Upgraded my barrel but not happy with results

Kashkai

I put a 405mm long, 6.03 tbb into my G&G Raider today. On the plus side, before the upgrade, she was chronoing 300fps. With the new barrel, it was chronoing 320-324fps. That's the good news. However, the range is still not as good as my stock G&G M4. Even with the Raider's hop turned all the way up, the bb's just seem to fall short. Now I cleaned the new barrel well prior to putting it in the gun and I made sure the bucking was fitted correctly onto the new barrel before and after I put it into the hop up unit. As the new extended barrel juts out of the Raider's outer barrel, I used a matchstick to hold it in place so it's not moving around. Then I put a mock suppressor over the extended barrel to complete it. So I think I did it right, but if I'm missing something, please let me know as I'm at a loss why my chrono says I've achieved a good increase in fps but the bbs just don't seem to be flying as far as I'd hoped.

One more thing, I think I've a loose connection on the aeg side of the connection with the battery as the gun stopped firing for a minute until I wiggled the lead and then it fired as normal. While I have soldered before, I've never soldered Tamiya connectors and can't figure out how I'd do it without melting the plastic Tamiya plug.

Southern Dandy

Hey dave remove the matchstick and make you own spacer, wrap a strip of paper around the barrel bout 10mm wide, then wrap the paper with insulating tape again 10mm, keep adding tape until it is thick enough to provide a good stabelizer, the matchstick may be affecting the bb trajectory as it is now at a slant.

Tamiya connectora require an extraction and crimping tool, id cut them off and add deans connectors to all your aegs and batteries, it is a better electrical connection and bumps you rof up slightly.

Hope this helps.

T4RGET

Although the Deans would be a good idea eventually, right now it may be a good idea to double check the wiring. The Raider has the wires in the buffer tube but the wires are able to separate inside it. So when you take the buffer tube off from the receiver is still has the actual T connected in the buffer tube and the rest of the wire hanging out of the gearbox, now if either of these wires are hanging a bit loose, it means that normally the wires can make connections but they may sometimes separate, jsut pop the the buffer tube off and you'll see what i mean, if these are connected fine then it may be something more serious.

Kashkai

Thanks guys. I'll remove the matchstick as it is deflecting the new barrel (the matchstick was a tip from an experienced airsofter but I wasn't happy with how mine turned out), and make my own spacer. Would a new hop up rubber be in order?? This Raider is a second hand purchase I made and might be due a new rubber.

As for the wiring, the way it's set up in the crane stock means that over time, it gets crimped and bundled up a hundred times and may have frayed inside the stock tube. I'll take the stock off tomorrow and have a closer look.

I'd like to get this gun working well as aesthetically it now looks quite well since I added the suppressor, a eotech 552 holo sight, fore grip and a torch with a pressure switch on the fore grip. Of course, unless I get it shooting well, these cosmetic improvements will be a waste of time.

T4RGET

If it's second hand, a new hop up may be a good idea yes, pop it open and see if it's worn. If you're not confident with that drop it into to someone who does or pop down to mine if you rather. Either way it could just be worn. The connectors on my Raider has been bent back into the buffer tube for over 2 years now during storage without problem but it may just be the luck of the draw. Honestly it could be a number of things, many of which the easiest thing to fix .. can of course be a pin to fix but let's focus on the positives :P

$kilkenny

did you change the cylinder?
And what was the original barrel lenght?

Kashkai

The original barrel was 363mm which I replaced with a 407mm (and 6.03 diameter). I didn't touch the cylinder but I might spray some silicone oil into the air nozzle tomorrow and dry fire it to see if that helps with the seals.

I think the issue is with the hop though as my chrono says the gun is now shooting at 320fps+ but the bbs are angling down even with the hop turned all the way up. I'll get a new hop up rubber and see if that helps. Might even just buy a whole new hop up unit while I'm at it. At least then I can rule out one thing that might be causing the problem.

Southern Dandy

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

The original barrel was 363mm which I replaced with a 407mm (and 6.03 diameter). I didn't touch the cylinder but I might spray some silicone oil into the air nozzle tomorrow and dry fire it to see if that helps with the seals.

I think the issue is with the hop though as my chrono says the gun is now shooting at 320fps+ but the bbs are angling down even with the hop turned all the way up. I'll get a new hop up rubber and see if that helps. Might even just buy a whole new hop up unit while I'm at it. At least then I can rule out one thing that might be causing the problem.

Sounds like a worn rubber like t4rget said, g&g chambers are generally good so their is no need to upgrade or change. Change the rubber before amything then go from there.

