Yes, I can ship to the US.

Yes, I can assemble and ship semi-constructed pistols as well, but do note that many airsoft products purchased from Canada will be more expensive than purchasing from overseas, due to local importation laws and difficulties in acquiring certain airsoft components.

I never get sick of looking at that thing. That is one sexy gun...
Brian, when are you going to post more gun pron?

Just to add to what ILLusion said, a stock hi-capa 4.3 will fit in a glock 17 safariland 6004 with no modifications needed to the holster or the gun.

Well, I have been scouring the internet in hopes to find some combination of a Freedom Arts frame set and a matching slide from SD or AS. There are pretty slim pickings out there for full length dust covers that are not rounded for 5.1 and their are very few non-rounded ones for the 4.3. Its a little disappointing when your only option is the Marui OPs-Tac sides. I like the comp and frame sets offered by Freedom Arts I just can't find anything for them that's in stock. Do you guys think the market is just crap or about to go through a cycle and flood?

In you opinion is it worth buying a retail custom pistol? Are there errors that can be made that result in catastrophic damage to the replicas? I have worked on airsoft guns for several years and owned a Hi Capa for almost the same. I'm skittish to try upgrading one myself but it would save a lot of money. In the end the pistol would be barely Tokyo Marui. I'm guessing the HU unit, the mags would remain TM and maybe a few screws.

Do hybrid barrel/slide sets require anything more than normal slides and barrels to install? I'm assuming the lugs are different. Are the easier, harder or just a totally different.

What is your opinion on Airsoft Surgeon parts? Will they always work together?

thanks again,
mateba

Quick question.I have a KJW Para 2011. It has a fixed hopup. Been having one hell of a time finding a tightbore for it.

Freedom Art's history shows that they only do small production runs of products (particularly Hi-Capa frames) which will never be produced again. I doubt you will see another cycle of them.

That depends on who the builder is.

You shouldn't require anything extra to install a hybrid slide/barrel setup.

There is no difference between the lugs of a hybrid or standard bull barrel setup - I don't see why there would be a difference. Look at a setup... the area where the lugs exist are not touched at all by the hybrid stack. The hybrid stack only exists on the forward portion of the barrel/slide. For all intents and purposes, everything behind the stack is exactly the same. The same holds true for a SightTracker setup.

I'm not sure how much of my input on Airsoft Surgeon parts is valid, especially since we are direct competitors and we source many same products from the same factory but rebranded under our own names.

All I can say is that I operate with smaller runs, so my customers have a higher chance of getting the most recent revisions of product updates (unless they request otherwise).

Also, because each of my orders are built to order, products can be highly customized at the buyer's demand. For example, Airsoft Surgeon's fixed steel outer barrels have "AS 38 SUPER" engraved on the chamber, which isn't an ideal marking for a lot of users who are after realistic markings. On the other hand, ILLusion Kinetics barrels have these standard markings: Blank, ".45 ACP", & ".38 SUPER". Other markings are also available, but may be at added cost. The exception is with larger production runs of the same thing.

As for the parts working together... that depends on which parts you are referring to directly. ILLusion Kinetics parts may experience the same problems as Airsoft Surgeon parts, due to the fact that they come from the same source. ILLusion Kinetics was shipping corrected slides several months before Airsoft Surgeon finally did.
One product for example, would be the mid-frames, which still require a lot of work to the valve knocker area. Installation of these frames is only recommended by very experienced modifiers.

Sorry, I have zero experience with that gun. I'm not aware of how the hop up or barrel system on it works.

For the sake of this thread, I would say that the content is only limited to Marui only pistols of this variety, OR direct clones of the Marui system (my recent experience with some clones from KJW shows that they still are not 100% clones. If anything, they are very poor low grade clones chock-full of problems.)

To quote and response #1.
My comment on the depleted market was more in reference to slides. I will cross my fingers that I'll be lucky enough to get the frame then.

To quote and response #2.
I was thinking of doing some of this myself, but if I'm going to blow it up I'll obviously need to consider other options.

