Should I buy KWC or Another Brands Version?
The question comes up often about which Airgun to buy. Customers are wondering when they are looking at a specific Airgun and they see several similar products but from different companies, are they the same gun and if so which one should they decide to buy?
One of the biggest Airgun suppliers out there is for sure KWC, their BB and Airsoft guns are redistributed through companies like Umarex, Crosman, Sig Sauer, ASG, Gletcher and more. Often times the companies that redistribute KWC Airguns hold licensing agreements with real gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson, Glock, Colt, Beretta, Sig Sauer, Taurus to name a few… KWC makes the Airguns in their Taiwanese factory but they are not allowed to put a real gun manufacturer license on the Airguns they distribute directly so KWC distributed Airguns will generally be all black.
I have also seen companies like Umarex distribute a new KWC Airgun that I have not seen yet from KWC, I believe KWC works with these big name Airgun companies directly and will build a new gun or variation of an existing KWC Airgun for them and give that Company an exclusive for a period of time. KWC will eventually regain the rights to sell that Airgun model directly after 6 months to a year.
Now that you know a little bit more on how it all works let’s get back to whether you should buy a KWC branded Airgun or other Brands same Airgun. It really comes down to I would say three factors. Do you want a Licensed version of the Airgun you are buying? Is there a price difference? Which gun is available to buy when I am ready to buy?
When you buy the Licensed version of the KWC Airgun redistributed through a third part Airgun Company you will often get a lot more writing on the Airgun than just the Gun Manufacturers name. Warning information comes to mind and does not look all that attractive on the slide where it is usually found in bright white lettering. If you like a cleaner look and don’t mind the lack of licensing then the KWC distributed version will generally be all back, nice and clean looking.
You would think buying the KWC Version that is sold more directly to the end customer would be the less expensive of the options because less hands are involved in the selling process. This is not always true, it is more about supply and demand, if more people want the cleaner looking KWC version but it’s harder to get ahold of than the price of the KWC version may actually be higher than say the Umarex or Crosman version. So shop around if price is the deciding factor as the guns are going to be mechanically the same with just some slight cosmetic differences between them.
Lastly, availability maybe what eventually leads you to buy a KWC version over an Umarex, or Crosman or Sig version since if the gun is not in stock well you may have limited options and so the one in stock is going to be perhaps your only option! Don’t feel like you got short changed, again these guns are virtually all the same at the end of the day no matter if you buy it from KWC, Umarex, Crosman, Sig Sauer, ASG, Gletcher or whomever.