If you give me a week or so, I might have a g&g green rubber spare, just have to do a accuracy and range with an aeg. It's yours if I don't need it.

T4RGET

Dave I wouldn't advice spraying silicon oil down the air nozzle. if you feel it may need some attention do it from the inside, the silicon oil isn't suited for use inside the gearbox itself.

Kashkai

Southern Dandy wrote: »

Sounds like a worn rubber like t4rget said, g&g chambers are generally good so their is no need to upgrade or change. Change the rubber before amything then go from there.

If you give me a week or so, I might have a g&g green rubber spare, just have to do a accuracy and range with an aeg. It's yours if I don't need it.

That's very decent of you mate but I'm picking up my Marui M14 from Airsofteire today following its repair and I'll buy a rubber while I'm there. Thanks for the kind offer though.

T4RGET wrote: »

Dave I wouldn't advice spraying silicon oil down the air nozzle. if you feel it may need some attention do it from the inside, the silicon oil isn't suited for use inside the gearbox itself.

Interesting you say that mate as I've been advised by others that I should spray some oil into the air nozzle to lubricate the seal???? I'll leave it alone and just fit the new rubber to see if that does the job. Thanks mate.

T4RGET

Well to lubricate may work but silicon oil isn't very viscous so it tends to flow, meaning (a) it leaves the air nozzle and (b) it may get down into the trigger, which is where the problem is, the oil itself will do little to the gearbox itself but that includes lubricating/greasing it, it's not think enough.

Southern Dandy

That and oil will get blown out on to the rubber, which prevents friction between the bb and hop up rubber so you lose your backspin. Silicone based lubricants can effect certain rubbers and destroy them. It also attracts dirt like crazy. Silicone oil should only be used sparingly in the cylinder, silicone grease for the o-ring on the piston, and the the outside of nozzle on the cylinder head.

Inari

Using silicone oil through the air nozzle is fine. Using a lot of silicone oil in the air nozzle is not fine. What happens when you spray silicone oil through the cylinder is that you in effect wash off the grease, having an adverse effect on the performance of your gun. Too much silicone oil will also risk incinerating your trigger contacts.

What you're looking at doing is lubricating the piston head O-ring, most commonly done to bring the power up a little bit by boosting the seal between O-ring and cylinder, thus reducing air escaping. Without any doubt (and don't let anyone fool you on this one) the best way of doing this is to open the gearbox up, remove the piston & piston head, inspect the O-ring and lube up, and apply grease to cylinder. Reassemble and away you go. This is time consuming, and a little overkill for such a small issue. Instead you can spray a little silicone oil through the air nozzle of the gun as you fire on full auto. You spray sparingly, and the cycling of the gearbox spreads it out evenly without washing the grease off, and gets it where it needs to go. It also ensures excess oil is sprayed out of the air nozzle, not into the hop up rubber.

ReapersAirsoft

When you replaced the hop did you remember to put in the tiny rubber piece that sits in between the hop-up arm and the rubber? should look like this

T4RGET

ReapersAirsoft wrote: »

When you replaced the hop did you remember to put in the tiny rubber piece that sits in between the hop-up arm and the rubber? should look like this

the nub? Can't see the image. I imagine he did though. You did right?

ReapersAirsoft

I always thought it was a nub :P airsoft GI call it a "spacer" this link should work http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?products_id=960

TheMooseInNam

Prosperous Dave wrote: »

The original barrel was 363mm which I replaced with a 407mm (and 6.03 diameter). I didn't touch the cylinder but I might spray some silicone oil into the air nozzle tomorrow and dry fire it to see if that helps with the seals.

I think the issue is with the hop though as my chrono says the gun is now shooting at 320fps+ but the bbs are angling down even with the hop turned all the way up. I'll get a new hop up rubber and see if that helps. Might even just buy a whole new hop up unit while I'm at it. At least then I can rule out one thing that might be causing the problem.

If the new hop bucking doesn't solve the problem then it could be the cylinder (but my money is on the bucking been worn and not the cylinder).

Each cylinder is ported (vented) and matched to the amount of volume of air held inside the barrel. So in theory, if you have a cylinder that holds too little air for your barrel, your bb would reach maximum velocity while still inside the barrel and once that air stops pushing the bb, it is in fact losing velocity before reaching the end of the barrel so any advantage of installing the longer barrel would be negated. The fact that it's croning so well, leads me to think you're right that it's the bucking rubber.

Also, the lads are right, under no circumstances spray silicone oil into the air nozzle. Open up the gearbox and use silicone grease on the o-rings of the piston and cylinder heads instead.