Ramble Alert: Upgrade Woes & The Viability Of Stock Guns

[@willowrabbit]

watching this while tuning my AEGs gearbox

[@timon1463]

😂

[@NepaAirsoft]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" My motto on upgrades.

[@extec101]

also when stuff work and you learnt how they perform in both how far and accurate it shoots and then change something just becaus some stupid reason and upset the learnt performance and if its shoot further ore to the sides of where the aim is etc then shooting just by feel and reflex and hit what is aimed at.

[@darkshock42mlg05]

If anything, just do all the basic reliability upgrades like aoe, shims. If the fps drops into the 200's then do airseal and lubrication.

[@Mattvogtsr]

I agree… that’s why I tend to only mod boneyard purchases or parts bin buys….I still run a stock KWA MP7 that’s about 12 years old….

[@michaelconti4491]

The teeth on my LMG-E's piston got sheared off. Said I could do it myself and upgrade it at the same time. 30 hours later that gun is a $500 paperweight.

[@RohxAirsoft]

Yup...same after game 1. HPA'd it and never looked back

[@MoonshineAnimations]

The one time I tried teching a gun, I tore open my Umarex G36. And FUCKED IT UP. Never again. Leaving all the teching to the professionals nowm

[@thomasherche3378]

same. I messed up a krytac

[@redheadmetalhead247]

And here I was, scratching my arm like Tyrone Biggums, waiting for new GG content, and whaddya know, it's on a topic that's pretty relevant to me. I've literally NEVER had good luck teching my own guns, and I maintain multi hundred thousand dollar commercial equipment for a living.

[@alexseverne3792]

Cyma G36 is also excellent, pretty ubiquitous here in Europe. My local field uses them as rental and they shoot better and further than they have any right to for the price.

[@botodin6979]

- buys an LCT gun - gun sucks "How did this happen to me?"

[@gunmonkey1185]

Best AEG ever ,CYMA AK. Great range, ROF and light enough to run with all day. For me.

[@markc9949]

Boy does this one hit close to home. I've been in airsoft for 10 years on and off. I've also really been into the custom car scene. After years of living with a heavily modified car, I ended up just wanting a "normal" car. And after years of having problems with all these frankengun builds, I ended up buying a VFC 416 A5. I put an Aster in, a Maxxhop and a longer inner barrel, DONE. Learned my lesson and will continue to build these basic modded guns. You can't put a price on peace of mind of reliability. It's true in the car world as much as it is in the airsoft world.

[@Luke9K]

Indeed. How well you do at Airsoft games is way more about how you play than how your gun performs IMO.

[@odinlindeberg4624]

Agreed, as long as your gun isn't at something like half a second trigger response it's more important that you wield it right.

[@bryanwoodruff8264]

So true... my first game I played was with a plastic cyma ak I paid $60 for it used, I was running around wearing a upc load bearing rig wrecking people... my athletic ability is what gave the advantage over the other players

[@Luke9K]

@@odinlindeberg4624 Yeah, that's it. Just need a little reliability and consistency too, so you know where the BB will go when you fire it and that's all.

[@Luke9K]

@@bryanwoodruff8264 I used a G&G M4A1 Combat Machine for the first year or so at least that I played and I played quite a lot too. It was fine.

[@adtodd84]

My Cyma AKS74u shot right at 400 my first time out stock. Was field legal barely but I had an increased MED so I'm glad I had a sidearm.

[@coryscuts52]

I love my VFC Samurai Edge. It shoots amazing right out of the boxs. So if anyone is thinking about getting one, o highly recommend it. No upgrades needed. Also love your guy channel !

[@totalfan5801]

Commenting over a year later. I too am a believer in a backup gone you don't mess with. Mine's a G&G Combat Machine that I won in a raffle. CYMAs are great if you get them field legal, which sadly means opening the gearbox.

[@DeeJayNee]

Great Video! I had learned this the hard way after spending alot of time chasing fitment and feeding issues with a MAXX CNC hop-up. I was building a marksmen M4, and I figured that I needed a better hop-up unit, but it caused alot more problems than better performance. In the end, I just got a stock rotary m4 hop-up and had far less issues.

[@WTP_DAVE]

I have a CM042 AK and the thing still runs like a tank after 5 years of next to no work

[@connerwhite7743]

I purchased an ICS CXP16 sportline in early 2015 and it ran stock until 2018 when I needed to put in a sector delay chip and new motor. Never felt under-gunned in woodland or cqb. Good to see ya'll back in feed!

[@ikeflaherty8910]

I had a cyma mk12 spr. Receiver wobbled and the externals weren’t great. Me and my friend who didn’t know how to tech put lonex compression internals and a mad bull inner barrel and flat hopped it. After months of it breaking and having to open it again and again. It worked BEAUTIFULLY. Could land pinpoint shots through a wooden fence from 200 feet away. Sold it to my friend tho when his primary broke cuz I had a second AR. I hope it still shoots great, cuz I moved.

