Leo Greer

As a note to the original question... When in doubt, Retro Arms low profile bushings are the way to go. I've run them from 60 RPS to over 2J.

He still hasn't mentioned the Mah and discharge rating, so we really have no clue what kind of amps he even has to work with. If it's something like an 800 Mah 20C that's realistically more like 450 Mah 10C that's only 5A to work off. Most stock AEGs need about 15A. edit I've been through a fair lot of LiPos in the "1450 Mah 30C" range that turned out to be more like 800 Mah 10C when tested. Voltage means nothing.

I should add, all this is discounting the strong tendency of airsoft battery manufacturers to lie about the capacity and discharge ratings they advertise. You could very well be using a battery that has only 60% of it's advertised capacity and 50% of the discharge, thus skewing the apparent performance of your RIF far away from accurate. My personal pack I spoke of in the above post (Kypom 3S butterfly 2200mah) has actually been tested at 2106mah, so the capacity is pretty close to advertised by airsoft standard. And this is by far one of the best packs in this range, which may contribute to a higher apparent "shots per man" rating.

I'm gonna have to tell this one to my father...

The FPS itself will change by a margin of maybe 1-1.5% depending on humidity, altitude, and temperature, but by and large the consistency I can achieve is the same. That build was built and chronoed at ~800 feet above sea level, 75 degrees F, 50% humidity. I recently put together a new DMR build shooting 300 FPS on .48g w/ ~1 FPS variance, and tested at ~8,000 above, 20 deg. F, and 75% humidity. I do a rigorous set of stabilization mods designed to create an extremely consistent hop rubber to nozzle seal, and I think that really makes the difference. Basically, I make sure the barrel and hop unit can't move whatsoever, and that the hop unit is pressed solidly to the gearbox. Hop unit springs are the enemy, cork and plastic shims are the best. I'll see if I can try some "varied environment" testing with the same build and report back. I'll make it into a separate thread though!

As stated, this is heavily subjective. I'd suggest establishing an approximate baseline for your own build through testing and work off that. For example, I run my primary off a single 2200mah 11.1v pack, which lasts me for approximately 5,000 shots before I hit LVC ranges. (brushless, well shimmed, etc, etc) Other builds are a lot less efficient...

This is true. My advice is to simply make your head less of a target, or wear a full chainmail suit underneath your eyepro. Personally I use a simple mesh face mask that covers my ear area and a set of Esse military surplus goggles that seem to attract BBs... which works great.

I will point out that, in practice, HPA can often be less FPS consistent than a properly set up AEG. This is because HPA guns typically have more seals inside the engine than an AEG, which has two major seals. I typically tune my AEGs to either ~1 FPS variance or ~0.5 FPS variance. And even better can be done, I'm just not quite picky enough. The true mad lads will be sorting their BBs by the hundredth of a gram to get even better consistency. In THIS thread, scroll down and I have a pic of my primary (AEG) shooting at 27 RPS with an FPS consistency of about +-0.8 FPS. edit And just to speak to general reliability, a properly set up HPA RIF will be more "reliable" than an AEG simply due to needing less maintenance (you really only have the seal to maintain occasionally), however a correctly set up AEG (SSG, DSG, DMR...) should only need gearbox maintenance maybe every 100K cycles, or even more. I try to do maintenance on my rifleman style builds around every 200K rounds, and stock guns are simply run until they break, which for some might mean something like 500K cycles. Heck, some TMs are known to last past 1 million cycles with no work done on them.

I'm not sure whether this is a blessing or a curse... ...If we call them disabled here in Texas it usually means they're incapable of using social media. IMO, if you can post about it on social media, you're fully responsible for your actions.

It's a tough situation to be sure, but I think the best answer is to give him a 100% shadow as Tackle suggests. When the shadow is hit, he has to be out as well, and if he's hit, the shadow is out. I can only imagine how quickly it could go wrong without the ability to communicate. A number of folks at my local site bring along their kids between the ages of 6 and 10, and this is probably a similar situation due to the communication difficulties. Basically, I think you'd need someone to take responsibility for him at all times. The additional difficulty is, of course, your own limited sign language vocabulary, which would likely need to be rectified with written site rules and explanations. It's hard, but I wish you good luck! I think almost everyone should be able to enjoy airsoft safely, and this is a barrier that can be overcome.

If available... Arcturus ME models would be my top pick for affordability, utility, and performance. Availability over there in the UK might be an issue. Second to that would be a G&G somewhere in the midrange. They just work and probably won't break the bank. IMO, Krytacs are very good, but they're simply expensive for what you're getting. Slick factor? Yes. Price vs. performance ratio? No. Reliability? Pretty good. The other issue I'll bring up is that they tend to have overspin at UK power limits (they're really designed to work with an M120 for USA power limits).

