Quick Fix #3 - ARL Spring Failure

Symptoms: Gears are spinning backwards after the AEG is fired. 

Diagnosis: A close look at the anti-reversal latch showed that it was intact and meshed properly with the bevel gear. However after examining the spring which moves the latch I discovered it could no longer create enough tension for the latch to engage normally.

Replacing the ARL spring got this AEG up and running again right away. Hopefully this saves someone else time on diagnosis!

Video: Field CTF Game @ Mr. Paintball

Logan and I rolled out to our local field Mr. Paintball once again for some action this weekend. Turnout was good and the weather was amazing, so we all went out into the brush for some field games. This was the second game we played that day:

This game was played over a large area with about 30 people on each team. I'm using my custom M4 and Logan is using his KJW M700. Everyone was playing hard, being a good sport and overall it was an excellent day of airsoft. Thanks to Fred and his crew for hosting, and Ben and Sam for squading up with us!

New Acquisition

A Classic Army HK416 sportline AEG was added to my collection today!

Purchased it totally stock with a 9.6v battery, AFG2, KAC VFG, one magazine, LED flashlight w/RIS mount and 2-point sling. I am the second owner and the first barely put a full magazine through it, got a great deal.

The receiver and rails are all ABS but super sturdy with no  wobble and great fitment. The CA stock gearbox is decent, but I didn't really want to deal with it yet so I swapped it for one I had already built and installed a high torque motor. It's doing 380FPS and ~30RPS.

Photo: IR-Hop System Overview

From top to bottom: Lonex 70° bucking with mound and locking ridge removed, M4 hop-up chamber with M-Nub installed, Prometheus 6.03mm barrel with IR-hop patch installed. It's the recipe for long range airsoft shooting in a nutshell.

Video: "Infected" Game @ Mr. Paintball USA

A buddy and I went out to play at our local field Mr. Paintball USA yesterday (1/26/13). It's a large outdoor field with several different areas. Turnout was low because of the rain, but we were fortunate enough to have some able opponents in the form of some local Marines. This is a video of the last game we played before the field closed:

This game took place on the 'scrapyard' field and was restricted to a small area in order to keep the pace up. After playing some games with upwards of 80 players last time I went out these small games were a nice change of pace. Thanks to everyone who came out to brave the mud with us, it was an awesome day!

Quick & Dirty MultiCam Paint Job

Since I'm rocking a multicam setup now I decided it was time I painted my primary AEG to match. I had a 90 minute window to paint today and while I've seen some people spend weeks on a project like this I decided that would be my time limit. It helps to have some experience handling a rattle can and painting other types of camo patterns, but this one isn't half as hard as it was made out to be.

We'll start with the following cheap rattle cans that you can grab at your local Ace, Home Depot, etc. The first six colors are from the "Krylon Camouflage" line. The "Satin Espresso" or similar is used to get a darker brown for the final stages of the pattern. The Fusion line which encompasses all of these bonds to plastics and dries very quickly making it ideal for this job. Needless to say you can substitute colors to your liking to customize the pattern.

First, you need to prepare your subject. In my case the gearbox, motor, charging handle, fire selector, bolt release, pistol grip, sling plate, buffer tube, flash hider and iron sights all needed to be removed first. I had already removed the previous paint job the night before. Then I reassembled the remaining body pieces and masked off the outer barrel, all of the holes in the receiver and the forward assist with tape.

Once this is done, throw it down on your surface of choice and grab the Khaki and Brown cans. Start with a coat of khaki, then paint three simple stripes of brown. Come back and blend the edges with khaki if there is too much contrast. Let it dry, then do the other side.

Next you're going to cut some stencils for the green shapes. Be creative and random! Apply these so that they are overlapping with both khaki and brown area, but make sure to leave plenty of khaki showing as it's quite prevalent in this design. Use both of your greens at this stage, and apply random gradients and fades for the proper look. Let it dry, then do the other side.

The next step will involve some smaller stencils which will be used for the darker brown color (Espresso) and the light khaki (Sand). You can make unique stencils for each color if you want, but I just used the same ones for both to save time. Before you start, take one last look at the pattern and remind yourself how much less these two colors are used. First apply the dark brown, use it sparingly to break up areas where there's too much of one color dominating the pattern. Then apply the sand in close proximity to the brown, even more sparingly. The pattern should be coming to life before your eyes at this point. As usual, let it dry and repeat on the opposite side.

Your subject should be looking pretty sharp at this point, but give plenty of time to dry before you put your greedy little mitts all over it. If you want to preserve your work, add a layer or two of your choice of clear coat sealant at this time. Otherwise, put it back together and you're good to go. Toss it on your fatigues and make sure it's a good match!

Quick Fix #2 - Cutoff Lever Failure

Symptoms: Safe and full auto fire modes work as they should. On semi-auto, the AEG fires full auto. The selector plate is moving normally and engaging the cutoff lever correctly, and the cutoff lever spring is in place.

Diagnosis: Inspection of the cutoff lever revealed that the arm of the cutoff lever which engages the sector gear had worn down. The damage was subtle but apparent when compared to a normal cutoff lever. I've highlighted the damaged area in the photo below. You can see that the entire surface of the arm is worn, and the indicated corner has been rubbed down and no longer catches the sector as it should.

As with the previous quick fix, replacing the part in question will solve this one. In this case the lever failed more quickly than normal because the sector gear was shimmed too tightly against it. Hopefully this saves someone else time on diagnosis!