FEATURE: THE NEED FOR SPEED PTII

never realize they’re only shooting BBs and haven’t even adjusted their hop up to boot! Humorous anecdotes aside, one of the best and simplest upgrades you can do to your rifle is to shoot heavier ammo. No, that’s not really an upgrade, but you would be surprised at how much more accurate your gun is when using anything heavier than a basic .20g.

Following up on that, is a real upgrade: changing out the bucking. I also feel this one is a sort of prerequisite for any new airsoft gun, as the stock buckings are usually little better than acting as placeholders. More advanced setups would consist of a high-quality aftermarket barrel and an R-Hop installation. Do not get hung up on questions of length beyond what is appropriate for your current build. Bore quality and internal finish/ level of precision matters far more than length.

TRIGGER TIME

After accuracy woes, the other most requested upgrade is to make the gun run faster – or have better “trigger response”. Trigger response is an often-misappropriated term, but distilled down to the basics, should be considered as the time it takes to physically fire a BB from the moment the trigger is pulled. Gamers and real steel shooters with fast trigger fingers can easily outrun a stock gun, which is often a point of consternation as this can contribute to seizing up a gearbox via inadvertent short-stroking of the trigger. So, when someone requests “faster trigger response” they typically mean they want to reduce the time it takes to fire a BB from when they pull the trigger.

Aside from the hop up upgrade, the single biggest improvement that will net you a physically felt difference is an aftermarket motor. In many ways, this is the beating heart of your gun. A quality Neodymium or brushless motor can significantly increase your rate-of- fire and make your gun feel more responsive and quick on the trigger. This is, of course, just one aspect of obtaining responsiveness. Further refinement via gear ratios and electronic trigger units/MOSFET’s and things such as pre-cocking, short stroking, etc. also play a role in responsiveness. It is also possible to set up a build to be better oriented for semi-auto use or high ROF style builds. Long story short, these are all things that can make a physically measurable difference on felt responsiveness. Generally, when getting any Airsoft gun upgraded, you should strongly consider taking care of all the basic foundational work too. The most critical of this also being the one many struggle with doing well: shimming. A well-shimmed set of gears will not only sound smoother and cleaner, it will also have

“IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO DO THE UPGRADES YOURSELF, IT’S A GOOD IDEA TO READ AND WATCH AS MUCH MATERIAL ON THE SUBJECT AS POSSIBLE – BUT ALSO SEEK OUT CURRENT INFORMATION FROM WELL VETTED SOURCES, AS MUCH OF WHAT IS OUT THERE IS OFTEN DATED OR MIRED IN LONG DISPROVEN MYTHOLOGIES.”

less resistance and improve the overall efficiency and health of your gearbox. Running a basic compression test can weed out issues arising from poor air seal or bad o-rings, which are often the leading cause of FPS loss in an AEG. Poor air seal can also contribute to poor accuracy, which are typically reflected as wild FPS fluctuations on the chronograph. Correcting the Angle of Engagement (AOE) on the piston rack will help improve its lifespan, as will ensuring the rack is epoxied in place and the piston head screw thread locked to prevent separation during operation. Adding sorbo or an AirPad is often done in conjunction to AOE correction and has the benefit of helping to mitigate some of the shock transfer to the gearbox shell when the piston assembly is released. Similarly, and on gearboxes that allow for it, radiusing the cylinder window corners will help prevent frontend cracks from forming and can greatly extend the lifespan of even the lowest quality gearboxes.

These are all basic foundational things that are considered “best practice” when it comes to tuning and upgrading any AEG. After this, you have the “icing on the cake” upgrades, which aren’t really necessary but might be “nice to have” if you have a copious budget to work with, or really want to make it your own. This could be anything from changing up external aspects, such as rail systems, grips, stocks, or even custom refinishing with Cerakote, to CNC machined gearboxes with quick-change spring guides. In a way, higher end Electronic Trigger Units have some overlap with this category as you can get away with a set of bone stock trigger contacts for quite some time, so are more of a luxury than an absolute necessity.

As with anything, there is a point where you start approaching the point of diminishing returns. Just as with real steel, you can spend a substantial amount of money trying to make the gun lighter and faster, with it increasing incrementally in cost the lighter you try and go. And just as there exists copious amounts of snake oil products in real steel, so too does it exist for airsoft; you can easily consume whatever budget you wish to throw at it and scarcely miss a beat. A solid understanding of what it is you want out of the rifle – preferably based on real field experience - and a cost-to-benefit analysis is always a good place to start before setting out to buy upgrades.

Lastly, don’t fall into the trap of triumphing gear over skill. Skill and gear do tend to go hand in hand; whereas you can be a highly skilled player hampered by low quality gear, or a poorly skilled player with topend gear and unable to properly coax any advantage out of it. In an ideal world, you progress both things simultaneously and in harmony.. AA

WHEN IT ALL GOES WRONG!

