Speedbird_666

Here you go....😉

I stuck a Gate Nano ASR in mine, with 16AWG Alpha wire. Didn't make that much difference TBH. You can argue that it helps the trigger contacts, but I had guns running 2S LiPos for nearly a decade without a Mosfet and they never had an issue. Best upgrades are - a thorough barrel-clean (the stock barrel is decent enough), a new hop rubber/nub, adding a deans connector and maybe a higher torque motor. Total cost under £50. I would leave everything else stock until it breaks. Mine was actually reasonably well shimmed and greased out of the box. The CM.045 is a chunky thing (all AKs are), so once you start bolting things up front it becomes pretty nose-heavy. I found the stock grip to be a bit uncomfortable when trying to do stuff like reloading. A £5 Cyma Ergonomic grip helped sort that.

I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole TBH. It's over-priced for what it actually is, and CYMA (the OEM for the gun) make better models - cheaper. Cybergun are twats, and you are paying a premium for shittily-implemented Colt trademarks. Personally for a similar price, I would be looking for Cyma Platinum series or Specna ONE series (not Edge - they are shit), possibly discounted ICS offerings, ASG Proline Armalite M15 (made by Lonex) or even A&K full metal jobbies.

Yeh, I said the same thing on his status update. A cheap T6 single-mode drop-in can be had for £6-7 quid off eBay. Problem is the current shipping situation from China.

Hogue Stock (Link here):

Here is some additional information from another EU company that specialises in RC stuff. It adds some useful and concise context. So it's a rule that the UK has imposed on ANY import under £135 from anywhere in the world. Google-fu found me this: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021/changes-to-vat-treatment-of-overseas-goods-sold-to-customers-from-1-january-2021

This times 1000. Some airsofters are happy to drop hundreds of £'s on shitty accessories/scopes/rails systems etc to hang off their guns, but when it comes something that's actually really useful, they seem to think a £50-60 Chrono is too expensive. BUT @ak2m4 has recently started selling these chronos for £25. I've heard they are quite well regarded within the Airgun community so are probably worth a punt at that price.

D’oh! I got mixed up, you are correct, it’s Gunfire I got the message from. Still relevant to the thread though.

Just got an email from *edit* Gunfire. They will only fulfil orders over £135 from 1st January onwards. No reason given in the email or updated T&Cs.

Classic Army generally OEM ASG's lower-end M4 (Armalite branded) style guns. That particular gun is known outside of Europe as the 'Classic Army CA4 M-Lok 10'. There is a KeyMod variation of the gun known as the 'KM' series. There are a fair few reviews on YouTube for the Classic Army variations of the gun. It looks like it's decent. Here is a review of the KeyMod variant: And a review of another variant (which ASG also sells as the 'M15 Operator'):

So it sounds like we have a trade deal. Hopefully that still means cheap pew pews from Poland in the new year - once all this Covid stuff is sorted.

G&G Combat Machines get used as rental guns on some sites, so they are fairly reliable. You are more likely to cause a failure after 'upgrading', especially if you try to do it yourself. Think of them as a Ford Fiesta. Functional, gets you from point A to B relatively efficiently for thousands of miles. But take a bog standard Fiesta, drop in a monster turbo with no other modifications whatsoever, and watch it go bang very quickly as you rag it around. Airsoft guns are the same, you need to take a balanced approach to upgrading. Want to upgrade the gearing? Well, you also need to consider battery and motor options. Can the Piston take the additional stress? How's the Angle of Engagement on the sector gear? Are the bushings robust enough (Combat Machines use sintered bushings which aren't great). Is the gearbox properly radiused? These are all variables that need to be considered. Best saved for your second or third gun. Buy a good starter gun, Combat Machines are fine but there are other comparable options, and use it for a good few skirmishes. Start then to think about what would improve your airsoft experience with the gun. Quite often, it's a case of consigning your first gun to backup status as when you total up the upgrades it's cheaper to just buy a better gun.

