Review by Dragon M. on April 13, 2008.


Over the many years, CYMA has produced crappy plastic gearbox guns. Somehow, someway, they decided to actually be useful and use metal gearboxes on their guns.

They started off with the CM.027 MP5 and CM.027 MP5J. At it's time, it was a great alternative to the Tokyo Marui. However, it suffered from selector switch and cut-off lever problems. It also has hop-up compatibility problems. Today, the CM.027J MP5 is not a clone MP5 you would be going for. There are better such as the Jing Gong or Echo 1.

After the CM.027, the CM.028 AK-47 series appeared. The CM.028 AK-47 was vastly better than the CM.027 MP5. The first version had hop-up incompatibilities. They also brought out the CM.028S, the AKS-47 with an underfolding stock that would eventually fall off. Later revisions fixed the hop-up incompatibilities. Today, the CM.028 is compared to the ARMY AK-47. Many say the ARMY AK-47 has the CYMA AK-47 beat even though it has quite a lot of compression problems.

CYMA's third metal gearbox series guns was the CM.030 Glock 18C AEP. Nearly cloning the Tokyo Marui Glock 18C AEP completely, CYMA had created an affordable and durable AEP that could compete with the Tokyo Marui.

After the CM.030, they created the CM.031 AK-74. Following, they created the CM.033 Thompson for Cybergun rebranding. They took another step up and created the CM.032 M14. It had an amazing tightbore to increase accuracy. Following the CM.032 M14, CYMA models included tightbores such as the CM.035 AKS-74U, CM.036 AKM, CM.037 AK Beta, and many different revisions to the CM.031.

Sadly, the CM.030 did not include a tightbore barrel. It would have been a very good idea they did due to the short barrel length. But the CM.030 boasts many good features that other CYMA guns do not.

You can get the CM.030 Glock 18C at many places. I got mine personally from Evike.com. Many people dislike Evike so AirsoftGI may be a good alternative for many of you.

The CYMA Glock 18C came with a Version 1 and a Version 2. Version 1 came with a few problems and with a bad battery. Version 2 fixed these problems.
Rumor has it that a Version 3 had appeared. At this time, CYMA has NOT created a Version 3 to the Glock 18C nor have they planned to. If you buy from a place that advertises their CYMA Glock 18C as Version 3, it's most likely a Version 2.

Table of Contents
1. First Impressions
2. Quick Real Steel Overview
3. External Overview
4. Magazine
5. Internals
6. Performance
7. Modifications, Accessories, and Aftermarket Support
8. Pros/Cons
9. Conclusion

1. First Impressions
Upon receiving my gun, I opened it up. It looked pretty basic. It sure wasn't realistic but did not boast a toy look either.

However, holding it was a completely different story. New, it felt like a toy. The plastic was extremely smooth and felt cheap.
Compared to ALL the clones I've used, the CYMA Glock HAS to be one of the cheapest feelings new, ever. However, after getting used to it, you wont notice it at all.

The box for the CM.030 is a gray box very similar to the Tokyo Marui.

Inside the box, you get the following:

-CYMA CM.030 Glock 18C
-200mA AEP Battery Wart Charger
-Battery
-Speed Loader
-30 Round Metal Low-Cap Magazine
-100 Decent Quality BBs
-Unjamming Rod

The battery included us a 500mAh 7.2V Ni-MH (2/3NP) AEP battery.

Unlike other CYMA batteries, small and large, this one is good quality.
CYMA's batteries have always been terrible. They give low rate of fire and have terrible discharge rates. However, with the CYMA G18C battery, things have changed. More on this will be mentioned later.

The charger included is a wart charger giving output of DC 7.2V 200mA.

Due to this, you should charge the battery for 2 hours and 45 minutes.

The other accessories are the speed loader, BBs, and the unjamming rod.

The speed loader is of decent quality. Compared to the lovely ones that come with Wal-Mart springers, this one actually feels like it'll last.
The BBs are decent and about Crosman BB quality. Feel free to use them as they didn't jam in the gun.
The unjamming rod is there to unjam your gun or clean the barrel. I've never needed to unjam my gun, so all it's used for really is to clean your barrel.

2. Quick Real Steel Overview
Click Here
Click Here

3. External Overview
The gun's appearance is mediocre. In low light, it looks very nice. Once you actually get light, you can tell it's plastic.
With the battery in it, it's still pretty light. It's not the same weight as the real steel and probably 2/3 the weight of it.