[@petedadink]

I was given a box of used parts /guns from a neighbor. 2 guns are ok and I ended up taking apart 2 gearbox’s just for the experience of learning how they worked. The gearbox’s were not in any gun and as of now one became an SBR .

[@WD-Fawdy]

I'm of the train of thought that you should open up a gearbox and maybe break a thing or 2 as a learning experience, granted not your main gun but maybe a gun that a fields selling for cheap because their tech just can't be bothered to fix it. For example I bought my first m4 from a field for $75 with a brand new battery and charger (so the gun was like $35 because I needed those anyways) and the only thing wrong with it was that the semi was broken, with a 75$ gun you aren't as afraid of breaking it and you give yourself an actual opportunity to learn ( it was just a broke ass trigger contact I fixed it)

[@EuthanasiaSUPREME]

When I was younger I used to be perfectly content with taking a stock gun out on the field. But as I got into tech'ing I saw the how large of a difference certain upgrades can make, which significantly raised my standards and now I can't go back to bone stock guns. Also, the idea that "modified guns are less reliable" is BS. If you're going for a super high ROF/FPS/high performance build that can be true, but there are also upgrades that can be done for increased reliability while also giving moderate performance increase. Certain upgrades can be inexpensive too such as an R hop, some tightbores, SHS gears and piston, etc. I really don't understand why some people are against upgrading airsoft guns, its fairly simple and can be inexpensive in the grand scheme of things, and the performance increase is definitely worth it.

[@Schultz98]

While I understand your point of view and even follow the philosophy to a degree with my e&l's, if you do a lot of research, practice and learn how to really tech, you can make some awesome aegs that will shoot super consistently, fast and super reliably. I had a tech fuck up my gun once and out of frustration I forced myself to learn. 10 years later it really is just second nature. It's also fun how much you learn along the way.

[@gentlemanviking9389]

I love tinkering, I just got back into the sport. I bought a lonex gun because I'm tired of "trades" elitists and this gun feels just as solid for 1-200 $ cheaper lol

[@dmoose7066]

I think you guys did an amazing job of summing things up. I know I have messed up a lot of my aegs over the years due to the lack of skills to really fix them, I've been lucky to have an amazing tech nearby so it hasn't been too big of an issue. My most recent ICS all I did was a motor (ics motors have to be some of the worst motors on the market right now lol) and swapped the spring using the quick-change spring so I didn't have to open the gearbox or take it out of the receiver. Will most likely be leaving more of my guns in the future mostly stock, adding all the shiny parts is fun, but man unless you know what your doing, or want to take the time to learn, it's really not worth upgrading anymore.

[@johnzaknich3979]

G-day boy's, I've got to say we have a guy at our club who has to pull apart a brand new purchase to make it the most insane gun (some weird compulsion or something) and the on game day he spends half the day repairing said gun on the fly instead of just playing. I think he's record is 5 guns in a 6 hour game day. Now in fairness we live in AUS so we are restricted to Gel ball Blasters and there is always a degree of upgrades to be done to be competitive as they are the toy, toy gun/blaster you have been talking about. Cheers for the vid and keep doing whatever you boys have been doing as your looking quiet svelte.

[@mobymobymobymoby]

Oh boy how I love showing up to play early, having more than enough people to get some good gameplay in, and have 75% of them having technical issues with their builds INSTANTLY. Last weekend I watched a guy tune his m240b in the chrono for about an hour straight. Sounded like he shot an entire bag of bbs while doing it. Most of them had some issues on the field as well. Granted, my AEG doesn't kick, its not loud, it's ROF isn't insane. There is a different experience to be had from using a worked gun that I'd love to try, but seems a little pointless at times. At the end of the day, it is just an airsoft gun.

[@12scot-koreanlikeinskittle25]

Its weird....you guys just mirrored my latest experience. My first aeg, a g&g tr16 top tech full metal m4 just finally died. And I mean it basically exploded the gearbox and took everything with it. I never touched it except for a spring replacement after 5 years. Now I love this aeg. In a different way than my krytac lvoa-c but it's old and when it was new, almost nothing was full metal or had the electronic bolt that moved to mirror a real steel ar15. I am getting stupid with the upgrades now on it though as it has earned it. Aside from a 3x magnified optic, it has a rattle can paint job and no other external upgrades. Internally it is getting a new lonex gearbox cuz retro arms has fitment issues, all new lonex compression parts, retro arms blade trigger, gate titan mosfet, star wei motor, prowin hop up with a flat hopped Prometheus barrel and maple leaf bucking.its gonna be super sexy under the hood and its code named "The Great Personality". Its RL counterpart is the homily girl your friends wife wants to hook you up with but she has a great personality and sense of humor. Aside from being my new primary/backup rifle. Its whole job is to look totally normal but when I let my friends who dont play airsoft use it, they will be hooked by the performance and get them into airsoft.

