Fatboy40

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( @Fatboy40 wonders if all site briefings involve jokes about peoples genitals and sex, or just the sites he goes to 🤔 A bit like... https://youtu.be/wcBOX1JBcjQ?si=nGZU6BeMA_jQGoul )

For all the DE M900's I've taken apart the spring guides are the same, but a definite problem is that the rings that hold the ball bearings are made of papier-mâché and can bend at the slightest touch making them a bugger to take out and put back in sometimes. To help you and others I've about three different spring guides at home that I've tried as replacements for the stock DE one, and every single one is ever so slightly out on size, so use DE M900 users have to look after the stock spring guide as it can't be replaced (unless anyone has found it anywhere as a spare part). Personally I'm assuming if things ever go bang big style with the gearbox I'll end up having to buy a new quick change gearbox shell and guide

You'll probably find this a lot harder than you expect as the polymer bodied M904's use a funky adapter on the rear of the receiver to mount the buffer tube, with plastic lugs either side. Look at photo's comparing the 904G and E, note how the G has longer plastic "runners" on the adapter. To swap to a buffer tube on the G you'll either need to find the part from DE (near zero chance of that) or find a boneyard E being broken for spares (a 3D print of what you need probably wouldn't be anywhere near strong enough).

I've looked in the past but is it still the case that Geoff's has no website of their own and no method for contacting them?

@ak2m4 So it has "Different Feelings", has it been to some kind of spiritual retreat?

It all comes down to the quality of the material / steel used and how it's been "treated". You can have have springs that can be in service for decades, in industrial applications, that retain their strength and shape but cheap nasty ones that compress incredibly quickly. Personally I've found the XT springs from AK2M4 brilliant, definitely better than another trusted brand like Guarder. They're really consistent in their strength, so you can use them in almost any gun and know what you're getting, and I've had zero power drops over time. They also produce an M95 which is very useful is you have a great air-seal and an M100 takes you just over a Joule limit

... and to add to the above I'm assuming that there's no optical controller of any sort in the gearbox (monitoring the sector gear) offering "cycle control" so that it doesn't over spin / there some sort of active braking.

Very easy, do it on a nice quiet afternoon on the weekend when you're in no rush, and it's the simplest thing you can do that gives the most return (both in range and consistency).

@GothicGhost Do you have a model number for your "Visionking x1.5-x6"? (I'm building up my shortlist and if I do buy one I wanted to get it right first time). (I think it's the VS1.5-6X42XL ?)

FYI I've never had any replies from DE when using their website form, however they have a Facebook presence and do reply (eventually) to messages you send to them on that (and their parent company is on LinkedIn). Red Alert in Newbury also use DE M904G's as rentals so they may be worth a punt (Skullchewer on here could maybe ask for you). Worst case scenario a GATE Titan v2 will drop straight in (with no need to replace the trigger, but the Maxx Model trigger for example have a tougher trigger spring).

@ak2m4 When I bought my first DE M900, being a bit of a nerd, I went down a rabbit hole finding out as much as I could about "Double Eagle". When you spoke to them was it with "Fujian Qing An Precision Machinery", or another name they go under? They're a big company, making their real money from cheaper toys / knock off Lego Technics things (some of which are actually really impressive, the construction vehicles they do).

We need to be honest that airsoft is "pay to win", so the RIF's you're using and if you've been able to pay for the parts (or work) to get them working to perfection, and the icing on the cake is if you can use the super mega upgraded RIF without anyone ever knowing where you are and where the BB came from. I'll be honest in that I'm now getting into it as well, playing a DMR role which I love, but I'm trying to craft everything myself (I enjoy crafting and teching potentially more than playing). Not the bush wookie route, as like others have said it's actually a hindrance (over heating, snagging on things etc.), but KMCS ghillie mesh + raffia + ink on scrim nets and viper hoods etc. I think that as it's so easy to buy off the shelf camo / ghillie items from places like Empire Airsoft it's just another item now on the "pay to win" bingo card?

