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. ;)

The work on Cyma AK47

I promised to write more about the work I did on my Cyma AK47S (CM.028) yesterday. So here it goes.

The goal was to:

• put new Systema tightbore,
• install metal body from Cyma,
• install side rail (from Cyma) for side lock mount rail.

I started with the metal body -- I wanted to drill three holes for the side rail. I attached the rail to the body with plastic straps (I have no idea what is the proper word to use), as shown below.

From Airsoft from Poland photos

I soon started drilling holes -- I just marked it using my drill.



And then I removed the rail to finish the drilling.





When the holes were made, I bolted the rail.



And then I attached the mount rail.



Then I removed the entire mechbox and all the other parts from the old plastic body. I had some help from this very good video of AK47 disassembly.



At this moment I wanted to remove the barrel and install the tightbore. I followed this video but it was incompatible...

I was very surprised to see that the original barrel in Cyma CM.028 did not have the notches and hole that are used to install the hop-up bucking, as you can see on the video. It was just put inside the hop-up chamber, along with the hop-up bucking! So I didn't install the tightbore. :(

I also had a lot of trouble with installing the mount for stock on the new body. One of the parts didn't fit inside the body. This is the troublesome part. I don't have any file at home so it required some work to make it fit. :(



I finally put everything together. I tested the replica today -- it does work, but I want to change this barrel anyway.

Late night work on my Cyma AK47

Short post this time, 'cause it's nearly midnight in Poland and after 3 hours of struggling I finally managed to put together my Cyma AK47 replica.

I wanted to:

• install metal body,
• install systema precise inner barrel (as I learnt yesterday, it's called tightbore),
• install side mount for side lock mount rail.

I managed to do the first and the third. More details tomorrow. Subscribe to the RSS feed if you want to know when those details are published.

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!

Cyma AK47 review -- bullshit

I saw a review of Cyma's CM028 - AK47 replica. And I thought I must write here something, because the review is bullshit. But what to expect when the replica is reviewed by someone who sells them, not by someone who only uses replicas!

Around 2:12 the guy says the following:

Not only will bigger and more powerful battery increase the rate of fire (...), also increase the range and accuracy up to 5 to 10 per cent.

Come on! The only thing that changes when you supply 9.6 volt current instead of 8.4 volt is the engine speed. The engine revolves faster, the gears in gearbox revolve faster, the power spring gets compressed faster. But the energy delivered to the piston by the spring does not depend on how fast the spring was compressed! So no matter what battery you use, the amount of compressed air that will push the BB through the inner barrel remains the same.

Well... there may be one case when it isn't the same. If you connect 12V battery to stock replica, the engine may try to compress the spring when it didn't decompress itself fully. The engine may revolve so fast that the next gearbox work cycle will start before the piston reaches the cylinder head.

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.

mG36 is ready

On thursday a guy from my favorite airsoft shop called me and we spoke for a while about my mG36 replica I sent for repairs and tuning.

He said that he installed the parts I asked for (precise inner barrel, 6.04 mm by Systema, and sealed air nozzle) and tested the replica on the chronograph. I wanted the replica to have around 350 fps -- enough for playing with guys that have 400 fps installed, but not very much). And I thought that after this barrel and nozzle installed it’ll have something close to that (330...340 fps maybe), since the G36 from Classic Army has 315 fps in stock!

Do you want to know what were the results from chronograph? A shitty 290 fps! I was stunned when I heard that.

It seemed that there was no other choice than to change the power spring. I asked the guy what caused such poor results. He said that the cylinder - cylinder head - piston head set is not very airtight and the spring looks weak. He suggested to change the spring go M100 and new cylinder with both heads made from aluminum. When I approved those parts to be installed, he asked me if I didn’t want to have the M110 instead as it’ll give me something close to 400 fps. Of course I agreed...

On friday he called me again. He installed the M110 and the other parts I mentioned above. He checked the replica on chronograph again and had result of 390 fps. That’s more than enough, I think...

Would you guess how much I’ll be charged for this tuning? PLN 460, amount equivalent to $170.

But hey, if the mG36 is supposed to be an light support weapon (as it’s real steel MG36 counterpart), it must have better range and accuracy than typical ASG replica...

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.

Junk tuning

Long time, no see, huh? I didn’t attend any airsoft game for two months, so there’s nothing to write about. But when I’m not playing airsoft, I am thinking about it. So this is what I found out lately.

