Turning my Lonex M4 into a DMR

[Schock]

Hey guys,

The first gun I bought when I got into airsoft a few years ago was a full metal Lonex, which has served me well so far. (I have since bought a G&G Wildhog as a backup, which I am really impressed with.)

I have started upgrading my Lonex with the idea of ultimately making it a DMR. So far I have added a Madbull Stainless 6.03 Barrel and a Modify Flat Hop kit.

I recently started having intermittent lockup problems, so I opened up the gearbox and discovered some damaged teeth on the bevel gear. I suspect the damage was caused a while back when I tried to put a different grip on the gun but had motor alignment issues. (entirely self inflicted I'm sure! but thats how we learn, right?)

So now that I have the gearbox apart I am thinking it is time to upgrade some more. It looks to me like the stock internals are pretty decent. The piston looks like a high density polymer with full metal half tooth rack, and the piston head is a machined aluminum vented with ball bearing spring guides. The cylinder is unported, I am guessing because of the 14" barrel? the gearbox has 8mm stainless bearings. The gears are all in perfect condition except for the damaged bevel gear. Even the AOE looks pretty good! The gun shoots slightly over 400 fps stock, so Im thinking I don't need to do much to the air side.

The question is, should I keep the stock gears and gear ratio, and just replace the bevel gear? I haven't found the bevel gear by itself yet, but one local shop has a Lonex helical bevel and pinion gear set. I understand helical is more finicky to set up, but is much quieter and stronger when set up right? Whats the downside?

I am also thinking about throwing in a high torque motor to improve trigger response and allow for a heavier spring. My target fps is around 460 which is the velocity limit for DMR at my local field. They do not require me to disable full auto mechanically. The nice thing about this gun is it has a quick change spring, so I can switch back and forth between DMR and assault.

Naturally I will be trying my hand at shimming the gearbox. I haven't done it before but I'm sure I can manage.

So....thoughts on my plan? motor and gear recommendations?