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CYMA AKM (CM.048M) Takedown

 

Disclaimer: This article is supplied freely and for use by those with experience in AEG maintenance.  It is advised that if you are inexperienced, or not confident in your ability in anyway, to look for assistance from somebody with experience or your local airsoft shop. I cannot be held responsible for any damage to equipment or yourself from attempting this article.

Welcome to the take down guide for the CYMA AKM (CM.048). From this point on I will refer to this model only as the AKM for simplicity. Previous CYMA offerings have been based on the faithful but flawed TM design, and unfortunately in terms of realism these left a lot to be desired. Recently CYMA have updated there design and added a number of new feature: The design is based more on the VFC method of construction but there are some subtle differences, with CYMA utilizing a mix of grub screw and pin construction. In the future i will publish more guides focusing on the specifics of VFC and TM methods of construction.

Before starting to disassembly your CYMA AKM please ensure you have a clear space to work with plenty of light. The complete disassembly of the akm should take no more than 15 - 20 minutes with experience, if your doing this for the first time please set aside at least about hour atleast. It is best to have no distractions as this can lead to mistakes possible damage to your aeg and at worst, personal injury.

Before starting any disassemble of an aeg it is advisable to fire of a couple of rounds semi auto in a controlled manner. This will allow the piston to sit at rest and ensure that there are no bbs in the chamber, afterwords disconnect the battery and place this to one side. Fire a few with the gun upside down to check the hop unit is clear also.

 

Your first step when disassembling the akm is to remove the lower and upper handguard. Firstly remove the cleaning rod (Real steel use only, do not attempt to clean aeg barrel with this) from underneath the barrel. Afterwords rotate the leaver on the side of the rear sight block up 90 degrees. This will allow you to lift away the upper handguard together with the gas block. Once this has been done it will expose a small leaver at the front of the lower handguard; rotate this 180 degrees and this will allow the handguard retainer to move forward and will allow the lower handguard to drop free. I would advise moving the handguard retainer back and relocating the lever to its original position, this will stop the section from moving about when working on the AKM. Now place the lower and upper handguards to one side.

Your next step is to remove two pins holding the sight block in place. The pins have an abrasive surface at one end this means it will be easier to push the pins out in one direction than the other One direction will be easier to push from. If you are having any problems i would advice trying to punch out the pins with a punch and a pin hammer from both sides of the sight block.

Next remove the receiver cover by pushing in the top cover latch and lifting the cover free; this will expose the top of the gearbox, battery area, and hopup unit. Afterwords push forward the cover latch until it is free of its housing on the stop of the gearbox, once this has been done you can slide the cover latch guide rode and spring away from the receiver, place these to one side. Without the guide rode and spring the bolt cover will be able to move freely. The bolt cover will be able to move all the way to the back of the receiver. (With the selector in semi or auto so it doesnt get in the way) Once there you will be able to lift the up and out of the receiver.

Remove both the screws that hold the hop-up unit to the outer barrel.

 Once the hop-up unit and outer barrel are no longer connected we can remove the out barrel all together, to do this you will need to unscrew that grub screw highlighted in the above picture.

With the grub screw unscrewed you will be able to slide the outer barrel away from the receiver, the inner barrel will have to stay in place for now. I would advice doing this on a flat surface and have a firm hand on both the receiver and the outer barrel as i can be easy to damage the hop-up unit, nozzle or inner barrel, or any combination of these.

With the out barrel to one side we can know remove the hop-up/inner barrel, you will need to move the hop-up unit away from the gearbox, you can then cant the barrel at an angle and slide the unit away from the receiver over the top of the gearbox (see above picture)

If your just looking to upgrade your hop up unit or barrel, then you can stop at this point. Complete your upgrades and repeat the above steps in revers to reassemble your AKM, if you need to get the gear box then please carry on reading.

Your next step is to remove the stock, you will find an allen head screw on the upper and under side of the receiver, once both your unscrewed you will can slide the stock away from the receiver. Once the stock has been removed you will need to disconnect the mini tamiya connectors that will be exposed.

(Please note the above picture is incorrect, you will note the receiver cover is still in place although I've already described removing this, and the pistol grip has already been removed. This is because I'm on about version 3 of this document and I've adjusted the order slightly, i do plan to retake the picture just need good light and a bit of free time)

 

With the stock removed we're on the home stretch. This step is the hardest to describe on paper and has the most chance of causing surface damage to your aeg if done incorrectly. There are a number of ways to remove the selector switch, this is just once way that i find the easiest for myself.

I normally place a piece of cloth over the stop of the selector switch axle (the above pictures do not include this as i wanted to clearly show what you need to do), I find the inside diameter on a set of needle noose pliers the perfect size for the selector switch axle hear (see above pictures).

Once you have a purchase twist the axle head in a counter clockwise direction, continue to rotate until the piece is finger tight and then unscrew the rest of the way by hand.Once this is done you will be able to lift the axle away exposing a couple of small parts, take note of there position for when your need to reassemble your AKM, place these parts/axle/selector switch safely to one side.

With the selector switch now removed, you can remove pistol grip. There is only one screw on its base holding it in place. Once removed you will be able to move the gearbox freely and lift it free of the receiver.

Congratulations, you have know taken your AKM apart completely. If you need to disassemble the gearbox please see the Version 3 Gearbox Takedown Guide.