Leo Greer

Yep! They’re the OEM for the vast majority of airsoft motors on the market, so whenever you see SHS or Big Dragon or Archwick, it’s almost guaranteed that it’ll be cheaper from ChiHai directly, as those companies just take the product and up the price.

I'd suggest skipping Big Dragon (Chinese rebrander), and go straight to the manufacturer's factory store on Aliexepress, ChiHai Shenzhen. You can literally buy the exact same motor, complete with branding if you like, for cheaper. You can also get just about any motor you want, and not have to deal with arbitrary ratings like "M140" and "M170".

Yep! They’re the OEM for the vast majority of airsoft motors on the market, so whenever you see SHS or Big Dragon or Archwick, it’s almost guaranteed that it’ll be cheaper from ChiHai directly, as those companies just take the product and up the price.

I'd suggest skipping Big Dragon (Chinese rebrander), and go straight to the manufacturer's factory store on Aliexepress, ChiHai Shenzhen. You can literally buy the exact same motor, complete with branding if you like, for cheaper. You can also get just about any motor you want, and not have to deal with arbitrary ratings like "M140" and "M170".

normally because theyre talking out their arse, especially when they say "fully upgraded"

Just you wait until they send their builds back to Skylaar for his bi-monthly precision recalibration milspec barrel cleaning service.

Arcturus NY06. The Sport line is cheaper, but the body is lower quality. In my play experience, the NY06 has been extremely durable and performed excellently right out of the box. I was hitting a 2" wide metal pole consistently at 25 meters during an impromptu "accuracy contest" vs. some players with "upgraded" builds (that couldn't match the stock performance of the Arcturus).
 
There's not too many overly fancy features--It's a Neo motor and a standard gear set with a microswitch trigger and an ordinary 3034 MOSFET.
 
The hop and barrel assembly do stand out. The barrel is coated steel, and the only change I made when I did upgrades was to replace the hop rubber with a PDI w-hold and stabilize the system. The hop unit and rubber are, however, completely fine out of the box. It's a split nub design, similar to the G&G Blue and Krytac Orange and Blue.

I'd expect that that suggested range is more down to the other variables (airseal, cylinder-to-barrel volume, magic dust) than an admission that the spring itself isn't consistent.
 
Not that I'm claiming that airsoft parts are consistent, I hasten to add!

@BreadyC it's a good thing to have the barrel locked down that well, for accuracy.

I feel for you man. I’ll confess, it took me four hours to reassemble my first gearbox. Not doing any mods or replacements or shimming or anything. Just getting the dang shell back together took me four hours to figure out!
 
You wanna know what’s even worse? It was a Lancer shell with a QD spring guide. 😆
 
Don’t worry though, it’ll come to you. At this point I causally install M130 springs in standard shells with nothing more than a screwdriver. It’s a matter of feel, as others have mentioned.
 
On the topic of your FPS… try getting a different spring, if nothing else works. A lot of manufacturers make their springs to bad standards, and as such FPS can be a little everywhere. Notice how on Evike and such they’ll say crap like; “M120 spring: 350 to 420 FPS”? That’s crap. Springs should not have a 70 FPS margin of error. And yet they do. The bad ones at least. Try out a Guarder or PDI if you decide to try a spring replace. Do the other stuff first.