OLD SKOOL HEAT

WITH STEWBACCA (AMONG MANY OTHERS!) EAGERLY GETTING HIS HANDS ON VFC’S LATEST CYBERGUN-LICENSED FN FNC GBBR, OUR MAN IN JAPAN TAMA WAS FEELING A LITTLE JEALOUS (HIS IG HANDLE IS @FN_WAIFU AFTER ALL, SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND HIS PINING FOR THE HEAT!) SO HE DECIDED TO SHARE HIS EXPERIENCES OF THE VENERABLE G&G FNC AEG HE’S BEEN USING DURING HIS AIRSOFTING, OR ‘SABAGE’ IN THE LOCAL PARLANCE, EXPLOITS IN JAPAN!

The G&G GF76L is an AEG replica in airsoft form of the Belgian made FN FNC rifle, or as we gun geeks would likely see it, the gun of Al Pacino! So before we go to the actual thing we need to know the basics, so let’s start from the bottom, or rather the name.

FNC is an abbreviation that stands for Fabrique Nationale Carbine, so for those of you who don’t speak French, it means National Factory Carbine, a pretty confusing name right? So the first Factory National is basically the earlier name of FN or what is now called FN Herstal, and the last part is likewise a carbine made inside the country, which is Belgium; perhaps I should thank the airsoft gods I don’t speak French!

The real FNC is chambered in 5.56mm NATO, like other modern NATO rifles, and it has select fire semi and automatic modes, but it also features a fancy

3-round burst, a foldable stock, and an adjustable gas port. It uses the same STANAG mags like its counterparts the American M16 (AR15, M4, M4A1, whatever they’re largely the same base gun). The FNC is technically a Belgian take on the M16 with an AK operating system in it, a gas operated long-stroke piston system; thanks to this the FNC is also well known for its durability and versatility like the AK.

FN Herstal initially made the FNC to be the successor of the very famous FAL, a much loved rifle, and a gun geek’s wet dream; the 7.62mm NATO rifle sold like hot cakes, heck they even dubbed the FN FAL as the right arm of the free world! But they failed on the FNC; they only sold it to their own army and two other major national customers, Sweden and Indonesia, but even though it failed in the mainstream or top tier military market, the FNC is well known by the gun lovers community because it succeeded in

“THE FNC IS TECHNICALLY A BELGIAN TAKE ON THE M16 WITH AN AK OPERATING SYSTEM IN IT, A GAS OPERATED LONG-STROKE PISTON SYSTEM; THANKS TO THIS THE FNC IS ALSO WELL KNOWN FOR ITS DURABILITY AND VERSATILITY LIKE THE AK”

Hollywood, known by the public not as a rifle but a movie star.

It is the gun-fu of choice of Al Pacino in the movie “HEAT”, where Pacino starred as a detective in the LAPD, fighting his nemesis Robert De Niro who starred as a very talented bank robber. Spoiler alert; the FNC debuted on the last big shootout scene with its counterpart the M733 (a shorter carbine version of the M16), in a fight between the two biggest stars, but unlike Al Pacino the FNC isn’t quite as famous nor does it sell quite so well. With my movie geek moment out of the way though, let’s move to my beloved airsoft incarnation!

A Hidden Gem

G&G is one of the only two companies that make an AEG replica of the famous yet not widely used FN FNC, with the other being STAR (now known as ARES), and there’s furthermore the fact that G&G and

STAR both stopped making the FNC pretty early on; it’s thus a relatively rare replica, so rare in fact that in my time of playing airsoft, I’m the only person I’ve ever known to field the FNC AEG! It kind of makes me stand out like a sore thumb, but that’s the upside of having an unicorn gun.

So a bit of a back story regarding my own FNC...

Ever since I got into liking guns and starting airsoft, I’d always wanted to have an FNC, it’s my dream gun; ever since I saw the real thing on parade with the military back home in my native Indonesia, I wanted an FNC right away. So I bought mine second hand from an online auction for the amount of 40 thousand yen (about US$266 USD or €251 right now) which these days is a bit expensive for an AEG in Japan since you can get a second-hand Marui nextgen or a complete beginners pack with some support gear for that amount, but considering it is an FNC, a super cool gun and a dream gun of mine, I had

“IT IS THE GUN-FU OF CHOICE OF AL PACINO IN THE MOVIE “HEAT”, WHERE PACINO STARRED AS A DETECTIVE IN THE LAPD, FIGHTING HIS NEMESIS ROBERT DE NIRO WHO STARRED AS A VERY TALENTED BANK ROBBER. SPOILER ALERT; THE FNC DEBUTED ON THE LAST BIG SHOOTOUT SCENE WITH ITS COUNTERPART THE M733 IN A FIGHT BETWEEN THE TWO BIGGEST STARS” no hesitation whatsoever; I bought it, and I never regretted a single thing about it.

The second it arrived on my doorstep, I couldn’t stop smiling until my face ached, and when you’ve finally acquired your dream gun, you know what you have to do; trial by fire, so I brought it to one

A BIT OF of Tokyo’s biggest fields; Tenguyama, an outdoor field that is located in the outskirts of the city! It’s a field located between two small hills with dense forest, and since it’s between two hills, there are multiple elevations, high trees, small trees, small rivers, and bushes. Other than that the field also has some small man-made barricades, CQB areas and huts with bridges, but overall it’s a huge playing field, which is heaven for snipers.

But even snipers are not safe when the FNC is around because it can shoot where the enemy would least expect it!

