If your getting into airsoft you’ll soon find out, to get the most out of your airsoft rifle your going to need upgrades.
- So this article will hopefully help the new guy understand what parts he will need to upgrade his rifle.
The most common question is “ I want more accuracy and range from my Airsoft gun”
The answer to this question relates to 99% of all modern airsoft rifles, pistols and so on.
Your accuracy and range come from a combination of your Inner Barrel, Bucking and Nub.
With this combination in mind your going to need to find out the length of the inner barrel and looking online possibly will not help so you’ll have to take out the inner barrel from the rifle an measure it.
You have 3 inner barrel cut types to choose from depending on the rifle you have.
AEG ( Airsoft Electric Gun)
VSR10
GBB ( Gas Blow Back)
Now for the length of the barrel if you can’t find the exact length don’t worry find the nearest length the slight difference in length 10-15mm either way won’t make any difference in accuracy or range.
To go a little more into the barrel cuts as you can see in the picture the GBB barrel has more cuts than the VSR and AEG this barrel will fit a few more different chambers than its counter parts
for instance a GBB inner barrel will fit an AEG, Novritsch SSG chambers with the correct bucking of course ( in my Personal AEG I have a Maple Leaf Crazy Jet Inner barrel with Maple leaf Hotshot Bucking) as I wanted to use a maple leaf bucking similar to a VSR.
Bridged or Unbridged
This next part of the inner barrel is the window cut this is where you match the bucking to the barrel.
Bridged barrels like prometheus are best suited to standard mound buckings
Unbridged barrels will work with all buckings your standard mound type and your R Hop style like Maple leaf buckings, TNT.
Personally I always fit an unbridged barrel if I can
BUCKINGS and NUBS
There’s many different brands bucking and nubs on the market so let’s
Make it a little easier to choose.
Check out the 2 main styles of bucking below.
First the Laylax Nineball works amazing in green gas sniper and pistols
Next A Maple leaf Autobot bucking as you can see the patch is much longer and concave these bucking can achieve great range.
Now onto Nubs I’m the pic below shows the 3 main types. Concave, Type B and H Hop
My rule of thumb to maximise your results is to match the bucking to the Nub
For instance a mound style bucking works best with the standard style nub the little cylinder piece of rubber in the hop arm ( Type B ),
And for R Hop, Patch style buckings like Maple leaf, TNT will use a concave style nub like the maple leaf omega nub, Stalker Nubs, which will mirror the shape of the patch inside the bucking maximising the use of the entire bucking patch.
BUCKING SHORE ( How hard the bucking is)
So most companies will rate the hardness of the bucking to an FPS but it’s 2019 and that info is a little out of date.
My rule of thumb
Pistols 50° shore
Aegs 50° – 60° shore for up to 550 FPS
Snipers 60° shore up to 550 FPS
Next question I’m next asked what would I recommend.
I’d normally recommend maple leaf parts as these at easier to install for the average guy.
So if your going to buy new barrel setup
Try not to mix and match your parts.
Maple leaf barrels with maple leaf bucking and so on.
These are the basics to help the beginner,
In some instances you can mix and match barrels and bucking it custom build rifles.
Pistols hop arms and buckings
Most pistols will use a VSR type buckings and some proprietary but the nubs can be an issue as these are moulded into the arm itself.
You can buy full drop in kit from Maple leaf,
This will include everything you need
Or a good gun tech can modify the existing arms itself to work
Below is DIY upgraded hop arm I’ve filled the hop arm opening with epoxy putty and added some heavy duty Gorilla duct tape to the underside so more hop can be applied to lift heavier ammo like 0.40g-0.45g bbs
Quick reminder
Barrel Cut (AEG/VSR/GBB)
Barrel window (Bridges/Unbridged)
Length +/- 5mm-15mm is ok
Bucking type (mound or patch)
Nub ( cylinder or concave )
Check out these 2 Airsoft Retailers they have the best selection of Upgrade parts available
http://bit.ly/ssukmain Skirmshop Uk
http://bit.ly/ssnlmain Skirmshop NL