[@thelifescout8335]

I bought my first Ak aeg and went with LCT (actually bought two, ak bug bite me) The only things I did out the box as you recommended was replace the hop up, bucking, barrel and motor and m100 spring also soldered deans on them.Hasn’t let me down yet and I have no desire to gut it and replace all the internals.

[@Shifftymking]

I know everyone will say get a krytac and u can avoid this problem but not everyone has the money for a krytac as there first gun that was me. So I got an ares amoeba 008 for like $200 on sale and that gun is still going strong as my backup. At this point I’ve only changed the bucking, nub and barrel and to be honest I find myself using it more now over my upgraded gun for reasons u mentioned in this video. The sad part is my main is a krytac that I opened up and started upgrading when the gun was shooting perfect and had no issues but I thought I’ll do this and that and it’ll shoot even better and now I wish I could just rewind time and have it stock again lol lesson learned I guess. Love the content keep it coming and I’ll keep clicking that like button.

[@MagnustheJust]

ASG in my experiences, are also great out of the box. My CZ P-09 is 3.5 yeara old and still chrono's at 345-350fps with a .25 gram bb. I named it 'Netvor', which is Czechoslovakian for monster.

[@calumnpotter]

If i had to buy another aeg (I've moved to hpa) out of the box I'd drop a flat hop in straight away, and if i could a titan. Permitting the fps is below your limits. That combo will be as good as 85% of every gun on the field

[@bronkobrumby776]

Yea i see your point and i agree when you get a good stock AEG. Issue is i own an Avalon Calibur, which is not good out of the box, sorry. No idea why you on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean believe VFC Gearboxes are good. First my tappet plate broke, followed by the spur gear and finally the piston and shell broke at the same time. After i upgraded the shit out of it, and know it runs flawlessly already for two years. My other gun is a G&G FS-2000 (G2010)Tactical from 2010. Those are picky and need some upgrades to work properly. But using parts with good tolerances like Lonex or Retro Arms, i never had real issues to correctly adjust and balance the systems. In those years i never had to change anything again, just do regular maintenance like cleaning the barrel and lubricate the stuff.

[@opairsoft8100]

I think the main thing with people who want to get into upgrading don’t understand is that you NEED to have multiple back up guns so if something breaks or something else, you have multiple backups. If you look at any experience tech, they will have a minimum of 10 guns in there collection.

[@BillLarkinmusic]

My stock Specna Armes SA H-11 rocks all day, all night... no problem. :) 365 fps average/ .28g bb's. This was entertaining thanks! I agree that new parts and upgrades will only be as performant as their weakest counterparts.( the weaker part will always give up under stress from the 'performant parts') Hope that helps..

[@Courtesyflush52]

I did the exact same thing with my Krytac SPR and did HPA. Also had nothing but problems with a gun that I totally messed up Imo if you're going HPA, you either need a Fusion Engine or a Wolverine MTW. Something built from the ground up for that purpose

[@rever-mi6qz]

Specna Arms is really the cyma of M4's, those rifles are absolutely amazing for the price. It's considered the main entry level brand here in Europe if it comes to M4's.

[@bryanwoodruff8264]

Bro... yes specna is that deal

[@alexseverne3792]

I literally just got an Edge Series Specna woop amazing for the cost.

[@omgyeaXD]

I've been hearing people having problems with the orion gearbox

[@ryab3432]

I mean this isn’t accurate at all, the cores are pretty trash and the edges are shit except for their decent metal body, the edge is the epitome of a build gun, it’s not particularly good internally.

[@rever-mi6qz]

@@ryab3432 well I don't have experience with the edge series, but I own several regular specnas and they are awesome.

[@ChadrikThunderCaulk]

the main pain in the ass with upgrades is when oems dont use a standard, all the builds ive done that have had problems is when they use proprietary shit that you have to work around.

[@5cmpersec]

I totally agree with what you are saying about a highly customized build does not improve the effectiveness of a player compared to when using a well build mid to high quality stock gun. I'm a Chinese engineer myself and totally built up by krytac with titan, ASG motor, R hop prometheus etc.... and everything else inside just because I'm interested in the technology and want to see what it can do. However recently I tested a totally stock arcturus AK01 which is a nice high quality AK and find myself performing exactly the same on the field. When I first got the gun I thought the slow trigger response is going to hurt my effectiveness but nope.... it doesn't even have a neodyium motor in that thing and it didn't really matter too much. Doing indoor I can see it might have issues but for outdoor games there is really not that much draw back. Also nothing in airsoft is completely standardized and you always have to measure and test parts for proper fitment. Tiny difference in things like bucking lip length, nozzle length and tappet geometry can throw a lot of things off. Usually if stock part doesn't have significant issue with the performance level you want, then don't change it. I tried all kinds of cylinder head, tappet, etc for the krytac but always went right back to stock parts for best compatability and fit. I have modified number of parts to kit well together as well but not everyone have the time and knowledge about how to properly trim buckings and modify tappets. With industry moving towards ETU and good quality internal parts I see less and less reason to heavily modify the internals of stock guns anymore.

