Adolf Hamster

Tbh, joule chrono'ing isn't difficult. Takes about 5 minutes to print out a strip with the raw fps figure that different common bb weights would be at the site limit. Likewise, a few speedloaders with common weights to double check if you want to be real paranoid. Or even if you don't want to bother with that, just keep the method exactly the same but use a heavier weight instead

Good spot, 0.5mm between the c clips would do it.

I'm assuming given the fusion engine we're dealing with a traditional aeg hop. Indeed, hence querying because if there's an odd nub being used in the op's gun then the r block might be the solution.

Are you using a regular nub, or the included r-block that the maxx has?

Tbh, a brass cylinder isn't the worst, i'd take brass over alu any day. The key is internal bore quality, smooth and clean with no scratches, the enigma of e&l cylinders notwithstanding (they look like they should be crap due to machining marks but are anything but) Hmm, might be indicative of an issue. Aoe is one option, other is pme although if it's a stock box and motor then probably not the latter. Whilst a lot is said about aoe correction and the whole ethos of stuffing 5mm of sorbo into every gun you touch is kinda bs, it is worth taking some time to look at how the sector engages the piston and that it's a smooth pickup. I like to aim for flat-flat, ie the face of the tooth and the face of the piston meeting with full engagement. A good way can be to "feel" the pickup, assemble the box with the piston, cylinder and geartrain but no spring/tappet plate/col, then turn the box by hand and feel how the initial pickup of the piston is compared to once it's been picked up and being pulled back. Ak2m4 does shims to adjust aoe which are the best method imo, although you want to take care that the piston head can still centre on the piston properly if it needs a bunch of them. Consistent is good. It might be time to consider the spring, if you don't know what strength it is then it might be as simple as it's just wimpy, plenty of pews i've had with fps downgrades have been a case of pull the stock spring, slap in some coiled pasta and call it a day. Ofc springs aren't always going to be what their rating is on the packet, mis-labelling or different box configurations for preload can end up with quite a range, eg having a thrust bearing on both spring guide and piston versus no thrust bearings. That said, what you don't want is to be compensating for leaks by just throwing energy at the problem as it'll just beat up the box with no benefit so the goal is to get yojr energy target with the weakest spring you can. Generally the only downside to a longer nozzle is when it gets long enough to cause feeding issues by not clearing the feed tube, might be worth dropping the 21.03 in see what it does.

The hole is a port, you get ones at different positions to adjust the volume of air being sent to the barrel. Typically different port positions dont have much impact on fps (unless it's significantly under-volumed for the barrel length), counter intuitive as that may be. I suspect arcane pressure curve type shenanigans are to blame. For a 590mm barrel, you'll be wanting a full cylinder for the volume anyway so it's not a wasted change.

Mine has something similar, but even in click mode you can set it to freewheel when spun fast enough, best of both worlds. Granted might be annoying in games, but i tend to avoid/rebind mousewheel controls when i can.

the issue with cheap, is what whilst it is possible, assuming your new to this there's going to be some avenues it's not worth risking. the cheapest, "upgrade" is to get into the habit of cleaning your barrel, at least before every game day but bringing a cleaning rod with you is never a bad call. no need to get fancy, a clean strip of microfibre on the cheap plastic rods many guns come with is perfectly good enough. it's pretty much free and there is no real downside. second upgrade isn't necessarily cheap, but it can at least be tailored to your pocket is to look at heavier/better quality ammo, how heavy is a balance between what the gun can lift, how heavy your trigger finger and how much you can stomach spending. other cheap upgrades include the aforementioned bucking (in the name of lifting heavier ammo) and going after air seal, where the parts aren't strictly expensive (eg an o ring over a whole piston head) but dissassembling an aeg box is a clockwork nightmare and not the best idea to learn how to do it on your only pew, if you make a mistake it can mean the walk of shame and i can assure you it gets real old real fast.

freewheeling mice possibly the greatest invention of this century

Ideally the nozzle should be pushing into the feedlips when fully forwards. It may be the case that a given bucking has short or long feedlips too, eg maple leaf macarons tend to be a smidge longer which in some hop units is a prpblem, but the reverse of a shorter feedlip can give the same issue. Too long you'll get feeding issues as even when fully retracted it'll protrude enough to mess with feeding. Too short you'll get terrible airseal manifesting as low energy (for the spring that's in it) and big jumps shot-shot, this can either be measured at chrono or if you observe vertical dispersion. It's worth noting that even with the correct length nozzle, if the tip is damaged it won't seal well and give the same symptoms, whilst you *can* shorten nozzles i tend to advise against it unless you have access to the tools to make a clean square cut. Also worth seeing if the hop unit itself is well secured relative to the gearbox, ie it's not being allowed to move forwards.

An option for the ar platform instead of the hop unit spring is some o-rings around the inner barrel in front of the hop, you gotta play about to get the right number. Side benefit is it'll put some tension between the upper and lower reducing wobble.

hop fully on isn't a great way to test, many a pew can have low fps to the point of even being incapable of firing with a full hop applied. the main thing is that with the hop set to an appropriate in-game level, that the fps is reasonable, fully on or fully off then things get weird. if you want a ballpark measurement, without needing a range to set properly, then ~0.5mm of protrusion into the barrel will be at least in the same postcode.

if your goal is to play cqb then frankly any modifications tailored towards range are usually irrelevant. that means fps and for the most part hop/ammo upgrades won't really net you anything that's really useful. unless you're shooting comically low you're probably going to get more out of more games with more experience than from spending money on parts that won't help you.

This might be relevant:

Worth trying it with some lower pressure gas, i found anything stronger than nuprol 2.0 the mag just ain't fond of.

Are you sure it's the valve? I found the base seal of the mag really doesnt like handling anything stronger than nuprol 2.0

this is a fair point. i do occasionally get pm's asking about long expired ads, and i can certainly see how for those with a more expansive classifieds history that could start getting annoying. probably a balance to be struck, yeet ads after a year's inactivity or such.

Think the main motivation is to keep ads up as a sort of reference library for sales prices

Do this. Heavier ammo will require the hop to be turned up a bit, but if you can't turn the hop up enough to get it shooting flat before it starts having issues (eg misfeeding or failing to fire) then move on to the second paragraph. Barrel cleaning is something you should get into the habit of doing, at least before every game day.

Its always possible that something has changed, but i never had issues with the stock e&l hop with the good ol' macaron omega combo. Although tbf my base ammo weight was .32's at 1j so usually my priority was getting more lift.

Tbh, i found the e&l standard units to be pretty decent, i wouldnt say changing it out is strictly necessary

pic #3 looks to be off-centered although that shouldn't be the cause of an fps variation, it's more a curving you're only going to notice on shooting.

Yeah i was talking more generally, not just ak's.

yeah that's the right sort of thing. i did try an xt one a while back and found it to be a tad unsquare, so if you find curving to be an issue worth checking, sample size of one though so not concrete. in some pews the feed lip length can be problematic, but i wouldn't say a stock e&l is one of them.

you using an omega nub with it? the macaron is a great bucking, but does need the nub to be shaped accordingly. if you're getting decent energy and consistency in the range of hop adjustment that you're using in-game, then i wouldn't worry too much. hop fully off you can sometimes get an energy drop, i suspect it's because there needs to be some resistance delaying the bb's start whilst the pressure builds up. likewise hop fully on you can get energy drops, and even a second sweet spot where the bb is sapped of so much energy, but also sufficiently over-spun to fly at that low energy, always better to start hop off and increment when setting to avoid this.