Well L96 Internal Upgrades

[dazz]

just an update as i get a lot of queries from this thread.

be aware of L96 cylinders. All the newer versions are using weaker cylinders. In the past stock cylinders could handle upgrade springs but over the past year or so, to save costs, L96 rifles have got slightly thinner aluminium cylinders which, after putting in a new spring you can end up hitting yourself in the face when the boly handle comes off in your hand.

Stock cylinders are crimped in place to secure them to the bolt handle. This area warps and breaks over time even with stock springs.

So, if you plan on upgrading (which you should) you must consider a new cylinder. Even if you don't get it early on, make sure it's on your list for future upgrade.

 

[jackstraughan]

I know this thread is pretty old, but can I purchase the "150 upgrade kit" which includes m150 spring, spring guide and ally piston on its own? or will i need to purchase a new trigger system? I want to get my well l96 hitting 500fps borderline, as 500fps is the maximum velocity allowed at my local skirmish site.

cheers, Jack.

 

[dazz]

dont want to leave this thread unanswered.....

Ideally, your L96 should have it's piston, spring guide and cylinder replaced if you're going to run over 450fps.

Cylinders on the new models are thinner and weaker than older versions, simply putting a high tensile spring will snap your cylinder at the bolt handle section.

Stock sears in the L96 are quite good and can last a while before they need replacing. Often, the plastic trigger box breaks or cracks before the sears go. Alas, the whole trigger will need replacing at some point along with the sears.

 

[Suzuki Yamamoto]

dont want to leave this thread unanswered.....

Ideally, your L96 should have it's piston, spring guide and cylinder replaced if you're going to run over 450fps.

Cylinders on the new models are thinner and weaker than older versions, simply putting a high tensile spring will snap your cylinder at the bolt handle section.

Stock sears in the L96 are quite good and can last a while before they need replacing. Often, the plastic trigger box breaks or cracks before the sears go. Alas, the whole trigger will need replacing at some point along with the sears.

Thanks for the reply dazz

 

[Ian_Gere]

If anyone who is upgrading their L96 ends up with a spare hop rubber which looks like this:

​

...regardless of the make, I'll buy it from you. Don't worry if it isn't exactly like this, so long as it has the ridge on the same side as the rubber nub, rather than the usual opposite side. PM me

 

[Liam Porter]

Is that the stock one out of a Well MB01 Ian? If so, I may have a spare lying around somewhere, although won't be able to check until Christmas.

What gun are you planning on putting it in? You could give ASPUK an email, as they're usually upgrading rifles and tend to have spare parts they'll sell.

 

[Ian_Gere]

I believe it is a stock Well one, yeah Liam. I want it for my Vz61 Skorpion because the PDI barrel I upgraded it with has the slot for the rubber ridge to fit into on the same side as the window:

​

I have managed to get a normal AEG rubber to fit, but only by just putting up with the bulge the ridge makes when not fitting into a slot and just liberally smearing it with gucci teflon grease - it took me several goes to get the barrel into the hop chamber with the rubber nub central and i have no way of making sure it stays that way, or even being sure it is as centred as it might be - since I'm just going by eye. I don't fancy trying to cut a slot in the barrel, because that would be by eye too and if i cocked it up, that's a PDI barrel and shipping from Japan I'm down... but all the same, apart from the trigger response, the gun is working well now, so i'm not prepared to spend loads in the hope it could be a bit better, hence asking for 2nd hand hop rubbers.

If you have one that'd be great: PM me.

 

[chainsawsquirrel]

Hey guys, I too am starting out as a sniper. (skip this waffle if u like, it's not hugely important) I've not yet bought this gun, but I am and have been thoroughly researching which sniper to get while trying to be cost effective. Now, I've discovered that aside of buying a really expensive gun like TM l96 right off the bat, a lot of l96 clones are pretty much toys with high fps but crap accuracy and short lived plastic internals with little or no upgrades available. However, upon discovering the well mb01 I've decided to buy it and then just replace the crappy plastic parts that are likely to crack or wear away. For the time being, i'm going to replace the parts that will inevitably break, such as the trigger box and piston, so i'm buying an upgrade kit plus a new trigger box once I get the gun.

