Upgrading a G+G cansoft light M16. Is it worth it?

[airsoftjunky]

Back in the day when I was just getting into airsoft I bought a G+G m16a3 light version cansoft gun from buyairsoft.ca. Its just been a wallhanger the last year or two now tho, and iv been thinkin of up grading it with a metal body, steel bushings, better piston, tb, etc, to kind of turn it into a sniper.
Q#1: Is it worth it? Or is the V2 gear box to cheap for this?
Q#2: where do I purchase a metal body here in canada? To my knowladge I will be unsuccsesfull trying to import on across the border...
If I have to speand 2 or 3 hundred to make this gun good that's ok. I like everything on this gun externally xcept for the plastic receiver. I just don't know much about the internalls, except that v2 gearboxes can break over time...

[Dynamo]

you are AVed, please use the AVed section if you are going to ask about getting parts. you should have access to the classifieds section, where there are a few items you are looking for already posted.

as far as your gearbox goes, if it's metal it should do fine, but being G&G you may want to look at upgrading your gears.

[Cliffradical]

Shim, lube, piston, hopup, gears are fine unless you upgrade the spring; pretty much just like any other AEG.

IMO because of the brittle nature of the clear/ smoked plastic lowers on these guns, finding a metal lower is essential.
Be careful though, and be prepared for a lot of sanding and/ or dremel work.
Everything I've read says that anything other than a metal G&G lower won't fit right, and from personal experience getting something else to work is a bitch.

[MaciekA]

Originally Posted by airsoftjunky

Q#2: where do I purchase a metal body here in canada? To my knowladge I will be unsuccsesfull trying to import on across the border...

Because of the difficulties of importing and selling metal receivers expect to pay quite a bit for them, a lot more than you see them listed for out of country. They can run from reasonably cheap for a simple metal body with no trades to nearly the price of a mid-range AEG for nice powdercoated G&P body with trades. The G&P body kits absolutely awesome if you can find them.

This can really put a strain on your budget when you're only upgrading a budget gun, so fair warning: What starts off as a quick upgrade might actually transform into a "project gun" venture.

Another note is that not all gearboxes fit well in all bodies. I have a G&G GR-16 gearbox (from the Socom Gear PWS Diablo) that has some trouble fitting in some the receivers from my other M4s, especially with respect to proper alignment of the receiver pins and how they align the bottom of the mechbox with the top of the pistol grip. This sort of thing can kill project progress dead in its tracks and spur a crazy sometimes-fruitless search for new pistol grips, new gearbox shells, etc, etc. Just something to be aware of.

[MaciekA]

Originally Posted by airsoftjunky

Q#1: Is it worth it? Or is the V2 gear box to cheap for this?

I'm not sure which variant/vintage of the G&G body is in your gun but I can say that the plastic-body (opaque) G&G I got last spring (the Diablo) had quite nice internals which I've since re-used in other builds. The gearbox shell I have even has radiusing around the borders of the cylinder window -- stock -- so this wasn't some careless design.. You can almost certainly improve the performance of your gun with a few simple updates. If your budget is 200-300 without upgrading the body, you can pretty much cycle all the internals to new ones if you wanted to.. But I don't think it's necessary. You should do a budget build and see how far you can make, say, $150 go.

Off the top of my head, and having worked with a G&G mechbox myself, I would recommend the following:

1) Clean mechbox, re-shim gears, re-lube (cheap, get the Modify "advanced" shims for 4 bucks a bag)
2) Better bushings (cheap)
3) Spend a ton of iteration time on improving the seal of your compression system: check compression of cylinder, piston's o-ring, Teflon tape (cheap) around the cylinder head if necessary, check the nozzle goes into the hopup far enough to make a good seal, etc. Seal your hopup better, consider doing things like the tooth floss mod (again, cheap, see Maekiii's channel on YouTube) or Teflon tape, etc.
4) Motor upgrade. I was really quite disappointed with the stock G&G motor, if you can throw a nice neodymium motor in there (re-shim if you do..) you'll be pretty surprised. Don't spend more than 50-70 bucks if you can help it, in that range there are some great motors.
5) Rewire from Tamiya to Deans (cheap)
6) Check piston's angle of engagement, consider shaving a tooth if you have to correct it (might need to pick up a cheap file for this step).
7) Clean your trigger contacts
8) Install a simple and inexpensive MOSFET (some other people here recommend stuff like the Extreme-Fire SW-Comp, which is pretty affordable) so that you can use LiPo batteries without charring up your contacts and can direct more juice to your motor

