Echo1 AK74 CPW Flash-hider issue? Need help.

[MooseHead92]

Hello ladies and gents,

I just got my new Echo1 AK-74 Personal Contractor's Weapon out of the box, and the first thing I furiously focused whatever fragmented groups of tired, incoherent, crashed-from-a-major-coffee-high neurons is... THAT [expletive deleted} ORANGE TIP. Oh crap it's so orange. On such a real-looking gun. Might just as well have glued a Barbie doll on the end of the barrel and made the BB's shoot out of her nether regions, that's how glaringly shocking and befuddling it was to my half-broken mind.

I looked around at the tip (not too close, I didn't want to suffer from excessive exposure) and saw a pinhole. Once I stuck a nail in there, a retaining pin popped out. That made the tip very wobbly, but still impossible to retract. The thing that was holding it in place is a stubby, 5mm long steel pin, about the thickness of a cleaning rod. It wouldn't budge! I ended up simply twisting the orange tip around with pliers slowly, until it cracked and I could tear it off. However, now I'm looking to get a metal flash-hider to replace it on there, but what do I do with the darn pin there? It'll prevent me from fully screwing the tip on.

Any help? If anyone has/had this AEG before, let me know how you did it! (I'd hate to end up sawing this thing off, there must be another way).

Cheers!
~MooseHead92

[Kozzie]

look underneath the front sight, you should see a screw which when loosened will allow you to remove the front sight. Look inside the front sight and check to see if there is a blockage or something out of place which can be accessed this way. If you can't get at it from there your only real option is to try tapping it in with a hammer and punch or just cutting it off.

The point of the pin is to keep the flash hider facing the proper direction. It's really only useful if you're using an AK type flash hider.

I have an ECHO 1 AK 74U and the pin on mine was stuck out from the start. I used a hammer and punch to pop it in. It never came back out, I never bothered trying to get it out because the flash hider I use doesn't require it.


Edit:
Don't try to force things, if they don't want to come there's usually a reason.

[MooseHead92]

Originally Posted by Kozzie

[snip] I have an ECHO 1 AK 74U and the pin on mine was stuck out from the start. I used a hammer and punch to pop it in. It never came back out, I never bothered trying to get it out because the flash hider I use doesn't require it. [snip]

Thanks for your reply, Kozzie!

Hah, eventually that's what I did. Took a round nail file and gently hammered the pin into its slot... it never came out. But I won't need it anyways, because I'm not a fan of the little "raisin scoop" flash hiders on the AK-74, so what I'm doing is swapping it out for an AKS-style one. It's only 10 bucks and it's all metal, so why not, eh?

Also, since you said you own a somewhat similar model, what can you tell me about reliability and operation? I went ahead with a basic check-up as follows:

- Tightened all screws within moderation (selector arm, mag well, RIS, et cetera).
- Cleaned the barrel before firing.
- Cleaned the inside of the battery area (the groove, the cover).
- Sprayed ~0.5 seconds of silicone lube in barrel, fired one hi-cap mag (~500 BB's) to break the gun in a bit.
- Cleaned barrel again to remove excess lube.
- Fired another mag, just in case.

Would that be enough at least for winter maintenance and some future indoor target practice (i.e. local airsoft/paintball arena)? What else would I need to do so I won't have my AEG fail on me?

...Also, what type of screw is the one under the front sight? I might be either dumb or blind (or both) but I can't make it out, looks like rivet to me!

Any advice is welcome, I only want what's best for my investment

[Kozzie]

If you're just plinking no need to really do anything but shoot it. Keep the barrel clean to prevent jams and scratches, keep your battery unplugged when not in use. That gun on a 9.6 or 8.4 nickel battery should run just fine stock for a long time depending what spring you have in it, a strong spring will put some good wear on that piston. I sometimes like to put blue lock-tite on key external screws just to make sure they don't work themselves out over time.


If you want to upgrade it for performance these were the major issues I had with mine.

- Clean out/Re-shim/Re-grease the mechbox. The shimming on mine wasn't awful but it wasn't great either. IMO all AEG's that are for gaming should have this done, there are many different benefits including better battery life and enhanced longevity.

- The piston head had a terrible seal in the cylinder. I replaced all of the compression parts in mine but you may be able to get away with just a new o-ring or ball bearing piston head.

- The clear plastic nozzle could stand replacing with a stronger o-ringed nozzle.

- The spring guide is non-bearing, I replaced mine with a bearing spring guide.


But really, if it ain't broke..... The nozzle and piston head will give you the most noticeable performance increase and shouldn't cost very much in parts. Not really necessary unless if you're just plinking.


Edit: I love the slant flash hider, aka raisin scoop, no need for a bayonet with that savage looking bad boy.

