Ics upgrade question.

[Aliveinlights]

Hi guys,

I am fairly new to this sport but I have done a ton of research on how things work, upgrading, guns etc and I decided to buy two ics guns. I have a sportline ics cxp-160 and an ics APE. Before I ask some qs please don't tell me to google because I have spent aaaaages doing exactly that but my questions are a bit too specific to find any sure answers. Right: Question time!

My cxp at my last game chrono'd at 310 +/-5 so my aim for this gun is to get it firing closer BUT STILL UNDER the 350fps mark due to site limitations for cqb events. I have removed the upper gearbox and familiarised myself with how it all works and I'm assuming a NEW m100 Spring, TBB and upgraded hop rubber, piston (I've read their stock Pistons aren't the best) and bucking will achieve this so my question is what make of these parts should I get? I'm not asking for opinions on different brands I'm asking actual specific parts so I can guarantee I'll get the right part. Eg: people say a guarder piston is good but is it just a case of buying a guarder piston for an m4? Or is there a specific one that will fit? I suppose the only people that can answe these qs are people who have done it or own an ics. I'll post the other q in another thread or this will be a real essay to read haha. Thanks guys

 

[Hibernator]

The old white ICS pistons were pretty terrible, but the new black ones are fine. Sounds like you have newer guns, so I'd say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" piston wise. It won't effect fps anyway - that's down to the spring and airseal with the piston head/o-ring.

If you are going to use a different one, then yes any V2 gearbox piston will do. The only thing to remember is that in airsoft, tolerances can vary. It will be worth checking the AOE because the new piston may be a slightly different length to an ICS one. Shimming it to prevent teeth being worn off is worth doing. I use these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Airsoft-Machined-Piston-Head-AOE-Shims-Pack-of-50-/131386415548

I have swapped out the hop rubbers in my ICS guns. I like Guarder clear ones as a personal preference.

 

[Lozart]

My cxp at my last game chrono'd at 310 +/-5 so my aim for this gun is to get it firing closer BUT STILL UNDER the 350fps mark due to site limitations for cqb events. I have removed the upper gearbox and familiarised myself with how it all works and I'm assuming a NEW m100 Spring, TBB and upgraded hop rubber, piston (I've read their stock Pistons aren't the best) and bucking will achieve this so my question is what make of these parts should I get? I'm not asking for opinions on different brands I'm asking actual specific parts so I can guarantee I'll get the right part. Eg: people say a guarder piston is good but is it just a case of buying a guarder piston for an m4? Or is there a specific one that will fit? I suppose the only people that can answe these qs are people who have done it or own an ics. I'll post the other q in another thread or this will be a real essay to read haha. Thanks guys

OK, first off you are in danger of falling into a trap that many a new player does (I know I did) of thinking that you NEED to be right up at the site limit. You don't. What you NEED is to be accurate and have a reasonable but realistic expectation of range.

If you can't hit the people you're shooting at then maybe your hop isn't set right, maybe you're just too far away. 35FPS really won't make THAT much difference if the inner barrel isn't great or your ammo is crap or let's be honest here - if you just aren't as good as you think you are.

Right - now we've got that out of the way it's worth taking into consideration that if you are changing several things at once any one of them could end up giving you an issue. If you upgrade the spring, fit a TBB, improve the piston/head AND change the hop rubber you could VERY easily find yourself over the site limit (I actually did exactly that with my first gun and ended up firing at 385 FPS) with no idea of which bit tipped you over the edge.

Personally I'd say try a different hop rubber and see if that helps with the range and accuracy and try spending some time setting the gun up with the weight of BBs you're going to use. VERY few guns work well straight out of the box.

Once you've tried the rubber, try the TBB and see where that puts you in terms of FPS. I don't think you need to tear the box apart straight off!

 

[Russe11]

Don't upgrade stuff unless something isn't working. 310fps is a bit lower than average but still reasonable. Indoor sites often limit guns to 328fps, so I would try not to go over that.

Fancy barrels and hop rubber arrangements are generally a hit or miss affair and if you get it right, will make only a slight difference.

