New Shamo airsoft movie

Yesterday one of my airsoft friends published on YouTube his video made more than a year ago.

Though I haven't played airsoft in a long time (over a year), I managed to appear in the video. I'm the guy in the woodland camo cowboy hat, using the mG36 and (later) MP5K PDW.

Enjoy. :)

mG36 is alive

On monday I brought my mG36 home after it was repaired. It had replaced piston, gears and power spring. I paid 304 PLN for repairs and new parts, equivallent to $106.



The guys from the Asgshop who tuned my replica say that I was supposed to know that using 9.6 volt battery that causes high rate of fire might damage it. And that I should contact them when I bought the 4,000 mAh battery I used at that game. It didn't matter that this voltage was suggested by them without any other information, like "use 9.6 volt batteries but with capacity below 2,000 mAh" or similar.

One conclusion: guys from Asgshop screw up your replica.

Oh, and since the replica received more powerful power spring, it now does have 400 fps muzzle velocity. :)

mG36 has broken gears and piston

My mG36 that I broke on Hurtgen reenactment game and left for repairs couple of days ago was diagnosed today by a friend of mine. He said that all the gears in the mechbox and the piston are broken (literally into pieces). He also said that it was because the spring was too weak for the battery voltage I used (9.6 V 4,000 mAh capacity NiMH battery). The rate of fire was so high that the mechbox malfunctioned and it caused all the damage.

The spring will be replaced with a more powerful one.

I wonder how much will I pay for the repairs and for the replaced parts...

mG36 and M24 dropped for repairs

Being today in Warsaw, I had a chance to meet with one of my teammates who recently started working in one of local airsoft shops. I wanted to meet him, because in his work he repairs airsoft replicas, and I wanted to leave him my broken mG36 and M24.

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.

Tuned mG36 tested this sunday

I wrote some time ago that my mG36 was tuned up to 390 fps. Two days ago I finally had a chance to test it during an airsoft game.

At first I was worried it'll work at all. I plugged fresh battery (4,000 mAh NiMH battery I bought last month) but it allowed me to fire only a couple of BBs when I was checking the hop-up position. I plugged another battery that lied around in my camper for a while, an old 1,800 mAh Sanyo NiCd and it worked just fine.

The game was short and not very interesting, so I used only about half a hi-cap magazine. But the most important thing is that it does work and shoots well. :)

mG36 operational again

Yesterday I received a package containing my mG36 replica. It was repaired, so it's probably fully operational. I will check it on weekend, 'cause when I arrive home after work it's already after dusk. :(

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.

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 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.

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. ;)

Two winter games

This is the post in which I'll write about the last two games I played. They took place at january 20th and 27th.

January 20th, 2007. Radziejowice.

The game was played in the same place as on previous weekend. But this time it was much crowded, each team consisted of 15 players. The scenarios weren't interesting enough to mention here. It was simple "you start there, we start here and have to reach that point". I uploaded satellite photo of the area to my cellphone and used it along with my GPS receiver to know where to head. I used G36 on first round and AK47S on the second round. We didn't limit the amount of ammo in magazines, so it was quite fun. :)

The team I played with used walkie-talkies (handheld radios) for the first time so it was more fun than actual gain from using those radios. There was a lot of mud and moisture, unfortunatelly the temperature was above freezing point.

From Strzelanka Ra...

My girlfriend Ania made those photos along with couple of videos. I put them together and here they are.

I wanted to add subtitles to this video, but I am not sure if anyone is interested in knowing exactly what is going on. If you want to read subtitles, let me know. :)



January 27th, 2007. Adamowice.

Remember the game in unused railway complex? If not, read the article I posted last year. The game took place in the same place. For the last couple of rounds we moved to another spot.

Nothing very interesting, worth mentioning. Just videos here. Some photos were made, but aren't worth putting here. If you'd like to see them, visit the gallery.



The following movie is quite interesting, you'll see a nice skirmish between three players, a very Close QB. :)



In the movie below take a good look at the part that starts around 3:40. You'll se a guy outside the building. He didn't know that the guy next to the window was in the opposite team and forgot to shoot him. :)











Comments are welcome! :)

mG36 corrections (2)

So I bought the 3 mm hex key. I read a great G36 disassembly guide with many photos. The guy wrote that to dismantle the replica one needs only one hex key, along with phillips screwdriver. So I thought that this hex key will be enough.

It wasn't. It isn't. I couldn't unscrew the selector lever so I couldn't take the mechbox out of the pistol grip. So I couldn't install the sealed nozzle. I only removed the barrel and hop-up and checked to see that it is probably not the cause of my troubles. This was the end of my work for last friday.

But yesterday, I found a small box with some airsoft stuff I bought some time ago. The mounts for red dot sight and mount base came along with two hex keys. One of them is small enough to unscrew the selector lever. Too bad I didn't know about their existence until yesterday.

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.

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.

First game this winter

According to the star callendar, the winter started last week. So this is the first airsoft game I had this winter. :)

Since I have my mG36 at home, I decided to use this replica. My AK47 was broken the other day, and my MP5K PDW is used by my girlfriend. So this left me only one replica to use - the mG36. :)

The game was rather boring. The guys there had more fun with showing off who whas the best stuff than actualy using the stuff. This is quite popular amongst the airsoft players who can afford to buy an expensive replica. In polish conditions, Classic Army replica that does cost PLN 1,300 ($520) is an expensive one, since average salary in Poland last year was around PLN 2,650 ($1,050). People that own cheap pump-action replicas are often very young and enjoy the airsoft games because of the action they may have...

The game took place in a very interesting place that I had never visited before. It is located near Nadarzyn, a town 20 km (15 mi) from Warsaw. The place was used by polish army, I heard that by some anti-aircraft protection squad. I tried to find some photos to show you, but found only these two galleries, made by an ASG team I am very familiar with - the Cannon Fodder. So here they are. :) If you'd like to see how the place looks on satellite photograph, you can see it below.

View Larger Map

Oh, you probably will be interested in some photos made last sunday. I must disappoint you a little, because I decided to show only one, not very intersting, photograph. Photo of me, holding my mG36 replica. I am sorry, but we couldn't get any better photos that day. :(

From Airsoft from ...