[@pmakiku]

Smart guys here! Now just to get most of the airsoft players to watch this.

[@joshua7330]

Cybergun, CYMA, P90's are also great. A lot of people will recommend getting a TM P90 which are great but also greatly over priced here in the States. Barrel and bucking change and you have a laser beam. Add a mosfet, custom trigger, and motor and you have a buzzsaw. Never once touch the inside of the gearbox and probably won't until something breaks. Also some gearboxes are easier to get to and work on then others;-)

[@svenairshit1270]

I honestly think a mosfet with precocking and a decent bucking are all I need. I remember the first "good" gun I got, an amoeba, I added a $100 barrel/flat hop/prowin setup and a $70 motor that preforms no better than my buddy's A&K with a warfet and a basic lonex barrel and prommy purple. The A&K was also is miles ahead in the reliability department. I always bring a backup as I've fried a few amoeba mosfets with a motor that was way to fast for it.

[@circleofthewolfairsoft7419]

100 % agree i run the Krytac SPR with only changing the hop-up/bucking and barrel. been running it sense they first came out 4 or 5 yrs ago. never had a problem with it still shooting like a lazer, and ain't planning on changing anything until it starts showing it's age. i am not a tech watched alot of tech video's and still to intimidated on all the crap inside there, so will be looking for a someone who knows what their doing and still will be running this same gun. now i do have a back up cheap christmas special, and this i will be teaching myself tech'ing because i am interested on trying but my SPR is hands off.

[@NK_Customs]

I haven't heard you say it, but ics is also very good out of the box!

[@ethanp7666]

Great vid love the content keep it up! One thing I would like to add is my experience with the g&g cm16 SRXL (one of the ETU models). I have had problem after problem after problem. First it was the broken ETU that it shipped with. The ETU would randomly fire three round bursts when the battery was in. It did not matter whether it was on safe semi or full auto it just was terrible. This caused me to buy a whole new ETU and mosfet wiring (this was right out of the box so I got about 20 shots off) when I had fixed that problem I realized that the inner barrel and outer barrel were slanted to the left (this was not me and I know this because the second I took the battery out from the first time I had shot it I had kept it in a gun case) I ALSO realized that the Hopup unit was poorly assembled and made it so my gun was over hopping and under hopping randomly. Lastly the rail. The rail was extremely wobbly no matter how much I tightened it. The rail was also slanted slight upwards. This most likely was not the case with other guns but this was my experience.

[@crgarage8507]

I've been using a KWA LM4 with close to 50,000 rounds and the only upgrades are cosmetic, its great to see other players react to a gas blowback running for that long specially with completely stock trigger assembly. But it seems to me that its a trend when it comes to KWA and the reliability of their GBBs. Ive been using GBB for the past 7 years with now a Krytac kriss vector as a reliable secondary (even though its upgraded). great conversation as I was doing the same mistake when I first started, but now with enough knowledge my krytac has been alive with a ridiculous 30rps fire rate for a year or so.

[@Yayo11111]

Love this guys films. Great actor

[@darkshock42mlg05]

The only upgrades you should be doing to your gearbox if you do upgrade your gun are aoe, shims, lubrication, and maybe airseal. Just basic qol/longevity upgrades. Just dont go too crazy and try to make it burn someones patch ; ) or shoot 1000 fps. Thats a lotbof time money and research which will wear out you parts a hell of a lot faster.

[@MrCoffee0996]

Nice discussion. After years of airsoft, I'm at the point where I prefer to buy a good high-end guns and leave it be. Though, I mostly run GBBRs now (TM MWS rocks!) which don't really have much to upgrade aside from reinforced parts. Few months ago, I got TM 416 Delta recoil shock and that thing is crazy good out of the box (quite low on the fps side tho). It now serves as my backup gun, or when I'm too tired to play with the MWS. Most of my previous AEGs tend to have problems. Except for the ones that were worked by a professional (costs higher). From how I saw him worked, the key to a good reliable aeg upgrade is to only do it ONCE; putting all good stuffs inside, make sure everything works properly, and never open the gun again. But I can be wrong lol, I'm no expert. And I'm starting to migrate to GBBR world.

[@Spollekop]

The G2 series of g&g are actually pretty good. Consistent fps and I think they updated or upgraded their etu's. You should have bought an extra gearbox shell for your hpa build.

[@kylemckinney_22]

Yes, I own the sr15e3 mod 2 and it's phenomenal.