On your first RIF? good god no! leave it the fuck alone until it breaks. When you've got several guns - where you've even got a backup for your backup blaster, then sure, take your gun to bits and do whatever you want - because if you fuck up (and you will to start with) you can still go out and play. But if you only have one gun, and you are not experienced in teching AEGs in any way, leave it alone or pay a respected tech to do the work for you.

I like the cut of your jib good sir.

If your smart charger has a storage mode (around 3.85v per cell) , then I would recommend you use it to get the best life out of the LiPo. LiPo's do not like to be stored at full or near full capacity, or under 3.85v for any length of time. Dead or puffed cells can ruin your day. Over-discharging LiPo's kills them. Yes, you can 'jump start' them using a nimh charging mode for a few minutes to get them back up to the voltage for the LiPo charging modes to function (not recommended if you don't know what you are doing!) , but the pack will never work as well again after. Buy a cheap (7 quid) LiPo cell check from ebay, its an invaluable piece of kit to check the usage percentage and cell voltages.

What warranty do you get from a UK airsoft company...🤣 A cursory look at Negative Airsoft's videos will reveal the 'quality' of most UK Warranty 'repairs'. I would rather fend for myself and save the cash at the point of purchase.

I used to use Fairy Power Spray. Soak the plastic, leave it a couple hours (or even overnight), Krylon turns rubbery and can be scrubbed off with a washing up brush. A couple of notes: - I haven't stripped Krylon off in quite a few years, so I don't know if the Fairy Power Spray is the same formula now as it was in years past. But still it's worth a punt for a few quid from Wilko. - Generally, it doesn't attack the plastic, but you'll never get the colour back to deep-black - it'll be more charcoal/cloudy black if that makes sense? I wonder if car dashboard restorer would help. - It can take several soak-scrub-rinse cycles to strip it all off, so it's not a quick process.

Problem is, many UK retailers use the likes of TaiwanGun (AKA Krakman) in a wholesale capacity - UK prices will likely go up as well.

From Facebook:

I doubt that arm is even aluminium - try pot metal. I'm pretty sure that GFC (Specna) and S&T are direct clones of Ares. I would also guess that the Umarex ARX-160 Proline might use the same linkage (it's OEM'd by S&T and looks identical). You might have more luck tracking down an Ares/Umarex part. Neither S&T or Ares' website list the part under their spares, but perhaps dropping them an email (or in Ares' case a post their FB page) to ask availability might help. From the Ares G36 parts diagram:

I would swap out the piston and cylinder o-rings along with the hop rubber. Don't touch the spring until you can rule out air seal issues. Cheap replacements (under a tenner posted) Cylinder O-rings (19x1.5mm) x10 Piston O-rings (19x2.5mm) x10 Lonex 50deg Hop Rubber (Cheap and cheerful but works OK for me) or if you want to spend a little more on the hop rubber setup: Maple Leaf Macaron and Omega style Nub Your nozzle will likely not have an o-ring unless it was upgraded by the previous owner.

I haven't seen an AUG at a skirmish for at least 5 years, probably longer. Not seen an ASG Bren other than in the Zero One Showroom. A bit heavy and chunky for what it is but looks nice. The only G36's I see are generally rental guns, which is a shame. I think that they have a reputation as 'starter' guns, irrespective of manufacturer or internals. I would like to see a proper Tavor X95. Not the crappy cheapo version that Umarex kicks out.

This. Anyway, props to whoever designed/made this. I always wanted to build a Crye MR-C from GRAW. I started drawing up 2D plans to hotwire cut a foam blank, cover it in fibreglass/carbon then melt the foam away. This was 13 years ago, so 3D printing wasn't a 'thing' and there was no free 3d design packages like Fusion 360. Maybe one day I'll build one...

Both of these videos (albeit different airsoft manufacturers) indicate that it should just slide off: Personally, I would use a flat/drift punch and gently tap the rail forward from the receiver end. And I mean gently (but frequently) tap on both sides of the rail - then see if there is any movement.

Nice. Are you going to do any mods? I would be modding/replacing the safety switch to give proper semi-auto for CQB - I can see the two-stage trigger being a problem at some sites. I just wish an Airsoft manufacturer was producing this: