Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (2024)

Words and Pics: GBB Dude

I will start off by saying I had no intention of owning both kits.

The Angry Gun (AG) kit was released in early August for pre-order, with delivery sometime in mid-September. Fast forward to mid-September, HAO pulled a sneaky one and released their own CAG kit for the Tokyo Marui MWS ZET platform – and at a lower price than AG. Was this intentional marketing guerrilla warfare, or just a coincidence?

To be fair, when I heard about the HAO I did try to cancel the AG kit. However, one way or another I ended up in the somewhat unique position of owning both.

And these are fantastic kits – both AG and HAO have knocked it out of the luxury park – but for me there is a clear winner.

Read on to find out more…

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (1)

General

My AG and HAO kits were both built using the spare parts I had laying around; not with a donor MWS, which a typical buyer might use. That being said, there are some connective components that users will have acquired with these two kits. Roll pins are one of the biggest issues I have had in the past (e.g. Arrow Arms/MWC HK416A4 for MWS ZET) where it took some significant hammering to get them in. Luckily, both AG and HAO’s included roll pins went in with ease and were properly spec’d. Provided roll pins on both kits include the gas block and HK style fire selector. Roll pins that must be used from Tokyo Marui include the trigger guard, and dummy forward assist (HAO only). Both kits come with their unique outer barrel/barrel extension system.

Angry Gun

Angry Gun took a different approach to what is typically seen in complete kits; it came 70% assembled. The faux pins were pre-glued; buffer tube, castle nut, end plate, buffer retainer system and pivot/takedown pins were all installed.

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (2)
Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (3)

Also, AG provided their own dummy forward assist, CAG muzzle device, and RAL8000 dust cover (HAO does not supply the roll pin/forward assist. The CAG muzzle device and RAL8000 dust cover can be purchased at an additional cost). AG provided an HK marked BCG with a dummy firing pin catch, paying attention to completeness – but it is by far the more expensive kit.

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (4)

However, it was noted to me that the date codes on the upper receiver are incorrect for the tanodized CAG time frame. H&K uses a letter system where A = O, B = 1, and so on. AG has marked the upper “BA”, which means a manufacture date of 2010. This is too early for this model of CAG HK416D. Let’s hope AG corrects this mistake on later batches.

The Z-Parts supplied HK SMR is excellent – well built and it is anodised. However, it’s the newer four vent version – which puts it at odds with what is perhaps supposed to be an ‘early’ receiver. Z-Parts is a true rival to HAO and I’ve been impressed with their ZET components in the past – particularly their outer barrels, which are sublime.

AG’s receiver is Cerakoted (whereas the RS is anodised) and the company seems to have missed the fact that paint adds thickness in areas such as the fire selector hole, bolt catch cut out, and take down pin hole. Their supplied steel ambi fire selector did not fit, and material had to be sanded from the fire selector shaft so it could fit properly. Also, the bolt catch is “sticky” from the added paint thickness and the take down pin needs to be hammered in each direction when opening/closing. I am confident both fire selector and bolt catch will wear in over time, with use.

The Tokyo Marui trigger guard spring had to be shortened to allow the trigger guard plunger to fit in the lower receiver. For the barrel nut, AG provides shims to achieve proper tightness – which had to be used. This is an imprecise way of doing things that you don’t often see at luxury prices. When tolerances are spot on, shims are simply not required.

AG’s Cerakoted components include receiver, buffer tube, and charging handle. It has a nice finish, but there is a hint of “sparkle” (although, nowhere as bad as VFC’s mis-colored glitter paint). It’s well known to be extremely difficult to get the correct RAL tonal range with ano, so one can only assume AG chose Cerakote to mitigate risk. However, being outsourced and not a cheap coating in itself, this perhaps adds to the cost while subtracting from the authenticity.

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (5)

HAO

What can I say? It’s HAO – and that should be enough for those in the know. As mentioned earlier, I wanted to cancel the AG as soon as I knew HAO’s release was imminent – which gives the reader an idea of pecking order.

HAO’s kit, as usual, is of superb quality and fitment – and with actual anodizing, like the real CAG HK416D. What’s more, their base kit is actually cheaper than AG’s.

