Woodland AEG / GBBR help

[mirinjawbro]

Hello all

 

had my first skirmish in 3 years the other day and was woodland. my current SMG is not cut out and was getting picked off alot from far

 

what "long barrel" AEG can be recommended?  does length matter as much anymore with all the new hopups etc.

 

no ak / m4 variants please

 

looking at AUG / Famas / G3a3 sort of guns.

 

thanks

[Esoterick]

That's likely to be more down to your hop up and BB weight. Decent pistols have the same range as AEGs - roughly 50 metres.

 

People can probably offer more accurate advice if you specify what your current SMG is and what weight BBs you use as you might be able to get more range out of it without really spending much money. That said some guns do just have bad hop units.

 

I'd also look at cleaning the barrel and taking out the hop rubber to check for signs of wear/damage, if it's dirty they can be cleaned with warm soapy water.

 

Also I really rate the Cyma M14s if you are looking for a good value battle rifle style gun.

[RostokMcSpoons]

Barrel length doesn't matter so much as it does for the real thing, but if you're looking at maybe an AUG you'd get that for 'free' anyway.  I have the TM high cycle variant which is very compact but still has a decent barrel length within it.   It's a great little thing, always gets a lot of positive comments when I use it ☺️. Given the low power output of your typical TM AEG, it still still gets out-ranged by other guns, so maybe one of the other manufacturer's ones will suit you better.  

 

Given you've also mentioned FAMAS as well I suspect you're one of us (has a bullpup link!).  So L85 etc also a possibility?

The problem with those is they all seem to have their foibles, but I think they're damned cool all the same.

[Fatboy40]

1 hour ago, mirinjawbro said:

no ak / m4 variants please

 

Then you're missing out of probably the best / most cost effective options  

 

Also to be competitive at this time of year, with lots of foliage and places to hide, you'll need to use a good heavy BB like 0.30/0.32 to cut through the foliage.

[Cannonfodder]

As others have posted, barrel length isn't really a factor with airsoft guns. Hop up and bb weight have a far greater impact

[Rogerborg]

Nice one on getting back into it.

 

But <all-airsoft-guns-are-basically-the-same.png> and barrel length isn't really that significant.

 

@Esoterickbasically ended the thread. If your SMG (what gun, mister?) has been sitting around for 3 years, it would definitely benefit from a thorough clean of the barrel and hop rubber, or replace the rubber.  This is the same maintenance that you should be doing on a new gun so it's not like you'll be saving any effort by buying new.

 

If it's down on power, I'd take some silicon spray and spooge it up the nozzle to lube the piston ring(s) before writing it off.  Give it some bursts to blow it out the nozzle before reassembling so that you don't soak the bucking.

[Impulse]

Shorter barrels are actually better for heavy BBs for AEGs because most AEGs have trouble with air volume (not enough air volume in the cylinder to fill the barrel). I have a Cyma mp5k that shoots out to plenty long distance (easily hits a target at 50m) and all it has is a new hop rubber and nub; my two long AEGs (SR-25 and M14, both Cyma) have full cylinders to make sure I have enough air volume to push down the 509mm and 500mm barrels respectively. If you haven't played in 3 years, I would assume that your issue is that you need a new hop rubber because your current one is either out dried out or just outdated as hop ups have come a long way in the past few years. I still remember when I came back to the hobby before covid everyone was talking about R-hops being the best thing in airsoft.

 

5 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

If it's down on power, I'd take some silicon spray and spooge it up the nozzle to lube the piston ring(s) before writing it off.  Give it some bursts to blow it out the nozzle before reassembling so that you don't soak the bucking.

 

Also this. I'm no good at AEG teching/maintenance beyond barrel and hop ups (I hate gearboxes...), but I'm a GBBR and gas BASR user anyway. Barrel length is *very* important in my area 😂

[gavinkempsell]

Basically, it's not the size that matters.

[Leo Greer]

Barrel length is an extremely tricky subject.