YOU MAY THINK THAT BECAUSE WE WORK WITH AEGS, GBBS AND GEAR ALL THE TIME, THAT WE ALWAYS GET THINGS RIGHT - BUT EVEN THE VERY BEST OF US CAN GET IT VERY BADLY WRONG FROM TIME TO TIME …WE’RE ONLY HUMAN AFTER ALL! RECENTLY, JASE ATTENDED A MILSIM EVENT WITH A LOT OF NEW KIT TO TEST AND THINGS CERTAINLY DIDN’T GO SMOOTHLY! IT TAKES A BIG MAN TO ADMIT THEIR SHORTCOMINGS BUT JASE HUMBLY TELLS HIS TALE OF WOE…

With “Op Black Rock 2” fast approaching I packed, checked and re-packed my kit. Primaries, secondary, ammo, bangs, smokes, batteries, battle gear, NV, sleep kit, food and water. I was sure I was pretty well set. Or so I thought...

You would have hopefully read my write up of the amazing “Operation Black Rock 2”, where I played with Bravo team. Normally I’m a well-set guy and like to think that the 6 Ps are firmly covered. As it so happened, it all went wrong, like a soggy biscuit falling into your fresh brew!! This article touches on what went wrong for me and reminds me that humility comes to all!

On the Saturday morning in question, I was up early as I had to drop my beautiful daughters off at their mother’s so I was free to get to the Op. This is where part of my well laid plan went bad. The kids were dragging their heels and old father time ticked by. Once they were dropped off it was time to pack up the car at home. I’m very lucky that I have a driveway and am able to cart my kit down the garden to the car without any hassle, instead of lugging down a street or such. As I was conscious of the time, I tried to quicken my pace. Kids car seats were hauled out and Plate Carriers and my bergan replaced them. Next came my gun case; as I had not taken this particular case out with me before, I realised I had to drop the seat to put it in the car, so out came the Plate Carriers and down went the seat. With everything now packed into the car, off I set to Imperium’s site and, not having lost too much time, I was due to arrive on time….ish! Then came the road closure that I wasn’t expecting which, all in all, put

“AS I REINSERTED THE MAG I REALISED THAT THE MAGAZINE WAS VERY LOOSE IN THE MAGWELL, NOT SOMETHING I HAD COME ACROSS IN MY HASTE IN GETTING INTO THE APC, OR HAD CHECKED BEFORE I HAD LEFT HOME. ROOKIE MISTAKE!”

me back 30 minutes and by the time I arrived I had just missed the Brief, which put me in a bit of a tizz.

Once I had met up with my Welsh Wingman “Spencer”, we quickly set up camp with the tent and unloaded the car. Having pre-loaded my mags and set up my Platatac PC I was ready to roll out with Bravo. Things were finally on the up …or were they?

My primary for this part of the event was the Specna Arms SA-H12. This is a lovely bit of kit, solid and looks amazing and has had a strong following since it was first reviewed in April 2021’s magazine. Being part of the test pool at the hallowed “Warehouse 51”, I felt it my duty to take out this prime specimen and give it some hell, which is what the Red Cell is all about.

With Bravo all geared up and in the back of one of the APCs we set off to rescue a downed pilot. Upon arrival, we jumped out and formed a perimeter around our APC while the various elements secured the helo.

It was at this point that Spencer gave me a gentle tap on my shoulder and handed me the magazine that had been in my H12. Alarm bells started to ring! Why had this happened? As I reinserted the mag I realised that the magazine was very loose in the magwell, not something I had come across in my haste in getting into the APC, or had checked before I had left home. Rookie mistake! The magazines I had with me for this rifle were a set of Magpul PTS 120-rounders. Thankfully, I managed to swap over three mags with Spencer so as to continue with the battle that was occurring. At this point I jumped on an LMG to conserve my (now low) ammo count. What shots I did fire over the next few hours were straight and true out of the H12 and I was happy with its performance, bar the magazine issues. The magazines that had been lent to me by Spencer did work but sometimes came loose in the magwell to the point where a stoppage occurred; hoodwinked into thinking all was well, the rifle started to not perform with its shots. Thankfully we were then given the order to RTB.

Once back at the tent and with a possible couple of hours downtime, I took it upon myself to strip the H12 to see what was causing the firing issues. In the haste of the final battle I was in, it was apparent

“…THE FIRST 20 OR SO ROUNDS WHERE FINE UNTIL A VERY HIGH-PITCHED SQUEAK AND ALL PRESSURE FROM THE JET NOZZLE WAS LOST! THE BEAST WAS DEAD AND NO FIELD STRIPPING WAS GOING TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, SO IT WAS PUT BACK IN THE CASE.”