Sear's Hobby Page

Yesterday I was busy doing some work on my wife's JG G3 A3 as I needed to install a new piston body to replace the one with the torn teeth. When all was done I put in my battery to see how well the new piston was working. Only when I was done testing did I notice this on one of the battery leads:

As you can see, the rubber insulation of the black wire was torn open. My thinking is that since the lead is quite long, it may have torn itself after being installed and removed  from the battery compartment. This is not  a major problem since I had no plans of playing this weekend and the extra time I had allowed me to fix the issue.



A close up shot of the wire revealed that not only was the insulation torn, but also the individual wires themselves were shearing. This resulted in having to shorten both wires to prevent further damaged. I also made a mental note to be more careful when putting the battery inside the compartment.

What I am surprised about is the flimsiness of the rubber insulation. It is soft and quite flexible, making me think that it could be bent without worrying about it tearing. Had I played this weekend without noticing this, the cells themselves could be damaged forcing me to buy another battery.

This is the reason many buy bar type units instead of the triple-chuck version. With so many wires, something like this is bound to happen. The one main advantage of this version is it allows each cell to cool down between shots, which in turn leads to longer life.

Our aegs basically use air to push a bb out the barrel. Can't get any simpler than that.

Yet there are times when we have our guns chronographed, we see a variance in the measurement giving us a smile, a shock of delight, or downright disappointment. And the order of those emotions also vary depending on what we see in the LCD screen first.

Ever since I started opening and upgrading my own guns, I always wondered what actually happened inside our gearboxes to understand how it works and how it affects the results we see when we measure them.

The thing about air is that it is a force of nature we need to work with and not something we can really control. True, with the correct cylinder-to-barrel ratio, coupled with a good spring, shimming, and the so-called gunsmith's magic (I wish I had this!), we can get the performance we seek.

I had a very informative discussion about this topic about a year ago with another player. Based on our talk, we learned that air moving in a barrel does not move like air that was compressed, rather it is air that is pushed by a spring and piston. Its movement can be likened to a wave or waves hitting the shoreline of a beach. Think of the beach as your inner barrel. the depth, and the width of this beach will influence how fast and how large the wave can be.

Now think of the inner barrel of your gun. Since the air is not compressed, it moves like a wave and the length and inner diameter can influence how it moves. This explains why some barrels give the bb high fps and range. Now I know that there are other factors but let's just focus on the barrel itself. There have been studies in the past regarding how a barrel's length can increase or decrease fps. One such study was made by a Japanese enthusiast who goes by the callsign Gunner Engineer. His website is unfortunately not working now (no page is displayed when I search using his old url). His findings show that the right barrel length can yield the best performance regardless of whatever spring you use (Out of respect I cannot show the saved web page until I get permission from the owner but I will type out his findings on my next blog).

So what have I learned so far? Air cannot be changed but we can the "path" in which it travels more efficient and understanding this can also help us in another department: the cost. Without having to spend so much, we can optimize what we already have to get maximum performance. To sir Zen Taurus, if you chance upon my blog, like you, I am still deep in meditation.

Here is "part 2" of WE's presentation of the G36C:

WE is really coming up with very interesting products. Now that the G36C is in production, can a K or full-sized version be available soon? Let's keep our fingers.

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.

After several posts, I realized that I cannot keep everything in one blog so I am moving some of my posts to a new one I am setting up. For those who wish to see more than just my hobby, please follow the link below:

http://benji-transistor.blogspot.com/

NOTE:  Right now, things are a bit of a mess. If you go to that new blog of mine, the movie order got mixed up. This is what happens when you create something new at 3:55am Philippine time.

One of the things I enjoy about the weekend is playing airsoft. Earlier I spent the day exchanging fire using plastic bullets. I also spent the better part of the day getting hit rather than getting some under my belt. When that happens I ask myself what went wrong and how I could've prevented such a mistake.

During one of the briefings prior to each scenario, the marshal would remind us of calling ourselves "out" whenever we get hit or even suspect we got hit. It's a basic rule in the hobby: when you get hit call it. One thing I can never understand is why some don't call their hits and continue to play. Yes it can hurt but it's not a real kill and the only thing that can hurt is your ego.

I am writing this because we tend to forget that this is the best way of improving. When you make a mistake it's a very effective way of learning. Knowing where the shot came from and what you did to make yourself a target makes you think of what you did and what you shouldn't have done. In the end, everyone one wins. You improve and you up the ante in the level of the game.

Let's put it this way: at the end of the day, I can assure you that you will be sharing more laughs and insights about what happened. You make  friends instead of enemies and you are left with a feeling of anticipation for the next chance to play to apply what you have learned.

Masks down my friends, lets all have fun.