Stay away from those unanswerable questions, my friend. There lies the way of madness. 😉

Very simply, this is an extremely common issue. Airsoft is rife with underpowered batteries being marketed as proper, weak ferrite motors in stock guns, and people who don't know what they're doing working on gearboxes that are badly designed and relatively complicated. Actually, I should say, the original design is genius but has been cloned, iterated, and become so outdated that it appears badly designed. In addition, there's no other plausible alternative (to my understanding). Here's what we know: Gearbox locks after a few shots, doesn't unlock. The fact that this happens after a few shots means the piston isn't "too long" (or it could never cycle in the first place) There's an aftermarket aluminum piston, which is a 17 tooth piston (I'm assuming this is an SR-25 or other 17T gearbox, though the OP's pics don't show the whole thing). If the piston were sticking, we should see obvious scraping from the successful cycles, which we do not... Additionally, if the piston really were binding, the gears would simply free spin instead of causing a gearbox lockup. This is the easiest way to tell the difference: pull the trigger. In conclusion: Is it somehow possible that the piston, spring, gearbox rails, or spring guide are binding and causing issues? Yes... but how likely is that with no indicators? Standard gearbox lockup is by far the simplest, most common, and most reasonable explanation. I see it constantly with people who don't know how to work on their guns, and who don't understand even vaguely how the batteries they use work. (Heck, I was one of those people once upon a time)

Absolutely not. What you need to do first is get a good LiPo battery. This lockup is occurring because your battery/motor don't have enough juice to complete the cycle, and thus the gearbox locks. What battery are you currently using?

This has got to be a trolling post. It has to be... it can't be anything else... *looks at kicking mustang's insta* It has to be... right?

I and others have had good consistent success with fishtank silicone or others silicone meant to bind glass. As for exact brand, I use Locktite brand (I believe) but I haven't done much experimenting since what I have works. If you'd like some more in-depth info, there's a thread on the subject by the creator on the AirsoftSniperForum under Long Range AEGs.

Silicone cylinder head buffer mod, if you have enough space. Remove the previous buffer, sand the area rough, use fishtank silicone to create a buffer, and then cut it to the correct size. In my experience this mod performs much better than sorbo or other typical buffer materials. Additionally, silicone instantly rebounds to its original volume, so your cylinder volume is the same each shot (vs sorbo where your FPS can get wonky due to the material not being elastic enough).

I should add, the amount of “cycle time reduction” you get from SSing is functionally ineffective, since you could just use a weaker spring and achieve the same faster cycle. The only time I think it’s useful to SS (period) is to use a very stiff spring at high RPS while keeping the FPS down. This allows for low FPS and high RPS with no PME. And by high RPS, I mean 35-40 RPS SSGs.

"Over travel" is a good thing, not a bad thing. I have no clue why people try to avoid it. That extra space for your piston to accelerate increases your FPS efficiency by a significant amount (by increasing air pressure), allowing you to use a weaker spring and have an all-round better time. Heck, if you're not having PME issues there's no reason to short-stroke either.

First off, AEGs and HPA both use the same general system (pressurized gas) to power the BB. You get a muzzle noise when there is too much gas being used for a particular BB weight and barrel length, regardless of system used. One of the easiest ways to quiet your replica is to properly volume it. Second, really good shimming helps a lot (some gears are louder than others but shimming usually helps). I don't aim to make my replicas as quiet as possible (no augs filled with dynamat), but on most of my replicas you can hear nothing but the piston head hitting the cylinder head. I don't use buffers on my Arcturus replicas (they have perfect AOE already), but I'll see if I can link a video to show what I'm talking about. If you want to really know how to get an AEG as quiet as possible, go to AirsoftSniperForum and check out 1Tonne's thread, but in summary, HPA doesn't have to deal with any kind of gearbox noise, most of which is produced by the bevel to pinion gear junction, and the piston hitting the cylinder head.

That 36K will probably increase your RPS to near 30. Depending on your exact setup, this may end in PME and/or overspin. I suggest either looking for a 30K brushless or going with a brushed 16-18 TPA Neo. Krytac stock motors are technically Neo motors but they’re very weak, so a new motor with strong magnets will be an upgrade.

Unfortunately, most people don't understand what joule creep is, how FPS and joule output actually relate, or even what voluming is. 'Tis unfortunately likely that the folks running the field know very little about the mechanics of the RIFs themselves, regardless of how well they run the site. At my local field, I'm perhaps the only player who understands the basics of airsoft mechanics. The refs are well-meaning but clueless. When applicable I try to explain things to help educate folks, but it matters not. To put it very, very simply; joule output on a certain BB weight is exactly the same regardless of the propellant. As soon as the BB leaves the barrel, HPA is indistinguishable from AEG or GBBR or even spring. Different BB weights do affect how much power is transferred to the target as heavier weights retain more velocity over distance. Lowering the limit for a certain propulsion method does not level the playing field in any way. As long as the rules are abided by, why does it matter what he wants to do? Besides, without knowing the BB weight and distance it's impossible to actually know how much force will be transferred. Set an MED and a joule limit and stick with it!

Interestingly and anecdotally, I most often use a 25C 2200 Mah Kypom LiPo with my T238s, but I also use a Turnigy Nanotech 70-140C 5K Mah brick, which is capable of more than enough output to fry everything in that motor whether shorted or not. I haven't had any issues yet, but I'll let folks know if I do.

In my humble and irrelevant opinion… GBBRs are for fun with your buds, AEGs are for when you have to show everyone who’s boss. Clearly, GBBRs can still be competitive, and I know several players who do great with them, but AEGs are simply better at being airsoft guns.

I should note, if you’re getting a brushless to overheat or even heat up in any capacity, you’re likely doing something wrong…