Airsoft Gun Upgrade Tips

So now you have played airsoft war games with some friends or maybe played in a large MILSIM game at a field, decided you love it, own your own airsoft machine guns and are ready to take your game to the next level. Where to start? Well I would recommend you start with your current airsoft gun, it is the center piece of Kit you will depend on to perform every time you need to use it. So you are feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the options available, 100, 110, 120 springs, bore up kits, tight bore barrels, bushings, bearings, spring guides, gears and so much more, where to begin? The Metal Gear box of your gun is the starting point you want to focus on and you are looking for 3 primary performance points for upgrades; 1.Durability 2. Accuracy 3. Fire Volume

Airsoft Durability Upgrades -To upgrade for durability you must first decide what FPS, Foot Per Second and ROF, Rate Of Fire you would like your gun to shoot and then replace all stock airsoft gun parts that are not capable of operating in your desired range. Many airsoft gun manufacturing companies use a base grade of plastic airsoft gun internal parts in stock models to keep manufacturing and retail costs low. Plastic spring guides and plastic bushings are quite common in many models and should be upgraded to metal parts as soon as possible. Other considerations are the piston, cylinder head and cylinder as these are plastic composite in most stock airsoft guns. These items will not wear out as fast as the plastic bushings and spring guides but if you plan on a high speed or high FPS upgrade you should consider upgrading these parts to metal for durability purposes as well.

Your airsoft gun battery size, type and voltage must also be considered with durability. Some airsoft gun configurations will only allow for a certain size or style of battery. Your gun battery voltage can speed up or slow down your ROF. Be sure your chosen battery will fit in your gun and power it for at least 4 hours of moderate use.

Airsoft Gun Accuracy Upgrades - To upgrade your gun for accuracy you will look at the hop up unit parts and the inside diameter of the stock barrel your gun came with. Most stock barrels are 6.04 diameter size and work great with most upgrades but there are tighter bore airsoft barrels available. Keep in mind the tighter the bore of your barrel the higher the quality your bb's will need to be. If you have upgraded the gearbox beyond 350 FPS you will want to try out heavier bb's. The .23 or .25 gram seem to work nicely in most guns that are upgraded to higher velocities. For more information and pictures about hop up repairs and upgrades visit; http://www.airsoftgunrepair.com/airsofthopuprepair.html

Airsoft Gun Speed Upgrades: To upgrade your gun for speed or a higher ROF you can increase the battery voltage for a quick speed upgrade or you can install high speed gears for a more durable increased ROF. There are high speed airsoft gun motors available but I recommend a battery upgrade to 9.6 volts, as most stock airsoft guns use an 8.4 volt battery. This will increase your ROF significantly with minimum cost as most stock airsoft gun motors can run efficiently on up to a 12 volt battery, which brings me to my next point. The new High discharge Li-Po style 11.1 battery systems. These batteries bring a whole new level of fast bb fire into the airsoft game but most stock airsoft gun parts are not engineered to handle these extreme RPM's. I recommend high speed modular type gears be installed for this kind of high speed upgrade for durability. I use modular gears, metal tooth piston and metal cylinder head (See Photo) in all my guns using the Li-Po style batter. These guns feature a M100 spring and metal spring guide with bearing along with hard steel bushings. Despite my heavy trigger finger and extreme ROF My last yearly PM showed hardly any internal parts wear since last years PM. That equals allot of welts shared since 2008!

Armsdealer...OUT

Airsoft Gun Care and Maintenance 101

As the responsible owner of a new airsoft gun you will have many new things to learn. Google airsoft safety procedures and you will find a million suggestions so I will assume you already know and follow the safety basics of airsoft. Just remember airsoft is only as safe as you make it. This article is not about internal gearbox care or upgrades of your guns gearbox. This article is about basic airsoft gun care and maintenance practices and procedures.

Get to know your airsoft gun and its anatomy. Be sure and check screws and pins after each use. Airsoft guns vibrate allot while in use and parts have a tendency to loosen. Tighten any loose part immediately.