It fits in my hand nicely. At first, it feels plasticly. Later when you get used to it, it'll feel normal. The grip is probably the best of the "feel" in the gun. It's texture adds to the comfort of the gun.

The right side of the gun features the safety and a few words.

Above the grip, "MADE IN CHINA" is shown.

On the grip, "CM.030" is shown.

The two sets of words aren't realistic.

The safety of the gun is actually the take down lever of the gun.

It's a little bit hard to pull down when your hand is on the grip so you'll most likely need to use your other hand. If you pull the trigger when the safety is on, it feels like the safety or trigger may break if you put enough pressure onto it.
The safety is supposed to the on the trigger. However, since the trigger safety is trademarked by Glock, CYMA must of decided it was not worth the trademark problems. This is one difference from the Marui, as the Tokyo Marui AEP offers the trigger safety.

The left side of the gun features the selector switch and the mag catch.

Unlike GBBs and the real Glock, the slide release and the take down lever on this side do not work and are just molded onto the plastic.

The selector allows you to choose from automatic or semi.
The semi setting is when the selector is up like this:

The automatic setting is when the selector is down like this:

Unlike GBBs, a halfway setting does not give you a safety setting.

On the grip, CYMA has replaced the Glock trademark with a CYMA trademark.


The mag catch is close to the grip.

You push it down and the magazine is released.

Underneath the gun, there is nothing.

Where the serial plate is supposed to be, there's just a block of plastic.
But you can mount things here. More on this will be explained later.

Below the grip, there's the motor adjustment.

There WAS a sticker here. If you receive a sticker with the gun, that means it's a Version 2.

The slide is made of a smooth and thin type of plastic.

Although it is a smooth and thin type of plastic, it seems very durable.
The ejection port doesn't really look like an ejection port. It looks like it's one piece, which it is.

Upon the slide, there sits the sights.

They have white sight aids to help you aim quickly.

You can also remove the slide by pushing this button at the back of the slide:

Doing so results in the battery compartment and the hop-up unit.

You can place the battery in the battery compartment at the front of the gun:

You can remove the battery by pulling back the lever (blue). You can adjust the hop-up with the wheel (red).


4. Magazine
The magazine included is a 30 round magazine. It's not a full sized one due to the design of the AEP.



You can put BBs in by sticking your speedloader at the top and loading it.

After it is full, it will look like this:


You can then take your gun and look for the magwell.


Put the magazine in and you're ready to shoot.


The mag is great. It is metal, there are no misfeeds, and it actually feeds every single BB.

Now, there are some compatibility issues with the CYMA AEP mag and the Tokyo Marui AEP mag.

The CYMA's mags are a bit thicker than the Tokyo Marui mags. This means that CYMA mags will have a bit of a problem fitting in the Marui. However, they still do fit but just wont drop out when you push the magazine release.
Otherwise, Marui mags will work in the CYMA with no problems at all.

You can get a hi-cap mag for this gun. However, note that CYMA hi-caps are low quality and have problems feeding. Therefore, a Tokyo Marui hi-cap mag is recommended over the CYMA hi-cap mag.

5. Internals
The internals of the CYMA G18C combined with the performance and the usage of batteries are the main points of getting this gun. You're not going to get this gun because of externals because they're plastic. You're not going to get this gun because of realism because there's no blowback like GBBs.

So how does one-third of the equation do?

Well, let's start of saying this is one of CYMA's better jobs at internal work from my experience with CYMA.

The first step of removing the cover.

This reveals the nozzle assembly. Once you disassemble it, you get the nozzle and it's spring.

The nozzle is made of polycarbonate.

Moving up, you can see the trigger and barrel.

The trigger assembly is made of metal while the trigger is made of plastic.
The barrel is made of brass. Also note the differences in the hop-up bucking and the barrel itself from regular AEG barrels and bucking. (AEP: Left | AEG: Right)


To get the gearbox loose, you need to get rid of the grips.
Sadly, the grips are attached by an extremely sticky substance.

You have to remove pins under the grip and also in other places.

Once the gearbox has been removed and freed, it will look like this:


Opening up the gearbox, I was quite impressed by the gearbox compared to other CYMA gearboxes I opened.


There was a decent shim job and plastic bushings. There are no need for metal bushings at the FPS the CYMA Glock 18C gives.

