Upgrading an Ics Mp5sd5

[Cyclops]

Hello!

 

I've become an airsofter relatively recently and with my vast inexperience and small budget I ended up buying an ICS MP5SD5.

 

Now I have been told by multiple people out on the field and my local airsoft store employees that it is a rather old replica, and while it was good for it's time it has long been surpassed by modern replicas.

 

However I also got some feedback that upgrading it is relatively easy and it can make the replica quite effective on the field.

 

So, I have come here to ask how should I upgrade it, mainly what type of components I should buy. Bear in mind my replica is completely unmodded, and I have near to none experience in this field, I only do regular maintenance to clean it and service it in between games.

 

I am primarily looking for a smoother more responsive trigger (maybe due to it's use it has become slightly shaky and inconsistent), higher rpm, slight increase in fps and anything that might reinforce it's internal components or make it more resilient to wear and tear, especially that firing mode selector.

 

Thank you in advance!

Cyclops.

[Skara]

It may be old, but it's good.

 

What we really need is pictures of the gearbox, preferably open

If that mp5 is your only gun, I'd honestly just hand it to a tech.

 

Anyway, depending on the internals conditions you may just want to clean it up and reapply some lube here and there.

I'd also get a mosfet (no need for those fancy £130+ ones, a GATE Warfet gives plenty of options for customization and doesn't require any sticker in your gearbox), it'll improve the trigger response by miles, other than protecting the trigger contacts from arcing if you use high voltage batteries.

 

New hop rubber maybe? The ICS I had was kinda meh, it gave good seal but couldn't really lift anything past .25s

 

FPS depends on what you're getting atm, if you're clocking at 330 there's no need to push for 350 as the range/consistency difference is negligible.

Higher RPM, if you have the turbo3000 motor, chuck it away as hard as possible and put something better in it (idk, a Lonex A1/A2)

[Adolf Hamster]

basically all aeg's are functionally a 20+year old design, doesn't make them bad, and from what i've seen of the guts of the new fancy re-designs with rumble packs and proprietory parts i'd rather stick with the tried and proven systems.

 

there's a bunch of options, although as skara suggests if it's your only gun then you should strongly consider sending to a reputable tech rather than have a go yourself. have a look here to familiarise yourself with the clockwork nightmare that is the guts of an airsoft gun:

 

afaik ics stock internals are meant to be pretty good, probably just a clean up and sort the air seal job. skara is on the money that a gate warfet would give a nice boost in trigger response, although installation does require soldering.

 

are you playing indoors or outdoors? that'll affect what you want to be focusing on

[Rogerborg]

6 hours ago, Cyclops said:

However I also got some feedback that upgrading it is relatively easy and it can make the replica quite effective on the field.

 

Is it ineffective now?

 

 

6 hours ago, Cyclops said:

I am primarily looking for a smoother more responsive trigger (maybe due to it's use it has become slightly shaky and inconsistent),

 

Can you clarify exactly what you mean by that?

 

Are there side-to-side flex?  Excessive slack before you get any tension on it?  Does it not fire consistently when you pull it?

 

 

 

6 hours ago, Cyclops said:

higher rpm

 

Well, there's a can of worms.  If you just want a bit more than stock, I'd go with a motor like this: https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/internal-parts/motors-parts/gp-16tpa-motor-long running on a 7.4V lipo.

 

But many, many other options and opinions are available.  You can go with a high speed motor, you can change the gears, but as above, once you open the gearbox, you can find yourself with no working gun pretty quickly.

 

 

6 hours ago, Cyclops said:

slight increase in fps

 

Without opening the gearbox, you can fit a tighter bore barrel which might (hop rubber and air seal allowing) give you a boost.  ZCI offer good value for money, although the range is limited just now because of shipping issues.  Fortunately, AK2M4 has just got some back in stock, https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/internal-parts/inner-barrels?manufacturer_filter=15 and I believe (but check yourself!) that your stock barrel is 229mm.  Now, you can go longer as you have a suppressor, but you won't necessarily get any more power or accuracy from it.  Really, no joke, barrel length just isn't that important in airsoft. Anything over 200mm is good for getting 350fps - I just got 374fps from a 229mm ZCI barrel, an M100 spring and a good air seal, and had to go down to an M90 spring to get it down to 340fps.

 

I fit 50 or 60 degree Maple Leaf hop rubbers, but cheaper ones work as well.

 

 

6 hours ago, Cyclops said:

and anything that might reinforce it's internal components or make it more resilient to wear and tear

 

The best thing you can do for reliability is to not open the gearbox.

 

If you do, I'd radius the front of the gearbox.  You can also fit a sorbo pad, although I don't bother.  Both are shown here:

 

 

 

Once you're in there, you'll want to check the piston air seal and lube and/or stretch and/or replace the piston o-ring: YouTube and Google will help with that.

 

You can also wire it for a mosfet while you're in there, which is a whole topic to itself.

 

The only real reasons to go in there for maintenance purposes though are: check and improve the air seal if your fps is way down and you can't sort it from outside the gearbox; or if you suspect that your trigger contacts are badly worn and need replaced.

 

Really though: if it ain't broke, don't fix it, or at least not until you have a working backup gun.

 

 

6 hours ago, Cyclops said:

especially that firing mode selector.

 

What I did on my MP5K was to fit a very small rubber o-ring onto the fire selector, to pull the other side tight against the casing and engage it in the detents.  I'm not sure what size, maybe 3mm ID x 1mm, I just pulled it from a box of assorted o-rings.

 

 

 

The other thing that MP5s suffer from is sloppy hop units.  I'm not sure if yours is set with rotating lever on top of it, or a foward-and-backwards slide.  Either way, they're prone to moving:

 

 

If you have a lever with that issue, I'd shim it out to make it a tight interference fit, or (quite seriously) get it set then tape it in place.

 

If you have a slide-style adjuster, put a ruber O-ring around both it and the barrel, or cable tie it to the barrel, in order to hold it in place.

 

And I'll say it again for luck: motor, barrel, hop rubber first.  I would not open the gearbox until you have a backup gun ready.

 

 

 

 

[Rogerborg]

On 23/07/2020 at 10:57, Rogerborg said:

What I did on my MP5K was to fit a very small rubber o-ring onto the fire selector, to pull the other side tight against the casing and engage it in the detents.  I'm not sure what size, maybe 3mm ID x 1mm, I just pulled it from a box of assorted o-rings.

 

 

BUMP for completeness, I've since replaced this with about 1 1/8th turn of a coil spring on the RHS.  I think it was from the inside of a suppressor rather than an AEG spring.  This does a much better job of pulling the LHS selector tight against the receiver and keeping the nub engaged in the detents.  You could use a piece of wire or perhaps a washer or a larger rubber o-ring than shown above, the full diameter of the circular part of the selector.