Get to know the sounds of your airsoft gun as they are clues to performance or maintenance issues before they become major gearbox crashes. If a bb jams there will be a noticeable change in the sound of the gun, you should take out the magazine and attempt to fire once or twice to clear jam if it does not clear unjam with unjamming rod immediately DO NOT KEEP FIRING it will damage the gun internally. Always use good quality, seamless airsoft bb's as bad bb's can damage your gun. Check your airsoft guns manual for other adjustments your gun may periodically need.

Learn how to use and care for your hop up unit. Always adjust counterclockwise on M4 replicas to lessen hop effect, turning clockwise will add more hop. On other models it is different but again, read your guns owners manual. What does the hop up do? It adds a backspin to your bb's as they pass down the barrel, giving you more aerodynamic accuracy and farther bb travel. If you turn it to high the little rubber nub (see hop up photo below) pushes into the barrel to far and will jam the gun. You should take some time and adjust your hop up precisely to achieve maximum distance and a straight flat trajectory of your bb's.

Airsoft Gun General Maintenance is needed after each use. Begin by putting 2 drops of 100% silicone oil in the bb feed tube located in the magazine well of your airsoft gun, and dry fire the gun several times to lubricate the hop up bucking and the piston O-ring. Next clean and oil your barrel with the 6mm barrel cleaning-unjamming rod for your gun. Airsoft bb's leave a residue in the barrel that can build up and cause frequent jamming.

Basic airsoft care and fundamentals would include learning to care care for your battery and charger. Leaving a battery plugged into a charger can cause a fire or ruin the battery. Smart chargers are recommended. Your airsoft gun will need to be internally serviced every six months with heavy use, once a year for light to moderate use sooner if internal repairs are needed. This should only be done by experienced airsoft gun technicians. Till next time,

Armsdealer... Out

Airsoft Gun Improvements

Here at the airsoft gun repair website one of the more FAQ's emailed to us is how can I improve my AEG's performance? My first question back is always performance improvement? or velocity increase? As many players seem to confuse the two and they are definitely not equal.

Please note* This article does not pertain to Airsoft Training type weapons by Systema or other custom manufactured components.

First I will address airsoft velocity upgrades. I have performed FPS upgrades on just about every brand and model of airsoft gun on the market today. I have compiled data that clearly indicates that airsoft guns with upgrades beyond 400 FPS fail prematurely. The leading cause of failures, regardless of internal improvements or upgrades performed is gearbox housing nose blowouts more commonly known as a cracked mechbox. This is not a case of maybe, this gun will Fail Quickly. You should expect a dozen games or less from 9o percent of any airsoft gun upgraded beyond the magic 400 FPS mark.

Now if you are looking for performance improvements from your airsoft gun here is what I would suggest: For starters have your gun chronographed with .20 competition grade airsoft BB's to see what your stock velocity or FPS truly is. Manufacturers tend to err on the high side of the FPS scale and many listed airsoft gun FPS ratings are made with .12 gram bb's that I strongly do not recommend using in Metal gear box AEG's.

Durability Upgrade: Includes proper size steel bushings for your airsoft gun and metal spring guide with thrust bearing for durability and FPS increase if needed. These parts will greatly improve the overall durability of your gun. Any spring upgrades should be made, based off your starting FPS chronograph reading with a goal of around 350-375 FPS. Next determine your starting ROF measurement and decide if it is OK or would you like to increase it? If you are currently running an 8.4 volt battery then simply try out a 9.6 volt for a nice little ROF increase of about 3-5 bb's per second. High speed gears are a great option as well but other factors and upgrade components must be considered once you make a gear ratio change in this area of the gearbox.

For the most part many players can see improved durability and performance simply by practicing better airsoft gun hygiene. Use of proper silicone oil combined with cleaning and lubricating after each use and keeping your barrel clean and oiled as well will prevent your piston O-ring from drying out. Lubricate your hop unit for long lasting, increased durability and performance. A clean barrel at the start of each game means less jamming and other mechanical issues that can be caused by major barrel jams. Remember to back the hop unit all the way off on your replica weapon at the end of each game and you will see instant accuracy improvements.

*Caution* following the advice above will lead to your opponents noticing great improvements in your ability to "share some welts" with friends or family...

Armsdealer...OUT!