Comprehensive Ares AW .338 spring version (MSR-006/7/8) review.

[Shaady]

Hi guys,

I'm french and I try to speak english. Only try. I've bought this rifle too because all forums say that it's really great. I have no mag problem, I don't put any upgrade yet but I think I've a hop up problem. I've increased the hop up to the max and my BB go down really quickly. (nerly 40m/132foot with hop up max!). Is it normal? What upgrades can i do to have a great sniper? I was thinking to put a 6.01 barrel PDI and the Ares cylinder/piston/spring upgrade kit. Good idea? And what else?

Thanks for answer !

 

[Shaady]

I'm sorry I forgot something, I want to be 500/550 fps, but i'm afraid to burst my sear... Do you have idea?

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

If you can find the Ares upgrade kits, then feel free to try one, I can't find any in stock anywhere in the UK. I'd quite like to give the CO2 conversion kit a go as well.

I was going to get a PDI barrel for it just the other day, but the shop were out of stock =[

As for the hop, with mine I have to have the screw so loose it's almost falling out, otherwise it over hops everything - I put a hop up nub from an AEG in the hop unit to give it better lift. It seems to have had the desired effect, and then some lol.

Your English is very good by the way.

And regarding the sears, I'm still struggling to find anything that I know will fit. The trigger sear from a VSR will fit, but the one it comes with seems pretty decent as well.

The part I'm worried about breaking the most is the spring guide stopper. The piece you can pull out of the trigger mech to get the bolt out without taking the trigger mechanism off. But I'm not sure if any other ones fit.

 

[Shaady]

Thanks for my english but don't hesitate to correct me!

Thanks for your answer and grant me a few of your time.

I'm sorry but I haven't understand all your "hop up" part. Your hop up work well, why my is bad? Can I do something?

For the Barrel PDI you can find it on X-fire if you want, and the ares upgrade kit is on the Ares website. I have send an email to the support and they say that I can buy the kit for about 80 euro and it's look really good quality. So I will when my money will be ok..

I've already open my rifle but I don't reconized what is the spring guide stopper. But with 500 fps you say it will break, do you know if we can consolidate it? Or change it?

Thanks again for your help, I felt so alone before!

 

[Shaady]

What the hop up nub?

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

Inside my hop, I've added hop up nub from an AEG - the little rubber piece that pushes down on the rubber.

One of these: http://www.airsoftgi.com/images/pic-034-bb-hop-up-rubber.jpg - the little black piece.

I have to unscrew the hop adjuster screw until it's almost completely out of the gun to avoid shots flying high all the time, so it works well. Though I've only tried it with .3g bbs and I'm only shooting a little over 400fps. If you use heavier BBs, or run the gun at a higher fps, it might work differently.

The piece I'm worried about is the spring guide stopper, one of these: http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/4913/guide2nn0.jpg the red piece, it looks like this when it's out of the gun: http://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/controlpanel/shoppics/DK-PT-SGS.JPG

I would buy the one in the last link, but I'm not sure whether it will fit or not. I'll have to take the gun apart again and get some proper photos of it to compare them. Though it is meant for a VSR, and since the trigger sears fit, I imagine that piece will too.

 

[Shaady]

Okay, thanks!

So I will try to traffic my hop up. If I've understand, the hop up nub serves to put down the rubber. So y can try to put something which do that in my hop up. I use 0,36BB I find they are really good. I hope it will work. I was just shocked because I have read the original hop up is really good and mine don't work well..

For the spring guide stopper, I think both match. If you buy it, i will be interessed to know if it works. On the third link, it seems really good quality.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

You're right about what the hop up nub does ^_^

Though "traffic" isn't a word that fits the sentence if you use the common definition. I can understand how you could have got traffic if you're using a translator though, as it can be a business term meaning to trade with, or swap. Swapping your hop up does make sense.

Otherwise, it all makes sense, well done, I wish I could write French as well as you write English, it makes me feel quite ignorant at times.

Anyway though, I'm thinking of buying the PDI version of the spring guide stopper from the last link, it's basically the same except £6 less lol. I just need to understand more about springs first. I want to buy as many things at once, from the same place, as possible, to save money on postage.

 

[Shaady]

Oh sorry for this mistake! And me I wish speak english like you! English work everywhere and French only in.. French.

I use translator for words I don't know and It doesn't work all times x). So I will try to swapping my hop up !

Ok, I will keep you informed of my swapping, and you keep me informed to your !

 

[Chris j]

I finally got around to try to fix the slam firing on this gun, I purchased the shs vsr sear, the curly one( never remember the correct name, trigger sear I think) it fits fine and for a short while, well half a game had no probs. however now slam firing again. Looking at the piston sear it is very well worn and can't find anything that looks the same. As for upgrade kit, you can purchase direct from ares, I did and not a bad price. Also if you contact them with the part number they will send you the replacement parts as well. But not free of charge :-( but still you can at least replace the parts that have gone. I had asked if they will be doing reinforced sears, but was told not at the moment. Shame really as the sears are crappy pot metal and as such in having to speak to done milling people to see if they can make them. This is one expensive rifle that at the original price should have had a decent trigger box.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

How long was it before your's started slam firing? Mine's been close a few times, the bolt hasn't locked back properly, but an extra tug put it right.

