Gunboat Diplomat

Wildly off topic, but I spend a lot of time wondering what I’d like to do instead of my current job and I think I’ve just found a contender. Mmmm pies….

They look like a nail-gun with a stock, but that only makes me want one more.

Good that you got to try a few out, the handling and general feel is probably as big a distinction between one AEG and another as much as raw spec differences. Nothing like father-and-son toys for Xmas day! Have a good one.

Got an initial review for us @JimFromHorsham? I see you nabbed one in the 'What have you bought?' thread. My wallet is fast reaching the event-horizon of a GBBR purchase. MWS is my obvious choice, but these are an interesting left-field option and the 60rd mags are a big plus.

Your wife throws a grenade through the door of the shoe shop before rushing in and shooting all the mannequins?

If you’re looking at the higher level Specnas, note that its only the Edge 2.0 models that come with a proper Gate Aster mosfet (this gives you all the nice features like active braking, pre-cocking, programmability etc). These start around the £250ish mark. The standard Edge models have an X-ASR, which is essentially nothing more than an electronic trigger contact. It has no extra features or configurable options. They come in some nice bodies but arguably aren’t going to perform any better than the £90 Flex that Fire-Support are selling. My choice when I had this dilemma earlier this year was the Double Eagle M906C. It has their Falcon mosfet in it. Not as advanced as the Specna’s Gate Aster, but it is programmable and has all the features I need. Its been rock solid over many games and thousands of rounds fired. I bought it thinking I’d upgrade to something better, but its dawned on me that in AEG terms at least there aren’t many more gains to be made. This and the rest of Double Eagle’s Falcon equipped models all hover around the £180-£200 mark. Would definitely shortlist them next to the Specnas. PPE wise, you’ll prob have to experiment a bit. The revelation for me were Revision Anti Fog wipes. I now use relatively cheap and comfortable Bolle eyepro, these would normally steam up very easily but the Revision wipes keep 90% of it at bay.

I get around 250-260fps from memory on 0.28s with the hop set, that is on the stock spring.

Likely the final game of the year for us. Skirmish time has been a bit curtailed recently, but happily we made it out for a morning session at Spec Ops MK. The boy was most excited to try out his recently acquired Golden Eagle HiCapa. This is our first experience of anything gas powered, but I pre-warned him that with sub-zero temperatures and green gas he should set his expectations pretty low. That said, his pistol chrono'd at 280ish on 0.2s reasonably consistently. He got a couple of kills with it during the day so was pretty happy. Slight issue with the mag venting unexpectedly from time to time so I'll have to look into that (assuming it wasn't just the cold). My Double Eagle 906C continues to be ever reliable, though it's only doing about 0.77 joules on 0.28s so I think a spring change is due. My memory of the games is already fading, but highlights for me were getting my first 'knife-kill' whilst clearing the central compound and some optimistic but poorly executed attempts to rush objectives (until I was too knackered to run back from respawn anymore). Getting right in with close engagements and sweeping through villages and compounds has become my favourite way to play (on the rare occasions I can get that close and I'm not too knackered to move fast enough) so I'm very much looking forward to the new indoor CQB site. And also being sheltered from shit weather. Had my Apple watch on this game, so a picture probably tells a thousand words about my day in this case:

Has Jaeger Precision actually authorised the return but then failed to give you an address to send it to? Or is it the case that you have asked to return said item, Jaeger are unwilling to accept the return and so has refused to issue a return address on that basis? I can't work out if the trader is just messing you around by being evasive or if they are disputing that you have a valid reason to return the goods in the first place, therefore are not going to issue you a return address. In any case it sounds like poor comms on their side.

Be interested to know what you think of it once you’ve had a chance to use it. What’s the build quality like? Is it really a CNCd alu receiver as they claim? Makes a change from the usual pot metal construction.

You say recommended battery, so I'm assuming you mean this one from Patrolbase: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/nuprol-11-1v-1300mah-20c-stick-lipo-battery-deans as that was what they linked in their ad for the Zion. Is the issue that it protrudes from the buffer tube such that you cannot fully collapse the stock when it is installed? You can get shorter 11.1v LiPos, I've just ordered a couple of these which are only 105mm vs the 128mm of your battery (assuming it is the one in the link above). No idea if they are any good or not, so it's not a recommendation as such. I have the same issue with my Double Eagle and the batteries I'm currently using with it, but I never use it with the stock collapsed so it doesn't bother me. The only time I ever fully collapse the stock is for storage and I always remove the battery in that case anyway.