Some folks will tell you to try a tightbore barrel, which might also be a nice budget update that might go far, though if you're happy with the accuracy as it is, you might want to skip it in favour of making the gun shoot harder, faster, quieter, and more reliably (which my above upgrade suggestions would focus on).

You should keep us up to date if you decide to go through with this stuff

[Forever_kaos]

I recently purchased a King Arms V2 M120 complete mechbox, and I love it.
Combined with a Modify hopup unit and the Modify hybrid inner barrel, I'm shooting great.

Quick drop in and go for the mechbox and then all you are left to do, is play with the hopup.

Got it all here:
http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/

One option for you.

As for the Metal body, post up a WTB ad in the WTB section.

[airsoftjunky]

Thanx heaps for the help and 'heads ups' guys. Always appreciated. I'll deffinately look into some of these options. I'm a little surprised there's no airsoft parts store in Canada selling metal bodies however. That's #1 priority for me. I'll try the classifides tho for sure.

[Amos]

Not really...

You've got better options out there, get AV'd

[Cliffradical]

Amos, you're burned out on noobs. Take a vacation.

(He is already AV'd)

And please don't take this as being contrary, but he doesn't really have better options.
The market is flooded with G&Gs so resale in the interest of 'buying up' really doesn't work in favor of the seller right now (believe me, I know).

The 'Stuck with a G&G' club is full to the gills, so I advocate clear, compassionate advice for upgrading and maintenance of these things rather than simply offering that people cut their losses.

[lurkingknight]

brand new king arms m4 is around 340ish bucks all metal... you'll easily spend that much in parts if not added time to deal with upgrading your gun to full metal and upgrading internals.

Not saying don't do the work yourself, but if you don't have the patience to deal with the build or deal with hiccups later, you might save trouble just starting with a nicer platform.

[MultipleParadox]

Saw a Brand new KA Colt M4A1 at 300$ in the retailers pages last/this week. Good gun for the price! As for lower receiver alone, I saw them ranging at about 200-300$... If you put A and B together...

BTW, I can see a link to a store selling AEGs and stuff in the first post, someone might want to move that thread in the verified section?

[airsoftjunky]

Originally Posted by MultipleParadox

Saw a Brand new KA Colt M4A1 at 300$ in the retailers pages last/this week. Good gun for the price! As for lower receiver alone, I saw them ranging at about 200-300$... If you put A and B together...

BTW, I can see a link to a store selling AEGs and stuff in the first post, someone might want to move that thread in the verified section?

Oh boy. Why do all my threads end up getting moved?! Ha. Guess they should start a 'not sure where to start this thread' thread for me!! Ha

[airsoftjunky]

This is an eye opener for me though tell you what! Really didn't know these metal bodies costed so much. I think I might just keep my m16 as a wall hanger/parts for now, and look for a better option...

[Doctorpepper]

m4s are a way to go

[MaciekA]

Yeah pretty much the only way to make it really worth your time is ONE of the two following scenarios:

1) You've got relatively deep pockets, love building custom guns, and don't mind the adventure of fitment modification that finding a metal body can bring

2) You want to get into your own custom builds and can find a metal body for under 200 bucks.

Plenty of people out there have fit into one of the above and come out happy in the end.. So there's no need to toss out your gun just yet. You just need some patience, it's one of those constraints that can turn a quick project into a long-term project, but it's still fun to do. It worked out well for me.