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (6)

HAO’s kit comes as the norm, disassembled. I added in their RAL8000 dust cover and SFCT muzzle device (both at an additional cost) to fit their RS pitched steel gundrilled outer barrel (AG’s barrel is aluminium – the RS is steel, obviously).

Clearly it’s not part of the kit, but HAO’s SFCT flash hider is really poorly finished and I would say not worth the price because of this. This leaves users with a problem: either use the HAO (which while 1:1 is of inferior finish to AG), or use an RS hider which inevitably will need to be re-bored to fit 6mm BBs. Like I said, the hider isn’t part of the kit, but this needs careful consideration as you’re really tied into buying it.

On the other hand, HAO’s market-leading HK SMR (a replica of the older five vent model) is of amazing quality and exhibits a fitting shade of matt DDC ano, which I prefer (I like the mismatching colors of the many shades of DDC/FDE/RAL8000). To mention, all HAO’s tanodized parts are actual anodizing – like the RS.

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (7)

One installation note is that the provided takedown and pivot pin springs are way too long and had to be significantly trimmed to fit; and in order feel like normal pins should (I had to do the same with HAO’s HK416A5 MWS kit – hopefully HAO will read this and pick up on the flaw).

In this kit, HAO did not provide a magazine catch like their (considerably more expensive) A5 kit; albeit the CAG uses a standard AR style magazine catch. Another surprising note to HAO’s overall attention to detail is the lack of a tanodized flat trigger guard as seen in the wild, while they have the curved tanodized HK trigger guard for the A5. However, ever details-orientated, the company provides a non-ambi selector as seen in most CAG reference pics.

The very worst feature is HAO’s provided “made-up” pistol grip, which is a weird mongrel shape. It’s also a lazy addition to the kit: based off HAO’s PTW grip with a 3D printed mold that is glued in to work with GBBRs. While it is nice of them to provide this as a free of cost placeholder (according to the company), users would be better off binning it immediately and sourcing a clone correct RS or replica pistol grip.

HAO’s provided steel barrel nut did not require any shimming to achieve proper tightness, and that’s reflected in the rest of the kit. HAO does fitment very well indeed – the best out there. Tolerances are absolutely spot on – as they always are with HAO.

They’ve even managed to design the extended barrel nut area without moving the barrel nut notch (AG places this on the bottom of the structure – not the top like the RS).

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (8)
Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (9)

I will soon order HAO’s Ecoline (their economy range) HK marked BCG, which is a mere $50 USD. Their kit doesn’t include this, but it’s a low cost extra which still doesn’t make this kit as expensive as AG’s.

Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (10)

And the winner is…

If you are interested in a CAG HK416 kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, I would highly recommend getting the HAO version – although you’ll not be disappointed with either.

Everyone has a different way of gauging what’s best and I hope I’ve sufficiently outlined my way here. I’ve been harsh in some ways, because any kit around the $1k USD mark has to be excellent. With that said, both kits miss some RS details; but I wouldn’t expect anything to be 100% 1:1 – aside from the real thing!

The honest truth is that both of these kits hit it out of the park and represent a solid investment.

Please feel free to contact GBB Dude on IG, if you wish to discuss further.

HAO CAG HK416D Parts List

  • HAO CAG HK416 Kit (Obviously)
  • HAO RAL8000 Dust Cover
  • HAO SFCT Muzzle Device
  • HK V4 RAL8000 Pistol Grip
  • L3/Insight ATPIAL-C
  • C&C Tac .410 Riser Set
  • EG Gen 1 Wilcox FTS
  • Larue LT751Larue Handstop
  • Aimpoint T1 w/ FCC Lens Protector
  • Eotech G33 Tan
  • KAC Micros
  • B5 SOPMOD Gen2 Coyote
  • Repro SF M600 Tano

Angry Gun CAG HK416 Parts List

  • Angry Gun CAG HK416 Kit (Obviously)
  • HK V4 RAL8000 Pistol Grip
  • VFC PEQ-15
  • C&C Tac .410 Riser Set
  • EG Gen 2 Wilcox FTS
  • Eotech XPS2-0 Tan
  • EG Eotech G33 Tanodized
  • KAC Micros
  • Magpul CTR FDE
  • Repro SF M600 Tano

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Battle of the CAGs: HAO vs. Angry Gun HK416D Kit for Tokyo Marui MWS ZET System, by GBB Dude (2024)
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