[@patrickhanlon932]

I love my stock VFC Avalon gen 1!

[@DBRSAstonMartin]

I totally get this. Had a LT19 that I took apart to change the gears and add a Ebay mosfet. Still apart on the bench b/c I can't shim to save my life and that mosfet with the huge silicon wrapped 16AWG wires don't fit. Insert comments about me being a pleb :P Also you guys got a subscriber here been listening to your videos today! Great content!

[@joshmorganshooting]

Specna is a beautiful budget brand. nothing but impressed with mine

[@cjmunnee3356]

I'm looking into one of the edge series ones pretty seriously as my first AEG.

[@joshmorganshooting]

@@cjmunnee3356 I would highly recommend them

[@cjmunnee3356]

@@joshmorganshooting Thanks! I think I finally made up my mind on them earlier today. Now to scrounge up the funds.

[@isaacshively6705]

ICS Sportline guns are ok, the upper gearbox internals are crap but compression parts are really easy to swap with their split gearbox

[@jonathana1572]

I have a stock umarex ump 45 competition, only changed the outer barrel to put tracer unit. had it for 3 years and played only indoor. also got my kli baba yaga last week. haven't changed anything

[@kevinbijkerkkje]

I own a 4 year old specna arms, and I never opened the gearbox, and it still runs great.

[@MrDrManPerson]

I'm 1 year into my specna m4. Stock, feels great.

[@fulpsyshmulpsy8099]

GET A MOSFET! Just finished my first full gearbox build v2 that replaced the stock in an A k Masada ACR. Surprisingly and I assure you quite luckily the shimming of the gears was the quickest part of the build so far lol. I was doing my last dialing in of everything and my LEVIATHAN fet diagnosed trigger error (set too close to sensor). It would’ve taken me forever to figure that out w out mr science machine helper

[@MartinJHarris]

I met the guys from 10th Mountain at KAF in Afghanistan I still have their patch we exchanged as I was part of 16AAB UK

[@gabry96colo]

My experience: not a tech but DIY are my thing. Bought a cm16 srl an ran it stock with an 11.1lipo until the warranty expired. oredered parts on ALIexpress to do maintenance. First opening of gearbox:re-greasing, re-shimming, new cilinder head,with very soft sorbothane, new piston head with bearing,new nozzle with o-ring. not a single problem, gun runs quieter. Second opening (1 year after). re-greasing, check shimming, new ht motor. Now hi-cap mags can't sustain the rof with 11.1 and the battery runs hot (shimming a little too tight), still very good with a 7.4 and also noticeaby quieter ( stock g&g pinion gear SUCK). Third opening ( 2 months after): new bearing 16:1 gears. shimming, tightbore, hopup. gun runs quieter, even higher rof, batteries no more hot..... premature engagement during tests with 11.1, stripped stock piston :(. Fourth opening: new piston, shortstroked 16:1 sector gear, new stronger spring to compensate shortstroking. No problems till now. Upgradability of stock guns is key if you don't want to drop 400$ for a "toy" when you start playing. sSock guns runs fine in most scenarios, but if upgraded even with cheap parts (i spent around 100-150 in 3 years for parts) and if you put A LOT of your time to do the upgrades yourself it will sure be worth it. A well done job requires time, trial and error. I know that if i open the gearbox for whatsoever, it will take at leat 2 hours to put it back thoghether and be sure that everthing works.

[@maverickentity9341]