Now, I have some questions about upgrading the accuracy of my gun. Since I am not made of money, I would like to know which single accuracy upgrade would be the most effective on it's own? A: New barrel? B: Barrel spacers? C: Metal hop up lever? D: Entirely new metal hop up piece? if so, how effective in terms of deviation (mm/cm) away from target per metre? Back up question: if none of these a noticeable improvement on their own, do they only make a noticeable difference in combination? i'd be very grateful to any experienced players who could answer these questions, thank you for reading

 

[Liam Porter]

Hey guys, I too am starting out as a sniper. (skip this waffle if u like, it's not hugely important) I've not yet bought this gun, but I am and have been thoroughly researching which sniper to get while trying to be cost effective. Now, I've discovered that aside of buying a really expensive gun like TM l96 right off the bat, a lot of l96 clones are pretty much toys with high fps but crap accuracy and short lived plastic internals with little or no upgrades available. However, upon discovering the well mb01 I've decided to buy it and then just replace the crappy plastic parts that are likely to crack or wear away. For the time being, i'm going to replace the parts that will inevitably break, such as the trigger box and piston, so i'm buying an upgrade kit plus a new trigger box once I get the gun.

Now, I have some questions about upgrading the accuracy of my gun. Since I am not made of money, I would like to know which single accuracy upgrade would be the most effective on it's own? A: New barrel? B: Barrel spacers? C: Metal hop up lever? D: Entirely new metal hop up piece? if so, how effective in terms of deviation (mm/cm) away from target per metre? Back up question: if none of these a noticeable improvement on their own, do they only make a noticeable difference in combination? i'd be very grateful to any experienced players who could answer these questions, thank you for reading

Firstly, check the barrel. Disassemble the gun, check the barrel for any obvious problems, chips or dents on the inside, burrs on the end of it and make sure it's straight. Give it a good clean with isopropyl alcohol and a soft cloth, using a barrel-cleaning rod. If there are any problems that are unfixable, e.g. bent barrel, then get a new barrel for the gun.

Don't spend any money on actual barrel spacers, use paper and tape. For mine, I got sheets of A4 paper and wrapped around the barrel tightly, taping in place where needed, until it fit snugly into the outer barrel, making a cheap, full-length barrel spacer. Much better than spending £15+ on barrel spacers.

A metal hop lever will be stronger than the plastic ones, and therefore will lift heavier ammo more consistently and without the chances of it bending or breaking. It's a relatively cheap upgrade, although not necessarily needed, you can replace the nub in the stock hop unit with part of a Biro pen ink tube to give a harder nub that should lift heavier ammo. Then, replacing the stock hop rubber with a decent brand one should remove most of your inconsistencies.

If you get a new metal hop unit, depending on the one you get, you will most likely need to use AEG barrels and hop rubbers, meaning that you'll need to replace those parts too. If you can afford it, that's the route I'd take. Replace the unit itself with the airseal one from ASPUK and get yourself a MadBull barrel of appropriate length (you'll need 495mm or less to fit inside the outer barrel without having a silencer to hide the extrusion). Getting a slightly shorter barrel won't matter, will make no difference to your range or accuracy, same goes with getting a longer one.

If you want to increase consistency with FPS a bit more, then use PTFE tape around the cylinder head thread and around the hop unit to barrel joint, to increase your air seal.

 

[Ian_Gere]

For accuracy I would use an H Nub, also called an X Spacer, Fishbone Spacer, or H-Hop Nub, rather than the biro mod - by putting the hop pressure on either side, that forces the BB to leave the hop chamber centred, whereas, due to inevitable microscopic imperfections, a flat spacer will cause the BB to tend towards one side or the other. To make sure you get enough lift for heavyweight BB's with a softer spacer, use a low degree sticky Hop Up Bucking (Rubber). There are some of these spacers made of CNC steel though: Falcon do one.

The alternative is to use a hop rubber with a split nub like a PDI W Hold, Falcon Double Point*, or, believe it or not, a stock CYMA black rubber (which don't appear to be in stock on their own anywhere anymore), or Falcon Sniper Rubber which has a groove rather than a complete split in the nub.

*There are stickier 50 deg ones but they would wear out much quicker in a sniper rifle and they're OOS anyway, plus they also do a 90 deg one which is probably not much use to man or beast outside the southern USA where it's hot and they shoot at 650+ FPS.

 

[chainsawsquirrel]

Firstly, check the barrel. Disassemble the gun, check the barrel for any obvious problems, chips or dents on the inside, burrs on the end of it and make sure it's straight. Give it a good clean with isopropyl alcohol and a soft cloth, using a barrel-cleaning rod. If there are any problems that are unfixable, e.g. bent barrel, then get a new barrel for the gun.

