AEG Review: JG SA58 (FN FAL)

[Lip]

As the title states this is a review of the JG SA58. This particular model was re-branded JG, while the JGs are themselves clones of the Classic Army SA58. The real steel SA58 is an American made, modernized FAL whose target market is Law enforcement and hobby shooters. The original FN FAL is of course the legend made in Belgium known by such modest names as "the right arm of the free world", was fielded by over 50 nations, and fired the heavy hitting 7.62x51mm NATO round. I purchased this AEG from Venture Airsoft.

OUT OF THE BOX
The Box the gun comes in is a plain brown shipping box with no markings. Inside you will fine the AEG, a warranty slip, a multi-page manual (beware translations but the dis-assembly guide is good), and a single metal high-cap magazine (500 rounds). There is no battery included. The box itself showed signs of rough shipping and the polystyrene inside had obviously protected the AEG from a bump at one point during the shipping process.

THE FEEL
The JG SA58 is a very solid and heavily constructed gun. The body features full metal construction on the upper receiver, lower receiver, outer barrel, fire selector, magazine release and FUNCTIONING bolt catch and charging handle. Black nylon (or possibly very high quality PVC) makes up the furniture set. The remaining parts, such as flash suppressor and adjustable gas valve controls are PVC. The gun features a comfortable rubber backing to the stock. The sights are very high quality and easy to use. This AEG lets you know it is modeled after a battle rifle with it's length of 36 inches, and weight of 6.6 lbs.

PERFORMANCE
The SA58's action is very smooth, and has well beyond the 100 ft mark after a basic hopup bucking upgrade. The accuracy is very nice with the stock barrel; hitting within a ~8 inch grouping at 100 ft. I have thus far been unable to chrono the SA58. The hopup unit is metal, and should ensure dependability. The barrel/hopup unit connection is interesting being that the hopup adjustor is spring loaded and braced to the outer barrel. This means as the AEG fires there is an obvious movement as everything from the AEG's spring up to the hopup spring ever so slightly moves (definitely not greater than 1/8 of an inch but just enough to actually feel the recoil of shots). This effect has had no effect on the feeding of BBs. The hopup is adjusted by turning a cylindrical adjustor that wraps around the inner barrel. Hopup adjustment is made easy by the functioning bolt catch ( and because the bolt is full metal it just sounds awesome to release ). The ROF is very nice with a 9.6 volt battery and would make an interesting support machine gun build. It would be a good idea to do a quick lubrication job on this AEG as during my bucking swap out I found NO lube around the original.

BREAKDOWN
Breaking this AEG down into it's components is super (de-duper) easy. The AEG splits into two parts after removing two screws on the central body. After this the barrel/hopup will slide out of the front half. The full-metal V3 gearbox and motor can be taken out of the body by pressing the fire selector up and pulling the motor forward. That is it. After this, all the screws/bolts holding on the furniture are visible as well. It is also convenient that the bolt catch assembly is separately contained in the upper receiver (IE. don't have to worry about it at all when disassembling). The flash-hider is 14mm threaded and held on by an additional hex-screw through the threads. Inner barrel is about 420mm long, making it a prime candidate for some sort of extension if your looking to do a DM loadout with this AEG.

SUMMARY
If your looking for a cheaper FAL alternative (~$340) but still want all of that full metal goodness coupled with the reliability of a V3 gearbox, this may be the AEG for you. After thoroughly going over this gun inside and out, the worst thing I found would be the lack of lubricant. You should avoid this AEG if you dislike hunting for mid/lowcap mags, aren't a fan of long, heavy guns, or are looking for a highly accurate, DM style AEG out of the box. You should look more into this gun if you enjoy waffles, battle rifles, full metal construction, chocolates, and generally defeating communism Belgium-style.

Thank you for reading, pictures are available on Nova Scotia Airsoft here:
http://www.novascotiaairsoft.ca/comm...hp?f=72&t=1955
NOTE: I painted the original furniture over as a wood-grain pattern after I learned what a pain getting wood furniture would be.

[Porkchop]

Bravo Zulu.
Excellent paint job and a good review to boot. Perhaps you could give some details on the painting.
Cheers

[Lip]

Thanks Porkchop. I followed this tutorial on the painjob Tutorial: How to make faux wood grain with Mohawk brand wood stain - YouTube. I used Krylon flat-black for my base, a CIL laytex for the grain in Macadamia White, Krylon Redwood wood stain, and a Krylon acrylic clear coat with satin finish. I will warn you though that you should give the stain AT LEAST 24 hours to set each time you apply it.

[jomor]

So does the JG version take the CA mags or the KA mags?

[Lip]

Originally Posted by jomor

So does the JG version take the CA mags or the KA mags?

It being a CA clone takes the CA style of magazines, however, I noticed on Evik that JG is also selling their own CA cloned highcaps as well. Good question. I had forgotten when I was writing my review that there were different styles of FAL magazines.

[Porkchop]

So then, does JG have a low-cap mag for sale or are they all direct clones of the Classic Army magazines?

[Lip]

Originally Posted by Porkchop

So then, does JG have a low-cap mag for sale or are they all direct clones of the Classic Army magazines?

From what I've researched, they are a direct clone of the CA version, and as such, I've only found highcaps available for sale.

[GBBR]

Sorry for necro. Is echo1's the same as jg

[Brit ter]

I own a jg sa 58 and all my mid cap mags for it are Classic Army mags