The gearbox shell seemed pretty strong as well.
The grease used was actually a decent one compared to the ones used in typical CYMA guns below CM.031 and the CM.033.
Although green, it was actually doing it's job instead of drying off and dying.

Starting at the bottom, there is a mini motor like the ones you find in little toys.

Even though this motor doesn't look very nice, it actually gives phenomenal rate of fire to the gun unlike all motors before the CM.032 M14 plus the Thompson.

Next up are the gears.
There are four gears.

Three out of four are steel. CYMA appears to have copied the Tokyo Marui design this time and used an aluminum sector gear.
However, that is just fine due to the FPS the gun has.
The gears are actually quite durable. They seem to have a very high chance of holding up.

The anti-reversal latch is very long compared to regular AEG anti-reversal latches.

The spring guide and spring are next.

The spring guide is made of polycarbonate plastic. Once again, due to the weak spring, there is really no need for a metal spring guide.
The spring is an AEP spring. It's no where as long as a full sized AEG spring.

Next up is the piston.

The piston has 7 teeth where one of them are metal.
The piston is polycarbonate like the other guns CYMA has made.
The piston head is ported to reduce stress on the gearbox.


Finally, there are the cylinder head and cylinder.

The cylinder head is polycarbonate.

The compression the gun isn't bad. It could be better though. The fact that this is an AEP usually means you dont expect extreme compression. But it's decent and I would leave it that way.

Overall, the gun's internals seem perfect for itself. It will most likely last a long time. For $40-$50, it's not a bad deal.

6. Performance
The CYMA G18C has amazing performance for a little gun like it.

First off is the FPS. The FPS averages out as 192FPS. That's a bit low, but it's compensated by an amazing hop-up.

You can expect the maximum range to be around 110' feet with the effective range around 85' feet with a .20 gram BB. This is with the hop-up on. Without the hop-up, the CYMA's range would decrease by a ton.
Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that the hop-up is great.

The accuracy of the gun isn't very good compared to AEGs. Of course, this is an AEP with a short barrel and low FPS. From 50' feet and .20 gram BBs, I achieved a 5.5" inch grouping range. Then again, why would you engage with an AEP above 50' feet anyways?

Finally, the rate of fire.
The rate of fire compared to many other CYMA guns is MUCH better.
The Glock gives you 12 rounds per second on a fully charged battery.

Therefore, the rate of fire is 720 rounds per minute. Maybe not THAT high, but much better than other CYMA guns.

7. Modifications, Accessories, and Aftermarket Support
There are plenty of things you can use for the CYMA.

First, you could buy metal slides. If you buy one that works for the Tokyo Marui G18C AEP, you'll need to modify the selector switch before it works. Afterwards, you'll be able to have a metal slide. You can get some here.

You could also by a CM.030 G18C rail system from GunnerAirsoft.com. Then you could attach your favorite accessories to the top of it.

Aftermarket support of the CYMA G18C is available, but limited.
My first suggestion is getting a tightbore or even a crowned barrel. This will improve accuracy by a ton, which the gun needs.
Afterwards, you may want to buy a new spring.
Nineball is a company that makes these things. They are widely available in Hong Kong, so check there if you cant find anything from Nineball.

8. Pros/Cons

Pros
Good Internal Durability
Although Plastic, Very Nice External Durability
Excellent Hop-up
Excellent Range For Size
Nearly All Marui Compatible
Metal Gearbox
Polycarbonate Piston
Good Shimming/Greasing
Long Lasting and Excellent Battery
Works Great In Cold Weather
Decent Compression
Upgradeable
It's CYMA: Increased Quality Since the CM.027 MP5

Cons
Everybody and Their Mother Has a Glock
All Plastic Outer Construction
Low FPS
Aluminum Sector Gear
Fixed Slide
No Blowback
Very Unrealistic
Magazine Slightly Fatter Than Marui Magazines
Less Aftermarket Support

9. Conclusion
The CYMA CM.030 Glock is the ideal sidearm for those who live where it snows for a serviceable sidearm all year round; GBB's do not function well in the cold.
Do you live in a all-year-round-warm area? The a GBB will most likely service you better?
But if you dont, this AEP is for you.

It performs amazingly for it's size even with the low FPS.

Just for the fun of it, I have included The Crimson Falcon's Review Rating Checklist.

External Score: 32/50
Internal Score: 25/50

Total: 57/100
57% (F)

For an AEP, 57% is actually very surprising considering my CYMA Thompson only got 60%.