 

Even very short barrels can be extremely accurate, but it all depends on your setup. For the RIF to be accurate, the BB needs enough time in the barrel for its flight to stabilize. How long that is depends on weight, hop setup, nozzle setup, rate of fire (if using FA), and multiple other factors. Generally speaking, for the average AEG, maximum accuracy can be achieved at 250mm. Anything past that does not increase your accuracy. You may gain power with a longer barrel and thus increase your range, but you will not necessarily increase your accuracy.

 

As others have stated, a hop rubber and nub combined with heavier BBs will net you much more accuracy gain than a new barrel, but I'll add another note here: hop rubber and nub are not the first things you should change. First, before spending any money, you should stabilize your hop setup. This is achieved by wrapping your inner barrel in tape, so it sits without wiggling in the outer barrel, removing the hop spring and using o-rings, a piece of cork, or even hard rubber or foam to brace it against the gearbox, aluminum tape or even plastic shims on the hop unit "wings" to eliminate rotation, and shims on your hop arm to make it as consistent as possible.

 

In terms of accuracy gain by %, here's my approximate chart, from my personal experience.

 

35%: Heavy, high quality BBs

 

35%: Stabilization

 

20%: Hop packing and nub

 

10%: Barrel

 

I've had RIFs with dirty corroded barrels and dirty standard hop rubbers that performed amazingly, because they were naturally stabilized and I was using high quality BBs. The same cannot be said for using an amazing setup with bad stabilization and bad BBs. Even the most accurate RIF will perform horrible with crappy ammo.

 

I would highly recommend against spraying silicon oil up the nozzle, for the simple reason that not all of the oil will clear out of the nozzle immediately, so there's a decent chance of still having some left to get on your hop rubber. And even a tiny bit can ruin your accuracy.

[C-Diddy]

Loads of good advice above which you should definitely consider. 

 

The cleaning and use of silicon oil/isopropyl/gun oil etc is not a one-size-fits-all. Different folk have different methods for different guns. Personally I use isopropyl to pull the barrel through, with one wet then two dry passes with a small flannelette, but experiment. Just make sure if you do use silicon oil that you're removing what you can after cleaning.

 

One thing that is pretty consistent though, is always use the heaviest BBs your hop can lift, and buy a quality brand. Just doing this will show an improvement. 

[mirinjawbro]

thankyou for all the replies

 

currently a stock G&G MP5 SD5 top tech EBB. chronoed at constant 340.

 

been using .25g

 

thanks

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

2 hours ago, mirinjawbro said:

thankyou for all the replies

 

currently a stock G&G MP5 SD5 top tech EBB. chronoed at constant 340.

 

been using .25g

 

thanks

Have you tried 0.28s in it?

 

I have the A4 version of the G&G that you have and it holds it's own in a woodland game using the slightly heavier bb.

[Rogerborg]

20 hours ago, Leo Greer said:

I would highly recommend against spraying silicon oil up the nozzle, for the simple reason that not all of the oil will clear out of the nozzle immediately

 

Then I'll amend it to "give it lots of burst, into a tissue, until it's clear".  Sure, the right thing to do is to strip it down, clean, lube very sparingly with silicon grease, re-shim and so on.  But if you are down on power (and OP isn't) then it can (sometimes) provide a simple amelioration, if you do it sensibly. Granted, that's not a given for airsofters.  

 

 

1 hour ago, CrackCommandoUnit1972 said:

chronoed at constant 340.

 

With 0.2g?  Sad that there's any woodland sites still doing that.  Still, the consistency is good news.

 

 

1 hour ago, CrackCommandoUnit1972 said:

been using .25g

 

I find 0.28g is the sweet spot for price-vs-performance.

[Esoterick]

I still reckon you have dirt in the barrel/hop rubber or need to replace the hop rubber. I wouldn't bother experimenting with BB weights until you check this.

 

If anything you will experience even worse performance by just upping your BB weight.

 

I find the isopropyl wipes used for injections cut in half along the fold work really well for cleaning barrels when threaded through a cleaning rod. You can get boxes of them online for a few quid.

[mirinjawbro]

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

With 0.2g?  Sad that there's any woodland sites still doing that.  Still, the consistency is good news.             yea .20g. 337 340 341 

 

 

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

 

 

 

I find 0.28g is the sweet spot for price-vs-performance.   i havent tried this yet. i do have some .28 laying around