Going to go on a ramble myself if you don't mind (shitty day/week/year not helping) about my experiences with teching all my version 3 gearbox collection of aks, rpk, and even a bizon. Manufacturers range from olden days of dboys/cyma ak receivers of unknown metal quality that have yet to break, to LCT RPK and the 40 series steel ak105 pattern. Frankly I am just tired of opening up replicas. At first it is because I gotta change the spring out for fps limits here in Michigan (because I never fire enough to settle a spring and the keeping spring compressed method has never panned out for me). Then I start fiddling with higher ratio gears, gluing on sorbo pads to new piston sets, etc. Only in the past two years or so did I fall into the mosfet money pit, with random units ranging from nukefet to apex sets from clandestine (blew one nukefet up once) and along with that lipos. I've had piston heads and spring guides fail more than anything else, purely on quality control (had both fail in a m90 spring gun that was not built to be anything major, stuff just fell apart). I still can't shim for shit or do wiring jobs properly despite all I've done, and despite folks locally commentating on how nice some of my replicas sound on just a 7.4v, I know I'm just another trigger squeeze from having something go horribly wrong. I wouldn't be surprised that even with my good compression on some of them, and flat hop setups on most if not all of them, I still would get outranged by a rental kid (I get outranged by the hpa folks already as it is). My LCT RPK has been one of my most accursed replicas. Fire selector wore itself out quickly (because only ICS and Classic Army have the iq to make their selectors and cylindrical nub welded together despite all these years), it had one of the grub screws below the rear sight stripped from the factory (something I did not know about till a year or so after having gotten it and wanting to take it apart for the first time). Was so bad I had to have a local field game host bore said screw out. Gearbox itself is a nightmare, with the original cylinder head cracking from just trying to put the gearbox shell back together again during one attempt to work on it (back when I had to physically force the gearbox out due to not being able to take the front end off. It is the one that had a short in the wiring that killed both a mosfet and a lipo, with me at one point having to redo the wiring harness to make it take a lipo under the dustcover instead of the stock (which defeats the whole purpose of having such a large stock space). The current wiring is a nightmare of splices and bad soldering, to the point where now I would have difficulty getting the gearbox out despite being able to take the replica apart now. It runs now (even tried out 11.1v I recently acquired for it), but I wish I had never messed with it beyond changing the connectors to deans. Last holiday season I had gotten the "Stamped Steel" cyma ak104/5 40D series model with the intent of running it stock save for a motor change and new barrel. Didn't even make it a year without trying to change its internals. Falls into the point you two made about how if you've already done it before, that mindset eggs you on into doing it again. It along with my Bizon are probably my next two most wonky aegs. I recently set out to restore an old gearbox that was sitting inside another dboys/cyma ak74m of yesteryear, throwing whatever I had spare-wise into it, rewiring it up with just better quality wire (had no mosfet available at the time), spent most of an evening trying to shim it nicely at one point (which probably did nothing), etc. After all the dissassembly, reassembly, back and forth, I found the classic selector lever worn out syndrome had struck again. Que trying to find a replacement solution, which atm is a Classic Army selector that doesn't quite mesh well with the internal selector bit but apparently is working, simply because no one stateside that I've shopped with before or know about stocks the ICS one that works so well. Rambling on, what I want to say is that over time I've become so jaded of both the external and internal quality of various companies' replicas versus the ever increasing price with each new wave of imports that this year I've stopped buying anything new and shiny but instead just parts and other things (Rusfor old blood with too many regrettable gear purchases this past year). I see the newest cyma or lct and think "will it be a lemon, will I have to take it apart and replace the guts or the external bits?" Doesn't help that the wide range of quality control regardless of brand means one dedicated tech reviewer will say a model is fantastic and another will say it is a farce (take in point the arcturus brand that I was excited to see due to their supposed innovations with their v3 gearbox only to find really bad quality control reports from some folks in the UK that have done tech work on them). I've sorta reached that plateau feeling where I don't really need another replica in the collection, no matter if it looks different (such as a 9x39 platform like VAL or SR3). I rather be able to just buy externals like one did back when LCT just made body kits, or get a premade gearbox that has all the sorts of basic stuff I've attempted myself already done. I've got a gate nanoasr still in its box that was originally going to go into the 74m gearbox as a test alongside a lonex hopup chamber to replace the stock one that I had already put a flat hop in, but I honestly just don't want to take it apart again. I'm just sick of it all, and wish I had a tech shop nearby where I could sit down for a weekend with folks that know better and have them dissect all my horrible frankensteins and show me why I should never create such monstrosities again. At least I have not opened up my Real Sword SVD, just changing the connectors to deans was enough for me. Oddly enough, folks seem to think it being 420 fps with .2 is scarier MED wise than a hpa going 30+rps with .36s.

[@TacticoolVIKINGBeard]

I have a g&g m4 raider-L that i run as my primary ( i have yet to save money for a newer better made gun) and i was very intimidated by opening the gearbox but i HAD to upgrade my spring since G&G stock springs absolutely suck and lose stiffness quickly and went from 360fps to about 310fps and i was being outranged by pretty much everyone on the field. But i changed that out and put a ball bearing spring guide in and it was like a 2hr process but i made it work and it was worth it. So a heavier spring added on top of preinstalling a Prometheus tightbore and flathop and swapping for a rocket motor had made the gun shoot ASTRONOMICALLY better. May do the hop unit and all compression parts eventually but so far shooting good and have switched to .32 bbs up from .28s after some recommendations and ive been getting more range and consistent accuracy. The CM16 is still a great platform. Needs upgrades IMO but works great.

[@willspencer8694]

I run an old.school TM MP5 approx year 2000 Total beast but trying to find parts for them is a total beast of its self Yeah not much is left standard Systema your beauty

[@Driftyz]

Bourbon and Airsoft, love it

[@huckleberry2534]

the elite force mp5 series with avalon gearbox is amazing

[@timdekold6885]

i had a krytac and i did that same thing, where i didnt know anything about teching and decided that i wanted a crazy dmr. bought an $80 tightbore barrel and then decided i didnt like it. then decided that i would try that crazy thing where the gun shot twice as fast, which i now know as dsg. 1.5 years later, after workign on it on and off, ive only just got it working. keep stock guns stock

[@connroe98k]

E&L AK74M only needs a hop up bucking. Oh and oil all over the steel receiver.

