Sear's Hobby Page

As promised, I finally got some shots of my G3's inner barrel and hop up assembly. The barrel's inner diameter is at 6.08mm. It has remained free of scratches or any sort of debris from BBs or dirt. Because of its 506mm length, it's relatively easy to outrange an M4 carbine and the BB's flight is quite accurate without having to resort to a tight bore barrel.







Hop up assembly. This is the left and right side of the hop up unit. The large drum is the adjuster. When turned, it adjusts the height of the hop up arm concentrically instead of the traditional gears found on most M4s. Sensitivity depends largely on the hop up nub. With a stock nub, I would say a few turns going up gives the BB a good spin. Incidentally, I use Golden Ball BBs. Aside from price, I noted that they tend to fly straighter compared to ICS, the first brand of BBs I used when I started playing. With ICS, the BB tends to fly upwards when they reach their maximum effective range.





Close up of the hole where the air seal nozzle goes in. One thing I noticed with the G3, the inner barrel assembly tends to "follow" the gearbox when taking the gun apart. I have two G3s and this happens on both guns.




This is where the BBs enters. Because of it's one-piece construction, one doesn't have to worry about air leaks from this part of the hop up. At the most, you just have to make sure that the hop up rubber maintains its shape while inside the hop up chamber.




Even after a year of use, no signs of wear and tear are visible.





I tried to get a shot of the inner barrel but I couldn't get the right angle. From this shot you can slightly see the end of the hop up rubber. It's in need of replacement by the way, as there is a small bit of the rubber sticking out from the top left side of the chamber.

Overall, I am very pleased with how my gun has worked. Except for its size, its very user-friendly even in CQB gamesites. I have been playing in CXG for the past couple of weeks and aftter getting used to tight spots and corners, I can say it's playable.

On the other hand, this is a gun built for the field. If you like taking long range shots as a sniper or machine gunner, in its stock form this gun won't disappoint. The range does depend on the state of your hop up and the quality of the BBs that you use. My only regret for this review was not being able to compile any sort of performance data to give me a better picture.

With the stock gearbox, I have used TU (125 and 130 versions) and Guarder (110 and 120) springs without any problems with cracks due to the use of strong springs. The only issue I currently have is that one of the threads for the screws used to join the gearbox and pistol grip has loosened.


NOTES:

As I stated earlier, I also own a G3A3, the non-RAS version. Yesterday I decided to open the gearbox to see how the internals were doing. Like the RAS, no visible damage can be seen on the gears, the gearbox shell, or the electricals so it seems that all is well and good....








...After I test fired it with a lipoly battery. This gun has not seen action in the past couple of months and since this G3A3 has been with me for about 2 years, my theory is that the plastice piston body became brittle from non use. I cannot say that this is the only cause of the damage. As you can see, I removed the second and third tooth to prevent pre-cranking. Is it possible that I have shaved too much material to the point I compromised the structure? I don't think so since the RAS also had this same treatment on its piston body.





Even though the piston body is no longer usable, the fact that it lasted two years with a variety of springs is a testament to the gun's durability. Would I recommend this aeg? If you're tired of using US weaponry and want to try something else, YES. Some would say it belongs on the field but for me, it all boils down to where you want to play and how you adapt to the environment. To those who have read this review, I would appreciate your comments and opinions.