http://www.airsocom.com/Airsoft_Gun_...y/ksc_kwa.html

If a company produces 2 lines of
nearly identical products, but markets
one with trades to Japan, and the
rest mostly unmarked or not identical
to the real steel company it's cloning,
then you know it's probably because
they don't have a legal agreement to
reproduce the brands and logos.

It's a copyright infringement issue.

A lot of airsoft replicas cost more
because they have the rights to make
their toy with the consent of the real
steel maker ie: WA and CA make
lines of product that pay real steel
makers to use their brands and make
an exact reproduction.

AH FFS, I may have to bail on this idea. My laptop went seriously bust on me.

They're actually two completely different companies, but KWA does license/purchase product moulds from KSC to manufacture products under their own brand. It saves them the time and cost to research and develop an original product from the ground up (many manufacturers work this way). They then manufacture and assemble the product from their own choice of materials and under their own guideline of quality control, which is why their product is generally inferior in grade and quality compared to KSC... but is also why the price is so much cheaper. You get what you pay for.

This is also why many of the parts between these two companies are cross compatible, but vary greatly in regards to quality and material.

KSC Japan and KSC Taiwan are the same company, but are imported/exported and sold within their own domestic markets under their own guidelines. KSC Japan products have higher quality control, compared to KSC Taiwan. KSC Taiwan is entirely different from KWA, and still maintains higher product quality than KWA.

I got the KSC MP7 in my grubby grease-stained hands this past Sunday and gave it a little shake down. Just a couple of mags and just a touch more than a field strip.

I am very impressed. The plastic molding, thickness and accuracy of fit between parts is excellent. It's basically a pistol jammed into a SMG/PDW format...and shoots just like a good pistol. Controls are positive and feel good...the levers don't feel like they're going to fall off or bend/break. It's a solid piece.

I took the nozzle assembly apart so I could send some photos off to a friend to find spare parts. I want to run propane through this but don't want to risk blowing the nozzle until I have some spares on hand. I ran duster with an AI adaptor. Functioning was stellar...FPS was a bit low but fine for CQB.

In my search for a couple of nozzles I called KWA USA and spoke to one of their guys. He was a bit of prick about things and very tight-lipped about any reference to KSC. His official line (and he was quite good at sticking to it) was (paraphrased a bit), "I am supposed to say that KWA parts may not work with KSC items because some things undergo redesign and modification. KSC builds their guns to work with [duster] and ours for Green Gas". He noted that the KWA MP7 is rated for 380+fps while the KSC is rated for 300. He also said that I'd be best off contacting an overseas KSC dealer to get a nozzle.

But we know that a lot of KSC/KWA parts are interchangeable...can't say about all of them though.

So far as I've seen from the KWA pistols and rifles...they're very nicely built. The issue that I'd say in "general" is that their pistols are setup to shoot TOO hot. For some models they'll exceed indoor CQB limits. There's a couple of trends where they eventually self desctruct (the M9 model was notorious for that I believe).

So what's the difference...don't know. Maybe I'll have to get a KWA MP7 to find out....:D

One line for Japan, and another for USA.

It isn't rocket science.

I could always order the KWA version and hand it off to you for testing purposes. I would have liked to have gone with the KSC being how it is useable in CQB out of the box. I can probably pull the off buying the KWA and saving up a little longer for a laptop if it truly is a bust.