[@BlackWolfessUSCM]

My Cybergun/JG M4 and LCT AKM are custom modded and teched by myself but purely because I need 350ish to go indoor transition at my field and I tear both of them down 2 times a year to avoid breakdown issues. But that isn't garunteed as yes I have had breakdowns before. Still I don't mind, their my babies and they get a lot of TLC from me anyawys.

[@regimes]

Very relatable as I've totally trashed my TM mp5k high cycle toy gun by opening up the gearbox. It never shot again and every tech I sent it too couldn't fix it. TM FAIRIES COME BACK

[@maxlittle9979]

That sucks =( I replaced the piston, heads, gears, nozzle, spring, guide, +mosfet, in my TM Sig552 and it's a BEAST, especially with an 11.1v lipo. Never even opened the hop-up chamber though. I guess my fairies all live in there =)

[@ollegoop9]

IF i buy a new gun, i do always wanna put a mosfet in there, in most cases nothing more, some cases i swap the hop bucking out

[@puck_ow]

Yeah krytacs usually have alot of problems when you pop certain hpa engines into it due to alignment and placement such as the selector switch if you get a p* fusion engine or a valken v12

[@A-G-F-]

Why would yo do that to begin with? There are plenty of brands with better externals for cheap

[@mikemegadeth4110]

I got a real bad case of the might as wells. Cuz usually when I gotta go inside and do something I figured..ya know.. since I'm in there I suppose I might as wellllll 😅

[@ns_racing]

I'm a decent tech. Don't know everything yet but I'm learning. I have found a few tips here that I will share. 1. Do not upgrade the hopup. A fancy shiny maxx hopup does nothing that a stock hop cannot do 2. Almost every stock gun needs to be properly shimmed to run more efficiently 3. Always upgrade the barrel and bucking. There are only 2 companies stock buckings that are great stock. Krytac and G&G Other than that normally you can run em til they break. When you open up a gun to shim it, it's always a great idea to do an airseal check and fix any issues. Stock 18:1 gearsets are the best to run imo. They run efficiently and if you want a high rof just throw a good 14 or 16tpa motor in and you'll get great trigger response and 30rps on average. Great video and I totally agree except if it stock doesn't have a mosfet. They are a must imo.

[@Doomdayclown]

well after 12 yaers in the sport the most reliable Guns are most often stock but recently i playd with my Wolverine MTW is runing so god dam good im turning more and more to HPA :D love you guys

[@Spollekop]

The advantage op hpa is the great reliability they give you. But AEG's are getting closer, at least the higher end ones.

[@Ritter_Gruppe]

Funny you say that most MSW groups use stock guns, almost all of the KSK guys have our G36s upgraded as much as we can due to shortfalls in parts and quality.

[@ribsrtuil3615]

I had a great time listening to this while tearing down a ics l85. I did the same with my pp1901, broke it down (successfully) changed the spring bucking and motor. It worked great! velcro in the magwell fixed feeding issues, but adding the titan has made more issues.. Anyways i think if you do your research and know what you buy its not a big problem. Theres no reason to buy a new krytac, vfc avalon or ics and upgrade it unless something breaks. Certain guns are known for having certain shitty parts, so when you buy the gun, be ready to replace the know defective part. Case in point i bought an arp9 2 months ago and the etu broke diring the first match. Fuck me. But i knew this and had a spare basic titan being unused from an earlier trade and can now move on with making it into what i eventually want. Most people are just wasting money and destroying good rifles. And half the time its with shit parts with lower quality than the ones they are replacing

[@jcbeat9296]

I completely agree with having a stock gun that u can beat. You can find a next to perfect stock gun (matrix g2 m4s with microswitch is a perfect example) for cheap. And in terms of PLAYING Airsoft, a stock gun is the best bet because u aren’t thinking about what might just break while you’re playing. Get good at the game before u invest too much. That being said I’m guilty of everything they said. I built a 50rps lvoa and a 40rps ics. Both dsgs. They’re money buckets if you have an imagination and want to take the gun one step further. Tbh after playing for so many years I’m starting to split things up into two hobbies. There’s people who enjoy playing the sport and others who prefer to watch anime and build cool stuff. And it’s all ok! Pick what u like and run with it. You’re your own grandpa

[@isaacshively6705]

Yeah I don't like hpa, there's alot of maintenance people don't tell you about... I had a Top Tech I dropped a Wolverine gen 2 and it shot great for a few games then the trigger board broke ( thank God for Amped Airsoft since they were the only shop that had it in stock ) then a few games later the solenoid went so I fixed it and sold it

[@therepublicofbananas7516]

only thing i changed with my Krytac is the spring and the barrel, everything else is external.