Don't spend any money on actual barrel spacers, use paper and tape. For mine, I got sheets of A4 paper and wrapped around the barrel tightly, taping in place where needed, until it fit snugly into the outer barrel, making a cheap, full-length barrel spacer. Much better than spending £15+ on barrel spacers.

A metal hop lever will be stronger than the plastic ones, and therefore will lift heavier ammo more consistently and without the chances of it bending or breaking. It's a relatively cheap upgrade, although not necessarily needed, you can replace the nub in the stock hop unit with part of a Biro pen ink tube to give a harder nub that should lift heavier ammo. Then, replacing the stock hop rubber with a decent brand one should remove most of your inconsistencies.

If you get a new metal hop unit, depending on the one you get, you will most likely need to use AEG barrels and hop rubbers, meaning that you'll need to replace those parts too. If you can afford it, that's the route I'd take. Replace the unit itself with the airseal one from ASPUK and get yourself a MadBull barrel of appropriate length (you'll need 495mm or less to fit inside the outer barrel without having a silencer to hide the extrusion). Getting a slightly shorter barrel won't matter, will make no difference to your range or accuracy, same goes with getting a longer one.

If you want to increase consistency with FPS a bit more, then use PTFE tape around the cylinder head thread and around the hop unit to barrel joint, to increase your air seal.

For accuracy I would use an H Nub, also called an X Spacer, Fishbone Spacer, or H-Hop Nub, rather than the biro mod - by putting the hop pressure on either side, that forces the BB to leave the hop chamber centred, whereas, due to inevitable microscopic imperfections, a flat spacer will cause the BB to tend towards one side or the other. To make sure you get enough lift for heavyweight BB's with a softer spacer, use a low degree sticky Hop Up Bucking (Rubber). There are some of these spacers made of CNC steel though: Falcon do one.

The alternative is to use a hop rubber with a split nub like a PDI W Hold, Falcon Double Point*, or, believe it or not, a stock CYMA black rubber (which don't appear to be in stock on their own anywhere anymore), or Falcon Sniper Rubber which has a groove rather than a complete split in the nub.

*There are stickier 50 deg ones but they would wear out much quicker in a sniper rifle and they're OOS anyway, plus they also do a 90 deg one which is probably not much use to man or beast outside the southern USA where it's hot and they shoot at 650+ FPS.

Ok, well going by that, I don't think I want to replace the hop unit somehow, and that I shouldn't buy spacers either. I like the idea of wrapping paper around the inner barrel, very nice liam although there's a slight problem I can see with that method, but it can be overcome with a bit of careful precision as for hop arms, I don't believe I could afford one unfortunately, having read ian's post, I've decided to go with the fishbone spacer with the rubber and silicon bucking. Now, yes, a plastic hop up arm is gonna break sooner or later, SO, I think i'm going to reinforce it with something. My plan for that is to apply a layer of super glue paper mache (very soft tissue+superglue) to the back of the lever, the stuff sets solid as rock, very strong, very good for gluing smooth surfaces together, even joins metal and plastic (try etching the metal first with a bit of bleach/corrosive substance on a swab before gluing).

Thank you liam, I believe you've saved me £15

Thank you, I believe I will buy the fishbone spacer with the silicon and rubber buckings, that does sound like a good idea and is with in my budget (just about) which is £350 btw. sadly a lot of that goes on replacing the bolt because of the crappy stock quality bolt which is going to break on me sooner or later, when I buy something, I want it to last forever . I'm replacing the stock spring guide, piston and cylinder with all metal parts, although i'm keeping the stock spring in order to adapt to lower fps limits. Then I've got the trigger box+0.3g bb's, the gun it's self, shipping costs. All in all, i'm gonna end up spending only £15 on accuracy upgrades thanks to your advice it is very appreciated ^^ that makes my total costs £348 which is almost my entire budget :/ don't think i'm gonna be spending any money on my self for a while after this....

 

[Ian_Gere]

Weeeeell, sorting out the hop up spacer and rubber is definitely a good plan, but I reckon a precision inner barrel is the most important thing. In fact I'd go so far as to say that, unless you are a very experienced shooter who can adapt to any POS quickly and get the best out of it, a new inner barrel is essential.

