Beginner: Snow Wolf Steyr AUG A1 - What upgrades do you suggest?

[Derei]

Hi,

I recently got a Snow Wolf AUG A1 and I already managed to crack the front grip rod. It stays in place, works as it should, but there is an obvious crack in the metal. I would like to replace that infamously bad part with something known to work a little better if anyone can suggest anything.

As I said in the title, I'm a beginner both in airsoft in general, and in using electric guns. I do understand principles, I am pretty knowledgeable in electronics and mechanics in general, specific terms regarding airsoft, guns, electrical guns may confuse me at first, so please be specific and don't assume I know those things.

One thing I hate about AEG is the perceptible trigger delay. It's small, perhaps 10ms, but I can feel it! And the more worn out a gun is, the more perceptible it will be. I read about boards with pre-cocking ... are they worth? Should I? If yes, which, how?
I also read that a gearbox with a smaller ratio (1:12 maybe?) can shorten the delay, but I'm guessing that would require high torque motor, which could potentially run hot.

Moving to the other parts:

Scope: - I seem to have some issues zeroing the elevation it at 20m. Even with the knob completely removed, it still won't fall on the dot. (I used a barrel laser) - Any suggestions on how this could be fixed?

Hop-Up: - The hop-up on the stock barrel seems really primitive and the housing is made of plastic. Now it works fine, because is new... for how long it will be the same? I can't really tell. Any good replacements for my AEG that I should consider?

Barrel: - I would like to have a shorter barrel too for CQB, but I can't seem to find spare barrels, and which I find, I don't know if GBB and AEG are cross-compatible for AUG A1, or if Snow Wolf AUG has any particular design that would not fit from other manufacturers. Advice and link would be much appreciated.

Gearbox: - I have no clue what quality gearbox is inside. I didn't open yet the rifle and I only know how those gearboxes work, but I know nothing about build quality, what to look for in an upgrade, ratios and motors, etc. Any consistent information, especially if it focuses on Snow Wolf AUG A1 would be muc appreciated.

Trigger Unit: - I am sure it has a micro switch for this money. Is an electronic switch worth? What other options are there?

Mosfet:  - I'm sure it doesn't have one. Which one do you recommend? Should I add one separate, or is best to add an electronic trigger unit with an integrated mosfet?

The upgrades and changes that concern me the most are those which would prolong the life of the gun. Now is new, it works as it should, but I am perfectly aware that low and subpar components quality will lead to cascade failures in short time. I would like to avoid that by replacing the most vulnerable parts. I may not know which those parts are and what are the recommended replacements for them, so I will greatly appreciate any suggestions.

Second in importance for upgrades would be to increase weapon's reliability and response time (improved and consistent accuracy, faster trigger response time, more reliable gearbox, for example...)

On third place would be alterations to change projectile speed (for various sites requirements), barrel length, and any other upgrades/changes that you would suggest, or some of you did to their AUG and would like to share your experience.

Ultimately, if you consider that I didn't mention some parts or upgrades that you may consider important, is perhaps because I am not aware of their necessity, so please tell me in your replies about your suggestions! I am keen to learn and be guided in pulling the best of my newly acquired rifle.

Thank you kindly.


 

 

[Sneaky]

Hi,

I would advise what some videos on YouTube as you will find plenty of visual information for anything technical.

The best questions to start would be this:

What is the make of the AUG? - Will depend on what can be done to it in terms of internal and external parts.

What is you final goal you want to achieve for your AUG? 

Do you do lots of CQB, built up areas, woodland?

What is you play style?  This will have an impact on what you do with your aeg.

There are many more questions to be asked, with other members will gladly part with their knowledge.

There are bound to be members on this forum that have AUG's who could help you out.

With upgrades do a bit at a time unless you know what you are doing you can just jump in the deep end and do it all at once.

Learn how each change with effect the aeg in question, then build on that.

 

[Derei]

Hi @Sneaky, thanks for your suggestons.

For some reason, youtube seems to have very little available regarding electrical AUGs... yes, plenty of information in general about Electrical rifles, but as I am not looking for a specific upgrade, but rather seeking advice here from other AUG owners and Electrical rifle owners in general, to what would be most critical, I wouldn't know what to look for yet on youtube.

The make is Snow Wolf, as I specified in the initial post. From what I read online, some people say it may have the same internals as Jing Gong (I can't verify this information).

