10 minute read
TECH: MAINTENANCE
TIPS FOR NEW YEAR MAINTENANCE
GETTING YOUR GAME ON IS GENERALLY A SIMPLE THING IF YOU KEEP YOUR GEAR SQUARED AWAY AND CLEAN, AND TAKING TIME TO PREP IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING IN OUR OPINION! AS A WHOLE NEW YEAR OF AIRSOFT BECKONS, DAN TAKES A LOOK AT WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING DO KEEP YOUR SHOOTING PLATFORMS AND GEAR IN TIP-TOP, BATTLE-READY CONDITION!
As the deep cold is settling in here in our northern state of the USA , airsoft similarly grinds to a freezing halt and most of us in this climate shelve our guns till the return of warmer days. In this wintery slow-down period, I always take the opportunity to do some basic year-end maintenance of my guns and gear to keep things in tip-top shape. These basic tips are also helpful throughout the year or whenever you might consider placing your airsoft equipment into storage for any lengthy period of time.
AEGS
Starting with the cool stuff first, lets talk about prepping your airsoft guns for storage conditions. Obviously, it should go without saying, but never store your AEG’s with a battery connected. This advice also applies to any battery powered device, for that matter. For guns outfitted with ETU’s or MOSFET’s, these will often draw a minute charge to keep the FET’ powered on. Over a period of weeks or months, this can draw down your battery to unsafe voltage levels, especially if that battery was previously used and is already at lowered voltage. I’ll cover a bit more on batteries further below.
HOP UP
The second thing to check over is that your hop up is dialed all the way off. I actually do this after the end of every event myself, but anytime you put your gun away for an extended period of time, you should ensure you turn the hop up off. This is to prevent a “set” from forming on the hop up bucking. Once this takes hold you might find yourself having to apply more and more hop up adjustment just to get a good trajectory. In severe cases, the bucking might be so deformed that you even run out of adjustment on the hop up dial and the bucking will have to be replaced. This is especially critical for guns equipped with flat hops, as those are slightly more prone to deformation and taking on a set than traditional buckings or R-Hops. Incidentally, this is something I encounter frequently when taking in guns for repair that have been sitting unused for extended periods of time or where the owner left the chamber in a permanent “on” condition, and they no longer shoot as well as before.
CLEANING
Turning off the hop up is also important for this next step, which is to clean the bore. Most airsoft rifles and guns will usually come with a plastic unjamming
rod in the box. Most of these also have a provision for a cleaning patch to be affixed. Never use a steel or aluminum rod as these can scratch or damage the internal surface of your barrel, especially if using Teflon coated barrels such as the Madbull Black Python series. I recommend using a .223/5.56mm sized patch soaked in some rubbing alcohol (also referred to as Isopropyl alcohol). Contrary to old “wisdom”, never use silicone oil to clean your bore. Silicone oil attracts dust and will also negatively affect your accuracy until it’s removed from the bore. Rubbing alcohol will evaporate off, leaving no residue behind. For your more advanced users, you may want to also disassemble the hop up chamber from your barrel so you’re only working with one part. This also gives you the opportunity to inspect the bucking for damage or wear and reset the entire assembly, ensuring nothing has shifted out of alignment over time.
Swab the bore with your patches until they come out clean. You may also notice a lot of flakey white residue buildup if you’ve shot an especially large amount over the year or haven’t cleaned your bore in a while. This is old BB residue left behind from the passage of BBs. Over time, this can build up to an excessive amount and seriously impact your accuracy. It’s more common to encounter it on very tight bores or when using a lot of biodegradable ammo. In really severe cases I have had to resort to using a nylon bristle bore brush to break up heavy deposits that are layered in thick.
I also like to clean off the exterior of the gun. Personally, I’m a big fan of toothbrushes to scrub away dirt and grime that collects in the nooks and crannies and between rail spaces. Here you’re also looking for signs of corrosion or rust formation. On screws and small set screws, this can become problematic for future maintenance if they are
completely rusted out as they will require more medieval methods of removal. Most airsoft guns do not have many true steel surfaces to contend with, but there are some brands that use copious amounts of steel, such as LCT and Real Sword, as an example. For these, I like to use barrier wipes to coat the exterior surface with a thin protective oil that will prevent surface rust from developing.
For generalized cleaning where there is lots of
grime and grease residue on the exterior finish, rubbing alcohol is again tops and will cut through it all easily, leaving behind a nice appearance after evaporating off.
Once again, more advanced users may wish to dig a little deeper and give the gearbox side some inspection and minor maintenance. On guns I’ve used heavily during the year, I’ll usually open them up at least once to clean the box out, re-grease the components and install new o-rings for the compression parts. Personally, I like to know the exact condition of my guns whenever I go to reach for them.