The BBs fly fast and accurately out to midrange, while when used at longer ranges it still keeps its momentum and BBs fly really well for a gun that is old and more meant for LARPing in reality. The furthest I have hit is between the ranges of 50 to 60 metres during a game, and on the range 50 metres with minimum HOP up settings; it mostly sits on the same HOP up settings as when it first arrived with me, and mind you all this gaming experience has been done with iron sights; the FN FNC doesn’t come standard with any rail accessory, it comes with a pitchfork front sight and a peep hole shaped rear iron sight; the same design as its predecessor the FN FAL, and like the real thing the biggest peep hole setting which is the 100 metres

BACK STORY REGARDING MY OWN FNC; EVER SINCE I GOT INTO LIKING GUNS AND STARTING AIRSOFT, I’D ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE AN FNC, IT’S MY DREAM GUN; EVER SINCE I SAW THE REAL THING ON PARADE WITH THE MILITARY BACK HOME IN MY NATIVE INDONESIA, I WANTED AN FNC RIGHT AWAY” setting, is like a small peep hole for a 2 MOA shots, a super small hole.

If you think the M16 iron sight is bad, try the FN FNC! No way in hell you will quickly shoot a perfect snapshot with that peephole. But even with the bad iron sights, the accuracy of the gun has always been amazing in my experience.

Added to that is the fact it is made by G&G with proper steel parts, so the durability of the gun is a no brainer; it’s as strong as your grandpa’s Volvo! The decade-old mech box is still working like it’s intended with minimal maintenance, the furniture of the gun is practically bullet proof, although you might want to change it for an upgraded gearbox, or overall change it to use much more modern parts if you have one and the opportunity to do so.

ISSUES? NOT MANY!

After talking about all the good parts, let’s talk about the drawbacks of the G&G GF76L FN FNC; let’s start with the functionality of the gun.

One thing that stands out is the weight; it’s freaking heavy! The weight of the G&G FNC is a whopping 4.1 Kilograms, 4 Freaking kilograms for an AEG, it’s even heavier than the real gun, the real gun only weighs 3.8, so somehow the replica is even heavier! If you’re trying to get buff arms, you won’t need a dumbbell, just buy the FN FNC, because of the weight, you’ll feel very exhausted after fielding it a whole day!

Second is the battery space of the G&G FN FNC.

Located in the front end, inside the handguard, just like the old Tokyo Marui XM177E2 and MP5s. but unlike those, there’s almost no space for a battery, the only battery that fits into it is a thin nunchuk Li-Po battery and nothing else, not even the small brick LiPo battery even fits inside it.

You might think “how come that bulky looking handguard can’t fit a normal size Li-Po battery?” As with online dating, looks can be very deceiving; inside the handguard is the obvious outer barrel, and above it a very thick mock gas-block and gas tube made of steel, so there’s no space in the middle because of these two thick steel pipes taking up all the room.

Okay, so nunchuks are the order of the day, so you’d think you’d want maximum battery life so you want either a thick blocked nunchuk, longer blocks, or even a triple nunchuks, but you’d be wrong. Because of the weirdly shaped, short handguard, and the thick plastic that G&G use, thin shaped nunchuk Li-Po batteries are the easy option for the G&G FN FNC; if you’re doing a long skirmish and want to use 11.1v or higher voltage batteries, bringing more than one is a must!

Still focusing on the handguard; it’s pretty hard to install; locked on by a steel latch on the front end and a spring-powered button below the flip up grenade sight, the latch is a bit of an annoyance as it’s a very strong latch that usually breaks your nails, and the handguard itself is a weird shape, so when you want to reinstall it on the gun, you kind of need to juggle it around to realign it to allow it to be locked in properly by the latch and the button.

Last but not least, the durability; I said that the gun is practically a tank in the shape of an AEG replica, but it’s not 100% fool-proof! It’s like your great-grandpa’s Tiger 1 tank, not always working as intended, especially some of the furniture of the gun. The usual symptoms are the stock pin breaking into pieces, and the pin is the only thing that holds the stock onto the gun, while the stock itself is also pretty heavy, G&G probably neglected to adequately reinforce this pin and thus it can be the source of problems in heavy use.

Next, is the charging handle, typical for a charging handle that is a separate part, it will break; just like the old Tokyo Marui MP5 plastic charging handles, it’ll break off and you’ll forget where you put it. But unlike the Tokyo Marui, G&G did make it with steel, so it’s comparatively pretty strong and hard to tear off… unless your friend has arms like an orangutan’s, and literally jerks it off like crazy, it might break, and mine did break with the same circumstances, at least the footage went pretty viral, at least!

Also rust is a pretty common problem, specifically the upper receiver part; being an older model it’s basically made from steel that is not suitably coated with anti-rust paint, it’s just plain old steel, but usually it’s at least only cosmetic surface rust so it won’t actually affect the performance of the gun.

So what are my final, as-an-owner thoughts regarding the G&G FN FNC or the G&G GF76L as their nomenclature terms it?

It’s 100% an absolutely brilliant gun, the gun itself already has a cult following from real steel ‘gunheads’, but it is a rare novelty gun in the airsoft community.

Even though for a replica its very heavy, and pretty long, coupled with the annoying battery change, and the fact that it’s practically a dinosaur compared to 2024 equivalent gucci AEGs with brushless motors, ETUs, Perun, or any of those other high-tech options, the FN FNC is a much more barebone stock AEG. But even in its old age, it’s a great performing AEG that can outclass the new boys in the market, and of course with style. The HEAT style! AA

“SO WHAT ARE MY FINAL, AS-AN-OWNER THOUGHTS REGARDING THE G&G FN FNC OR THE G&G GF76L AS THEIR NOMENCLATURE TERMS IT? IT’S 100% AN ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT GUN, THE GUN ITSELF ALREADY HAS A CULT FOLLOWING FROM REAL STEEL ‘GUNHEADS’, BUT IT IS A RARE NOVELTY GUN IN THE AIRSOFT COMMUNITY”