Quagmire

Dunno about "as standard" but shimming and motor height can make a big difference to noise. Also gear/motor combo changes that speed up the cycle time seem to help - the noise might be the same in volume but occurs over a much shorter period so seems quieter. Obviously not much use if blasting away on auto though. Of the group of people I Airsoft with, the quietest AEG is probably my brothers G36, maybe the polymer body helps?

Thanks, will try the regular "precision" ones instead of the "super".... I don't clean my barrel as often as I should and it deffo looks pretty flipping clean in there with having used the bios mostly.

Since I got into the business of playing Airsoft about 18 months ago I have always used Geoff's BB's as general internet consensus was that they are decent. Usually I buy the Bio "super natural precision" in 0.3 but wondered if anyone can tell me the difference between the "super" and normal "natural precision" BB's. Is there any noticeable difference? same question goes for the non-bio ones too. I've googled about but I haven't been able to find anything, hence my post. Cheers!

Absolutely! 🤣

Last weekend I killed my Specna Edge, I'd dropped some 14:1's in as I'd calculated that with the motor I was running I would get about 24-25rps on 11.1/3s and a more realistic 18rps on 7.4/2s. Lo and behold after fitting the gears and re-shimming it came out great. I am lucky to have access to a piece of private woodland and we tend to play semi or burst, no auto allowed. I was very much enjoying my new improved RoF when in the last twenty minutes of game day I noticed it started to miss the odd BB, I changed mag thinking it might be this, then it started making a grinding sound. I stopped and switched to the communal "backup" Specna flex M4 we collectively purchased for such occasions. Stripping it down at home showed that the bearings had disintegrated on the selector plate side of the box. The bevel gear and spur had dropped and teeth were partially ground off the bevel in the couple of short trigger pulls it took for me to go "wtf is going on?" and realise I had a problem. On the day I was running a brand new 11.1/3s 2200mah turnigy nano-tech battery with a max discharge rate of 70c, so I think this may have pushed my rate of fire up a bit, as I imagine there would be very little voltage drop under load on this compared to my older butterfly/nunchuck lipos. I'll be fitting bushings, and see how that goes.

Hobbyking is always worth a look for lipos, just make sure you filter by stock in the UK warehouse or you can sometimes wait a while for delivery.

I have the SA-E01, and have never had any issue with XT springs from ak2m4.co.uk, give those a try.

I use a home made fan setup that is based on a 5015 blower, piped into my Bolle Tracker 2 glasses, it works well and never fogs. Biggest downside is very occasionally getting a hose caught on a branch or twig and the whirring noise can be a pain when you are trying desperately to hear somebody who you know is out there somewhere. I wouldn't say that the noise emitted would be enough for someone to hear you though, just might prevent you hearing them! If you have access to a 3d printer try having a look for "get the fog out" on thingiverse.

I'm new to the sport, and went with a Specna SA-E01 (which is an Edge, and not an "Edge 2.0"). Mine has basically the same guts as your new purchase with the Orion gearbox and 6.03mm barrel. Assuming the hop is the same in the 416 body as it is for the M4 (which i guess it must be as they are 99% the same), then based on how mine has been I reckon you'll be happy with it. I've been using Geoff's 0.25's and 0.28's and on its first two outings it's been easy to dial in the hop for different weights, has shot consistently and with decent range. I did change the spring to an XT M110, which due to a lack of time I chucked in and chronoed the night before the last game only to find it was a bit high. I ended up shortening it a smidge to get me within the 1.13J limit at my local site. I will try an M105 next time. I've stuck with the iron sights and zeroed them at about 20m using an M4 calibration target. Seems to have worked pretty well! People will tell you to forget FPS and speak in Joules, it's probably a good habit to get into. Good luck!

Thanks for the replies and the warm welcome! Will checkout the mesh face protection and the Earmors look like a good shout too, my brothers do have radios, but they use the ear pieces, which I can't use- the Earmors would solve that. I might switch from the spoggles to some goggles too, which would avoid having the arms joggling the hearing aids about and dislodging them. In terms of the rifle, I am working hard to hold myself back from falling into the upgrade black hole! The three of us are talking about purchasing a joint backup AEG (probably something like a Specna Flex) and if/when that happens, I might crack mine open to check shimming and air seal as a first step, but not until then! Thanks again Quagmire

Hi all, Just recently got into Airsoft through my two younger brothers, one of them has access to some private woodland which we usually play on with friends, but this weekend gone I played my first "proper" game at Gunman Alpha: Although I was totally knackered by the end, and covered in bruises from BBs/branches/the ground it was absolutely fantastic! I've been running around with a bog stock Specna M4 (the 01 version) and am very happy with it so far using Geoff's 0.25s or 0.28s and a *slightly* trimmed XT M110 spring. One small problem I had on Saturday was that I lost one of my hearing aids! My current head gear consists of some Bolle Tracker II's, a baseball cap and a Lonestar sierra mask. Antifog is provided by a home made fan unit based on a 5015 fan, piped into the side of the goggles (that's me on the left): What was happening was that the arm and/or strap on the goggles kept dislodging the hearing aid and I had to keep setting it back in place. After getting taken out in the afternoon and walking back to spawn I realised one ear felt weird only to find it had gone! I'm thinking that to avoid this in future it might be better to go with some proper goggles rather than the spoggles I have now, attached to or fitted with the strap over a helmet to avoid things disturbing the aids. With this in mind (and the fact that I have a 60cm head) does anyone have any recommendations on what might be a good starting point please? Much obliged! Quagmire