First game this year?

It seems that the airsoft game I attended yesterday was my first game this year!

It started very weird on friday, when I started preparing my gear for the game. Three of my replicas, along with some of the batteries, were in the trunk of my wife's car for several months. None of the batteries I had (together with those that were stored indoors) seemed charged. Only one of them, the 1,800 mAh Sanyo NiCd 9.6V battery did work! And this is one of my oldest batteries, that was treated badly by me... Soon after I bought it with the M15A2 rifle, I connected it to my charger, but with reverse polarity! It was completely discharged the following morning, I connected it again (this time properly) and it works great from that time!

Having only one battery operational, checking my replicas was not easy. The G36 didn't work fine, and I recalled that it was broken some time ago. So I called my friend who previously repaired that replica and asked him, if he could do it again. He agreed.

So to the game I carried my AK47S, MP5K and the G36 to be repaired. I brought two large batteries (one partially charged 8.4V 3,000 mAh NiMH no-name and the Sanyo 9.6V) and two stick 600 mAh 8.4V Sanyos. I connected the first large battery to the AK, and used it for the entire game.

When I met the friend of mine at the location, we discussed about the G36 and he reminded me that he already fixed the gun from the failure I remember. I connected freshly chareged battery and indeed, it worked great! How sad I was when I found out that I have my favorite replica on me, but no magazines!

The game was rather boring for me. I spent most of the time camping in one place or the other. I was killed twice and didn't shoot anyone. To be more exact, I only fired three small bursts during the entire 3 hours we spent playing.

But I had to go to that game, since it took place in one of my favorite locations. :)

Hurtgen reenactment airsoft game

Yesterday I took part in the airsoft game played according to a scenario that was loosely built on the history of the Battle of Hurtgen Forest -- the longest battle American army ever fought. I won't write about that battle itself, the article on Wikipedia in my opinion explains it all.

The idea of the scenario was cool, so I thought I'd take part in the game. So I need to explain here the basics of the scenario:

Read the rest of the "Hurtgen reenactment airsoft game" article.

First game in 2009

That's right -- on saturday I played airsoft for the first time this year!

I prepared for this game the entire friday. I charged two stick batteries, and two large ones (the 9.6V 1,800 mAh Sanyo and the 9.6V 4,000 mAh Firefox). I wanted to take all my replicas, because I wasn't sure if any of those replicas is working. They weren't used for such a long time.

Read the rest of the "First game in 2009" article.

I sent the G36 back for repairs

I wrote how my mG36E was broken by the guys who were supposed to tune it. I sent it on monday, but the story needs some explanation.

I sent the photos I shown here. And the next day I was called by one of the ASGShop staff about the hop-up chamber. The guy asked me if I think the replica was sent in this condition. He told me that the replica was tested before it was put to the package, but since it was missing the flash hider, it was probably damaged on it's way to me. He told me he already spoke with his boss who told him to take the replica for free repairs.

I didn't much have time to send it, so it took awhile before I went to a local post office. I was also waiting for my new purchases -- the G36 carry handle with picatinny rail. I wanted to see how this handle looks on the replica. I waited till last friday and as the handle didn't arrive, decided to go to the post office on monday. I packed the G36 using a lot of bubble wrap and cardboard:

From Airsoft from Poland photos

So I sent it, insured the package to the amount of $600 and paid for the shipping over $15. :(

By the way, at the post office, I received the package with the handle. :( I will write something more about the stuff I ordered tomorrow. Subscribe to RSS feed to know more. ;)

Carry handles for G36

If you compared different versions of G36 airsoft replicas (the G36, G36K (Kurz -- short) and G36C (Compact), you probably noticed the different carry handles.

G36 and G36K have a carry handle with 3.5x scope, similar to the one that is fitted on real-steel G36E (Export) version.


From WGC Shop

G36C has lower handle with Picatinny rail (more a rail than a carry handle).


From WGC Shop

But there are also other carry handles on the market. First there's a handle that is closest to the real-steel version, with 3.5x scope and reflex red dot sight.


Also from WGC Shop

And there's a cheap alternative of the carry handle above and something I always wanted...


From taiwangun

I just bought the latter, no matter that my mG36 is broken and is going to be sent for repairs.

I am going to use this railed handle with red dot sight I bought some time ago for my MP5K.

Guys from ASGShop.pl broke my mG36's hopup chamber

Last saturday I wrote a post on how my mG36 got home from tuning and repairs in ASGShop.pl broken. Now it is a good time to add some more details to the story.

