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

[Shaady]

Thank you again!

[Shaady]

Is one complet sear reinforced exist for our bolt?

[Airsoft-Ed]

There isn't a complete set, as far as I know, but the VSR 1st and 2nd sears do fit.

[Fiddich]

Are you sure about that first sear??????

[Shaady]

Are you sure the first sear fit?

http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/pdi-reinforced-1st-sear-for-marui-vsr-10-1.html

She seems not be the same no?

[Airsoft-Ed]

Sorry, all this sear stuff gets me confused.

 

The piston sear and the spring guide stopper both fit, the 1st sear doesn't.

 

If you scroll through all the comments then most of these questions have been answered with photos or links attached as clarifiers. This is my first ever spring rifle, so you can't expect me to get everything 100% correct. Take everything with a pinch of salt, back track for clarification and ask if you can't find anything and I'll do my best.

 

Mine is still shelved at the moment, until a full set of internals have been made by PDI or Laylax, or even ASPUK, I'm not going to bother touching it.

[Fiddich]

Not quite a full set, but it's a damn fine set....http://www.x-fire.org/ares/aw338/cylinderset_hd/cylinderset_hd.html

[Airsoft-Ed]

Ah, very promising stuff.

I'd be happy buying that and then working with the hop and barrel to get it shooting nicely. Only worry now is the trigger parts.

 

Nice find, I hope it gets sold more widely soon, I want to be able to read the info about it and understand the checkout before trying and failing to pay for it lol.

[M_P]

Even if it is Ed, I imagine it'll take some finding as no one stocks PDI in large quantities, will most likely just end up on ehobby and possibly red wolf hk.

[Fiddich]

I emailed x-fire yesterday. They told me the new aw338 cylinder set will be listed on their English site by the end of the week. I bought the raven set from x-fire and it arrived to me in Canada in about 2 weeks. We have shite postal service here. Otherwise the transaction went as smooth as any other online retailer. I'll be picking one of these sets up this week when it's listed on their site.

[Airsoft-Ed]

Can you link it again once it's on the English site?

 

If the price isn't too bad I think I'll pick one up too.

[Liam Porter]

I've ordered from X-Fire before, took 9 days from ordering to having the products at my door.

 

The payment/order process isn't too bad, you place the order on the site, then they email you back with confirmation of the order, a shipping quote and total cost.

You then send them the money via PayPal, quoting your order number and paying in Yen.

They then email back with confirmation and when they ship it.

 

The price of that is 15434 Yen, which is about £105 + delivery, + VAT, + whatever else customs decides to add onto it.

[Airsoft-Ed]

As a more practiced user of snipers, do you reckon that's worth it?

[Liam Porter]

It depends on how good the air seals are in the ARES stock parts, and how strong the cylinder, cylinder head and piston are.

 

If the air seals are good, then they can probably be further improved with PTFE tape. If the cylinder, cylinder head and piston can all withstand ~500 FPS, and the bolt pull is smooth and relatively easy, and the piston moves easily inside the cylinder. Then it's probably not worth dumping £120+ into those parts just yet.

 

The price for them isn't too bad though, I spent about £220 on Laylax cylinder, cylinder head, piston, piston head, spring, spring guide.

 

What FPS is it shooting at currently, and with what consistency (too much effort to check back in this thread to find out)?

Also, what parts have you changed so far in the gun, if any?

[Airsoft-Ed]

I've put ASPUK parts in the cylinder so far - piston and spring guide - seal seems alright. I've got two springs that run around the 400fps mark and it seems pretty consistent.

 

Bolt pull isn't too bad, but pushing it forward is a pain in the arse, you end up pushing it down and away from you, it pivots on your forward hand and the strain it puts in your arm is ridiculous. With it being so massive and heavy, it can be hard to handle without bracing it against something. So an easier bolt push would be nice to have. Though probably not worth paying that much for...

In fairness, the stock cylinder probably would stand up to a fair amount of abuse with a 500 fps set up, but I think I'd rather upgrade everything anyway eventually, so I might as well start somewhere.

 

It's a shame the X-Fire set isn't black, 'cos I fucking hate having a massive shiny silver bolt...

[Liam Porter]

That's what I did first, ASPUK parts (cylinder etc. and hop unit) and a MadBull barrel. Then when I got the money, I upgraded everything to LayLax/PDI parts.

 

The bolt pull on mine with the stock cylinder (shooting 440 FPS) was really easy, as was pushing it forward.

