MICH 2000 Update

I’ve been noticing an increase in helmets other than 2000’s in recent photographs of real MARSOC operators – mostly Ops Core Maritime’s – and decided it was time to do something different with this helmet that was otherwise just going to sit on one of my shelves of no return.

Picked up some Emerson repro ARC rails, then went to town on chopping chunks out of my latest lid project, an Element “Ideal” MICH TC2000 in OD.

Run and Guns – Mar 23, 2014

I haven’t enjoyed a pure run and gun day this much in ages… I guess I’ve just forgotten what airsoft is once you remove all the politics and business and other assorted bullshit that I’m all too accustomed to when it comes to this sort of obsessive hobby. Was certainly nice to get out there and run two new guns through their paces – Jetlag was running my new Echo1 SOF3 (a bit of a sleeper compared to how much crap I usually like to put on my guns, proportional to how much work goes into the internals), and I got the opportunity to run my CA SA58 for the what will probably be the last time, as well as got my first few kills on my brand new LCT AKS-74M.

Footage from quick and simple games with Team Avengers and Panther Airsoft Club this past Sunday. Most of these clips depict kills, though some of them I have kept in there because they’re just hilarious to listen to… usually just Jetlag yelling stupid stuff while getting shot at. At the end there’s a little clip of me screwing with Sunny D’s gear and mags, as per the usual. All of it just for fun – which it certainly was… well, for Jetlag and I, at least. And it helped that we were at about 10,000 BB’s dumped downrange in a day, between the two of us.

LCT AKS-74M NV

Yet another AK? Yup, I’ve got big plans for this one as a bit of a discrete newbie-killer gun – plain looking internals, but plenty of internal upgrades. I recently picked up this LCT AKS-74M in a lieu of credit owed from a former local retailer that was blowing out stock, in preparations for closing their doors; at the price I got it for, I really couldn’t pass up on this good of a deal for a brand new LCT AK AEG.

May I present to you – my brand new LCT AKS-74M NV. I don’t think I actually did a complete review on my first LCT, an AK-104, in one whole article, so here goes!

Tokyo Marui PSG-1

I recently had to do a simple fix on one of these at work… so I took the opportunity to snap a few photos of it while it was partially disassembled.

The H&K G3 line of rifles has always been of interest to me, including two of my early AEGs, hence why the PSG-1 (mechanically based off the G3) naturally gains that cool factor in my books.

In case this isn’t already apparent, this is a very long gun; it wouldn’t fit in my phone’s photo frame when fully assembled.

More photos of the finer details of the TM PSG-1 AEG after the break – many of which were a pleasant surprise for me to discover!

Surefire M961 x Element M951

We were testing compatibility between some of the components of a real Surefire M961 and a Element M951 current-gen (both lights are a simple matter of unscrewing the head and tail cap from the body), out of curiosity. The following are the results:

 

TM MEU: Quick Observations

Had the chance to mess around (read: fire around 200+ rounds at various paper/steel targets) with my new TM 1911 MEU at a local indoor range yesterday and came away with the following observations, all after the break.

TLDR: I love this gun.

VFC AK Optic Mount

Personally, I find that the AK platform points much more naturally than an AR platform. Point shooting is real easy, and bringing the sights up is just as much of a breeze. However, AK sights are designed specifically for closer range engagements, as I can recall – meaning that they aren’t the easiest of iron sight pictures out there to shoot when it comes to trying to send a single well placed shot way out there. Honestly, I generally like to go the much lazier way of just slapping on an optic; optics themselves present a whole pile of benefits that are hard to turn down. Now, take the natural point of aim for the AK and add an optical sight at roughly that height (lower 1/3 with an Aimpoint T-1 or comparable dot sight, to be exact) – what do you get?

What I call the ultimate AK optic mount, that’s what.

Systema vs. MAG PTW Magazines

Stumbled across a pair of these, and so I snapped a few quick pics to compare the two externally. Not even going to compare performance, as I’m pretty much loving how well my upgraded Systema magazines feed… but I can tell you that from initial glance the compressed follower spring tension in these old and used MAG magazines isn’t enough to feed anything heavy in my own PTW (other users may have mixed results).

Quick notes on comparing the Systema and MAG magazines for Systema PTW:

• MAG looks and feels cheaper – metal shell stamping, plastic parts material
• Weight is roughly the same
• Systema follower is better moulded, yet has a tendency to pop out, whereas the MAG design prevents this
• Design and assembly appears the same
• Systema uses roll pins to hold inner case in outer case, whereas MAG uses solid pins for this function

Quick photo comparison here (more photos after the break):

DIY: WE M4A1 “Open Bolt” Velocity Reducer

Speaking of WE M4 nozzles…

I found that the RA-Tech NPAS I own has a tendency to shift itself during firing, causing (up to) some pretty wild muzzle velocities by the end of a day on the field – something I’d rather not subject other players on the field to, provided I can even hit anything with the constantly fluctuating hop up setting required due to increased FPS.

Using the same concept of adding a shim behind the floating valve as per some of the FPS reduction kits for various GBB models, I’ve done this simple little trick to my WE M4 “Open Bolt” nozzles for a couple of years now.

This do-it-yourself mod is as simple as installing a washer or two, allowing for field-legal muzzle velocities while running higher pressure gases (i.e. MAPP) and tightbore barrels (in this case, an Angry Gun 6.03 x 360mm). I found that experimenting with different sizes of washers yielded different muzzle velocity results; thicker washers reduced muzzle velocity to a greater degree (similar to concept of adjustable valve length). I’ve seen other adjustable systems for other platforms that constrict or open up the front end of the nozzle, but I’m not yet sure how stable these are if applied to the WE system, in comparison.

Metal washers seemed to work more reliably over longer periods of time, though were often thinner in thickness. Washers with an outer diameter that were too small tended to dislodge during firing and get stuck in awkward positions within the loading nozzle, whereas I actually never experimented with washers with differing inner diameters but figure this to be an interesting experiment to see if there is any change for trial sometime in the future.

WE M4 OB Loading Nozzle Update

Having gone through countless loading nozzles for my WE M4A1 with the open bolt conversion kit installed, I’m glad to see that WE have been using new plastics inside all of their guns.

I unfortunately do not have many of the old WE nozzles that have given up on me, as this was formerly a regular occurrence on any WE model. I do have a couple of broken M4 loading muzzles on hand – all of which have broken in the exact same place as is common with most of the WE guns, the loading “finger”:

Over the recent 6 months or so, I have been noticing a change in WE material that these plastic parts have been constructed from. If you look closely at the inset photo below, you may see the colour and texture differences of the lower bolt assembly.

We’ll see if the new batch of M4 loading nozzles I’ve got on hand now will last much longer or not – only more use will tell. Well, 2-6 months of weekly war gaming time with this platform, to ball park it.