Which Bucking/nub thing?

[DanBow]

I understand the need for a rubber thingy on my barrel/hop up unit but theres a lot of choices that I dont understand. 

 

Does the colour make a difference?

What about the angle?

Are there different sizes and how would I know which one to get?

 

As a newbie, with a bog standard RIF, I know there's a lot of upgrades but im going to use it first, then see what i need but this one seems like a complete no brainer. Especially as there's just the little ring thing and nothing else!

[JimFromHorsham]

Keep it simple , start off with a simple Prometheus purple hop rubber & bucking . Use the same ammo you have and see the difference then consider also going up a weight in BB if you are using .20g . 
 

hop rubbers should be treated as consumable parts , check often , replace if you notice any damage or wear .

 

however … this is all assuming the gun isn’t working as it should be right now , if it is, leave it alone until it isn’t

[Adolf Hamster]

23 minutes ago, DanBow said:

Does the colour make a difference?

 

The colour from some brands like maple leaf is just an identifier as to the particular compound, so meaningful but not because of the colour if that makes sense.

 

23 minutes ago, DanBow said:

What about the angle?

 

By angle i assume you mean rubbers being quoted in degrees, eg 50 degree 60 degree.

 

That's not an angle, it's a measurement of the hardness of the rubber, if you think of hardness in aeg rubbers as being similar to car tyres it's not too far off.

 

A softer (lower degree) rubber will be grippier and more effective at spinning a bb, especially heavier bb's, but can more easily deform which might cause sealing problems in higher energy builds with more chamber pressure.

 

23 minutes ago, DanBow said:

Are there different sizes and how would I know which one to get?

 

For aeg rubbers they're generally universal, or at least as universal as anything in this hobby is. You can find some buckings wont play well with some brands of barrel or hop unit etc.

 

A good example is maple leaf buckings tend to have longer than usual feedlips, a good thing for better sealing but can in some guns protrude too far into the feed tube making it harder for the magazine to push rounds past.

 

There's not much of a guaranteed rule for if a particular gun will get along with a particular bucking but in most cases it's not an issue.

 

In terms of which one to buy well you ask 10 different people and you'll get 17 different answers. I typically reccommend the maple leaf macaron with omega nub to lift anything you can throw at it, or if the gun doesnt play ball then pdi w hold with standard nub if you're not lobbing over 0.32g.

 

 

23 minutes ago, DanBow said:

As a newbie, with a bog standard RIF, I know there's a lot of upgrades but im going to use it first, then see what i need but this one seems like a complete no brainer. Especially as there's just the little ring thing and nothing else!

 

Before you try changing bucking, try some good quality heavier ammo first, how heavy is up to you how much money you're happy to send downrange per trigger pull but a lot of folk tend to settle on the 0.28-0.32g range for a balance between cost and performance.

 

Changing hop rubber is mainly an excercise in allowing a given gun to lift heavier ammo to then get the range/accuracy benefits the heavy rounds provide, but tbh a lot of stock guns aren't too bad out of the box and can often be ok to lift up to the 0.32g range.

[Leo Greer]

Good call on playing first and “upgrading” later! Many of what we call “upgrades” are situational, specific, and many companies and parts aren’t actually any better than stock, and can in fact be worse. It’s good to take your time, so your research, and learn from those that have made mistakes before you!
 

Adolf is correct—you will get numerous different answers from everyone, and it’s your choice as to what you want to go with. Chances are everyone’s suggestions will work fine.

 

Here’s the skinny: in simple, the hop rubber is the rubber piece that goes over your barrel and, when depressed by the hop arm/nub, provides backspin to the BB. Some designs use a forked contact patch, the original (or legacy) design uses a mound shaped patch, and others use flat patches or concave patches and various other shapes.

 

The best shape depends on your setup and application, but suffice it to say that you can make any of them work great.

 

For a beginner, I would recommend changing to the PDI W-hold, Krytac orange or blue, G&G blue, or another reputable forked nub rubber, as they tend to offer better performance than legacy style rubbers (in my experience) like the Prometheus purple and other mound style rubbers (the rubber in your gun is probably mound styled). The forked nub rubbers (or split nub) are also easy to tune. You don’t need to change your nub, and you shouldn’t suffer from overhop issues.

 

 

I should note, in general before changing anything, you should clean everything around and inside the barrel group and hop unit thoroughly with rubbing alcohol, and you can also do DIY stabilization mods that may increase accuracy by a lot.

 

These are mods like shimming your hop arm, shimming your inner barrel inside your outer barrel, and shimming your hop unit in your receiver.

 

I wrote a full guide to accuracy in general HERE  Not everyone will agree with my specific opinions, but in my guide I aim to provide a general understanding of how the system works, the principles behind upgrading, and parts and consumables you may use to get there.

[Cannonfodder]

Ii agree with Leo that using the gun first before looking at upgrades. This should give an idea about what, or if anything, needs upgrading and will give you a benchmark for performance comparisons when the new parts are fitted.

 

Unfortunately the false belief that all guns must be gutted and upgraded before being used in a game is becoming more popular, whereas in reality it's often bollocks.

[DanBow]

Thanks for your replies.

 

I've stripped my RIF down this evening and had a proper look at how it all works. I've got a better understanding of what's going on now so, apart from cosmetics and scopes, it will be left alone until its been well used.