On 18th, right after I posted an article, I mailed the guys from ASGShop to tell them the replica doesn't work.

Yesterday (on 23rd) I mailed them once again, as I didn't get any answer. Couple hours later I got a reply that my e-mail was forwarded to the guy who worked on my replica.

The guy called me today around 11 AM on my cellphone but I had another phonecall at work, so I didn't answer. I tried to call him back in a couple of minutes, but the phone was not answered (the message on their answering machine says the phone support works from noon). He eventually called me three hours later.

I told him that the I found one piece of hop-up / barrel assembly (the spacer I mentioned on the earlier post) lying somewhere in the box that held the replica. We discussed for a moment and he said that it is not possible that this part disconnected itself somehow while the package was being moved. He told me that if I feel like I may try to take a look at the hop-up assembly and fix it by myself. As all I want is to have my replica firing as soon as possible, I agreed. I am familiar with this mechanism as I tried to replace the inner barrel by myself.

So I came home and started working on the mG36. The first step was to remove the magazine nest (sorry -- don't know if this is the right word, I mean the part you put magazine in) and what I saw told me something is very wrong with the hop-up chamber. I saw this:

From Airsoft from Poland photos

On the photo above you can clearly see that there's a broken hop-up chamber and that the hop-up bucking (rubber) is broken as well. You may also see that the spacer I mentioned earlied is gone (no big mistery here -- I found it in the cardboard box). So I disassemblied it a bit more to remove the barrel and hop-up chamber.



You can see that the rubber is also damaged. The moving nozzle made a small cut on the lower part of the rubber. You can also see what happened to the hop-up chamber.

But the latest discovery was worst. Not that I did't expect it, though...



This is the part of the hop-up assembly where the spacer is supposed to go. On the original G36 barrels there are two notches that hold the spacer in place. You can see it perfectly on the photos here (a guide to G36 hop-up disassembly). The fourth photo shows the spacer (pointed with the red arrow). On the 8th and 9th photos you can see the notches on the inner barrel.

Why am I shocked? I tried to replace the barrel in my mG36 some time ago. I bought some long barrel that didn't fit because of those notches. And being aware of that (and since the precise barrel for G36 was not available at ASGShop.pl at the time I sent them my replica for tuning) I told them to install any precise barrel that will fit. Well... seems the guys decided that the barrel without notches is as good as the original. But they were wrong. I thought of this last week -- this is why I wasn't surprised. :(

I don't care! I am going to send them the replica tomorrow and phone them on monday (will probably e-mail them some of the photos as well). I suspect they will repair it as a part of their warranty, 'cause they have simply no other choice.

But I am going to write this whole story down on the biggest polish airsoft community's bulletin board. I would let one mistake go, but two mistakes are too much!

mG36 at home, but broken

Recently, when I used the phrase "my favorite ASG shop" I meant the asgshop.pl. It changes today! They aren't my favorite airsoft reseller anymore, 'cause they screwed up my replicas twice. The AUG was first (the guy who repaired the replica didn't replace the broken engine) and now the G36 is broken...

And what's the most hilarious in this whole story? I think I know what is the problem as I almost forseen it...

Two years ago I tried to replace the inner barrel for my G36. At that moment it was difficult to purchase a proper barrel since it wasn't available at any of local airsoft shops. So I bought some 509mm-long barrel for AUG and M15s. But I couldn't install it, as it had notches in wrong places. The notches are used to hold the barrel to the hop-up chamber.

When I unpacked the replica from the box, I found a small piece of hop-up assembly. This part - spacer - stopped me from installing the barrel when I tried it. On this photo you can see when this spacer goes on the barrel, it is the place where the notches are. I the notches are somewhere else, you can't install the spacer. And the spacer is very important as it: holds the barrel from sliping out of the hop-up chamber and holds the hop-up adjusting wheel from moving to the front.

Okay, so I took the mG36, plugged charged battery and then tried to fire the replica. It made some noise, as the gearbox worked. But the BB wasn't shot. The BB wasn't fed to the hop-up chamber and wasn't shot. I rotated the replica upside down to make sure there is no trouble with the high capacity magazine. Nothing changed. So I thought maybe the hop-up is set on high BBs turning and then I turned the adjusting wheel to the other side. Nothing changed, but the adjusting wheel moved a bit to the front of the replica.

