Upgrading a Well MB 01

[Dogsbody100]

Evening all,

 

Ive trawled the forum as best I can to see if someone’s posted this before but I haven’t found anything, this of course doesn’t mean there isn’t anything so I do offer my most humble apologies if I’ve missed it.

 

I bought one of the aforementioned rifles some time back and after trying (unsuccessfully) to sell it here I’ve taken its reluctance to leave as an omen and decided to waddle down the upgrade it route.

 

Ive had a sniff on YouTube but came away even more confused than I started although the disassembly part seems easy enough, I repair instruments for aircraft during the day so I’m hoping that’ll be the easy bit.

 

Question I have is what do I need to buy to make this gun fieldable? Bearing in mind I don’t know all the ins and outs of upgrade parts would anyone be able to post a list of what I’d need with a pointer or two on where to get it? 

 

As it stands it’s previous owner wasn’t a airsofter and as a result it’s been sitting about with nothing more than the occasional plink, the hop screw appears to have no effect either so I guess the rubber has gone inside.

 

All help is massively appreciated in advance! 
 

Cheers 

 

 

[Rogerborg]

It's easy, all you need is the Action Army type 96 hop chamber, which means you'll need a ZCI, XT or Crazy Jet AEG barrel and Macaron or MR bucking, unless you decide to stick with a GBB barrel in which case you need the Maple Leaf Hotshot bucking, then of course you'll need to do a TDC mod, add barrel spacers, upgrade the spring, which means you'll need to upgrade to an alloy piston and spring guide, which means you'll need a 90 degree trigger unit then you'll realise that you've spent more than the cost of a Silverback TAC-41 Sport to get worse performance and longevity.

 

There are some actual suggestions in there among the "don't do it" conclusion, if you want to start with the cheap stuff like DIY barrel spacers made out of masking or electrical tape, and a bucking like an Maple Leaf Autobot if you're sticking with the stock GBB style barrel and hop chamber. You can also do a DIY TDC hop for the price of a grub screw.  However, once you start spending, the costs can ramp up quickly, and it's a labour of love. I sunk a load of time into my MB-03 before giving up chasing one sub-optimal or failing part after another, and just going Silverback.

[Dogsbody100]

3 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

It's easy, all you need is the Action Army type 96 hop chamber, which means you'll need a ZCI, XT or Crazy Jet AEG barrel and Macaron or MR bucking, unless you decide to stick with a GBB barrel in which case you need the Maple Leaf Hotshot bucking, then of course you'll need to do a TDC mod, add barrel spacers, upgrade the spring, which means you'll need to upgrade to an alloy piston and spring guide, which means you'll need a 90 degree trigger unit then you'll realise that you've spent more than the cost of a Silverback TAC-41 Sport to get worse performance and longevity.

 

There are some actual suggestions in there among the "don't do it" conclusion, if you want to start with the cheap stuff like DIY barrel spacers made out of masking or electrical tape, and a bucking like an Maple Leaf Autobot if you're sticking with the stock GBB style barrel and hop chamber. You can also do a DIY TDC hop for the price of a grub screw.  However, once you start spending, the costs can ramp up quickly, and it's a labour of love. I sunk a load of time into my MB-03 before giving up chasing one sub-optimal or failing part after another, and just going Silverback.

Thanks for the reply, it shows me an angle I didn’t think of. I always assumed it wouldn’t be too big a job to straighten the gun out with a few upgrades but perhaps not, I certainly wasn’t looking for anything spectacular just a straight shooting mostly accurate sniper but perhaps it’s more complicated than that. 
 

Kind of sucks that I’m stuck with it now though as it just won’t sell 😂 

 

Maybe I need to look into the fine art of wall hangers 🤔🤔

 

Thanks again for a most helpful and comprehensive reply 👍

[Rogerborg]

Well, you can start with the easy stuff: check the hop rubber and hop arm, clean the barrel, make up some tape spacers (which really do work).  And a TDC mod really is just a hole drilled and tapped right above the hop arm, with a fine thread grub / machine screw added to press down on the arm. Sticking a thickening saddle on top helps to give the screw more purchase.  Regreasing the piston ring can help with compression.

 

It's when you start throwing new parts at it, like an aftermarket hop, that the price starts ramping up, and you still need to put in the time to tinker and tune with it anyway.  The trigger sears and stopper are a weak point on the Wells, and you might find that up-springing results in problems pulling the bolt of firing (or not firing, if it slam fires).

 

It's a fun process, but with decent out-of-the-box guns from Silverback and Novritsch on the market now, I don't think it makes economic sense.