M4 Hi-cap Question about winding

[Baz JJ]

How often do these need to be wound ?

If you wind them up when you load the magazine with BBs, should it be necessary to wind again until the mag is empty and reloaded again ?

 

[Mike636]

Yes because the bbs sit in a reservoir and when you wind it, it picks up bbs and holds them in a tube which when you fire the spring unwinds and feeds bbs up into the chamber, but these tubes only hold about 50 bbs so about a quarter of the capacity of a hi cap.

 

[Baz JJ]

so is it good practise to periodically wind the mag once you have discharged the weapon a little ?

in a 450 bb mag, I guess you are saying it needs winding to the click eight times or so per full mag ?

 

[Mike636]

Yeah just give it a wind after you've fired, most hi caps will emit a little click once its fully wound. Yeah about that, or 10 times if you only fire a couple of bursts

 

[M_P]

Wind it whenever you arent shooting bascoally.

 

[Ian_Gere]

When i use hicaps I like to keep them fully wound, so that if I get into something where I can't wind easily, like shooting back at 2-3 people in different positions who will overrun me if i don't keep their heads down, I've got as many BB's ready to rock as poss. It only takes a couple of winds after every 5 or so lazy shots...

You should always remember to empty the mag BB tube by pushing that little tab next to the feed hole back with a finger nail / screwdriver as soon as you're day's skirmishing is finished, to relax the spring. Leaving them wound for extended periods of time wears the spring out much faster. If you haven't got a better plan, just aim it into your bag so you don't lose the BB's when they pop out...

 

[Richard65]

If you don't like winding the mags then you can use the flash mags which will fire a full mag of bbs.

 

[Baz JJ]

Do you only have to pull the cord down repeatedly when you first load the mag ? it doesn't need any more pulls until the mag is empty?

How is the reliability of flash mags compared to the winding thumbwheel hi cap type ?

 

[TacMaster]

All I know about flashmags is that the BBs come out of the top when you pull the cord, making you look like a douche

 

[sp00n]

To be honest there have been times when I have fully wound the mag, then not wound it again till it was empty, then there have been other times when I may give it another quick wind every time I am not in contact. (All 8 off my m4 high caps are 450rd ones, only 2 are g&g)

On a new or well looked after mag you should be fine, just topping up the wind every now and then

 

[toanjuice]

I wouldnt be doing my part for the community if I didnt try to convince you to switch to mid caps. Its the way forward. But to answer your question, they pretty much needed to be wounded after a 3 to 4 second burst on full auto. Make sure you hold it upright when winding to get a better feed

 

[Baz JJ]

Whats the argument for mid caps ?

 

[Curly68]

Mid caps for me all the way. The only time I have used Hi Caps is when I used the hire guns before I got my UKARA. Soon ditched them, no more winding or pulling for me just point and fire. Mind you, I don't actually fill the mid caps all the way either and don't do skirmishes. Just FilmSim's which I love playing.

 

[Richard65]

Do you only have to pull the cord down repeatedly when you first load the mag ? it doesn't need any more pulls until the mag is empty?

How is the reliability of flash mags compared to the winding thumbwheel hi cap type ?

You give the cord 3/4 pulls and then it lasts until the mag is emptied. Only reason we switched was because we eree getting holes in the fingers of the glove from winding.

Can't really say about reliability as only skirmished a few times with the flash mags. No problems so far but will comment again in a few months.

With regard to your other post about mid-caps there are a coulple of points. first, they do not need winding and the bbs do not rattle around in them the way they can in a part fiull high cap.

You then have the reality scenario. I believe that a soldier in the field carries 10 mags each holding 30 bullets (300 rounds). Some players will therefore carry 10 low caps whilst others will go for mid caps on the basis that a real gun has greater range and accuracy than an airsoft gun and the extra rounds compensate for that. There does not seem to be a standard definition of low cap and mid cap but i would say that 80 bbs or less would be low cap and then mid caps go up to around 150.

 

[NickM]

As far as I understood low, mid and high caps, Low were basically the same number of rounds as the real steel, so a standard M4 mag would hold 30 rounds ( I might go as high as 80 I guess, there is a real steel M4 mag that holds 90 5.56), mid caps are pretty much anything over 80 rounds that you don't have to wind up during play or before, and a high cap is anything that you wind. anything from 250 to 900 rounds, ( not including drum or box mags which are a whole other ballgame).

Midcaps, offer more realism- switching mags when you are in the poo is always fun, and you don't rattle, mmmm High cap Tactical Maraca! Downside, you have to carry them, have something to carry them in/on and reloading them between skirmishes can be a fiddle.

Personally I normally play 3 190rnd MAG midcaps, 1 100rnd MAG plastic midcap and 1 450rnd high cap for those Oh Sh!t moments. Although in the heat this weekend I went down to 2 high caps to save on weight and so I could ditch the plate carrier.

 

[Tariq]

Midcaps and lowcaps also make you conserve ammo better.

I go through about 1000+ bbs when im using my G36, 2000+ when using hicaps, and a hell of a lot more when using my drum magazine (just because i can).

My 416 however (Low caps only) i use about 400 in a days skirmishing.

Although the 416 is much more accurate and outranges my G36, you get the point. Less ammo forces you to make sure your shots hit, rather than what i tend to do with more ammo is just hose people down.