GHK AK105 V3 Unboxing — First Thoughts on the Gas Blowback AK Everyone Wanted

This post covers airsoft equipment for recreational sporting use only.

The companion video — MOS Manufacture sent me the GHK 105 V3.... Im unboxing it! — is the unboxing and first-shots session. This post is the written version, with the detail that matters if you are deciding whether to buy one.

Full disclosure up front: MOS Manufacture sent me this AK105 V3 for free, for review purposes. I did not pay for it. I had come very close to buying one with my own money more than once, and when MOS got stock they offered to send one so I could make the GHK-versus-VFC comparison I already wanted to do. Opinions here are my own.

Why this one matters

If you like AKs in airsoft, you already know GHK. They are the company that got the gas blowback AK right — the gen-one models sold in enormous numbers, and the platform has traditionally been hard to get hold of in the US, especially this new V3 in the AK105 variant. Honest caveat for completeness: GHK apparently had a batch during COVID where the external angles were off. Aside from that, everything I have ever heard about them has been very good — and so far this unit is living up to it.

The numbers: the platform runs about $700, and the magazines are about $80 each. I used to think $60 a mag was pushing it; $80 is a lot of money. MOS Manufacture has them in stock now with domestic shipping from their LA location — mine arrived in under 24 hours, though I am also in LA, so your mileage may vary. The Badger 10 code takes 10% off, which is $70 on the platform and about $8 per mag. That takes the edge off.

In the box

Beyond the platform itself and one MGCS magazine:

• The proper steel flash hider — a two-part unit with a spring and detent, and a grub screw
• A buffer kit, recommended for use above 25°C or with CO2
• A metal-tube speed loader — not the cheap plastic kind

First impressions

It has real weight to it. I briefly held one at National Airsoft Festival the week before, and mine feels heavier than that one did — in line with the VFC out of the box, possibly heavier. It feels like real steel, and I would say it feels more solid and sturdy out of the box than my VFC did.

One detail I noticed immediately: the top cover. The VFC’s rotates and wiggles, which annoys me even though the real thing does it too. The GHK’s does not move, and the fitment is properly tight.

The orange flash hider is the one out-of-the-box job. US law means these ship with the orange tip, and on my unit the threads were glued with no grub screw underneath — it turned off with a wrench. Do not copy me blindly: check for a grub screw on yours before you put any force on it, because they sometimes glue over the screw. I cleaned the glue out of the threads, fitted the proper flash hider with its spring and detent, and it looks the part now.

The MGCS magazine

This is the bit I have wanted to test since I first saw it at IWA 2025. MGCS is GHK’s Multi Gas Compartment System: instead of one big open space, the inside of the mag is divided into lots of small compartments. As the gas expands, that structure is supposed to give you better consistency and better gas efficiency. Brand-new system, and the full review will put those claims to the test.

The mag itself is very authentic — a bakelite-style plastic shell rather than the VFC’s painted metal, a flat gas route that sits almost flush, and a small “M” marking I have not decoded yet. Weight is very similar to the VFC mag. I cannot find a dry-fire switch on it, so dry-fire function is an open question for the review video.

Racking, trigger, and the buffer swap

The racking action is different from the VFC. The VFC front-loads the resistance and then breaks; the GHK is a smooth rack the whole way back with a really nice clank. The trigger is AK mush and then you hear the hammer drop — and I kind of love it. My honest first call: I prefer the GHK’s trigger and the VFC’s bolt rack.

Inside, there is no VFC-style cable system. The dust cover fitment is very tight, and underneath it you get the recoil spring and guide rod, the bolt, and a weighted buffer piece. Here is the cool part: the platform ships with a short-stroke setup — a full-size buffer that limits how far the bolt travels. Swap in the shorter buffer from the included kit and the bolt comes back much further. That means more recoil and more travel, at the cost of a slower rate of fire and worse gas efficiency. If you are a gas blowback nut like me, that is exactly how you will want to run it. I am officially declaring it above 25 degrees at all times. The factory white grease in there looks like a proper specialised grease, which is a nice touch.

First shots

I ran my usual 150 PSI Swiss Arms heavy gas, about a 12-second fill on an empty mag, and loaded 0.25g Zinnix BBs with the included speed loader. Loading is fiddly until the first BB seats — there is a bigger gap at the front and you have to find the angle — but after that it loaded fast, and the loader feels hardy enough to take to the field. I will be looking into GHK AK mag adapters for speed-loader friendliness.

First string: 28 rounds, no slowdown in feeding or recoil at all. Second string: a near-full mag, about 43 rounds, dumped on full auto on the same gas fill. It maybe slowed a tiny bit at the very end, but it was remarkably consistent, and the rate of fire feels like a realistic AK.

The recoil is the headline. It is punchier than my VFC — from memory, it hits quite a bit harder, and I think the bolt travel is why. Bump, bump, bump, bump. I did not expect to like it this much, and the trigger snap on it is very satisfying.

One nitpick: mag wobble. There is noticeable movement in the mag well, more than the VFC. AK mags do sit a little loose by design — it helps them index — and the Tokyo Marui AKM is still the gold standard for lock-up, which this is the opposite of. You could shim it. I do not think it will matter in play, but some people will find it annoying.

What happens next

Three follow-ups are coming: the full review, a build-out video (another KPYK kit, or do the Zenitco fans get their way — tell me), and the comparison video. My VFC AK105 is heavily modified externally with the KPYK kit but internally stock, so the performance and consistency comparison stays fair. I will also pull out the AKS-74U, the AKM, and the AKX — three different systems — and go through what the performance is actually like. Tell me in the comments what you want tested.

Verdict for now: very, very impressed. GHK is living up to its name.

PRODUCTION NOTES — remove before publish - No affiliate product links included: zero matches for “GHK” or “MOS Manufacture” in data/gear_database.json (checked 2026-09-06, 119 entries). The video carries a MOS Manufacture retail link plus the “Badger 10” 10%-off code (both stated in the transcript); Affiliate Manager to decide whether the blog mirrors that retail link — there is no gear-DB entry to link. - All product claims sourced from the transcript (processing/mos_manufacture_sent_me_the_ghk_105_v3_im_unboxing_it/transcript/transcript.txt, read in full 2026-09-06): ~$700 platform price, ~$80 mags, Badger 10 code, MGCS design intent, buffer-swap behaviour, glued flash hider / no grub screw on this unit, 150 PSI / ~12s fill, 28- and ~43-round strings, mag wobble, COVID-batch caveat, LA domestic shipping. - VIDEO ID NOTE: the processing folder’s youtube_meta.json points at XmZHaFOU9l0 marked “private” (a hooked re-upload; old_video_id_hookless: E4QVg2ayV4o). The public published video per processing/youtube_video_data.json (fetched 2026-09-06T08:00) is E4QVg2ayV4o, published_at 2026-09-05T09:53:37Z — frontmatter uses the public ID. Re-verify at the gate. - Disclosure: unit sent free by MOS Manufacture — stated in the post body. - Open items for the full review: dry-fire function, MGCS consistency/efficiency test, buffer A/B comparison, GHK mag adapter options.