Speedbird_666

Fuck you KWA. Turns out that KWA Pistons are oversized compared to normal AEG pistons by a couple of MM. Luke/Negative Airsoft mentioned this in the video I posted above but I figured it would be OK. I was wrong. So if you replace the stock piston with common (and reasobly priced!) XT/SHS fare - don't expect it to last very long. My XT piston died on Sunday with a lovely crunch as it somehow skipped over the sector gear. Investigating the fitment of the piston on the GB rails reveal that it's entirely possible that the piston can rotate several MM on it's axis AND up and down laterally. Three or four teeth are damaged - it doesn't look too bad in the photo but you can feel it when you run a nail over them - and the piston has dozens of stress fractures where the rack flexed over the sector gear. If you subscribe to Luke on Patreon - you will see that he now has several videos (not on YouTube) about KWA guns. Seems like there's also a tappet timing issue with some guns if you use 11.1v LiPos - causing huge power drops once things (like the tappet spring and plate) start to wear. Slowing the gun down with a 7.4v LiPo will see the power return - but that's a shit solution to a design flaw. Negative Airsoft is now adding a brass spacer to pre-load the tappet spring, removing the delayer chip, and cutting the tappet plate (DSG style) to speed up the forward nozzle movement. I will probably take the same route pre-emptively. Luckily he mentions a fix for the Piston in the shape of the Madbull PX02 - which is a near match for the stock piston in size. Problem is - they cost nearly £30 and are hard to get hold of...😒 So coming full circle - do I recommend this, or any other KWA gun? No. No I do not. Steer well clear. Or be prepared to spend a shit ton of money: £244 - Base gun £32 - replacement Motor (SHS) £110 - Gate Titan (yeah - I would say it's a pretty essential purchase for this gun because the stock switch/COL is terrible and impossible to get spares. No, Gate Asters or Peruns do not work without some sketchy modifications - the GB was built specifically around the Gate Titan) £7 Piston Head (XT) £30 Madbull Piston Total Cost (so far) - £423 *sigh*

Quick summary... I need a very specific Piston for my AEG (Madbull PX02 - thanks KWA for being shit) - I think i've bought the very last one I can find from a UK retailer but I don't have much hope that it was actually in stock - I'm fully expecting a cancellation call/email at some point soon. Powair6 do have the specific Piston I need - but they want more than the piston itself in shipping (21 Euros) so I was going to add a few more bits to make the order more worthwhile. So...is Powair6 any good to order from?

Nope - never been to Alton. There's actually a Camouflage site near where I live (Bournemouth) - literally a 10min drive from my front door - but weirdly I've not ventured there yet for airsoft, but played Paintball there many moons ago.

Went to Ambush Activites (Botley - near southampton) for the first time yesterday. The good: - The staff were very helpful and friendly - Safezone/Toilets were decent - PA system to do the safety brief which meant everyone could hear - Super5ives have a shop on site that was pretty good - The Chrono station checks were super slick - 3 Marshals/Chronos who were using joules and recording players guns on an app. - Snipers/DMRs were evenly split between the teams at the beginning of the day - I did not hear a single complaint about hit taking (see below) The mmm..k: - Random hit checks by marshals - they were all carrying pistols and a operating a one-warning rule. Once exceeded - you are banned. - LOTs of HPA guns (Ambush was a Paintball site, air refills are readily available) but there were no problems with the HPA players at all. - One dude had a frigging pyro mortar - sent to rounds into our own team when they fell short. That was fun...🙄 The bad: - It's a Paintball site which isn't really optimal for airsoft gameplay in it's current guise. - ...which leads to primarily fall-back style games to cycle the game through the 'arenas'. - ...which also leads to some weird rules being used - 'you can shoot here but not here' etc. - One game went so badly because no one understood the rules - including some of the staff - that they decided not to reverse the game and acknowledge it was a shit show. Chatting with the site manager - she told me that they have just stopped paintball altogether as Airsoft brings in far greater numbers. Hopefully this means that they do some work to make the gamezone work better for airsoft.

They don't give a shit. Never have. Never will. They will do things in their quirky, Japanese way - market demand be damned.

I had the same experience with the X-ASR in the Specna I once owned. Anything other than the stock motor and it would stop working. Utter crap.

Walked into the Super5ves 'showroom' in Lee-On-Solent....walked out with this lot*: They have a decent range of stock with friendly and helpful staff. It's more like an Argos than a proper 'showroom' - but the staff are happy to grab anything from their warehouse and the prices are pretty competitive too. Worth a visit if you can get to it. *The Dye I5's are my son's latest purchase.

