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[Guest Raven13]

Yes, I'm a noob. I now have 4 airsoft guns. A KWA Eve 9. A Lancer Tactical LT-35 Battle X PDW. A Raven Glock 19 and a Raven Hi Capa 5.1. Since I have no technical knowledge of airsoft guns, I'm using them straight out of the box with no adjustments aside from accessories. Just wondering if there is somewhere in or near London that I can send my guns to for adjustments and customisation?

[Rogerborg]

Ahoy.  I wouldn't spend a penny on the Ravens, unless you're using them as CQB primaries.  But then, I wouldn't use a Raven as as CQB primary.

 

What sort of "adjustments and customisation" are we talking here?  Because if you send off a gun to a typical tech with a remit of "Make it betterer!" then it's a toss up whether you'll even get anything functional back.

 

It's important to be clear about what they're not doing now, that you want them to do, or to do better.  Semi-auto trigger response or trigger pull; rate of fire; burst fire.  More power (or less), and better consistency (note that I don't say "range" or "accuracy" there, since those aren't necessarily the same thing).  The ability to hop heavier BBs.  Rewiring, or a shim and re-grease.

 

Your KWA and Lancer are both reasonable spec to begin with, but aren't particularly common (and the KWA has a "V2.5" gearbox which might be a head-scratcher for techs), so I wouldn't send them to any rando.

 

The only person I'd actually trust with anything decent is Luke at Negative Airsoft, or maybe Kingdom of Airsoft.  Luke in particular can also do cosmetic customisation.

[Tackle]

How do they perform, do they:

1.shoot straight

2. & have a reasonable fps, by reasonable fps I would say 250+ for the pistols & 285+ for the rifles. 

If points 1 & 2 are achieved, then leave them alone internally, they're not broke so you can't fix them so to speak, & attempts to usually go one of two ways, the manufacturer balance is upset & they end up worse, or alternatively you chuck more than their worth at a "tech" (?) just to gain a small improvement (hopefully). 

Now, no offence intended, but 3 of the 4 brands you've purchased are considered to be cheap & pretty mediocre in the scheme of things, chucking more money at them isn't gonna drastically improve quality or value. 

Essentially, if they work OK, use them until they don't, that could be a long time potentially, & when they finally do break, sell them for parts & get the kit you really need. 

As for the external cosmetic, your only limits are your imagination (& wallet), do your research as to what you need, which is not always what you want lol, it's easy to waste money on unnecessary dead weight that looks pretty lol. 

You don't need to send them to anyone, plenty info & guides on the net, diy👍

Edit: man above has faster fingers than me, but we're both singing from the same hymnsheet. 

[Shamal]

It's a bit like getting a new girlfriend.

You liked the look of her or she was cheap,(either way works),all the functions worked and she did what you wanted.

Its when you get married that you see where changes can be made and like Airsoft those changes come at a price.

It's around about this time that you may think about getting another model that suits you better or keep the one you have and get a backup.👍😉

 

Ouch! Dammit Hun I didn't know you were behind me.😂 

 

[Tommikka]

2 hours ago, Shamal said:

It's a bit like getting a new girlfriend.

 

 

A new gun doesn’t immediately begin to customise you 

2 hours ago, Shamal said:

,all the functions worked and she did what you wanted.

 

 

It may have appeared to do so

2 hours ago, Shamal said:

 

It's around about this time that you may think about getting another model that suits you better or keep the one you have and get a backup.

 

If you leave off from the marriage part then you can work on getting a good range of spares with all the spare disposable income …..

 

 

But there’s always the danger of so much choice that you find yourself unable to decide and then find yourself twiddling your thumbs not doing anything with any of them 

[Cannonfodder]

What adjustments and customisations are you thinking of?

[Rogerborg]

9 hours ago, Tackle said:

3 of the 4 brands you've purchased are considered to be cheap & pretty mediocre in the scheme of things

 

Mmm, Lancer are known for their budget (but decent enough) M4s.  That Lancer ARP-9-a-like is a bit more upmarket than their usual fare, I'd be interested to know if it justifies the price.

[Tackle]

2 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Mmm, Lancer are known for their budget (but decent enough) M4s.  That Lancer ARP-9-a-like is a bit more upmarket than their usual fare, I'd be interested to know if it justifies the price.

Yeah when I said "cheap & mediocre", I meant to also say "but more than capable of skirmishing", cheap doesn't also mean bad, just that there are limits of financial viability, otherwise it becomes a very expensive triggers broom. 

I'm no gear snob, no shortage of cyma/JG etc in my armoury, all of it stock & more than up to the task. 

[Guest Raven13]

Like I said, I'm new. And I like the guns I have. Mediocre or not. Thanks for......the advice?

[Rogerborg]

6 hours ago, Raven13 said:

Like I said, I'm new. And I like the guns I have. Mediocre or not. Thanks for......the advice?