Get some .25 or .28 bb's for a bit of extra range and leave internal upgrades until something breaks and you have to replace it anyway.

 

[slick]

I had the opposite problem on my ICS as gun was too hot!. I have CXP160 too.

In any case just for fun I'm trying out different things, hop units, bucking, tight bores/longer barrels , spring rates and flat/g/r hopping. I enjoy tinkering as much as playing!

Careful if you change bits as you be in the position that you have a hot gun and will not be able to use it. So if you choose this route deffo get a chrono.

With chrono and note book I record all my findings. What I did find is that bucking adjustment is key, bad seal, wonky lips cost a load of fps but more importantly accuracy. Deffo check that first, correctly fitted will gain you a load of fps.

 

[ALee91]

I've got the CXP 160 as well, second hand, i had to replace the hop unit entirely and also put in a clear guarder bucking and the FPS had dropped to about 280 from 300. Then got some PTFE tape and literally have just wrapped it around the end of the hop unit where it meets the barrel. I haven't gone the whole hog and tried wrapping the bucking in tape putting it in the hop and then wrapping it some more like is advised in alot of the PTFE tape mods (purely laziness).

My CXP 160 is now shooting a steady 320 FPS at the expense of a new £5 bucking and a £4 roll of PTFE tape. Testing it on a full day skirmish today.

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

First things first what spring is in there now? Find out then step up a grade and see what you get then.

You dont need to change for a tightbore most Ics barrels are about 6.04 so changing to a 6.03 wont do much and a 6.01 is a bad idea.

Change the bucking and seal it at the end with ptfe. Try either a prommy purple or a lonex 50 degree.

Piston depends on colour the white one is a bit soft but the compression is fine. The black is very good its the ported piston head it seals well and will last for ages unless you use it in a silly rof build. Either way leave it alone until it breaks. Then replace it with ICS 8 hole silent piston set.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking you need to to upgrade your gun. Most upgraded guns you find are not much better than stock and a lot are worse. Replace parts as it dies but dont think your gun is magically going to improve.

Lozart is right you dont need 350fps. I can outrange a lot of 450fps dmr's with a gun shooting 320. Its all about the hop the quality of seals and the quality/weight of the bbs you use.

 

[GunmanAirsoft]

310fps (assuming that's on 0.2g BBs) is fine. 350fps is a hard line in the sand not to be exceeded rather than a target to aim for.

I've seen plenty of guns running at 280 fps with decent range and accuracy, try not to get too hung up on hitting 340fps+.

Especially if you play CQB sites, anything over 300fps is a lot more painful than it needs to be.

If you play mostly woodland or open spaces then I can understand why you may want the extra power, I would switch to 0.28 or even 0.3 if you haven't already to see an increase in accuracy.

 

[Aliveinlights]

Hey guys. Thanks to all of you for the replies. I have been flat out with work recently sosorey for the lack of replies. I totally get about everyone saying don't try to hit the 350fps site limit now that it's been said. So to clear up what my aim is, I am going to buy a second gearbox from fire-support that comes as stock with a 120 Spring. I've bought an ics turbo 3000 motor so as far as I've managed to find out (Google) it should be the same setup as a stock metal proline cxp. Apparently the only difference between sportline and proline is a proline has the turbo motor and s 120 Spring. I know this will obv put me over the site limit so I have a 100 Spring and an ics POM piston set (I believe the same stock piston for the proline version as I've read that the clear/white Pistons are best replacing). With this setup I can make sure it's a brand new 100 Spring in the standard gearbox but when I use it for outside events I can swap out for the 120 upper gearbox.

 

[Aliveinlights]

So the only thing that I haven't done that I'm fully aware will increase the groupings, range and accuracy etc is the hip up unit (rubber and bucking etc) so my q is which hop up parts do people recommend for an ics as a direct replacement rather than the whole need to modify to fit route. Basically I would just like to know what items I need to buy, for example if people said a purple guarder and blah blah bucking etc so I can get exactly what I know will fit. Thanks again for all the help guys