JG G36e Flat Top
Ordering:
I purchased this gun from ASGI on Monday the 7th and received it on Friday the 11th with normal ground shipping. Since Arizona is one state away, even normal shipping is going to be pretty fast. I bought this gun for $135 before their standard "Handling Fee", so the grand total is $137.75. There were no problems or anything to speak of.
Getting the gun/initials.
ASGI did the usually packing job and the packaging arrived with no physical damage by UPS. I opened the outer to find the typical brown cardboard box that JG clones usually come in. However, on the front it's labeled "Golden Eagle" and has "G36c" listed with a G36e picture. I opened the box to find that the gun and accessories are placed in quite a bit of black Styrofoam. Quite a bit as in the gun and accessories probably didn't move an inch. The gun itself was encase, with Styrofoam inserts on the top to keep the gun down. All of the parts were there, and the gun came with a "Golden Eagle" battery, charger, cleaning rod, and a G36c manual. The battery is a typical 8.4v 1100mah NiMAH. I don't know what the charger was, I always throw them away. There was also the typical ASGI paperwork with a chrono reading of 378.
The initial going over was a bit more than normal. The first thing I did was check all the parts to make sure they worked. All the problems/issues will be covered later. There were two big things I immediately noticed. The first being the non-standard hopup unit, and the second being this big chunk of ribboned metal I removed from the outer barrel while cleaning the inner. I thought this did damage to the IB, however upon removing the Outer barrel I discover it only has a G36c length IB. This gun does not have a full E length inner barrel like the old JG G36s. I also discovered a new part that appears to be a rear stabilizer for the barrel and IB assembly. These will be covered later.
The Gun:
For this I'll go front to back.
First up is the outerbarrel and flash hider. The flash hider is a bright orange and plastic. It appears to be held on by a hex screw, however there is this black medical piece sticking out the right side. I have no need to take off the flash hider, so I haven't tried to. But, this would prevent it from simply screwing off, unless it's just a pin. Unlike my previous JG G36, they have pinned in the iron sights and didn't screw them in.
The outerbarrel is metal with a bayonet lug. It twisted off CCW (to the left) from the IB assembly. It's painted black and has some wiggle. Given the short IB, it doesn't matter much that the outer moves a tad.
This is a standard G36e handguard, but it's different than the old JG G36e I use to have. This one is NOT a Star Clone and normal sized. Meaning most mini batteries will NOT work in it. The clone mini batteries work fine, however the higher end battery I have does not fit. This is due to clone batteries not having the wire cap my high end does. So, you might be a bit limited it what will fit. There is also the issue of the pin that holds the handguard in place. It's fairly loose and could be lost in a game if it. One might want to tape it down. It of course has the seems, but they are pretty well done. They can be felt and noticed, but nothing is open or standing out.
Feel wise it's solid and I had no issues with it when I used it. It's textured enough that one can grab it without slipping. Once on, it barely wiggles and isn't noticeable when playing. You'd actually have to sit there and try to wiggle it. I prefer this to the overly sized Star one the my old JG G36 had. It's easier to move and doesn't appear to have a fat front end.
However, JG helped negate most of the horrid issues with battery installation. The outer barrel is easily removable since there is only a G36c length inner(cover it later). You simple remove the Outerbarrel, take the handguard off, place battery, handguard on, outerbarrel on. This cuts the; time down
drastically, self inflicted injuries, swearing, and broken parts. There will be pictures of the IB assembly later. The only pain/funny thing is by doing so; your bayonet lug will no longer be centered. It's not a big deal but it's going to look funny.
There is also a bipod that comes with this model. It's easy to use and doesn't make the gun all that front heavy. It just seems that way due to it being light. To unfold it, you simply pull it down. Then to fold it you click the button and push it up. The bipod is held in my a single pin in the front. To remove this, take a screw driver and push the back of the pin forward. Then, take some pliers and pull it the rest of the way out. The only annoying thing is they are a tad loose. So when you grab the handguard they can move a bit. After awhile it get's annoying.
Body:
The body is fairly typical of JG G36s. It's a sturdy plastic that is slightly textured. It has no trademarks other than a warning sticker. The color of the plastic is uniform throughout the entire gun. The only metal parts are the screws, pins, selectors, and ejection port. The back of the body does has the standard metal plate for the stock. The only problem I've had with this plastic is the horrid time I'm having removing the paint from it. I used this gun at Fort Adobe and can't get the paint out of the texture. I'm finding myself using my nails to remove it since washing didn't work. Overall though, it looks and feels like a normal G36.
Sights:
The rail on this gun is plastic and the same black as the rest of the gun. The notches and grooves are clean except for 1 with a cast mark. The rails are like all G36s and held on by 3 screws and 3 back plates. If it's like my last JG G36, it'll have a dovetail underneath. Both the front and rear sights are metal and held in with pins. One important thing to note is standard scopes will NOT work with the rear sight. They will hit each other to a raised scope or the remove of the rear sight is needed. The rear sight has adjustments and 2 modes, a 100-200 meter and a 300 meter.
