&G
 

When I got into airsoft a couple of years ago I came to the conclusion, based on what I had read and had been told, that G&G guns are not that good.

However G&G is every where, at least here in the GTA. Some stores are almost entirely made up of G&G, even at the Airsoft Convention there were more G&Gs than any other brand.

Does anyone know why G&G is so prevalent?

Also has their quality improved or was I misinformed about their quality to begin with?

G&G has seriously stepped up their game, and a lot of models that people based their opinion on during the Cansoft days were those crappy budget 'Combat machines'.

Now most G&G toptech guns are well built and reliable, a good portion of my collection is G&G.

IMO they're average.

I personally wouldn't get one unless it was from their Top Tech line (even then I'd probably stray towards G&P or VFC at that kind of price). Also their "Combat Machine" line is a joke IMO, I'm not sure how true this is but I heard (don't remember where and it's probably an unreliable source) the CM gearboxes use "lower tier"/binned parts compared to their "regular" line which use parts from batches that have better tolerances. Again, not sure if it's true or not but it kind of makes sense, not to have 2 production lines for different parts but to put parts that don't meet the higher QC standards into lower bins (eg. Phenom 955 vs Phenom 555 CPU chips).

Reason why they're prevalent is because they were one of the first to establish a strong foothold in Canada/US with average guns at reasonable-ish prices. I don't know how their story is for the US but in Canada around 08-ish they were being imported in decently high volume for Canada and could undercut everyone else like Classic Army, G&P, TM, etc. who usually had higher prices that were only slowly falling down.

Then you have concepts like product inertia and first to market where competitors need to try and catch up but can't because of the prevalence of another product (eg. Dvorak vs qwerty keyboard).

tl;dr Billy 12 year old gets a G&G (an average gun for an average price) because it's awesome and better than the CT/Wally world specials and all his friends want one now disregarding other brands like G&P, VFC, TM, CA, KA, JG etc. Momentum keeps G&G "winning" compared to other brands that might have the same or slightly better products.

Personally I don't own any G&G but I've kind of curbed my airsoft purchases for now trying to save up for other stuff (a KTM Duke and Carbon 29er MTB).

G&G is everywhere because they are money makers. They are average guns but retailers get good prices on them compared to other brands.

I've worked on a few, they are not bad internally but I find their externals lacking.

You can run these guns stock for extended periods of time with little maintenance. The other most obvious reason is compared to brands like VFC or G&P is that those 2 have many issues preforming for extended periods of time. You are paying for the body that they have. TM is harder to find and has been for a long time due to how they viewed at the border. I'm surprised though that CA isn't more popular but then again that could be a cost thing. People want things cheap.

TL;DR:
G&P, VFC great externals, poor reliability, higher price
CA good externals, good reliability, higher price
G&G average externals, good reliability, average price
TM average externals, good reliability, higher price

Yeah I wasn't impressed with their externals either, then again it might have been one of their combat machine airsoft guns.

Also as L473ncy mentioned I think I would be better off spending money on a VFC or in my case LCT than G&G's top tech line. I'm looking for a solid aeg AK and I'm guessing LCT over top tech.

Kudos to G&G for improving their reputation (top tech) and becoming prevalent in the market, but for now I'm still sticking with the more established brands for high end AEGs.

Profit margin is huge, and there are wholesales local that have it

G&G was first to take the Canadian market seriously. They didn't just take on distributors in Canada, they took on 3 seriously established wholesale distributors in Canada,
Unfortunately they all ended up being in the GTA area..

I've got nothing against G&G but that's all some retailers carry. As a consumer, it's nice to have different choices. That's why I'm a fan of stores like Toronto airsoft, airsoft depot, niagara quartermaster. Not only do they carry different brands but they can order in stuff.