With the ASPUK cylinder (500 FPS), it's the same pulling it back but harder pushing it forward, for the reasons you said.

And with the LayLax cylinder (at 500 FPS and at 600 FPS), it's just as easy to pull back and just as easy as stock parts to push forward. The cylinder is Teflon coated, which may be why, but it cost about £110 for just the cylinder.

 

If the stock will withstand 500 FPS, what about the trigger/sears you've got in it at the moment, will they withstand that too?

 

The Laylax cylinder I have is a nice matte black, which is one of the reasons I chose it

[Airsoft-Ed]

The 2nd sear is VSR compatible, the spring guide stopper is VSR compatible too, but the 1st sear - the thing that the others sort of sit in at 90° is unique. Tried an ASPUK VSR one and the back end of it is different.

Seems alright though, I can't see how it can really be under that much strain. Do they often break? =/

The stock 2nd/piston sear doesn't even have a mark on it yet either, spring guide stopper is the only thing that looks like its seen better days. The cylinder cuts into it each time you cock the rifle, so I've got a replacement by PDI, but it's slightly fatter and the gun won't close once it's fitted because the groove that sticks out the side for you to grab it, sticks out too far and catches on the body as you close it up, stopping you being able to close it properly.

The trigger box is metal though, and it seems well enough, though ideally, I want to keep all the parts alive as long as possible, since spares are limited. No after market trigger boxes fit and I can't find anywhere that sells the one it comes with, so yeah. Bit limited.

[Liam Porter]

I don't have much of an idea on sears either. When I first upgraded, I got a complete metal trigger box from Airsoft World, and then when I got PDI/LayLax parts, I got a LayLax Zero trigger.

 

You could upgrade the FPS without putting a stronger spring in. Increase the air seals and use a different hop style.

Put PTFE tape around the cylinder head threads, a couple of layers around, also put PTFE tape around where the hop unit and barrel meet, I used a lot of layers here. Another idea, which I haven't tried, but is to increase airseal between the barrel and the hop rubber, tie some cotton/thread around the hop rubber (after the cuttings on the barrel) quite tightly.

 

Also, what barrel, hop rubber and nub do you have currently?

[Airsoft-Ed]

It's all standard at the moment, so nothing to write home about.

L96 cut barrel, VSR style black bucking and a VSR style plastic hop arm, which I've added a biro ink tube nub to, since it's just two prongs otherwise.

Still can't lift anything higher than .30s though.

 

Got some .43s and the hop has to be applied to the point where the barrel jams before the BBs fly straight.

[Liam Porter]

You could increase FPS by just upgrading barrel and hop unit.

 

I have a PDI 6.05mm diameter barrel and get a massive FPS increase when using that over using my MadBull 6.03mm barrel.

 

Also, for the hop issue, install an R-Hop. I've got one in mine, running quite nicely now, lifts .36s with the hop as far off as it can go, and lifts .40s with literally an eighth of a turn of the hop adjust screw. An R-Hop will also increase your FPS as it doesn't protrude into the barrel so won't slow down the BB.

 

So, with a new barrel, doing all the air seals and installing an R-Hop, you'll increase FPS and consistency, and be able to lift heavier BBs easier.

[Airsoft-Ed]

Yeah, R hop is definitely on the "to-buy" list. Which one do you have? Linkies?

[Liam Porter]

I got it from Airlab, here: http://www.air-lab.co.uk/products/z-kit.html

And used this to help install: http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com/36-rifles-parts-reviews/5079-r-hop-airsoft-my-unforgiving-truth-first-install-testing.html

Also, this thread and links may be helpful: http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com/32-general-sniper-talk/6422-r-hop-database.html

 

 

Also, I've just noticed in your signature, your longest BF3 headshot is better than mine. I had better get killing again.

[Airsoft-Ed]

I found an amazingly good video about installation the other day, I think it's a little easier to follow than forum posts, take a look:

 

Also, I think I might get two sets and install one in my L85, with any luck it ought to solve my issues with the hop arm spring being shit.

[Liam Porter]

The ones from Airlab are blue, rather than black, and you don't get the installation aid things with it.

 

Also, you get three patches, all slightly differently cut. They're the same length, but they're for different barrels, with wider outer diameter, or slightly wider (not longer) hop windows.

[Fiddich]

Omfg.....seriously....http://www.tntsniperproshop.com/product.detail_909472_en_5096423