I would normally suggest that for an M4 variant, but I'm not sure how the MP5 mock bolt could be fitted (and still move with the charging handle) as it's directly mounted to the Blowback Piston.

Worth a punt - I would try to fill with JB weld or similar and then re-drill the hole. Not sure how long it would last as a fix though - whilst it doesn't rotate more than 45 degress, the ARL is under (shear?) load which is probably why the hole distorted in the first place. Replacement shells can be found here: https://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/gg-version-2-gearbox-case-blow-back-version The G&G Blowback Gearboxes are notoriously poor for longevity. Whacking a higher power spring into one is a recipe for trouble - there's a good chance of cracking the entire front off, or at least cracking around air transfer hole to the pneumatic piston. I would be sticking with M95/100 springs and looking into other guns if higher performance is required.

Have you replaced the hop rubber itself? Hop unit was replaced in this thread here:

Looks like a standard G&G shell with ambi control gears added... This *should* work - but nothing in Airsoft is guaranteed to be a drop-in fit, even with the same manufacturer (looking at you ICS): https://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/gg-gen-2-gearbox-verii-for-8mm-bearingcase-only

His gear, his choice. And of course there was a risk after Dunblane. I'm sure he wasn't the only one to offload his gear at the time.

Yeah - PTFE around the cylinder head is generally frowned upon these days, and stretching O-rings is often only a temporary fix as they tend to shrink back to their original size. Whereabouts are you based? Sounds like you are close to Z1 - I am relatively local to Z1 (Christchurch) - I have some spare Cylinder and Piston Orings that you can have free. Also - replace your hop rubber.

It's interesting that some come with the insert and some don't. Mine arrived today - and it does have the Silicone insert pre-installed. Really impressed with the build quality.

Just ordered an Odin from eBay in a fetching shade of blue (it's the EMG-branded version) - there's a seller that's got them up for £50 posted.

Since when are second hand, mildy scuffed up, Combat Machines worth £220? (short answer - they're not, and I wouldn't pay that for a brand new one either) Doesn't even have a Perun ETU++.

Now in stock. Not a bad price really in the current climate. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/double-eagle-m918g-utr-ek47-w-falcon-fire-control-system?pv=21067

Interesting. I haven't jumped on the Brushless bandwagon yet but it's on my 'to-do' list.

'Hi Torque' for SHS motors is a bit of a misnomer - I would rate it more of a balance between torque and speed at 16TPA. I used them in 7.4v setups with standard 18:1 ratio gears (which gives around 16rps) as a basic drop-in upgrade for 'out of the box' stock guns without mosfets. Worked well enough for quite some years for me. When I become ruler of the (airsoft) world - all guns will be capped at 20RPS.

Nope - not happening on an Ares Amoeba unless you plan to replace the entire gearbox. The stock Ares ECFS gearbox is not even close to 'TM spec' because of the electronic gubbins inside. This guy stripped out the Ares gearbox and replaced it with a G&G unit. But on the other hand - if you plan to essentially replace everything anyway - it might be better to build up a new gearbox from scratch. At least then you can keep the stock Ares Gearbox in the gun until you are happy with the new Gearbox build before swapping over. There are (currently) some G&G gearbox shells in the classifieds at a very reasonable price.

Core - possibly, Edge - no. The X-ASR mosfet is wank. The moment you use anything other than the stock motor it stops functioning properly. The one in the Specna Edge I had was consigned to the bin. And as for the 'full metal receiver', well, they are shit too - wafer thin, weaker than most of my polymer guns, and the factory paint is a joke. Then there's the 'not made of cheese, honest' Orion Gearbox - which I binned off for an E&C unit that was 50% heavier. I gave the Orion shell away on here to another user after the front-end jettisoned itself on theirs. Worst gun I have ever owned - and I've had a lot of guns over the years. I would never recommend one for a new player.

All the WAS kit I owned was excellent quality. Indeed a lot of WAS kit is used by active service units in various countries and has seen numerous deployments over the years - so it's 'combat proven'. But as @Tackle mentioned - for general BBwarz/LARPsoft the likes of Viper is perfectly adequate. I'm quite happy with Aliexpress clones of kit at the moment, the quality is generally 'good enough'. Brands I avoid? Generally Ares, VFC and Specna.