I used to have an m4(7or8 years ago) and currently have an m14ebr(amazing look and feel). M4 took alot of abuse and kept going for a long time especially considering it was an entry level plastic body. I've had the m14 for 2 years now without issue, she's a great gun. I also have an Xtreme45 pistol and while she is intermittently leaky, packs a good punch, and fires hot(I play outdoors so this is a good thing for me). G&G builds a good gun(decent internals, upgradeable, good compatibility) for a good price. I would recommend their product, and have.

From what I've seen G&G has also got some decent bolt action rifles. The G980 (Kar98k) is a sturdy little gas rifle and they've also got a few designs (WW2) coming out that look to be leaps and bounds over most other manufacturers. They look to be putting an honest effort into their production runs.

While their AR line is pretty meh, they've got some exellent guns. Their Sigs, UMP, AK5C, M14s and G3s are great. I was greatly surprised by the build quality of their new AKs (LCT bodies I believe)

Other then my CA AK, I own 2 G@G Rifles.
My 6 year old G@G M4 has been modded too the tits But other then that is rock solid.
My EBR Is the Best machine I have ever shot.
Its Good for 200+ feet on a dime, Its 16 BPS Stock If you use the Auto, I don't.
Its rock solid, Not a Cyma.

It was worth every cent spent.

I will Never look at G@G as average, They perform with the best, Proven by my EBR.

Anyone care too test this, Ill put my stock G@G TopTech EBR up against any DMR Or AR, Ill Also sweeten the pot by adding a 50$ bet saying this gun with my Shooter can match any top end DMR/AR gun out their.

In my experience, and also of others/friends I know that have had to deal with G&G, they also have probably one of the best airsoft customer service/support.

Parts, and stuff are super easy to order and get ahold of imo. No stupid answers like with ICS which require you to contact your local distributor (need to spend min $5k before they will deal with you, and ended up having to buy stuff overseas retailers via friends in person since the local distributor doesn't have stock/stock the items I want). *To be fair, getting TM parts are annoying too, but thankfully, you don't often need to deal with TM.*

Never had an OOS issue buying parts and accessories from G&G yet either.


I only have 2 G&G guns though (Kar98 and Scar L).

I'm very confident with the Toptech line of M4s. Mines has never let me down, and with minimum upgrades (just a new inner barrel) it's everything I need it for.

The blowback mechanic is a gimmick, as you can barrely feal any difference, however it does make it so the gun produces a beefier report than the standard zzzip zzzip.

I got to disagree.

VFC is very good in terms of reliability (We are talking AEGs here) and TM is airsoft GOD in the realm of reliability.

+1.

It actually depends on the gun model. I have VFC Scar H, SSR, PDW, all perform well out of the box. And great externals.

I also have G&G M14 EBR Max, F2000 Hunter, also perform well in stock form.

So it's actually "you get for what you pay for".

I really like to suggest them as starter guns

-they're inexpensive considering;
-they're very marui compatible inside and out
-fairly decent metal bodies
-good consistency of "quality" (not like G&P where every 4th gun is a total demon)
-average stock performance, can be upgraded to be pretty good
-excellent option between chinasoft and VFC/G&P

TM is GOD in stock form but with the average FPS most people run now they need a few good parts. Like the bushings. Which is why I only say good reliability.

I guess we have seen very different results with VFC.
But most AEG's with a few parts can be made to be incredibly reliable.

Well G&G has gotten into paintball stores as well. Badlands and Premium never carried airsoft stuff.

If you have visited a Badlands recently, one side of the wall has a limited amount of paintball gun choices, but on the opposite wall, edge to edge with G&G and all G&G accessories.

Paintball business is flat, but airsoft is booming.

Also should be noted that G&G is a MASSIVE advertising and product pushing whore. They've done pretty much anything they've needed to do to get their products into Canada.