For the first upgrades, my goal is simply to make sure the gun doesn't break after 3-4 months of normal (no abuse) use. I was given 3 months guarantee, when for other AEGs the general warranty seems to be 6 months. Obviously this is a concern for me.

Regarding CQB, for start I would be only interested in having the shortest barrel for quick swap to be able to get my rifle easily switched for indoor activities when I want that.

Play style - i am at the beginning of this activity, so I don't believe I have one...rather experimenting with various play styles, but I generally prefer to seek and engage rather than hide and wait.

To end my response to you, although the idea of "bigger, better, faster" is obviously appealing, my first upgrades would mostly for quality reliability concerns. And here perhaps Electrical AUG users could advice best...

 

[Speedbird_666]

All AEG AUGs use a V3 gearbox, with a few extra electrical gubbins for the trigger.

Focus on 'V3 gearbox upgrades', rather than just 'AUG upgrades'. There are plenty of other guns that use the same gearbox, namely all AKs variants, G36s, CZ Bren, MP5K etc. so there are plenty of upgrade videos and tutorials about.

Personally, like all my guns, I would start with a High-torque motor (SHS/Rocket etc.) and see how it performs. Quite often even mediocre guns feel 100% better with just a simple motor change.

But if you are new, and this is your only gun, leave the gearbox well alone until you've got a backup gun or two.

 

[Derei]

[...] if you are new, and this is your only gun, leave the gearbox well alone until you've got a backup gun or two.

Great advice, I may say  ... I did this with my 3D printer, where having only one printer, I went full dive in upgrades and that rendered my printer not functional for almost a year, whilst it sat on the table with wires out, missing parts, waiting for others... So, yes... I would consider to not alter the gearbox unless other AUG users would insist that is the most sensitive part.

First and foremost perhaps a short (the shortest available) barrel would be the best, so I can feel comfortable using it in small spaces. I just don't know what I should get... and make sure it fits (do all fit, or is it something specific to look for? also quality wise, brand, model?...)

 

[Asomodai]

Changing the motor wont be took difficult, get an SHS/Rocket 16TPA neo (Which is more of a balanced motor) and that should help it feel more snappy. Consider using a 9.9V LIFe Battery as well, that will really help it along too. 

As it's your only rifle, I wouldn't take a gearbox apart as of yet. 

Most AUGs come with plastic hop units and they are perfectly fine and very easy to access and take apart. Just change the hop rubber to a Guarder Clear or Prometheus Purple, clean the barrel and you'll be fine.

Getting a replacement outer barrel assembly is quite difficult. I would suggest just using it with the current setup, even the long barrelled AUGs are still quite short rifles. 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

as a general rule the best thing to do for reliability for most airsoft guns is not mess with it.

don't think i've ever seen a failure from a truly stock gun, even the "stock" guns i've seen fail are normally the result of an fps downgrade done very shoddily by a retailer (either a really weak spring or the dreaded cylinder hole)

yes trigger contacts will be an issue, how long depends on what type of battery your running but a higher powered lipo will burn them out faster, lighter powered batteries you could use it for years and only need the occasional scrape to get the carbon off.

i'm not that familiar with aug's (so owners can chime in if i've got this wrong) but you should be dealing with a standard v3 box with wacky trigger externals. the internal contacts for semi will be the ones likely to burn out but *should* be standard components, the externals contacts will be unique although if it is based on the jg then there's probably spares in the wild somewhere.

a mosfet is a possibility, and despite the weird trigger external mosfets (eg the gate nano/warfet etc) can be wired in, although wether you want to do that depends on how happy you are weilding a soldering iron. not sure on internal mosfets but that's a bit beyond what you'd be wanting to look at for the time being anyway.

otherwise a v3 box is a v3 box and will take your standard gearbox internals no fuss.

the hop unit being plastic isn't necessarily bad in and of itself, generally with hop units it's quality and tolerancing trump the given materials.

tbh having said all that what i'd seriously suggest you do is this:

clean the barrel (bit of microfibre on a plastic cleaning rod) and get in the habit of keeping it clean

give it good food

don't take it apart

don't change or add any bits

just play with it as-is

once you've gotten established and grabbed yourself another pew then you can start thinking about tinkering. it's not the best idea to go messing around when you don't have a backup and trust me the walk of shame with a broken pew gets old the tenth time you've done it.

plus once you've played a bit you'll have a better idea as to what direction you want to take your tinkering in depending on how you naturally end up playing.