Adolf Hamster

it's a tricky one. an enfield base would mean having to fabricate an entire blowback mech, but would make the external/visual modifications comparitively easy. possibly an m14? it's at least setup to have a mock rotating bolt to it.

the problem i've found with gbb's is they're systems that are in very delicate balance. the hammer spring, recoil spring, float valve, mag valve, how well the mag sits, the seals between the hop/nozzle and the mag/nozzle are all critical. my general theory is it's better not to mess with the base mechanism too much, because throwing out those tolerance can spell real bad news. all i've done with the makarov is change the piston head to what i'd call an aeg type (as opposed to the solid rubber thing that they come with stock) and generalised tinkering with the hop/barrel. same with the dragonuv all i've done is a bit of spacer rubber in the magwell and some hop work, but even that gave a bunch of problems. but everyone has their weakness, and i'll admit that i don't know as much about gbb's as i do about aeg's/hpa's, at least not to the level where i'm confident enough to be issuing advice on changing out parts etc.

i know you'd do it to, just to ironically be "that guy"

i was gonna say charlton but unfortunately it's now too late for me to claim that i called it..... it's an intesting proposition, you can't just do the normal gbbr trick of not having a locking mechanism as it's external, i wonder if you'd almost need 2 gas supplies- one in the mag to fire and one in the "gas tube" to operate the cycling. it'd probably be awful to skirmish but goddamn would it command respect and admiration.

welcome to the wonderful world of compatible-ish, finding out rated brands are actually shite, realising sometimes cheap stuff is good, nothing ever fits quite-right world of teching. hence the difficulty when someone asks "what upgrades do it get?" because not every part fits every gun and sometimes a really top-tier bit of gucci kit is crap when it's just not right for the build.

i know you know this, but that isn't the best tool for the job.

more batteries, more organisation. changing a battery takes 5 minutes (unless you have a really awkward gun), charging one takes an hour. how much are you shooting anyway? i've never managed to fully drain a 1100mah battery inside a day without using a support gun.....

you've been rumbled mate, admit it.

"positive vibes only" that tells me all i need to know, sure i'm all for being polite to folk but i'd rather not have the line between constructive criticism, banter, and insults being used to cut off discussion.

i never hold things for folks, it's always first come first served. i know the temptation to hold things for folks you know from the board but i'd rather be consistent in my practice.

perhaps a bit of patience might be called for here, we're all in lockdown and we aren't allowed out to play so it's gonna be hard to get excited over buying new things. keep it stashed, start mooching around the classifieds, and by the time we're let out to play it won't be hard to sink £500 on something shiny.

Never properly ran hk style releases but i'm surprised theyre good, they feel like they should be pretty bad for accidental drops

This is just one of the many reasons the makarov is the greatest pistol ever made- heel release you'll never lose a mag.

need? no, want because it's fun? yes

fair enough, i tend to preferr semi auto but still like having a panic switch

without taking too much of a tangent how do you find the kythera? seemed like it might be a decent option for an easier used setup although not sure i'd wanna skip auto for it.

Well you're not slamming it in there too hard, so should be fine.

well expanding the girth so it's a nice tight fit is gonna keep her quiet at least.

This is where the jg came into the story, yes its not as good as the hpa's were but it cost a hell of a lot less and its still a damn fine gun and good enough to get the job done. Of course they all have their place, i wont deny i miss the mouse-click trigger, deathly silence and accuracy you could get, but at the same time i dont miss hauling out the dive tank, making sure i've got the right pressure set for the right gun/ammo combo, or the constant feeling that folk think you're a chrono cheating [redacted] because your gun has a hosepipe on it. The dragonuv is an interesting one, had some problems getting it set up right but i think it's there now (didnt get enough trigger time to be sure before lockdown 2 hit). Adds a very different dynamic because unlike with the m4 which was my previous range gun you cant just spam shoot your way out of a bind. It just felt that a dmr slow paced platform was the best way to deal with green gas and northern weather, although it's still pretty much a summer gun. And before anyone asks why not just hpa tap the dragonuv- i might not mind an airline on the gun but reloading that thing is glacial enough without having to mess about with a line on top.

coming in from the cold after the first lockdown is what did it for me. with COVID i had no access to my normal refill place for the scuba tank and of course months of neglect meant the site's compressor was down too. so out comes the trusty old jg and it made me realise that whilst yes my super obsessive perfectionist build hpa's were about as good as you can get a low velocity smoothbore to shoot in terms of accuracy, response etc. the simple fact was that it was spoiled by the fact that all that time, effort, learning, tinkering, pondering and straight up cashmoney (.48's in an auto capable hpa......) was totally wasted when that perfect shot that flew straight and true found it's mark. only for the mark to shrug and keep playing..... so instead i figured why go to the effort? settle for good enough and gain the convenience of just slapping in a battery and away you go. then i figured, fuck it, lets get a gbbr so the dragonuv happened, and i'm happy trading the performance for the yelps from anyone nearby when i fire it

i split the difference and use nothing. a clean microfibre on a plastic cleaning rod.

if i had a penny for every time a quick swish with a cleaning rod made a gun suddenly so much better, i'd have 12 pence

ive use pdi 6.01's in a couple of pistols and it's been fine, granted they've only bee fed geoffs. you gotta keep on top of cleaning to keep them shooting good.

it must be noted this isn't guaranteed to work on all brands of gas magazines, some use pins, some the seal isn't oriented in a way that more tension will fix the problem etc.

well yeah, how else are you meant to get it to shrink?