MrTea

So, over the winter i've not really touched this project until a week or so ago. Previously, I had stopped working on it at the stage of finding out that Maple Leaf hop rubbers don't work too well in this gun. I've still not fixed this and so far i'm just working with the stock bucking because I know it works and, at the minute, i'm trying to boost power closer to the limit for DMRs. On an M130 spring I was getting the following: These reading were taken back in October. As a preemptive measure, I had ordered an M150 spring and dropped it into the gun a week or two ago but only just got around to testing it today to get the following: A nice bump in power bringing it closer to the limit. This translates to about 420fps on a 0.20g BB with the max joules being 1.88J. I've still got some additional headroom but i'm hoping the Maple Leaf bucking will give a slightly better seal and creep that number up a little bit more. I'm going to have a go at smoothing down the Maple Leaf bucking tomorrow and retesting it then but failing that i've got a Prommy Purple ready just in case. On a standard V2 gearbox and full cylinder I don't know if i'm able to get much more power out of this. M160 and M170 springs exist but i'm wondering at what point do the working parts fail to compress the stronger springs. Ideally, i'd like to get this right on the border of 1.88J

Great news that you've identified and fixed your issue and it sounds good too! Is that stock outside of remedial work you've done? Nice work getting it running on the edge of the limit.

@armageddonairsoftltd Copying my post from the "How did your airsoft day go?" thread. I was there on Sunday 12th. I've hidden my post in a spoiler to keep this post compact. The only thing I could suggest is having a photographer to push more social media engagement however I appreciate that getting someone regularly avaible isn't easy. People like seeing pictures of them in their gear and it brings more attention to the site when people ask where the pics were taken. I'll be turning up the 'night time' event you have on after BZFest but i'm not looking forward to going against NVG wielding people in what's already and tricky environment to move around in and running into a tree or three.

ASG are supposed to be the best, most available and easiest to maintain. LongbowBB make "easy maintenance" Mk23 mags that work with TM Mk23s. Can't see them not working with other brands but I haven't used them. If I lose my current mags, i'll try them out.

"Cut off iron sight to mount optics better without a riser needed" You did what? Am I reading this wrong or did this person saw off the front sight just because they didn't like the it... y'know rather than just removing it like a normal person. The first time I did mods to an M4, even I recognised this shit was pinned in place and removed it no problem. I would have give it a pass on "short stocked" assuming they've had it short stroked but the FPS figures they're quoting are, well, fantasy. Not to mention: No mags, no battery all for £140...

