JinxDuh

Hey guys, got my E&C M4A1 receiver set today from China and it's all good except one thing. Pulling back the charging handle doesn't open the dust cover, at all. The little "flag" that a lot of AEG M4's have on their charging handle, isn't on the E&C. No biggie, I have a spare specna one laying around so I'll fit it, I thought. The "flag" slides past the button on the dust cover and doesn't drop it. On the E&C M4A1 upper, instead of the area being flat like a lot of standard M4 uppers, it has a small sphere shaped (Kind of?) cut out where the "flag" should slot into and push the dust cover retention pin down. I'm rather lost on what to look at for potential fixes, etc. I also tried a specna m4 dust cover replacing the E&C one but the Specna was too short. Any help greatly appreciated to help me finish my MK18 build 😬

Received the package yesterday, all arrived okay. No import fees either and sailed through customs which was lovely! Definitely recommend 18Airsoft

I emailed a company that sounds like maction bobbies re their E&C m4a1 and they also confirmed it was full trades but not shown in images.

Seem to also be a copy of the PMAG, so at least there's options out there! I found some cymas (Overseas) that hold 220 rounds 😳

So it’s a “PMAG Gen 3”, but can’t find any airsoft replicas in stock over here

Update: Fitted the kit supplied by AK2M4, sadly the longer nozzle was out of stock so used a short green one. Up to 312 fps on .2g as the spring suggests it should be. Turned out Specna just had some bad air seal I guess 😂

My PTS G36 magazines have them too, so when I searched PTS mags through patrolbase I was expecting them to pop up but nothing. Maybe they’re an old version as I did find some similar. Are the PTS M4 mags as good as the G36 ones?

Not exactly clued go with the modern tactical stuff, building a mk18 and saw this style of magazine but - what is it? Is there an AEG mid cap version of it? Cheers guys 👀

Very shady site to say the least. Located in Switzerland, claiming to be TM, having a registered virtual address for Japan, Website was made not that long ago, dirt cheap. Reviews on the site seem rather suspect too.

Ending up finding what I was after here, delivery cost was a lot more reasonable and also had a nosey at their sale section... Safe to say I left with more than just the receiver set. Got the express shipping as it was only £12 more and I'm impatient. Will update if all goes well!

Tokyo Marui only have (To my knowledge) one site. https://www.tokyo-marui.co.jp For a prolific company known to be out of Japan, I'd be sceptical of a website operating out of "Martigny, Switzerland"

I’ve had handling feee excess this, for an order valued at £150 (roughly. It was a while ago), I believe it was £24 something. I know it’s only a small amount more but for the sake of being pedantic 😂

Not bought from TM direct but imported a bunch of GBBR’s from KyAirsoft and WGCShop. Rarely get hit with customs fees, however in the past when I have had customs fees it tends to be sitting around for roughly a week and then I get sent the cost to pay. I always ask the sellers to write “UKARA: “ with my ukara number visibly on the box and make sure to get it sent to the same address linked to my ukara. Never had an issues other than the customs fee and holding, and must have had at least 15 replicas posted. Ironically I’ve had customs fees on more part orders (As in, a bunch of pew parts like handguards etc) than the actual replicas.

I play airsoft, do you honestly think I have any money left?

Update: It was as expected, bolt can be pulled back a few MM's further than it should be able too and it's picking up on the BR. New buffer spacer and spring en route 😀

They seem to be the only place with the E&C M4A1 Colt receiver I want... Looking through these reviews I'm really sceptical of them delivering the item, but at the same time there's (to my knowledge) nowhere else reputable that has the set in stock. What's the likelihood of them screwing me over on a bunch of parts?

Just took my A1 out of storage to fit a USGI stock and figured I'd give it a little back garden shoot and noticed I was having some bolt lock issues, however in typical me fashion... It's not the normal bolt lock issue. The common occurrence is the bolt won't lock back on empty. Mine does that just fine, however... It locks back with no magazine in the gun? It's by no means a major issue, I'm just a little confused. Just thinking about it a bit more and I believe the cause is the buffer spring and buffer itself, as it's not standard WE (Real steel buffer spring and a buffer block). Guessing the bolts going back too far and locking. Bolt release functions and she runs fine though.

This brass cylinder is nasty, like... stored in a shed for years and rusting nasty. It was just a "Hm let's give it a clean and chuck it in to test" case. Aoe does seem to be a major factor in this as the damage doesn't make sense any other way. The spring inside is an XT 100, so should be giving me the joule output I'd like. I ended up ordering this kit from AK2M4 https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/m4-compression-upgrade-kit with a closed cylinder, a 21mm nozzle and a standard pad to replace the lot. Once it's fitted I'll check the air seal and then AoE. I'm still 90% sure it's just the nozzle but for the price I might as well replace the lot with new parts!

Trimming it runs the risk of ruining any air seal it has and for the sake of saving £6, not really worth it. Once the new parts turn up it’s bound to fix the issue. Seems to just be a nozzle issue now.

The longest I have is 25mm, the closest I got to a 20.7mm was 21.03mm

So as I removed the case, the tappet plate had somehow bent itself up, right around where the damage to the piston is. Air seal is all good, replaced the piston and tappet and still all good. FPS is also consistent, just low. I’m aiming for at least 0.91J on .25g

Isn't Virtus still technically a restricted item? I'm also not sure how much of a seal just the visor provides, which some sites may not allow to be used as suitable eye pro. However, to answer your question the visor sits quite a way out from your face so should fit 99% of glasses frames.

To be fair, it's a nasty old brass one so I'll be ordering a nice new shiny one along with the nozzle etc. I also realized when I was talking about nozzles needing different lengths for inner barrels I was actually thinking of the cylinder which I'd read on AK2M4's site. Luckily I did open it, as my piston was chewed to pieces and didn't look like it would survive much more. Lovely specna quality. Great, until it's not great. 😂

After changing the cylinder the fps has stayed the same, so that leaves the dodgy hop unit and the nozzle. That’ll be the next changes to see if it helps. 0.54j on a .25g bb isn’t ideal though, that’s for sure!

Update-ish: The nozzle was out of stock, using the standard specna hop still. I’ve put tape to remedy the hop wobble as seen in this video: I also didn’t realise but the cylinder has a hole in it at the back, so I’m going to replace it with a brass sealed one and see if it improves the performance. IMG_6322.mov