As the mG36 doesn't work, it's going back to asgshop.pl for further repairs.

the mG36 sent for tuning

Today I sent my mG36 replica. I must say it was a struggle to pack it in some cardboard box, 'cause I didn't have box that was big enough to fit the entire replica, even with folded stock. So I used two smaller boxes and taped them together, then taped them both around, wrapped in paper and taped again. ;) It weighed 5 kilograms as I was told at my post office.

I will keep you updated with mG36's tuning news.

the mG36 tuning to be made

Couple months ago I sent my Classic Army AUG replica to my favorite ASG Shop for repairs and small tuning.

Tomorrow I am sending them my mG36 for servicing and tuning.

I want them to see if there's anything wrong with the replica, because I think it has too low range. Maybe I broke something when I tried to replace the inner barrel. I thought about it in january and wrote two articles on how I tried to fix it.

Aside from the servicing, I will also ask the guys from my favorite shop to:

• install new sealed air nozzle (I have one already in my parents' place, so I won't be able to send it with the replica tomorrow),
  
• put any precise inner barrel,
  
• change the electrical wires to some high grade silicone wires and put them to the back of the gearbox and in the stock where the battery is located.

The changes should increase the muzzle velocity a little and increase the accuracy. They should also increase the rate of fire as the resistance of the wires should be decreased.

Maybe I'll ask the guys to install some stronger spring, but I'm not sure yet.

The stuff is on its way

The stuff I mentioned two weeks ago was already bought by a friend of mine. I am going to get it tomorrow. I hope I'll find some time this week for a short airsoft game. ;)

While scrolling through RedWolf Airsoft I found two interesting things.

The first is the G36 carry handle with scope and top rail. The rail is great if you want to install some dot sight. Since I do want to use my dot sight for this replica, I'll probably buy it in future.

The other thing is a very cool custom airsoft gun built on G36 base. You can check it out here. It's a G36 with G36C front grip (large, to fit large battery), bipod, box magazine and very long barrel. The barrel is as long as it's in the G36, but since the front grip is of G36C type, the barrel looks longer.

The cold and wet game

Today we played a cool game with people from Żyrardów in a very nice place. I tried to find a good satellite photo on Google Maps, but in my neighborhood photos on Google Maps are only in low-res. So I will show you photos on our polish site Zumi. At the center of the photo you'll see a bunch of trees planted regularly on a field. It is an old orchard. There was one building (not in very good shape, I must say) and remains of two other buildings.

From Airsoft from ...

This is the building. If one could get to the top of the tower there, he'd found himself THE BEST camping place ever! Fortunatelly, there was no floors in the tower so without much courage (or climbing gear) the tower was inaccessible. :)

I used mG36 with silencer. I think the replica looks much better with it. Since I don't believe in silencing ASG replicas with tubes filled with felt cloth, I removed the felt from the silencer. The only function of the silencer is to look nice, so I don't think I need extra weight there... ;)



The weather wasn't friendly. The temperature was slightly below 0°C (freezing point, 32°F), so the ground was frozen. You couldn't get stuck in a pool of mud. But during the first hour of our game it was raining. It was not a pleasant experience. Everything (replicas, ground, trees) was cold enough for the water to freeze. So my mG36 was soon covered with a thin layer of ice (each drop of water quickly froze on the replica). Water didn't freeze only on our jackets, so I was afraid that mine will become wet (since it's not water proof).

When it finally stopped raining, after a while, the snow started falling. Better snow than rain, right? :)



Now a word or two about the scenarios we played.

The first one was the simplest "you start here, we start there, we shoot each other". The game like this is a must have (a must play?), since it's the best way to prepare your muscles for the strain and to test if the replicas shoot well.
Then we played "storm the building" twice. Since there was 11 of us I had to be in the attackers team two times. We played the most dumb variation of the scenario. Teams were balanced well, and both had respawn points. This is stupid, since the guys who had to protect the building always have advantage. The first game ended with defenders' victory, but the second ended the opposite way. Somehow the attackers (at that moment 6 of us, only 4 of the defenders since my girlfriend's MP5K battery run out of power and the spare battery was in my pocket) managed to get to the building.

The third scenario was in my opinion the best. We set three "bomb spots". The attackers had to go there and blow it up (blowing up was played as firing a cracker). We had "moving respawns". If you got killed, you had to go 20 metres (yards) behind your own team and wait there a moment.
One time a guy from the opposite team almost killed all of us. In such case we'd probably loose the game since we had no "20 metres behind living team members" respawn and couldn't get respawned. :)

I uploaded all the good photos my girlfriend Ania made here, but I can't promise that I'll host them there for long time. I have 80% of my disk space on Picasa empty, but finally it'll run dry. Then I'll probably start emptying it by deleting some old photos. But I think it will not happen during the entire 2008.