Hoping this will help locals give this site consideration for a visit, sorry for the wall of text. Armageddon Airsoft: The Woodland - £20 walk on. First time at this site depsite being on my doorstep and I have nothing negative to say about anything within the sites control. The site had a raffle for a CYMA Deagle AEP on the day at £2.50 per ticket. Staff were super friendly and chatted with all players all day (incuding the owner) even getting involved in the games later on. No issues with hit taking or similar. Everyone attending was there to have fun. Three dogs mooching around the safe area at all times is always appreciated. Longer break between game modes due to the warmer weather we've been having. We started out with a 'capture the objective' game mode where teams had to activate/de-activate lights on an objective box between the two team spawns. Our team were second to the objective but handily dispatched the other team and defended thee objective as the enemy team declined to use the better sight lines afforded from their side of the field. Great comms across all players. Second game was an attack/defend scenario further back in the site. Defenders with 3 lives, attackers with unlimited. The defenders who last the longest win. We attacked first getting bogged down (quite literally) in some places due to stubborn defenders who were eventually relieved. Again, no issues with hit taking or similar. Switching sides meant we were defending and we had elected to not reload our mags leading to a overly long delay into the attack as the attackers filled up. We outlasted the attackers despite some minor confusion over how much of the site was playable (given it's literally a block of woodland). Regardless, we held out and won. By lunchtime, it was 2-0. Sadly, players left during lunch but that can't be helped. Teams shuffled randomly to assist balance. After lunch was capture the flag. The flag was in a very exposed middle area between the two spawns. I'm pretty sure the bolt action players could reach each other spawn. The field was super wide but narrow if that makes sense. Mostly my focus was on the right flank as it had some heavy shrubs/bracken offering concealment and limited structures for cover. After fumbing a pyro throw and being killed by a likewise reply I went left from spawn and moved through the pyramid style barricades and log walls that had been constructed. After 4 or 5 clean semi-auto kills the action on my flank died down and game end was called with the enemy team getting the win. 2-1. It was during this game that half my charging handle decided to drop off. Amazing. The final game I played was 'duo kill confirmed' where everyone had one armband which was your 'life'. If you got hit, you counted to 10. If, within that 10 seconds, anyone came to claim your armband (and you were left without one) you were out. If you counted to 10 and no one claimed it, you were back in. The spicy rule to this game; if you killed someone and took their band, it's a extra life. In theory, you could have as many lives as players on the field if you killed them all and took their bands. If the enemy you killed had multiple bands, you can only take one while they count down from 10. For this game mode, myself and the player I was teamed with purposely backed ourselves into the corner of the play area so that we only had two angles to watch. We were engaged in a lengthy trade off with another duo resulting in nothing but wasting ammo and the enemy duo retreating as well as discovering strange hop issues arising from both our rifles. Fuck. After a few minutes of fuckery, we managed to get our rifles settled in time for TWO separate teams joining forces against us, pushing from both sides. This was our Alamo and my excuse to break out all of the pyro I had brought. One of the enemy split away and pushed to our left who I 'killed' several times but was never close enough for me risking running to take his band. My partner was in a slightly elevated tower watching the mid and right, delaying the other three enemies as much as physically possible. Eventually the enemy on my left got close enough I could just throw pyro at him to get the kill and delay his attack but still not close enough to take his band. Then it happened so quick, my partner was hit, I killed his killer, I was killed, partner was back in - killing my killer allowing me back in, rinse and repeat. The enemy pushed closer all the time this was going on and eventually ended with myself and my partner being out and we watched the final two teams constantly trade fire two feet away from each other while laughing before calling it a draw realising it was fruitless. Negative: In small areas it was boggy, almost lost a boot at one point Also, nettles suck which I knelt in a few times plus thorns. Nothing new to woodlands players. Positive: What a great day, will definitely be going back here. Owners, site, level of play, game modes and players were fantastic. Can't recommend enough.

Ty for the info SerialNoodle. I have actually found a Umarex MP7A1 for sale. I believe (but could be wrong), that's these are the same as VFC? Another nagging question is: How can you tell the Gen1 and Gen2 apart just from their externals? All I've been able to find so far is that the Gen2 has a metal outer barrel. Ty.

I thought it was strange too that there's so few available anywhere. Can you approach TM directly for spares?

Yes, i've heard that getting the Laylax/FMA sling mount is a good idea to help reinforce the back of the RIF. I've read that some people have installed rubber pads/o-rings or similar behind the working parts to help absorb shock transferred to the back plate. I have seen the CNC back plate you're talking about but it's out of stock where I did see it. As previously mentioned spares and repairs is also an area of concern. I've heard TM are hard to get parts for and when I had a look around, they appear to be mostly out of stock which I found strange considering how popular TM is. I'm guessing this is just because of how old the RIF is? WE on the other hand, appear to have plenty of spares on places like KYAirsoft. Thanks for the heads up about VFC spares if I do see one come up.

@Sewdhull Thanks for the link to that thread, I've had a read through it. The only thing that turns me off the TM MP7 is the fact that it's not 1:1 but seeing that side by side comparison really puts it into light. Why wouldn't they make it 1:1? I've actually spotted a decent package of a TM MP7, 5 mags and angrygun tracer/suppressor. As suspected, the WE needs work OOTB but will work if looked after plus it's 1:1 scale. To be fair, I've never had an issue with any WE OEM guns I've had. The fire selector issue @Shamal has experienced sounds like it could be fixed relatively easily and appears to be an issue across brands.