Unfortunately marui isn't worth buying anymore, the older models haven't been updated for use outside japan, and if you're planning to run them up to 400fps, you pretty much need a drop in mechbox. Otherwise;
-new mechbox shell or sorbo
-bushings
-gears
-possibly the piston, they're good but not the toughest available
-motor, they're well tuned, but don't have a lot of torque
-cylinder head, plastic
-piston head (if you get an old ass unvented one)
-air nozzle, not sure but I don't think marui had the O-rings in them

And if you want a metal body on it? Just buy a new gun, it'll be cheaper lol

TM reliable, yes but... Take a look at any TM metal components and you'll realise how shitty their low melting point Japanese legal metal is. Their gears look like garbage, their gearbox shells are so soft I can BEND motor cages by hand. Not flex, BEND. Stick a TM level spring in almost any gun and it'll last forever.

As for VFC I'm fairly impressed with their guns. Their externals on their ARs and SCARs are the best hands down. Their internals are good, not great, but good. Air seal has always been great in stock form, and my latest VFC even came with a neo motor.

I think we know by now that TM is not interested in the market outside Japan. Their laws limits them to under 1 Joule so why would they need to make their gear box support heavier springs?

Although TM have terrific detail and quality on their plastic injection and cast alum components, upgrading the spring for North American gaming will kill the TM gear box.

With more and more popular Polar Star HPA conversions, TM externals would be ideal.

Just recently Wolverine Airsoft announced their AEG HPA drop in kits with lower pricing than Polar Star, and it looks like they are undercuting Polar Star for a share of that pneumatic conversion business.

http://popularairsoft.com/news/wolve...-msrp-revealed

Actually VFC has the best externals for the polarstar kits, since the polarstar was designed on a VFC lol

When I first became interested in airsoft it was because some guy opened a hobby shop here in town called "Northern Hobbies", all he sold were G&G products and back then I had no idea about the various brands or inner workings of airsoft. I knew about companies like TM that carried a big reputation and when I asked him about that he told me,

"Oh, yeah... G&G is pretty much a rebrand of Tokyo Marui." ...

At the time, I took his word on it. I never did buy any of his guns, because the mark up was high and he only carried four different guns (an AK, M4, M14 & MP5, I believe) but I was converted from paintball from that interaction. Decent enough guy, but the store closed down only after a few months of operation.

I would recommend G&G to somebody who wanted to try out airsoft without breaking the bank, even their Combat Machine Line (compared with a CYMA or Jing Gong) is okay so long as you are prepared for frequent breakdowns. As most of you mentioned, parts availability is better for G&G so you can beef up the internals and have a decent skirmishing gun.

Maybe on V2's. TM V3's and others can handle 400fps springs just fine.

I wouldn't say that's true. Yes the parts in them are not as good as the Toptechs, but they're perfectly good rifles that can last years.

I don't dispute that but I find things last much longer when they are properly maintained, some people forego that simple rule and just chuck 'em in a box when they're done playing with it.

AEG's are pretty low maintenance. For example I owned my G&G Sig550 for 2 or 3 years, then decided to open up the mechbox to take a look. Took a look, OK looks fine, very little wear. Closed it back up, been running it for another 2 years or so.

Generally AEG's only need to be opened up if something breaks.

badlands is one of the 3 distributors, they have embraced Airsoft whole heartedly

I started out with my first and second guns as G&G's. They were both Top Techs. Both were decent guns but both had feeding issues and from what ive leanred also have weak gearbox housings (crack easy with a higher spring upgrade). I am a KWA guy for life! Open up a KWA and put it beside any gun internally "stock" and the KWA will win hands down (just my opinion). There is not too many guns you can drop in a m150 spring and need no internal upgrades without having problems.

My G@G Gear box has been running a Lonex 120 spring for 2 months now.
Not 1 issue with the shell.

Top Tech and G@G all the way.
Why pay more.

Ah, this takes me back to 2009 when I started airsoft... My first M4 was a G&G. I don't remember what type (maybe a Combat Machine before it was called that) and I changed it because I was tired of the plastic body and wanted a metal one. And also, it wasn't very polyvalent, the parts were more complicated to change than on other brands.

But it was a perfomer, had a ton of fun with it until I sold it.