[@matijavinazza9861]

How experianced should I be to install gate aster and replace the barrel and the hop-up bucking? Could I do it myself even though I'm only 15?

[@jaredsantomieri8584]

I destroyed a cyma ak by trying to install a mosfet. First time opening a gearbox and I destroyed it. But I just built an M4 off spare parts I had and it’s great.

[@josephmcandrew7937]

Definitely self evaluate your skillset. If you are good at fixing thing then maybe, if you don't even change your own oil then let it alone.

[@chriseppi8321]

Hey My English is not so good but I want to tell you my story. I started teching many years ago and I have like 20 rifles in my home. And on 19 of these I did something on the gearbox couse I liked to build up my guns. So every time I got to a field I just took 5 guns with me just to test these. Everything worked fine so on 1 game I took just my new vfc M4 and this 1 stock gun with me and my vfc avalon failed. I just said fine I got a backup gun. 10 minutes later gearbox jam. Nice

[@bryanwoodruff8264]

You guys make awesome videos...

[@mikyongbriones3832]

Awesome video! 👍

[@victordelvalleortega8996]

Would you guys ever consider reviewing the first strike airsoft conversion kit?

[@DJ_GrimDark]

I compulsively tinker with with stuff

[@MrEvan1932]

So you mention that the PP19 was shooting too hot at 400 with .2s, why not just use heavier bbs? Is it a cqb event? Does your field's chrono rules only allow you to chrono with .2s? Sorry if this is a noob question, I havent played in years and forgot if the chrono rules make you use .2s since that was all I used back when I used to play.

[@A-G-F-]

FPS are worth shit, the Joules are the thing that was too high

[@tylerm124]

Can we talk about things being kind of broken even from straight out of the box comes from map protection and that companies doent really have to compete much for a given pricepoint so there isnt much desire from manufacturers to inovate or create better for cheaper.

[@gen-zboomer]

I'll be prob getting a new LCT AK-105 over summer if everything goes right. Love LCTs. Anyone know if the charging handle on that gun is any good? Have bad experience with CYMA charging handles breaking real easy when I use them realistically. Gonna Zenit the SHIT out of that for a nice SOBR Terek build.

[@sergiyrizenko7335]

Hi, I've been using my stock krytac for forever and I want to know some good upgrades which you would use on yours.

[@deaconvelos8352]

No, I don't tech. The only mods I'm doing with my guns are external

[@tacticalseadog9120]

MY CA M249 is a giant b..... came with croocked inner barrel... bought the cnc hopup.....redoing wires...the switch broke...and it hasn't even seen field action.....

[@darkshock42mlg05]

Every modern beginner gun can hit a man sized target at 200 ft. Its not 2005 anymore. Your cyma ak can keep up with someones unbrella armory upgraded krytac or fightclub ar15. The main difference is how fast the gun can shoot. Of course the more expensive guns can go a little further and tag people but its bu about 50 ft. This is assuming the guns are assault rifles and smg's. Dmr's and sniper rifles are always project guns. Fir everything else, upgrades just arent neccesary. If anything, deans, inner barrel and bucking, flat/r hop (if you messed the r hop up, you can always just cut it out. It basically makes itnso the bucking is the airseal) and ht motor. (30k or lower). Let professionals upgrade your gearbox.

[@isaacshively6705]

I'm telling you I don't know about longevity but out of the box with a flat hop mod my Specna Arms Edge is great

[@isaacshively6705]

And my first gun was a G&G CM16 M4A1 and it was fantastic with a Gate Titan and a tight bore with a flat hop was a beast... Could of used a o ring air nozzle but was great none the less

[@tanisisawesome]

teching to me is similar to working on a car sometimes it involves a little luck and black magic sacrifices to get shit working good

[@connroe98k]

Fast, reliable, and cheap. You can only pick two.

[@jhjustinlee]

Tech it when it breaks! Or buy it broke and learn!

[@crewgadjy]

What make is the Echo 1 MP5? The LCT is the MP5 to wait for.

[@Klinton4800]

I have a Specna Arms Basic M4, it's exelent to me, I haven't toched internally, and I got a CYMA AK-74 stamped steel, solid and nice, both guns I bought them on sale for 145$.

[@ampedmoose]

Well I want to upgrade stuff but im too scared honestly, also what are your thoughts on the Featherweight m249 by CyberGun?

[@bryanwoodruff8264]

It feels really really cheap... and it's not worth 220 bucks imo

[@EatAtWendys]

Not a good but at all

[@redheadmetalhead247]

Big no. Defeats the whole purpose of an M249 and doesn't have the beefy regular 249 gearbox. Hard pass.

[@Mebbwebb]

Changing the motor without re shimming the gears is kinda dangerous to gearbox health.. imo

[@otakurj]

My emergency backup is a stock G&G SRL cause I know it works