To throw a spanner in your works what's made the biggest difference for me, for range, was not barrel width etc. but how the BB was being hopped. I use 0.40g BB's in my DMR with a Maple Leaf 410mm AEG inner barrel + 70 degree MR bucking + Maxx Model M4A-PRO hop unit using the solid concave nub, and with this I can put just the right amount of spin on the BB and rob it of as little energy as possible. I specifically went with the Maple Leaf barrel as it's designed to take full advantage of the MR bucking (the unique patch and extra internal ring, with the barrel having a cut out for the ring and a slanted window for the patch, so an "out of the box" R-Hop). I've hit the point now where 3x magnification is not good enough for me, the BB can travel way beyond me being able to see clearly at distance, so I need to buy for example an LPVO that can do at least 5x.

@GothicGhost Now I'm even more unsure of which Visionking to get, but in a good way

Even though it doesn't state it anywhere the motor getting hot in the DE M900's is the small amount of active braking it does, and the crap Chaoli motor exhibits this as the horrible heat. 31k for a motor seems a bit too fast as well? (it's only a little old DE with a Falcon where we can't tweak the amount of braking). Maybe it is time to crack the gearbox open and use a cotton bud with a tiny amount of IPA to clean the optical sensors? Also to add to this thread my son's moved from his upgraded Firehawk to his M906C permanently now. I moved his Maxx Model M4A-PRO to it and swapped to a Maple Leaf 229mm inner barrel and 60 degree MR bucking, using the Maxx solid concave nub, an M105 spring plus XT 22 TPA high torque. Played in a forest yesterday and the range on 0.32g is crazy good. @RostokMcSpoons I wish we lived a bit nearer to each other so we could have a game and be Double Eagle nerds 🤓

Just wondering where you guys have been buying the Visionking 1.25-5x26 from? (and if there are any recommendations for a compatible throw lever and mount?). I need to bite the bullet as the usual Eotech G33 clone on my DMR at 3x is not enough magnification when I'm playing at a big outdoor site (and I was getting some glare from between the magnifier and the red dot)

The £20 more for the M904E, and a proper buffer tube, is worth it

My nose (from a bit of a heated fire fight where my nose got hit and my red dot's glass got cracked)

Welcome There are loads of good sites round our way, Bravo is good, and if you enjoy it you've got Ironsight in Andover, Red Alert in Newbury, Camouflage Airsoft in Alton, and if it's a wet day and you're not afraid of the dark Z-Mart in Newbury.

Hex headed pistol grip screws, no more mangled cross head screws, it's like ascending to another realm...

Then you're missing out of probably the best / most cost effective options Also to be competitive at this time of year, with lots of foliage and places to hide, you'll need to use a good heavy BB like 0.30/0.32 to cut through the foliage.

Another downvote for them in AEG's, caused terrible miss-feeding issues in an AEG I tried one in (BB's literally backing up being the bucking's patch as it was to grippy). Like you say though brilliant in gas guns, so I'm wondering what's different, maybe the very small amount of lubricant in the gas? (standard rubber bucking patch not grippy enough, silicone patch on its own too grippy, but a little bit of lubricant reduces the friction just enough).

From my own experience if the MP5 has a fuse it will usually be a small distance along the power cables from the battery connector (either a blade fuse or a cylinder in a plastic housing), however you may have a MOSFET / controller of some sort so if you do the fuse in a component of that. I'd temporarily connect the motor to the terminals of another gun whilst leaving it outside of the gun (either hold the motor or put something heavy on it), pull the trigger on semi and get ready to disconnect the battery, if it spins then the motor's fine and either there is a fuse somewhere in the MP5 or the fuse in the MOSFET is blown (which means a new MOSFET unfortunately, unless you're able to replace surface mounted electronics).

To be honest I don't care much about the other "unspoken rules" as we're all grown up boys and girls, mostly, so common sense should kick in, but the above unwritten rule should be No.1 on the list. Personally I've been asked by a good marshal, at my local site, to look after a group of young teenage boys who were rentals and I stuck with them and helped them loads (losing game time that I paid for) as I want them to hopefully buy their own RIF's and come back and play in the future.