 

[chainsawsquirrel]

Weeeeell, sorting out the hop up spacer and rubber is definitely a good plan, but I reckon a precision inner barrel is the most important thing. In fact I'd go so far as to say that, unless you are a very experienced shooter who can adapt to any POS quickly and get the best out of it, a new inner barrel is essential.

Well, i'm quite experienced with shooting crap guns and fortunately I've found a way that I can increase my budget also btw, will I need spacers if I get a new, stronger precision barrel? Edit: Would I need to get a new hop if I were to use a madbull ver 2 6.03x499 inner barrel? btw what do u mean by POS?

PLEASE READ THIS EDIT: I'm now contemplating getting a TM L96 and then just upgrading the spring, done and dusted as it seems to be much cheaper. However, I just need to ask, would they be more or less accurate ootb than say, a well l96 with a madbull 6.03 barrel version 2 with the H hop nub and silicon/rubber bucking?

 

[Ian_Gere]

POS = piece of shit

Yeah, spacers are to stabilise the inner barrel inside the outer, so that the shock which is transmitted forward by the piston doesn't make the barrel wobble. The Madbull V2 6.03mm barrels are compatible with AEG's so I'm pretty certain they cannot be used with the stock hop unit. It's not cheap to upgrade a sniper rifle - the average budget people recommend is about £250 + the original gun. It's a bit cheaper to do an A&K SVD because the stock parts are pretty good, but eventually they need replacing so at that point the full on specialist items price catches up with you...

 

[chainsawsquirrel]

POS = piece of sh*t

Yeah, spacers are to stabilise the inner barrel inside the outer, so that the shock which is transmitted forward by the piston doesn't make the barrel wobble. The Madbull V2 6.03mm barrels are compatible with AEG's so I'm pretty certain they cannot be used with the stock hop unit. It's not cheap to upgrade a sniper rifle - the average budget people recommend is about £250 + the original gun. It's a bit cheaper to do an A&K SVD because the stock parts are pretty good, but eventually they need replacing so at that point the full on specialist items price catches up with you...

that's not quite how i envisaged the barrel wobbling lol. i imagined the barrel having a slight curve, and then the force of the bb moving through the barrel pushing against that curve, making the inner barrel bend further temporarily, making it wobble lol. anyway, I've decided that it's way more cost effective to buy a TM l96 and just upgrade the piston, spring and spring guide, job done lol. thnx very much for the advice tho lol, i couldn't have come to this decision with out it ^^

FYI, cost to upgrade the mb01 to the standards i want (incl the gun+scope+bb's+shipping costs) amounts to £420, total cost to upgrade the tm l96 (incl the gun+scope+bb's+shipping costs) comes to £376. ik i said my budget was £350 but i found that after a few months pass, i'll be able to work more hours and earn more moneh >=) i might make and upload a youtube video about this whole ordeal of searching for a decent sniper while being cost effective. I managed to find only one video where some guy was trying to help/talk people out of making a mistake getting a bb sniper. now, while a lot of the stuff he said was true, there are some things he missed out i believe which are holes in the story that i'd like to patch.

 

[Liam Porter]

that's not quite how i envisaged the barrel wobbling lol. i imagined the barrel having a slight curve, and then the force of the bb moving through the barrel pushing against that curve, making the inner barrel bend further temporarily, making it wobble lol. anyway, I've decided that it's way more cost effective to buy a TM l96 and just upgrade the piston, spring and spring guide, job done lol. thnx very much for the advice tho lol, i couldn't have come to this decision with out it ^^

FYI, cost to upgrade the mb01 to the standards i want (incl the gun+scope+bb's+shipping costs) amounts to £420, total cost to upgrade the tm l96 (incl the gun+scope+bb's+shipping costs) comes to £376. ik i said my budget was £350 but i found that after a few months pass, i'll be able to work more hours and earn more moneh >=) i might make and upload a youtube video about this whole ordeal of searching for a decent sniper while being cost effective. I managed to find only one video where some guy was trying to help/talk people out of making a mistake getting a bb sniper. now, while a lot of the stuff he said was true, there are some things he missed out i believe which are holes in the story that i'd like to patch.

When do you plan on buying? I have a lot of L96 parts, enough to make 2 and a half guns, which I intend on sorting out when I'm home for Christmas over the next 3-4 weeks, and will probably be selling the parts I don't use/keep as spares.

Also, do you definitely want an L96? ASPUK are selling a few JG Bar-10s, pre-upgraded to 500 FPS for about £300-£330.

