G&G CM, dBoys SD, or ICS? Which to buy?

[THe_Silencer]

Originally Posted by globalogicom

Great advice and all makes perfect sense. As for 'polishing the upper' how do I go about doing this? Tried researching but I can not find a clear step by step guide/video on doing this, including materials to use, etc. Any input on this would be greatly appreciated.

MY advice is to don't bother polishing the gearbox. Of all the upgrades you can do with the internals, polishing the innards takes the MOST amount of time for the LEAST amount of perceptible gain. No offense but I just don't see many airsoft novices committing to something as tedious and time consuming as polishing the insides of their gearboxes. The best advice I can give you is to buy an airsoft gun that looks and feels nicest to you. Spend as much as you can on it b/c you don't want to realize that it's "not for you" later down the road. When it does happen to break down, pop the gearbox open and upgrade w/e you deem necessary or send it to a COMPETENT gundoc if you're not up for it. Don't worry, if you cheap out and get a Chinese AEG, it'll break down in no time!

[Sportco]

None taken silencer,

Ok.. here goes nothing; this is my opinion... I don't believe I have enought expertise in that field to give advice

A good polishing job on any type of mechanical assembly does 5 things... well 6:

1) It remove all potential free floating metal bur or contaminent ((all AEG regardless of price have marginal post machining clean and prep))

2) Polishing a part eliminates surface scratches and mold imperfection eliminating stress risers in the process and reducing the occurance of fractures ((a plus considering the crappy metal they use for our toys))

3) Polishing an assembly give you a better gliding surface reducing friction and by that, do away with most grinded metal contaminents that remain lodged in the grease ((sand paper works even if the sand is floating in grease instead of being glued to paper)) here think grooved cylinders and worn o-ring

4) A clean uniform polished sliding surface allowes easy detection of any abnormal wear ((to correct the cause before it becomes an "upgrade opportunaty" ((read more reliable))

5) Polishing the upper on an ICS M4 will give you 15 to 20 extra fps, free of charge, will reduce strain on the battery and gearbox, allow for much smoother operation and insures more stable FPS on the long run.

So my comment stands... on a ICS "Start by polishing the upper gearbox" yes it takes about an hours for a good internal job but it's worth every minute... ((all you need are scott towel, q-tips, some autosol metal polish and a bit of 600 wet sand paper))

Plus has a bonus ((6)), maintenance on a clean polish casting consists of wipping old grease off with a lint free clothe and regreasing... 1 minutes instead of 20 minutes in the sink with hot water, liquid soap, tooth brush and the insuing mess...

Cheers

Ps I'll bet you a dollar that once you've done the inside you'll do the outside just to get that real steel chrome polish look and that easy cleaning thing inside out!

BTW that will set you back a couple hours...