Hey all. Recently I've noticed an increase in MP7s being listed for sale and with a tidy little bonus from work (and another sale falling through) I'm keeping my eyes on the classifieds for the right one to turn up. However, I've noticed that the majority of MP7s that come up for sale are TM with the odd couple of VFC/Umarex and even WE versions appearing. I know some of these aren't 1:1 scale, some are with and without trademarks and some (OOTB) perform better than others and they have different weak points. The vast majority of people I've seen all say that the VFC (Gen2) are the best to get but they have a premium attached and they rarely turn up. Additionally, replacement parts are supposed to be scarce online plus going directly to VFC, in my experience, takes a fair while to get a reply and the parts. TM versions, again from what I've read, have a thinner plastic/polymer shell so have a steel 'skeleton' to help reinforce the RIF but the shell is prone to cracking, especially around the receiver pins and backplate. Spare parts online are either hard to find (out of stock) or expensive. The WE/New Wave Small Rice versions are regarded as the worst (from what I've read) but aren't supposed to be as poor as people make them out to be however, you often get what you pay for in Airsoft but the price is so significantly lower, even new, it may warrant consideration. Compared to the others above, there's a lot of WE replacement parts available but I'm not sure if this speaks to the RIFs lack of quality/durability from the factory. Would appreciate insight from people who currently own, or have owned, any of these.

Same deal. Pretty much all gas magazines are expensive. Just sort by cheapest on places like Patrolbase, the cheapest GBB M4 is £250 and the mags, which are out of stock, are £50 each and only hold 50 BBs each, so you're going to spend just as much on magazines as you are for the rifle.

When I didn't know what I was doing, tech wise (I still don't know what I'm doing for everything else), I went to TheCageAirsoft for them to work on my MP5. To install a bunch of parts, including wiring a MOSFET, they charged me £80 labour. This was Jan 2023 so not sure if their prices have changed since. The lads there are great and have always tried to help me out if I had any questions about random stuff. Can't recommend them enough.

It definitely is. You can just about see the DE emblem on the side of the receiver.

So, I haven't shared this yet despite having it sat around for a few months. For context this was a boneyard A&K Masada/ACR. When I got it, the exterior of the rifle was scuffed, chipped and dented beyond belief and the previous owner had even super glued rails to the handguard. Instead of fixing the ambi fire selector properly, they had also super glued the fire selector on which I've since fixed. Since it was already destroyed externally I decided to go the absolute opposite way of what I normally go for, so I went with the brightest colours I could think of. Is it cursed? I think I actually prefer it to the standard look of most of my RIFs.

To throw something else cheap into the mix. I've got a Redwin Torero 1-6x24 and the glass quality is very similar to, if not better than (imo), the VisionKing 1.25-5x. It's $103 (right now on their own site) with a one-piece mount and you can pick from two different reticule choices. I haven't actually used the optic in anger yet as I still haven't finished my DMR build in favour of turning around some boneyard items... 5 months ago. I should really get on that.

TTI make a TDC unit that includes a drilling guide, drill bit, hop unit (that's very similar to the Action Army one) and an external hop adjustment wheel for about the same price as the Action Army hop unit. Generally it's around £50. As for ParHunter, if it's of any interest to you; AirsoftWorld are selling the Action Army T11 for £110. If i'm not mistaken, it comes standard with a 90 degree trigger which are pretty pricey on their own. Buying cheaper and upgrading could be worth a look.

Aren't they expensive? I have also read online that the stock one is good and the upgrade would be as minimal as changing the barrel. I built a mk18 style AEG from a Specna Arms Core 04 and still run the standard blue plastic hop unit in it to this day and that AEG has some good range on it. The hop unit very rarely ever needs changing unless it's adjusting itself when in use. Changing the bucking & nub is all you need to do - I mostly always use Macaron 60 degree and the Omega nub. Inner barrels are subject to a lot of arguments. Some claim that the stock brass are fine and probably just need a quick polishing. Some inner barrels are cheap enough that you can buy one and see if theres much difference. AK2M4 has his own range of inner barrels that appear to have a massively better polish/finish than the similarly priced ZCI offering.