learning internals

[adamasrc]

alright guys,

always wanted to learn about the internals of airsoft guns, mainly because it will help me majorly if i need to do any repairs, and also so that i can save money on labour costs etc.

just bought a vfc es recon m4 which cost me about £300 and dont exactly want to go opening it up.

How did you guys learn? should i open it up or maybe buy a really cheap m4 that i can play with?

thanks

 

[Moose87]

i would say dont open it till you have to. if you need help theres loads of youtube vids depending on your gearbox

 

[M_P]

Either wait till it needs opening, buy a cheap guns and disassemble, buy a broken gun on the cheap or even buy a gearbox shell and build one from the ground up.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

Buy an ICS M4 second hand, then you can dismantle the gear section and the cylinder section separately without having to worry about everything exploding everywhere and getting long.

Then just imagine both parts being attached to each other when you come to trying it with anything else.

I imagine Sportsline ICS M4s go for pretty cheap second hand. You could even buy a broken one and try to fix it using guides and stuff.

Just buy anything for next to nothing, rip it open and use it as an experimental project gun.

 

[adamasrc]

like both ideas, thanks

 

[remus]

i bought a cheap second hand, qute rought around the edges to fix at to help me learn what i can do. oly just started in side the gear box and having difficultys getting things to stay in place whilst i put the shell back together so yea really reccomend going that route over wrecking your expensive gun unnessiarily....

 

[Ian_Gere]

Here's a tip which I wish somebody had drilled into me:

"use a bent paperclip to hook the anti-reversal latch to allow the gears to spin backwards, releasing any spring tension, before you unscrew the two halves of the gearbox shell"​

​

Hopefully this comically massive pic will make it stick in your mind. It will save you losing gear teeth, if you remember to do it, and also goes a long way towards preventing everything from pinging out all over the place when you do open the shell. Another good tip is to use a thin screwdriver to push between the gearbox halves into the spring guide so you can hold the spring in place when you open the shell. That way nothing pings out.

You can use the bent paperclip to help you get the gear axles in place as you close the shell back up too. A tool shaped like this will help hold things in place between the shell halves also:

This one is made from the bit of steel from replacement windscreen wiper blades, but anything springy and thin will do.