To quote and response #3.
That's great! I like there stuff. I'll get a list together of things of there's that I like to see what you think and can provide.

TM 5.1 outer barrel and chamber
 

Since im changing my plastic 5.1 slide to a metal slide, i would probably need to upgrade the outer barrel and chamber as well. I was thinking about going with Shooter's Design to match my metal SD slide. Anyways, I just have a few questions:

1. Is Shooters Design a good brand to go by? If no, what would you recommend?

2. Do i get something like this that has the outer barrel fixed to the chamber?
http://www.wgcshop.com/wgc2008/main/...al&rs=shooters design

OR do i get the outer barrel and chamber separately?

3. Which kind of outer barrel is better, the "cone" type or the "straight" type?

straight barrels are for 1911, and require a barrel bushing, and will not fit a hicapa slide

Go to Illusion. When you have something you want for your hi-capa, go to Illusion.
Shooters Design goes best with Shooters Design. If not, Illusion has custom parts he can do for you which are better than SD.

1. Yes, SD is a good brand in general. There's no guarantees, but keeping the same manufacturer for the parts usually helps.

2. Up to you...the two part barrel/chamber lets you customize what trades you get/want on the chamber...and you end up with the flexibility to swap it down the road for a different barrel (say for example you really wanted to switch to a v12 slide...if you have a 2 part barrel you could just order the ported v12 barrel and stick it onto your existing chamber). They can come undone though...so loctite it when you're happy with the setup.

3. Some hicapa slides are cut with the slot needed for the bushing to lock into for a straight barrel. Again, match up manufacturers. Traditionally, on a 5.1 you'd use a cone barrel. However, since very few of them actually lockup nicely between the outer barrel and slide right at the end when the slide is forward in battery...it doesn't NEED to be the rule to follow.

If you went with a bushing and a straight barrel and ended up with a fit that had less movement between the barrel/bushing/slide...you'd end up with a more accurate pistol than if you went with a cone barrel that had a sloppy fit. The purpose of a cone barrel is to have the slide fit perfectly when it's forward in battery.

A cone barrel will have more weight...which will do more to keep muzzle flip down vs. a lighter straight barrel. Depending on the weight of the bushing, any loss/gain might be minimal. The added bushing weight is weight that will be moving with the slide...and the more weight the slower the slide cycling speed.

1. Shooters Design is one of the better brands. Some other brands offer better slide durability. Shooters Design barrels may need modifications in order to get them to function properly - even with Shooters Design slides.

2. That one piece barrel/chamber combo is meant for use with COMPENSATORS. Read the product information. "Requires optional Compensator." If you don't plan on installing a Shooters Design compensator, then don't use this barrel. If you are looking to get a Shooters Design barrel for use without a compensator, then you would need the two seperate pieces.

3. There is no "better" - it depends on your purpose. Competitive shooters prefer the bull barrels (cone) due to the heavier muzzle weight being able to bring down muzzle flip, as well as faster slide cycling speed due to lighter slide weight. Shooters interested in building "1911" style builds prefer the straight barrel, but it requires you to also get the optional barrel bushing kit. Note: Not all Shooters Design Hi-Capa slides can support the barrel bushing kit. Some do, some don't. NO online retailer indicates whether the slide has the bushing notch cut in to it. When you ask them, they also give you a "I have no idea what you're talking about" answer. You'll just have to order the slide you want and see if it has the proper bushing grooves in it to support the kit. If it doesn't, then you'll need to stick with the bull barrel.

Thanks for the info on the bushing kit designation. I thought that I was retarded and just couldn't find out which ones had it an which ones didn't. :)

Is there any rhyme/reason as to which bushings fit tighter/looser than others? I had one once that had a lot of forward and back play...but it was just random parts thrown together.

Tys

Shooters Design is generally constructed okay, but I find that their machining tolerances can tend to lean towards the loose side and can be very inconsistent at other times, just like that one damned Shooters Design slide/barrel/chamber set that you had that just wouldn't function properly, no matter what we did to it.