JG1101 EBB Full Metal [WORKS J.G.]

Great budget friendly LMG, good for trying out supporting.
Pros:
kinda light
Electric blowback is awesome and nicely done
decent hopup and firing range
real wood/steel in nice price
battleaxe steel midcaps fit extremely tight
Cons:
large stock does not equal big battery space
ebb turns off hopup, but can be easily fixed
not every mags fit, you have to try

This is the absolute best budget-friendly LMG you’re going to get on the market right now.

Before buying a JG1101, my experience with the manufacturer, JG Works, has been mixed at best. I used to own a T3-K3 (G3), which was outright disappointing, so I’ll have to admit I was a bit cautious before buying this replica.

The JG1101 RPK (and this whole new, JG EBB AK-series) has been however, a very pleasant surprise so far.

For starters, you’re not going to get many properly working LMG replicas around a 220 euro price tag, definitely not ones made of wood+metal, with a working electric blowback system. The metal parts of the replica are solid steel, while the wood itself is very smoothly made. The EBB system is not something I knew I was missing, but it really enhances the realistic feel of an airsoft gun, especially a machine gun. Everyone loves hearing that classic „ra-ta-ta-ta” sound when letting off a few bursts with an LMG, seeing the bolt slide back as it fires really ups the experience a notch. Also, it has a foldable bipod attached, which you can fold and unfold according to your static defense needs.

The internals are surprisingly good as well. Obviously, it’s not a sniper rifle, but running the gun on full factory settings, you can use it for a fire support role on a solid 40 meters. Obviously, changing the hopup helps, but it runs quite well out-of-the-box, without any enhancements. What you need to pay attention is that there is an „L” shaped plastic piece below the dust cover that sometimes falls out, reinforcing its side with a 2x1 centimeter duct tape piece however, easily solves this problem. Also, the gun runs with a V3 gearbox, which is easy to do maintenance on and should be familiar to every airsoft mechanic in the world.

The gun is not very picky when it comes to magazine compatibility. In addition to JG, it takes CYMA mags (which is a good news, because their RPK mags are more common on the market), and DMag (Arcturus), E&L mags as well. Sometimes, you might need to slap the lower part of the mag after you put it in, in order to prevent mags from accidentally falling out. CYMA RPK mags might sometimes do that.

Always carry a screwdriver for this replica. The stock houses the batteries and the rear part of the casing is fitted with screws, so you can’t just flip it off, like in the case of some other AK replicas. Also, there is a hole drilled inside the wooden stock, where only stick batteries fit, so unlike ie. CYMA CM031 replicas, you’re not going to be able to fit large, brick-shaped batteries into your RPK. If you have any batteries for AKS-74U replicas to be used under the dust cover, they should fit for this JG RPK replica as well.

Last, but not least: this gun is big, and it is also heavy. It is almost as heavy as a real RPK LMG - weighing around 4-4,2 kilograms - take that into account if you're deciding to go with it for a longer game. It is not suited for a CQB game, where everyone is running around with 1,5-2 kilogram replicas, it is however, perfectly suited for longer milsim games, where you have to provide fire support or establish static defenses. Even with midcap mags, this gun can spray a lot of hell.

Tl;dr version: this is the best LMG on the market when it comes to price / value ratio right now. Works well out of the box, not picky when it comes to mags, solid, well-made, the EBB function makes it realistic.

Absolute 10/10 buy. Having played a few matches with the JG1101, I decided to buy another JG EBB AK, a JG1010 AKS-74 replica, soon afterwards. After past disappointments, this new, JG AK series really changed my overall opinion about the manufacturer. I simply love these new AKs.


Also, I made a short gameplay video with the JG1101 earlier, if you’re looking for actual in-game footage, this might be helpful for you as well: https://youtu.be/3NvT3AAoXRo