My G36 / mG36 replica

This article is somewhat a static article. It contains everything important about my G36 - CA36 ASG Replica. It'll be updated every time it is necessary. You'll find all posts tagged "g36" here. :)

I bought the G36 replica on february 2006. I paid for it $400. I purchased the replica, two small 8,4V NiCd 600mAh batteries and front grip with bipod installed.

From Airsoft from ...

I wanted to change this replica into cheap alternative of M249 machine gun. Into cheap alternative of MG36. MG36 has drum magazine and bipod. But I didn't want to buy the drum mag.

Instead, I bought a large 8,4V 3000mAh battery and second hi-capacity magazine. I installed the battery on the outside of the replica's body, because it couldn't fit anywhere else. This was the second phase of mG36 conversion.



Later, I bought battery stock to put the battery there. After installing this stock the mG36 is in its third phase.



The replica's gearbox is full stock. I want to install 170% Classic Army power spring and sealed nozzle.

Update: October 25th, 2008

My mG36 was sent for tuning in ASGShop. I ordered:

• installing precise barrel suitable for G36,
  
• installing a airtight nozzle

but as those parts with original power spring gave only 290 fps I eventually ended up with:

• M110 power spring by Guarder,
  
• Deep Fire cylinder (not bore-up, I don't know why),
  
• DF aluminium piston head with bearings,
  
• DF reinforced metal cylinder head,
  
• silicone hop-up bucking (rubber) from Systema

.This set gave the replica the muzzle velocity of 396 fps.

The replica came home. But the guys from ASGShop broke the mG36's hop-up chamber and the replica is going to be sent for warranty repairs.

Update: November 18th, 2008

The replica was sent for repairs last week and arrived repaired yesterday.

To tune or not to tune

As I mentioned the last time, at the moment I stay for the entire month in Brussels, Belgium. For the time I receive my standard payment + Euro 1,500 for the food and stuff like that (apartment in which I live is paid). I plan to take most of this money back home, and decided that some of it I might spend on airsoft.

My first idea was to pay for mG36 tuning.

But later I thought that tuning the replica means I'm not good enough to fight with other airsoft players. So now I am thinking that perhaps it'd be a better idea to buy another replica instead, like some AK47 by Cyma for less than Euro 150. It has 290 fps muzzle velocity and I believe it is enough.

No tuning this month

I am sad but I will not send my G36 to tuning this month. In march I'm going to be the entire month in Brussels, Belgium, so I won't be able to use the freshly tunned replica. There is no reason in spending the money now when I'll have a chance to use the replica first time in april. It'll have to wait for two months from now. I'll ask my girlfriend to send the replica for me in march so I'd have it done by the beginning of april.

Because my car is broken I didn't attend any airsoft games lately.

Tuning questions

About two weeks ago I started thinking about getting one of my replicas tuned. At this moment the MP5K and mG36 are full-stock (I mean the gearbox, not the body, bipod, battery and other stuff). AUG has the "silent" set installed, more info can be found in the post about the silenced AUG. But it does have significantly better muzzle velocity than stock replicas, I believe it's got something aroung 350 fps. (Mamut's CA870 after his tuning has 410 fps on 0,2g BBs and 380 fps on 0,3g -- meaning that the light BBs don't gain all the energy the power spring can give).

So I decided to put some money in my airsoft replica tuning.

Since MP5K cannot be used with battery larger than 1200mAh 9.6V (after small modification of some kind), I decided that MP5K will remain as it is now.

So the decision is to choose between tuning AUG and mG36. I wanted to get muzzle velocity around 420-430 fps. Tunned by ASGShop.pl both replicas are upgraded to this level by installing:

• M120 power spring
  
• super torque up gear set (Classic Army)
  
• reinforced bearing guide with bearing (Deep Fire)
  
• reinforced cylinder, cylinder and piston heads (the latter with bearing) and nozzle (Deep Fire).

Since AUG has already got both bearing guide, gear set and the bore-up cylinder set installed the tuning will eventually be only to put power spring inside. I have the Classic Army 170% power spring (I got it free of charge when buying G36) so it seems that this entire tuning will be for free (only the costs of installing all the parts...).