The steel PDI spring guide stopper that I ordered does fit into the trigger mech with a bit of hammering, but the gun doesn't fit around it once it's in, because the lip that stick out for you to pull it out is too big and catches on the inside of the body.

Going to get the saws out on it next time I've got them handy. My trigger sear, the one that actually holds the piston, is still completely fine, there's wear on it but I'm fairly confident it's not going to fail all that soon.

Being able to order direct from Ares is reassuring.

In other news, my hop unit can't lift .43s, I have to dial it on so much that it blocks the barrel.

Solutions?

 

[Chris j]

Mine started slam firing after 2 games, I purchased the upgrade kit and a 170 spring from ares. I new the standard sears would not last for ever but I hoped would last more than 2 games. Mine is fine pulling back it slams when I push forward. My spring guide stopper looks ok but has some serious chunks removed from the side of it from rubbing so will need to replace along with the trigger sear, is it. The one at the back that realises the piston, has a lot of ware to. As for your hop up prob try installing a rhop. I was shooting .4g bb out to about 100mtr. I would always recommend this for any sniper.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I still don't even understand what R-Hop is, I've heard the term thrown around but the name seems to bare no relation to the actual thing. It's not like when you hear people say "H-nub" and stuff, that makes sense...

 

[Liam Porter]

R-Hop is basically a rubber patch that sits perfectly in your hop window on the barrel, and then the hop bucking goes over it, as normal but with the little 'nub' on the inside of it removed. Then rather than using a traditional nub, you use a soft one that is flat and covers the entire length of the R-Hop patch/hop window, so even pressure is applied across the whole R-Hop.

The idea behind it is to provide longer and more stable contact with the BB, meaning it has more stable flight.

Because of the extended contact, the BB has more backspin and therefore the hop doesn't have to be on as much to lift heavier BBs.

There is also an ER-Hop, which is the same as the R-Hop, but with a lengthened hop window on the barrel and a lengthened hop unit, so they will have to be custom cut to use this.

 

[M_P]

and he IR which works in colder conditions

 

[Liam Porter]

Taken a few pictures now I'm home to show how it goes, this is in my M16, but it's the same for pretty much any gun;

R-Hop patch on its own:

http://i.imgur.com/MR1tSwN.jpg

Hop rubber with the inside 'nub' removed:

http://i.imgur.com/DpI53MA.jpg

And the R-Hop patch over the hop window on the barrel:

http://i.imgur.com/dgeZSAB.jpg

Then you just put the hop rubber on as normal, and use a flat, wider and longer nub rather than the regular rounded ones.

I got the R-Hop patches from AirLab, here; http://www.air-lab.co.uk/products/hop-up/z-kit.html

You get three slightly different ones, with different outer and inner diameters, for different barrel fittings in different guns, but with careful filing using really fine sandpaper, you can get any patch to fit pretty much any gun quite easily, so if you get them and intend on only putting in one gun, then use the one that is second best fit first, as I messed up the best fitting one first try.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

What are they made of? I don't see how the same couldn't be achieved by just using a particular nub with a specific shape or something. £12 seems pretty mental for some minuscule slivers of rubber. You'd have thought they'd at least provide the buckings with the nub parts pre-removed or something too.

 

[Fiddich]

So got the flash hider off...its not threaded at all. Its just a sleeve. Hopefully PDI will come out with one sooner rather than later.

 

[ScotlandSniperCB]

Hi Airsoft-Ed,

Firstly, thank you for your review on this rifle!

Like yourself, i love the looks of this rifle and bought it at an impluse without considering the upgrade and internal implications!

Taking this into account, i still want to proceed with some upgrades! I have spoke to people on other forums and some stores and from what i gather the rifle has some possible upgrades but maybe you could confirm if its worth putting this stuff into the rifle?

- PDI Barrel (Specifically for the Ares .338) However i am unceratin if i wish to get the 6.01mm or 6.05mm barrel?

- Raven Cylinder Set for Ares .338 (According to someone else i spoke to "You can use any normal piston and spring guide once you have the Raven cylinder"

- Would it be worth putting the VSR Metal piston in this?

What else would you put in this rifle?

One other thing, could you confirm if the barrel that was standard to this rifle is 6.03mm?

Thanks

Cb

P.S, i see your hoping to get a suppressor for yours, check this out.. http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com/44-others/6625-ares-338-255-mm-234-mm-suppressor.html

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

The barrel is an standard L96 cut, so there's no need to get the PDI 6.05 Ares specific one. I was going to get the 6.01 version but it was out of stock.

I've no idea what the stock barrel diameter is, I have a VSR compatible piston and spring guide fitted from ASPUK and the accuracy did go up as a result. No other changes though.

The Raven cylinder set is intended for 350fps set ups, which is a useless fps to have a sniper set to, so I'd give that a miss. Though bar the spring and related internal parts, the cylinder and cylinder head are probably better quality than the stock ones. I just don't think it's worth the price just for those components.

I'm planning on replacing everything, barrel, hop, cylinder head, cylinder, spring, piston, spring guide, trigger components/whole trigger. All to the highest spec possible.

At the minute it's looking like getting the actual Ares parts might be the best way forward though. I just can't find anywhere in the universe that sells them.