TM AK102 EBB - what internals should be upgraded?

[Spitfire_SVK]

Hello all and thank you for having me here. 

My girlfriend decided to surprise me with early Christmas present - Tokyo Marui AK102 Electric blowback. I had a chance to play few games with it and while the performance out of the box is decent I got used to my RPK shooting accurately to 60 meters where this rifle does like 40/45 meters. I'm fairly new in Airsoft so I haven't done any upgrades therefor I'm here to ask for advice. 

I've spoke to tech telling him I would like to squeeze 60 metres from the gun and he said he can do even bit better and told me that pretty much everything needs to be changed - Main gear in gearbox, spring, hop up unit and hop up rubber, barrel, piston, motor. When I spoke to friends they have all agreed that I should not need to replace all of these parts. At this moment I'm thinking I'll try to do this upgrade myself - I have successfully disassembled the whole rifle and re-assembled it back so I'm confident in this part. Where I'm not confident is choosing the correct parts for this gun and deciding what needs to be upgraded. 

If I may ask kindly should all of these parts be replaced/upgraded or only the fraction of those parts? If so could you recommend any upgrades/brands for this gun? 

I'm looking for a faster BBs with better range (60metres) while not decreasing life of the other internals dramatically. Also I'm not looking for a monster of a gun. The tech quoted me around £350 for whole upgrade and I'm wondering if we can cut this at least to half of the quoted cost. 

Would be thankful for any advice

Many Thanks!

 

[Sniper780]

With regards to internal modification, I cannot personally say as I have never worked on TM ebb AK'S

However if you've only play a few games and only put a few hundred to a thousand rounds through it, you may want to consider holding off on internal mods, and give the AK a chance to break in.

All brand new AK's I have had, have a break in period where intial performance is OK but after a few thousand rounds in my experience there was a noticeable improvement. 

Just one thing to consider, as it may save you time and money, but it your kit and money so it down to you.

 

[Spitfire_SVK]

With regards to internal modification, I cannot personally say as I have never worked on TM ebb AK'S

However if you've only play a few games and only put a few hundred to a thousand rounds through it, you may want to consider holding off on internal mods, and give the AK a chance to break in.

All brand new AK's I have had, have a break in period where intial performance is OK but after a few thousand rounds in my experience there was a noticeable improvement. 

Just one thing to consider, as it may save you time and money, but it your kit and money so it down to you.

I'm currently set on upgrading it. I would say I have put around 1500/2000bbs through it. Other people running TM AKs I spoke to had all their guns upgraded. They said that at least hop rubber needs replacing to have better range, but I would also like to have BBs flying bit faster. 

 

[Sniper780]

I'm currently set on upgrading it. I would say I have put around 1500/2000bbs through it. Other people running TM AKs I spoke to had all their guns upgraded. They said that at least hop rubber needs replacing to have better range, but I would also like to have BBs flying bit faster. 

I see, 1500-2000bbs it not a small amount but then again determining the brake in period for Airsoft replica's is not an exact science.

Personally I would say it needs more bbs through it, I can't give an definite number as I have never counted but 4000+ maybe more depends on the manufacturer. 

But as you said you're committing to internal mods then hopefully other forum members may be of more help then I. 

Good luck with your build.

 

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

Bed it in and then think about new mainspring and hop rubber.   If you can't wait to work on it ,do the rubber straight away.   

TMs are a quality piece of kit.   Not sure they need £350 of upgrades out of the box! 

 

[BigStew]

Have you spent time on the range to set the hop and actually check the range? If not do that. Then leave it alone until the hop rubber wears out and just change it. TMs are designed to do what they do very well and consistently. You are going to spend a lot of money to get your extra distance and will most likely loose the reliability of the gun. You may never sell the gun but unmodified TMs hold their value upgraded TMs don't.

 

[Asomodai]

Upgrade to a new tightbore barrel first and see if that improves things enough for you. It's inexpensive to do and you don't have to muck around with the gearbox. Should give you a little FPS boost whilst you're at it. 

 

[Spitfire_SVK]

Thank you guys, it looks like the general advice is to replace only barrel and hop and leave the gearbox as it is and do not touch it! 

I will think about it bit more to see if I'll even upgrade anything on it and if yes it would be only the barrel and hop. Will look for a different AK as my project gun!