Later I decided that I will not put money in AUG. Why? I am afraid that the battery I have (8,4V 1200mAh) will not be enough to "fuel" this replica.

So I decided that I'll send my mG36 to ASGShop and order the 420-430 tuning. But instead ot all the reinforced cylinder-piston parts, I'll install the bore-up. It should cost similar amount of money but I believe I'll gain few more fps. Addiotionally I'll send them back the barrel I ordered and ask them to send me the one that'll fit (more about barrel troubles is written in mG36 phase III upgrade - day one.

Custom G36 sniper rifle

Today I saw custom G36 sniper rifle in one of local airsoft retailers. Long silencer, RISes everywhere, bipod, short lowcap, tuning to 470 fps.

I'd like my mG36 to be something between original MG36 (bipod, drum magazine) and this kind of sniper rifle, i.e. I'll attach my long silencer and try to purchase the upper RIS rail.

mG36 - one step back

I wrote couple of days ago (in post MG36 phase III upgrade, day one) that the barrel I could not be properly attached to the rest od the replica. What I wanted to express is that there's one part of hopup chamber that holds the barrel to the chamber which doesn't fit because the barrel has notch in different place that the original one.

I removed that barrel on saturday and installed the original one, that's why I titled this post "one step back". :)

Yesterday I had my first chance to test the replica during airsoft game. We played it inside one of abandoned tractor factory buildings. What I noticed yesterday:
- the replica is now better balanced since the heavy battery is now installed inside the stock,
- the stock cannot be folded because of the battery iside (that's why the 3300 mAh battery for this stock has different cell setup).

Here's a photo of my replica at it's current state of upgrade.

From G36 and its m...

By the way -- I just noticed why the stock had different connector on the cable, that's because the battery had the same T-type plug. I wonder why they couldn't use the standard small or large plug?

Yesterday I also got a chance to attach the C-magazine to my replica. See below...

From G36 and its m...

One of the guys had the G36 with STAR grenade launcher and that magazine. The grenade launcher looked nice but the effect of launching all the BBs inside was...poor (in my humble opinion).

mG36 phase III upgrade - day one

Today I decided that I'll install the parts I receieved yesterday, ordered earlier this week (stock, barrel), the sealed nozzle I bought few months ago and a 170% Classic Army spring I got with my replica.

I decided that the first thing to replace will be the stock because that was my main purchase. I tried to remove the original stock in order to attach my new purchase. I didn't have the proper hex key to remove the hinge. So the stock will have to wait for it's turn.

This was not a good day for the G36 tuning. First of all I didn't have all the tools required for such a work and I ordered parts that didn't fit my replica well. ;)

Since I removed the gearbox and magazine socket to see how to attach the stock wiring to the gearbox (I still have no f--king idea!) I had an opportunity to remove the inner barrel and install the precise one. So I removed the outer and inner barrel and the entire metal part that holds the hopup together. I dismantled that part and the hopup itself. When I got my hands on the barrel and compared it to the one I bought (designed for M14, not G36!) I saw that it has the vertical incision (that holds the barrel in place and doesn't allow any motion in axial direction) was in different place. This means that the barrel is not properly connected to the rest of the replica.

Without having the stock installed I didn't want to replace the inner parts of the gearbox - i.e. nozzle and power spring. This is because I wanted to have first the 9.6V battery installed which I can't install without the stock.

New purchases

Today I ordered two more things for my mG36 conversion. First is the battery stock, I mean the battery that fits the large battery. Second is the precise inner barrel for M14, 6,04 mm diameter, 500 mm lenght (6 mm to long, in worst case I'll have to cut that bit), manufactured by Deep Fire.

After the parts come here I'll start tuning my replica, i.e. putting 170% CA spring, better nozzle and the precise barrel.

I also ordered a flecktarn helmet cover month ago. Photos as soon as possible.

mG36 -- the next things to do

From Airsoft from ...

This photo was taken at the last airsoft game I attended. You can see me in flecktarn parka and with flecktarn cloth on my head and the replica (mG36) covered with woodland camo net.

Because I have at home two flecktarn jackets (one of them is to small for me), I decided to make some kind of camouflage for my replica. I don't know exactly what will it look like.

I want to buy the hollow stock to put battery there and the upper rail from G36C -- lower and able to hold any separate scope. I will also install the 170% CA spring and better air nozzle, to "win" couple of FPS. Perhaps I will also purchase bore-up cylinder and piston set...