I mentioned here, that I have my AUG tuned. It has Guarder M110 / SP110 spring, helical gear set, full set of cylinder / cylinder head / piston head (bore-up) and some other stuff. This left me stock Classic Army spring and stock cylinder with two heads.

I am curious if I can use the spring to tune my AK-47S. If this Cyma replica is an exact copy of Tokyo Marui’s one, then I guess there’ll be some trouble with the piston / piston head / spring. As far as I remember, the TM’s piston is permanently connected to it’s head, so to change the spring you have to do something with piston / piston head. I don’t know exacly what needs to be done, i.e. if I need to have spare piston or not.

I also have one 170% CA spring, which is similar to M110. I think I’ll put this spring to the mG36, ’cause it lacks good range for being a support weapon. I’ll put it inside along with sealed air nozzle I bought a year or two ago and didn’t have time to install. ;)

mG36 corrections

As I witnessed during our last game (it was not mentioned here, yet!), my mG36 is not working as good as it could. I believe I broke something when I tried to install the precise barrel.

I need to disassembly the replica, remove the gearbox and correct what was broken. I will also install the G36 Guarder's sealed nozzle I bought some time ago... I might also put inside slightly stronger power spring than the stock one.

But to do so I need first to purchase a good set of hex keys, since the smallest hex key I own at the moment is too big to use. I need 3mm hex key to open the replica up.

AUG: dissapointment

AUG dissapointed me today. Or maybe I should write: people who repaired it dissapointed me.

First brake down of the AUG looked like this: it worked for a while with no trouble at all. Then I fired it on full auto. And that was it. The engine coudln't move the piston at all. I think that the piston was pulled a bit during the previous shot. The anti-reversal latch ensured that it will stay in this position. Since the power spring is compressed, the energy required to move the piston from that place is greater than the energy required to start its movement from the beginning. I believe that the gears aren't positioned well to each other because the shims aren't placed properly.

When the mechbox is put together it does work. But in situation as described above it may stop.

I thought that the guys from my favorite airsoft shop will fix it. But they didn't. :(

I fired only 20 BBs or so, and then the AUG just stopped... :( It'll have to be shipped for service again... But I am not going to pay a dime...

Now two words about the game today.

There was 10 of us. We played a scenario twice.

The scenario was quite simple. There was a team of mercenaries (6 of them, me and Ania included), who was dropped on parachutes to a foreign country. Their goal was to get retrieve two "treasures" from one place, using explosives. Unfortunatelly their aircraft was shot down. So the explosives are now in the plane wreck. So this team had to get those explosives and proceed to the "treasure spot". After retrieving the treasure this team had to cross the border to reach safety. There was second team (4 players), who had to stop the mercenaries...

First time we played this scenario there was some misunderstanding. The second team took one explosive and one treasure from and went to cross the border. They probably thought that it is they who has to do this stuff. We played for 90 minutes but had only two chances to shoot those guys. First was when they were camped on the treasure spot. Ania killed 3 of them. :) I didn't fire a BB... Second chance we had when we were approaching the border. They camped there. At that moment I wanted to shoot some BBs but then the AUG broke down again... We won as two of our guys carried the treasure beyond the border.

From Airsoft from ...

The second time we played the scenario on opposite sides. I carried AK47 with attached large battery on top of it, because the battery I wanted to use with AK47 turned out to be discharged. We won again, because we camped on the treasure spot and defended it successfully. I killed one guy and probably another also. I say "probably", because I thought that at that moment I had no BBs in my hicap. It seems I was wrong. ;) Soon after I run dry I got shot.

I must mention that we had limited ammo during this game. We were told not to put more than 100 BBs in the magazine... I didn't like it at the beginning and at the end of the second round. When we were attacked the first time I forgot that I have limited ammo and I fired almost half of it in three bursts... ;)

We spent there 3 hours but most of the time we were walking, running and waiting for the enemy. There was more "hide & seek" than ever. I play airsoft for 4 years but this was the first time I had to crawl to approach the enemy and lie on the ground to be safe. But it felt very nice to wait for the enemy to appear on the opposite side of the sight.

AUG at home again

I wrote the last post at work. When I came home I got an email from my favorite ASG shop. They wrote that the replica was posted and will probably get to me the next day. Today that is.