 

[chainsawsquirrel]

When do you plan on buying? I have a lot of L96 parts, enough to make 2 and a half guns, which I intend on sorting out when I'm home for Christmas over the next 3-4 weeks, and will probably be selling the parts I don't use/keep as spares.

Also, do you definitely want an L96? ASPUK are selling a few JG Bar-10s, pre-upgraded to 500 FPS for about £300-£330.

I plan on buying asap (this Monday) but I probs wont have money to buy upgrades till after xmas, and yes i'm sure I don't want a jg bar-10 thnx, I've looked it up, and I can't find it available anywhere in stock, and I'm generally not interested anyway. PLUS, I know a lot more about l96's, and my local airsoft site wont allow 500fps, it must be below that. Also, if u didn't read my previous post, i'm no longer going to get a well mb01 since it's too costly to upgrade to the standard I want, and it's actually cheaper to just buy a TM l96 and upgrade the spring, spring guide and piston to achieve the same standard, saving me over £60. in addition, TM l96 has better over all build quality, has a lot more screws holding it together, the clip's in the right place and the clip has a 40rd capacity, unlike the well mb01 which is something between 25 and 30 rds.

 

[Liam Porter]

I plan on buying asap (this Monday) but I probs wont have money to buy upgrades till after xmas, and yes i'm sure I don't want a jg bar-10 thnx, I've looked it up, and I can't find it available anywhere in stock, and I'm generally not interested anyway. PLUS, I know a lot more about l96's, and my local airsoft site wont allow 500fps, it must be below that. Also, if u didn't read my previous post, i'm no longer going to get a well mb01 since it's too costly to upgrade to the standard I want, and it's actually cheaper to just buy a TM l96 and upgrade the spring, spring guide and piston to achieve the same standard, saving me over £60. in addition, TM l96 has better over all build quality, has a lot more screws holding it together, the clip's in the right place and the clip has a 40rd capacity, unlike the well mb01 which is something between 25 and 30 rds.

Okay, only reason I said is because I'll have Well L96 upgrade parts to sell, they'll be second hand and therefore cheaper, but still in decent condition.

You may need to upgrade the sears in the TM trigger mech too, depending on what FPS you're going for?

What brand upgrade parts etc. have you found to upgrade with the prices you said previously?

Not sure if the TM L96 uses the same design, definitely similar, to the ARES AW .338, if so, it may have the same or similar feeding issues that the ARES has.

 

[chainsawsquirrel]

Okay, only reason I said is because I'll have Well L96 upgrade parts to sell, they'll be second hand and therefore cheaper, but still in decent condition.

You may need to upgrade the sears in the TM trigger mech too, depending on what FPS you're going for?

What brand upgrade parts etc. have you found to upgrade with the prices you said previously?

Not sure if the TM L96 uses the same design, definitely similar, to the ARES AW .338, if so, it may have the same or similar feeding issues that the ARES has.

Okay, only reason I said is because I'll have Well L96 upgrade parts to sell, they'll be second hand and therefore cheaper, but still in decent condition.

You may need to upgrade the sears in the TM trigger mech too, depending on what FPS you're going for?

What brand upgrade parts etc. have you found to upgrade with the prices you said previously?

Not sure if the TM L96 uses the same design, definitely similar, to the ARES AW .338, if so, it may have the same or similar feeding issues that the ARES has.

well, I intend to upgrade the spring since 300 fps is a little bit on the low side :/ i'm also upgrading the piston and spring guide since plastic won't hold out long. I could try to reinforce the stock piston sear by plating it with something. if that doesn't work then I guess i'll have to buy a new sear :/ either way tho, buying a new sear or not, it's still much cheaper than upgrading the crap out of a well l96 lol

 

[Unrustle_Thine_Jimmies]

TM L96 isn't great. Although plenty of parts from PDi and Laylax are available,and some VSR parts are compatible,The feeding mech is fragile and you have to be gentle when cycling the bolt,feeding problems are also common,BBs get scratched by it, and don';t get inserted into the chamber properly.

That said,Build quality feels rock solid and the hop up unit is a tad better than the VSR 10,metals used are good quality. It's a good gun but lt's down by the not-great feeding system and the metric arse ton of screws making disassembly a pain in the arse.

Still better than Are's system though.

If you want an easy to upgrade base a TM VSR or WELL L96 V3 are the best options,easier to take down and work on(Especially the VSR) which is crucial as you will find yourself opening and closing the gun very often to test compression and shiet.