MAGAZINES
It is normally not a good idea to leave magazines fully loaded with BBs for extensive periods of time. As airsoft magazine springs aren’t made of especially strong spring steels like one might find in real steel magazines, these are more prone to taking on a compression set and ending up deformed. If you leave biodegradeable BBs stored in magazines they can swell up and render the magazine inoperable, at which point it will have to be fully disassembled around the swollen BBs to extricate them.
If you’ve noticed that your magazines seem to weakly spit out BBs, this can be a good indicator that they need some cleaning and maintenance. Ideally when one pulls back on the BB release latch on a fully loaded magazine, the BBs should spray out with good force. Dribbling, hanging up or weak ejection is a sign of contaminated magazines, damaged or weakened springs, or bad BBs fouling things up. Fortunately most magazines manufactured these days can have their springs replaced with little trouble. But as with anything, if it’s well past the point of resurrection through normal means, then it probably means it’s time to cycle it out for good. Magazines should be considered consumable items; similar to hop up buckings in that they do eventually wear out.
GAS BLOWBACKS
For gas-blowback guns, the same methods and techniques apply as above. The one minor caveat is that it is a good idea to store your GBB magazines with a small charge of gas in them to help keep the seals popped out. This is beneficial in the long term as it will also help prevent the seals from shrinking, drying out or leaking. You can generally leave a GBB mag stored in this condition for many years without a seal failure.
BATTERIES
On the subject of batteries, if they’re going into storage for any length of time, it’s a good idea to set your charger to a storage charge. As always, I recommend following manufacturer recommendations for your particular battery type as they do vary. But let’s take a quick look at one of our most common types of battery used: LiPo’s. Most novice players do not know that these will naturally self-discharge, albeit at a very low rate. If left in a discharged state, they can discharge below their safe voltage limit. This will render the battery useless the next time you want to charge it. Conversely, if left in a fully charged state and unused, the cells in a LiPo will unbalance quickly. Proper storage voltage for a LiPo is nominally 3.85 volts per cell. Most quality battery chargers will have a storage function that will either charge or discharge your LiPo until it reaches 3.85V per cell.
It’s a good idea to store your batteries in a fireproof sack or sealed container as a safety precaution. I use
a .50 cal ammo can for this purpose, myself. Avoid storing them in high heat or humid environments or places that are subject to large temperature fluctuations (no, your vehicle is not a good storage place for anything airsoft related!). Cooler storage environments with a temperature range of 4 – 10C (40 -50F) are optimal for long term storage. Likewise, this also applies to the safe storage of gas canisters for your GBB items. These can be especially dangerous and explode when exposed to high heat, such as is commonly encountered in vehicles.
BBS
BBs should be stored in a cool, dry place. This is more critical if you use a lot of biodegradable ammo as it will begin to degrade over time through exposure to oxygen, heat, humidity and other conditions. Modern BIO ammo is better than previous efforts and can also have better protection against moisture and humidity. Even still, it’s a good idea to adhere to the basic tenants of storage: cool and dry is best. And one should apply the same principles of “FIFO” to their ammo too: First-In, First-Out. Cycle out your BBs periodically, and you will usually never encounter a problem.
LOAD BEARING GEAR AND HYDRATION
Back when I was an avid paintballer, I used to have to clean my load-bearing gear literally after every game. Aside from the smell and stains, if left untouched for too long, you would eventually experience rotting gear from things being left in a continuously greasy, moist mess. Fortunately airsoft is not nearly as messy an endeavor, but it’s still a good idea to occasionally give it a good cleaning. This is also a good opportunity to inspect for damaged buckles, loose threads or make adjustments to your layout.
If you use a hydration carrier, such as a Camelbak or SOURCE, I highly recommend giving it a good sanitizing cleaning and letting it air-dry fully before storing it away. Depending on where you get your water and how long it’s been since you last cleaned it, these can build up moldy growths or biofilm, both of which can make you feel ill. There are good commercially available cleaning tools that work well for the hard to reach areas of these hydration carriers and they are worth the small investment.
EYE PROTECTION
With regard to eye protection – if it’s yellowed, cracked, excessively scratched or you’ve been using it for longer than 5+ years, switch it out. There’s no substitute for properly protecting your eyes, and contrary to popular perception, protective lenses do have an expiration date. Continuous UV exposure over years of use will cause your lenses to become more brittle and degrade the effectiveness and ability of your lenses to absorb impacts.
By practicing a little routine preventative maintenance, you can ensure your guns and gear remain in optimal condition for the next time you head out to an event or put your stuff away for storage. Forestalling problems before they arise is also less expensive in the long run and can be the difference between sitting out a game or slinging BBs with your friends! AA