The UPS delivery guy came today to my apartment and left the replica to Ania. I came home from work and opened the package.

My first thought was: where the heck is the AUG?

From Airsoft from Poland photos

After digging through the layer of cardboard shreds I finally saw a part of the AUG... It was something like digging a dinosaur skeleton from under a layer of dirt. ;)



I read a note from the guys. They charged me for power spring, hopup rubber and the service total amount of $50.20. I also had a precise barrel installed, but since I bought the other day in the same shop they installed it free of charge. Including the cost of sending it there and back I paid $82.

Oh, they also checked the replica on chronograph. Are you curious of the results? Check them here. :)

If I get the chance, I'll use the replica this weekend. :)

My AUG is now repaired

I just received a call from my favorite ASG shop. They told me that my AUG is now repaired and ready for shipping.

I asked them to install a precise barrel (I sent one I bought for mG36, but it didn't fit there) and stronger power spring. So they installed Guarder's M110 (SP110) spring. I hope the set of adjustments to the replica will give me something around 380 fps on 8,4V battery. :)

I will be charged with something around $50 + postal charges. The replica will be shipped by UPS.

It gives me a small chance to use the replica during this weekend's game. :)

The AUG is gone

Not like it's dead or something. It's just gone, because I sent it to my favorite ASG shop for repairs and tuning. You probably remember that the AUG is broken and I wanted to tune it a bit.

I disassembled the replica a bit and packed it to a solid cardboard box (I got one FedEx box suitable for stuff up to 25 kg (55 lb) and cut it in half since it was too high for the replica). I protected it from any harm with a lot of mashed newspapers. Here's a photo of how did it look like.

From Airsoft from ...

Of course it was later covered with second thick layer of mashed newspapers. ;)

I paid $20 to ship the package. I wonder how much will cost the repair and the tuning...

AUG augmentations (tuning)

Last week I wrote that my AUG A1 is broken and needs repairing. I also mentioned that I'll have 10% off all the prices needed for repair, hopefully I'll also get that discount for all the parts required for upgrade / tuning the replica. So why don't I augment my AUG?

But what can I tune? I can only put there ball bearings (the one I bought were of 6mm diameter, not 7mm, so didn't fit) and power spring. Since I already have one spring I consider sending it to the shop with the replica for installation. I don't know yet, because they'll probably charge me for that comparable amount of money I'd pay for new spring from them. The power spring will surely be tuned, but I think I'll leave the bearings "as they are".

I like to spend my money on airsoft stuff, so what could I buy this time (I already bought some stuff last month)? On the market you won't find many addons for Steyr AUG replica. The only interesting thing to buy is the Phantom Silencer Set. But is it really worth it? In the shop that's gonna repair my AUG this set costs $180. I think I'll leave this for the future. Since I bought it, I didn't use my AUG more then few times. I think we must first get along before I buy anything for this replica. ;)

Oh, by the way, I found an interesting video on YouTube. Unfortunatelly it's in french, but it describes how to make this Phantom Set AT HOME! I have no idea what are they saying, but I think the images are descriptive enough... Enjoy!

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.

mG36 phase 2.33 test 1

Today I tested my mG36 phase 2 ¹/₃. I wanted to do it yesterday but it was dark and I couldn't see how the replica works.

The first test was unsuccesful, because the replica didn't fire. As I saw, the BBs weren't pushed to the hopup. I removed the magazine seat and found out that one of the gearbox wires was in the way of BBs. I moved it a little and the replica started working fine.

I noticed a small increase of the BB's speed. That satisfies me.

I forgot to mention yesterday
that the inner barrel is too long so I can't attach the flame hider.

MP5K tuning to 350 fps?

Today I saw in one of the local ASG shops the replica of MP5K PDW tuned to 350 fps. It has installed: 170% CA equivalence (I say equivalence not equivalent spring, because I heard that this shop instead of installing the stronger power spring just adds muff to compress the original spring), metal bushings, metal gears and metal spring guide. I am surprised that this shop doesn't replace the piston and cylinder heads with stronger ones... They give 12 month warranty so this meand they expect the original heads to be strong enough. That's good news for any replica tuner.

I'll try to upgrade my MP5K PDW with the parts I got from CA's AUG - stock power spring (130%?), metal gears and ball bearings I bought for AUG but didn't install because they didn't fit the replica. For sure this will not give me 350 fps but but I hope for something near 310-320 fps.