 

It's well intentioned, and we're not judging or criticising your collection (plenty of us have bought lemons), just being honest.  The KWA and Lancer are perfectly reasonable choices, and I'm genuinely interested in hearing how they're performing. The Ravens, well, they'll work fine until they don't - most pistols don't get a lot of use.

 

It's also honest that there are very few airsoft techs who are worth paying, and there's no simple answer to your question as asked.  We all know a guy who knows a guy, and retailers might have a tech who mostly just switches out shagged VFC gears but reckons he can have a go at anything else.  But diligent professionals who will take a vague remit of "adjustments" and produce anything better than what you sent them are few and far between.  Thus the question about what exactly you want done.

 

If you're sending your guns in rather than visiting the nearest tech in person, the only ones that I personally would use, in this order, are:

 

https://negativeairsoft.com/

 

https://www.kingdomofairsoft.com/

 

Both of them will charge in the region of £45 an hour for labour, plus a markup on parts, which is why you'll want to be clear about what they should be doing with that time.  Anyone charging less isn't doing it for a living.

 

I'll be fair and say that Eagle6 will probably not make anything worse, but I personally wouldn't use them for ethical reasons.  If you're not bothered by that, they'll be happy to charge you £100 for tipping the internals out then putting them back.

[Tackle]

8 hours ago, Raven13 said:

Like I said, I'm new. And I like the guns I have. Mediocre or not. Thanks for......the advice?

Mate, I did start off by saying no offence intended, & I meant it. 

End of the day, Airsoft guns propel bb's, it's their only purpose, irrespective of rrp. 

If yours are doing what their supposed to, why blow your wad ? 

Every few weeks we see a new member post, asking about upgrading, many of whom haven't actually even fielded the guns in question yet. 

It gets tiring lol. 

How do yours perform on the skirmish field ?, what's their fps/range/accuracy like ? 

[TheFull9]

Questions definitely cannot be properly answered without further information first being provided, which you were asked for, so please provide it if you wish to glean the experience/opinions of others here.

 

The reality is, more budget guns are often not worth the cost of changing parts, so just use them as is.  Play around with rail attachments maybe, or a quick spray paint job is cheap and you're not massively cutting in to the re-sale value of a high ticket item.  You're gonna make mistakes (we all did and do) and a lot of 'techs' aren't actually any good, some are downright lying scamming scumbags.  Learn from the early mistakes on the guns that don't sting the wallet as much when you mess up.

[Guest Raven13]

OK. Thanks. The KWA is performing well but I'm gonna change the battery because I'm only using a 7.4. Haven't used the LC yet. sorry if I sounded a bit snappy in my response.

[TheFull9]

Nothing wrong with a good 7.4v with decent C rating that's looked after.  But if the gun says it's designed for an 11.1 then that'll make it a noticeable bit more snappy.  7.4 was more the standard when LiPos came in, but 11.1 is becoming more the standard now with new releases.

[Krisz]

2 hours ago, Raven13 said:

OK. Thanks. The KWA is performing well but I'm gonna change the battery because I'm only using a 7.4. Haven't used the LC yet. sorry if I sounded a bit snappy in my response.

Personally I would never use 11.1v on a gun which doesn't have (mos)fet. You just ask for trouble regarding trigger contacts. Nothing wrong with 7.4v. Is it snappier on 11.1v? Of course. 😎

Edited March 5, 2023 by Krisz

[Tackle]

Me personally I wouldn't use an 11.1 on anything I'm currently running , I've owned one 11.1 & while it definitely made things "snappier", it also spun the motors waaaay too fast, some mags struggled to keep up & it made everything I own sound like a "wanker gun", plus as I only use semi 99% of the time, every time a gearbox cycled & then tried to stop itself itself, made a horrible sounding "kerchunk" like it was hitting a wall, that can't be healthy in the long run ?. 🤔

[Rogerborg]

Agreed, I'd only use 11.1V on something that I didn't mind rebuilding.  With even a moderately uPgRaDeD motor, I'm at the limit (or beyond) of what the mags can feed, and it's really a question of when rather than if something goes KERUNCH.

[Colin Allen]

I run 9.9v LiFe batteries in anything that has a solid stock; anything with limited battery space runs on 7.4 LiPos, while the VZ58 and the AXR 160 use 11.1v LiPos because they run better on them.

Like Tackle, I almost always use semi; I am not sure when I last used full auto.

[Guest Raven13]

Yh. My KWA is recommended for an 11.1v. Thanks

[Rogerborg]

11 hours ago, Raven13 said:

Yh. My KWA is recommended for an 11.1v. Thanks

 

Hmm, DefCon does "recommend" 11.1V.  I "quote" that as it's still fairly unusual.  You're fine to try it, plenty of folk do.