[MooseHead92]

Originally Posted by Kozzie

If you want to upgrade it for performance these were the major issues I had with mine. [snip] But really, if it ain't broke..... The nozzle and piston head will give you the most noticeable performance increase and shouldn't cost very much in parts. Not really necessary unless if you're just plinking.
Edit: I love the slant flash hider, aka raisin scoop, no need for a bayonet with that savage looking bad boy.

Thank you for your advice, Kozzie. If I start pushing you to the brink of a nervous breakdown with my noob questions and walls of text, let me know hahaha

n the meantime... I want to upgrade my AEG to game standard, as I will be taking it to indoor matches in about a month with some friends! Would I be able to personally perform the above-mentioned upgrades on my own? If so, what particular parts do I need, where can I get them, and how much will it cost? If you can give me a list of parts you upgraded to, I can trace them down. I'll also use this as a learning experience, too, so I can (very slowly and carefully!) get an idea about the internals of the rifle.

PS.: An airsoft crazy friend gave me the gift of choice between a PBS-1 and PBS-4 suppressor (almost all his AEG's are AK's and he has tons of compatible eyecandy lying around). Which one should I grab?

I tried out the PBS-4 suppressor on, but I suppose that because:
1) I don't have an internal barrel extension, or
2) I haven't yet fine-tuned my hop-up, or
3) I have a stuck flash hider/suppressor pin, or
4) The suppressor is designed like crap;
My accuracy went down the loo, with BB's flying 10cm off their mark at maybe 10 feet of range, and one BB apparently shattering inside the suppressor (I unscrewed it after to find flaky white bits, and a chip in the internal paint of the suppressor). I also somehow believe my BB's were off due to the slanted end of the suppressor, and the inside chamber, affecting the airflow...

I have attached a photo of the suppressor, and an internal diagram explaining in greater detail what (I think) happens that makes my shots go bonkers. The PBS-1 is a regular suppressor with no funny end bits, would it be a better choice? Otherwise, I could bum an inner barrel off my buddy, cut it to size, debur it, then stick it/glue it through the suppressor itself, therefore getting a functional barrel-extension AND the sexy look of the PBS-1/PBS-4. To do, or not to do?

Again, sorry for the wall of text... if you can help me I'd really appreciate it. I'd just use the suppressor for display, but I love the added front-end weight, it gives a much more solid feel when lugging the AEG around

Cheers, good night, and all the best!
~ MooseHead92

[Kozzie]

Speaking in real steel terms AK's are chambered to fire different calibers, the most common calibers being 7.62 and 5.45. The PBS-1 suppressor is designed to be used with the 7.62 round and the PBS-4 is for use with the 5.45 round. The way to tell the difference at a glance is the mag in the gun. The more curved mags are 7.62 and the straighter mags are 5.45. What does this mean in airsoft... nothing really as all your rounds are 6mm but some people like their guns to be accurate to real steel. Other than that it really comes down to aesthetics.

The suppressor shouldn't be causing your bb's to go haywire. The slant flash hider has the same shape tip and it doesn't affect the bb's. It sounds like bb's are hitting inside the suppressor. My guess is your suppressor isn't parallel with your barrel or your hop-up is turned on too high. Try turning your hop-up off (push it all the way forward) and see what happens.

Edit: IMO there's no need for a suppressor unless you're hiding an inner barrel, if you want an AK with a longer barrel get an SVD or an RPK. I personally like my stuff to be as light as possible and PBS suppressors are inherently heavy. Personally the last thing I want my gun to be is front heavy, the more you have your barrel up the faster you can put accurate shots on target. It will also add a great deal of length to the gun which is a bad thing for manoeuvrability especially indoors, an AK is pretty long to begin with.

You have a version 3 gearbox. There's no reason why you can't do the work yourself, there is a lot of info out there on how to work on a gearbox and you would learn a lot of good stuff. That being said a gearbox is full of little springs and small parts, look into it and know what you're getting into before you do it. If you're not comfortable with doing the work there are gun docs out there that can do the work for you.

There should be a few "how to" guides on youtube search for echo 1 AK disassembly and version 3 mechbox disassembly.

This is a good source of info too - http://forums.airsoftmechanics.com/index.php

I replaced nearly everything except the gears and motor in mine, I wouldn't say this is necessary. You would be fine gaming it stock if you want. A lot of people chose to use their guns stock till something breaks then upgrade the broken bits.

The compression is not great in this gearbox, these two items should fix it. Only way to tell for sure is to install them and do a compression test. Good compression leads to consistency/accuracy, in your shots.
- http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/in...roducts_id=779
- http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/in...roducts_id=765

If you're going to get a gun doc to do the work you should consider putting in more parts (bearing spring guide, stronger tappet plate and piston) as a lot of what he/she will charge you is labour to disassemble/assemble the gun and gearbox. Edit: Though it can be fiddly and time consuming, a re-shim/re-lube would also be money well spent.