Magazine:
Unlike previous JG G36s I, and my brother, have had or have; this one isn't the same. This appears to be an SRC clone. So the plastic look fairly brittle, extremely reflective, and the trap door already doesn't lock after one use. It just clicks, but can be easily reopened with minuet force. This could be a problem if you carry multiple and move a bit. Other than that, it came with a butterfly winding tool and the magazine works fine.
IB Assembly:
Ok, this is where things get weird. First up, the gun does not have a forward barrel stabilizer like CAs and Stars do. My old JG didn't have one either. This gun though, has what appears to be a rear stabilizer attached to the IB assembly. The barrel screws onto it and prevent the IB assembly from moving. This part is connected to the handgaurd by the same way CAs are, a rail and slot. It's a large and metal part so JG must have thought it was important enough to have there. I do not know if this decrease the size of the outerbarrel or they left it alone. I no longer have another G36e outerbarrel to compare the two. To remove the IB, it's just a matter of removing the 3 screws and sliding it out. BE VERY CAREFUL doing this. They used thick wiring and the side of the IB assembly where the wires goes doesn't completely hide them. If you don't watch the wires carefully, you will damage the rubber or the wire itself. I taped them down further to help, but still use a small screw driver to keep them down.
First difference, beyond the above, is that there is no connector. The wires are connected by male to female metal plugs and covered by rubber. If you remove the IB too hard, they'll just release and no damage to the wiring is done. The only thing is both IB sides are black coated. The red wire has a streak of red on the black coating, the other does not.
The other thing is the hopup is NOT standard. I have never seen this type of hopup before. It appears to be a mashup of a G36 and an M4. This hopup actually goes to the GB and completely covers the nozzle unlike normal G36 hopups I will talk to performance later, but in it's normal state it was total garbage. It works just like a normal G36 dial hopup and has, what appears to be, a Madbull blue bucking. The inner barrel is also only a G36c length(why is later). Once the hopup was modded, it worked fine with no problems and was pretty accurate for a clone. It is very easy to adjust(adjusting is normal) and when I broke it down they had some clear grease coating the inside of the hopup and bucking nub.
Lower Receiver/GB:
Pretty much a standard JG lower. To remove it, simply take the hex pin out in the rear of the fun after all the other parts have been removed. It should just pop right out. There is nothing different about it other than the cylinder. As mentioned about, this only has a C length barrel. So, they did not put a full cylinder in it. Instead, it is a single side vented. It's as accurate as it's long barreled brother I once had. After using it, the selectors are all still painted on and the texture was good enough for it to not slip at all. The selectors both(ambidextrous) go into place with a good click, and don't wiggle or are loose.
The only weird thing is my mock slide release is dark green and sticks. Not really important/don't care about it but it's a bit odd.
The GB is probably a standard JG. I do not open GBs unless it's broken.
Stock:
Is more than likely a regular C length. My old one was a C length, and this one appears to be also. It has seem, and the only really noticeable one is on the gun side. It has a nice tiny gap that runs about 3cms to the right, and down 1cm to the metal plate. This isn't a big deal, but you will notice it. The stock also has the standard rubber buttpad all G36s do. There is no wiggle, and does not appear to be coming off at all. Also, the stock clicks into place with a good clank and does not move once locked. This being a clone, the folding part I'm not a fan of. It will fold and lock into place with some force, easier than the earlier versions, but the unfolding concerns me. It takes some force to remove it, so breaking the little notch on the stock is a concern of mine.
Performance:
I took the gun to Fort Adobe to give it a go. I chrono'd it at 320-330 with .25s but their chrono is low by about 20. So it's around 350 with .25s. ASGI gave me a paper with 375, but I pulled a huge chuck of ribboned metal from the outerbarrel while cleaning it. So I have no idea if they shot it or not.
I had a standard 3x9 scope on it to adjust the hop up and for general use. Immediately, I was having massive problems. The BBs were flying everywhere and nothing worked. The hopup dial did little/nothing to correct the path of the BBs. Often, they weren't even in my scope or flew off the the right by 50ft. The range was terrible and the accuracy was garbage. I put the gun away until I had time to look it over.
I did get the time, and noticed the massively different hopup was to blame. When I tore the hopup apart, I noticed they left some M4 parts on the top of the unit. There was a part that was entering the chamber before the bucking about a centimeter. The BBs were striking this plastic piece, then striking the bucking nub. This is obviously a huge problem. I removed the part, covered the opening with tape, and took it back out onto the field. It became incredibly accurate and had very good range for a clone. I took it home, cut the part to fit, and put it all back together. If it leaks; I've still got tape.
As for the small inner barrel. JG must have done this to aide the battery installation, and set up the GB to be a short IB gun. There is nothing wrong with this since short IB guns can have the same range and accuracy as long. The seals and hopup are more important. My best guess would be this new hopup is designed to due just that since it connects directly to the GB. Unlike normal G36 hopups, there is no bottom opening and almost no where for the air to go beyond forward(or into the mag) once fixed.
Top of Hopup
Parts/Problem part