Well made by all accounts, but an older model and lacking some features compared to its peers at a similar price. Namely lack of a quick change spring and mosfet.

Yep, aside from weekend matches he has training mid week, added football and rugby at school as he’s doing GCSE sports plus air cadets two nights a week. As a result he eats like a Bagger 288. I did bugger all as a teenager! All my fitness has come post-30!

Yeah weekend of rest for me. Double football is only temporary whilst they are in the playoffs for the cup, ‘til they either get knocked out or win!

Yep, I had one in my basket at £95 but dithered too long on it. Didn’t particularly need it, but kicking myself still for not nabbing one at that price if only to have on hand as a backup.

I’m about 9 guns behind in that case. Though I plan to address that deficit soon.

It actually turns out he doesn't have a game this Sunday, but none of my local sites have a skirmish on Sunday either. Annoying as I've just upgraded both gnus so would be good to try them out.

Well due to the boy now playing cup games as well as league games, we now have football on Sat and Sun each weekend which means airsoft is on hold.

Ah of course, don’t know why that didn’t occur to me. Yes I reinstalled the disc, just didn’t realise what it was for. Motor height seems okay but I might try adjusting to take up the slack since the disc wasn’t touching the base. I read somewhere that the Perun measures drop in current to sense where the motor is in its cycle, so perhaps it uses that alongside trigger + n time for adjustment.

Bit of an update, had a couple of hours to myself this afternoon so set about installing the Perun and XT motor in the G36. Quick before video of how it fires stock: Stripped it down fairly easily, despite being a budget gun everything comes apart and goes back together again with a decent balance between being too tight or too loose. Remove the gearbox and stripped off the original wiring harness. Old motor out and new one in. Curiously I found whilst swapping the motors that there is a small metal disc at the bottom of the motor cage, presumably to shim the bottom of the motor. There is still a bit of a gap with the new motor installed, but it doesn't have any play once the cage is done up so have left it as is. I decided to leave pigtails from the old wiring harness to solder the trigger leads from the Perun onto. In theory this allowed me an easier time than trying to get the iron tip to the microswitch contacts, but in practice was a pain trying to mate the fine gauge wire for the trigger leads onto the original thick gauge pigtails I'd left behind. Worked out in the end, but if I did it again I'd probably just split the gear box, remove the microswitch and solder them directly to it. I spliced the trigger return lead close to the Perun so that I can get to it if I ever need to, don't expect it will ever fall off but easier to fix this way if it does: I left the harness long but the routing I've chosen in this picture actually makes it a real sod to attach the battery and get the hand-guard back on. I've since folded the extra length and tucked it into the cavity behind the mag-well so that you can just have the minimum amount of wire spare when refitting the hand-guard with the battery installed. Finally, the post install fire test. Much snappier and a decent increase in ROF. Perun is on default settings at the moment. I had a play with the precocking settings but noticed no difference. I'm not entirely sure how it achieves it anyway since there is no feedback from the gearbox on gear/piston position, I assume it measures current changes as the motor shifts from load to no load? I'll have to do some more research, but even as is it's an improvement. Hope the boy likes it.

Here’s hoping. The vented can and mini fan on the commutator should work nicely seeing as the Eagle has that vented motor plate for airflow. And if it doesn’t I’ll have a nice hand warmer for winter skirmishes.

Few upgrades from AK2M4, delivered next day as promised. Perun and XT 22TPA for the boy's G36. Another XT 22TPA, plus a ZCI hop unit and ML bucking for my Double Eagle. . Had a few mins spare tonight, so out with the old motor from the Double Eagle... ...and in with the new Not a night and day difference over the stock motor, I stupidly didn't do a direct before and after comparison but the trigger response is a bit quicker. Suspect they are both in the same ballpark windings wise. Magnets on the stock motor are no match for the new XT though. Expect it will prove itself when I run it on 3S instead of my current 2S.

Bit off topic, but as we are entering into winter months does that mean this (or any GBBR) is likely to be a wall hanger now until Spring time as it's going to struggle with low temps?

I’m an inveterate tinkerer so can’t leave anything standard for long.

An AR-9 for £95? https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/specna-arms-sa-fx01-flex-ar-9-smg-aeg?fv=22067 Must say I'm tempted as an impulse buy.