G&P Defender AEG, and it's new 8mm Gearbox

[TriChrome]

The G&P Defender is loosely modeled after the new SOPMOD Block II. It's key feature is a replica of the 9.5" long Daniel Defense MK18 RIS II (note that the RIS isn't in dark earth like the real thing), which is being used on the MK18 CQBR's. The barrel length is 310mm. Other parts included with the gun is a metal body with Seal trademarks (my first set of fake trademarks), QD flip-up front sight, rear ambidextrous sling mount, KAC style trigger guard, Tango Down verticle grip, Tango Down grip, Aimpoint in Wilcox mount, SPR type charging handle, and 3x rail covers.

This gun, out of the box, on a 11.1v 1200mah Li-Poly, shot 29 RPS at 325 FPS with .25's (about 365 FPS with .2's). It was bought from BoomArms for $388 shipped.




EXTERNALS





Fake trades on left side


Fake trades on right side


Notice how the dust cover stays in the open position. It can NOT be closed. Pulling back the charging handle pulls the fake bolt back enough to adjust the hop-up.


600 meter KAC style sight, and SPR charging handle



Overall impression: Another extremely solid G&P gun. I can't stress enough how nothing has any wobble, or any play. Finish is second to none. The dust cover is a nice touch, but I don't see why they couldn't make it stay closed like the TM version. The crane stock is to real steel specs and is a great deal thinner than my Pryme model (which takes Sub-C sized cells, versus the A or AA sized the G&P crane stock can take). The TD replica grip has a great felt-like feel to it. The trademarks on the Wilcox mount and the Daniel Defense RIS almost overshadow the blatantly fake (yet still almost somehow cool IMO) trademarks on the rest of the body.

Having it shoot at 29 RPS is truly amazing and has to be the new G&P M120 High Speed motor (paired with a high voltage battery of course). This is probably why G&P recommends using a 7.2 or 8.4v battery on this gun (that high ROF will take it's toll on the gearbox). FPS is normal for a G&P, although I've had higher. Accuracy with the stock barrel is what you would accept with any comparable brand.




INTERNALS

Left and right side



8mm Bearing Bushings


Bridged switch assembly and non-metal-claded selector plate (leaves only 1 mechanical safety in the gun)


Overal internal shot


gears


Large tappet plate nub on sector gear


Aluminum Cylinder head and nozzle. Nozzle is still a little too tight in my opinion, but better than they used to be


Spring guide with mock bearings (it rotates pretty freely, but there's no bearings to help that along)


G&P Polycetal piston and ported explosive piston head


reinforced steel trigger tab (this is the part that broke in 3+ older G&P gearboxes I had)




Overall impression of the internal parts: The gun had literally no lube in it. What was left seemed to be more of a gel stuck to the edge of the gearbox. For this gun being so new on the market, and only 500 being made, there's no chance the lube simply dried up. When I had the gearbox open I installed a PDI 170% spring, checked the shimming, and clean and lubed everything. To the guns credit, when I installed a stronger spring, but gave the gun some much needed lube, the ROF actually increased to 30 RPS. The FPS was 350 FPS with .25's (about 390 with .2's) with the new spring. That's about normal for a PDI 170%, but to be honest, with a completely aftermarket compression setup I can usually get 400-410 with .2's for that spring.

Shimming was perfect on the spur gear, but off by a good .3mm on the sector, and .2mm on the bevel gear. Clearance between the gears was fine. All internal parts seem to be on-par with the older G&P's, but only time will tell if they hold up better than before (i.e. no slipping axles on the gear, broken tappet plates, switch problems, pistons with their rear broken off, etc.). The steel reinforcement of the tab for the male part of the switch was a welcome addition since I've had that part break many times before. The G&P M120 High Speed motor is a performer most similar to the Systema Magnum, and Guarder Revolution motors... although the semi-auto response is still a little lacking (probably due to high speed motors needing a little more time to speed up to their highest RPM, whereas a motor with more torque, but less peak RPM's, will give you better trigger response, but an overall lower RPS).

The hop-up didn't give me any problems, but they never did before either (although I've read of numerous other people's problems with them in the past). The hop-up unit was re-designed to some extent because a Prometheus barrel with a Prometheus bucking (which is thicker than a stock bucking) fit inside it for the first time. The hop-up also comes with the spring in the front, a simple item they somehow forgot in the past. Wiring seems a little less brittle from what I remember, but I'm not a fan of the fake Deans connector in the rear (although it is functional, it doesn't fit nearly as snug into a real deans connector). G&P 7mm bearings in the past have been as robust as any other type I've tried, so these 8mm versions should be even more robust.

Stay tuned for updates as I put more rounds through the gun.

[ShadowNet]

err, aren't the fire selector markings supposed to be SAFE, SEMI and AUTO? seems like it's engrish coz it says "SAVE". maybe it has a battery saving feature?

[TokyoSeven]

Lovin that front end. Cant say Im a huge fan of the style of the rear sight but the the trades are pretty sweet.

[TriChrome]

Originally Posted by ShadowNet

err, aren't the fire selector markings supposed to be SAFE, SEMI and AUTO? seems like it's engrish coz it says "SAVE". maybe it has a battery saving feature?

Since they're fake trademarks they can really make them say whatever they want. I take it as "SAVE ammo". It'll be getting a King Arms VLTOR body in the future anyway so I could care less (or hopefully G&P will make one by the time I've saved the money for it

[Masterless]

Well, the trade says "Naval Surface Warfare" rather than "Naval Special Warfare", so maybe this is a boat-mounted weapon??

Anyway, if Xbox has taught me anything (and it has), it's that it is always a good idea to save after getting lots of kills.

[Shirley]

Hmm, "Save" probably means so be safe, and save a life too? lol
It's a pretty sweet gun with cool trades. If only they were engraved into.
The gearbox looks fine, and the rear sight, I don't like.
Everything else I like, and that sweet trigger guard.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by ShadowNet

err, aren't the fire selector markings supposed to be SAFE, SEMI and AUTO? seems like it's engrish coz it says "SAVE". maybe it has a battery saving feature?

Could just be cause they're an chinese company, and chinese companies make mistakes like that. But G&P shouldn't be screwing up.

[T_A_N_K]

What are the benefits of larger bushings?

[TriChrome]

Originally Posted by Mr.Hitman

the rear sight, I don't like.

The rear sight is a replica of KAC's 600 meter sight. A nice feature of it is that it can adjust not only left/right (like most rear sights do), but also up/down.

Originally Posted by T_A_N_K

What are the benefits of larger bushings?

Larger bearing bushings can take more stress than 7mm can. Since they're bearings (not just solid bushings) they also lower the friction a little bit which can raise your ROF. I've broken every brand of 7mm bearings I can find so I'm hoping the 8mm version last a lot longer.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by T_A_N_K

What are the benefits of larger bushings?

Larger bearings mean better reliability.

But I would never put bearings in a gun. Only bushings.

[Danke]

Save vs. Safe might be one of those in jokes.

http://www.gp-web.com/en/productspop.php?pid=1290

If you page through the metal bodies you'll see a few odd markings.

[TriChrome]

UPDATE: The G&P White Polycetal piston is still defective. The rear broke off with under 2000 shots fired. This same thing happened to my last 3 G&P white pistons (in two different guns). The older blue version of this piston was known to do the same thing towards the end of their production run.

AOE was adjusted, 2nd to last tooth shaved, and the 410 FPS with .2's would have been plenty of FPS to get the piston all the way forward before the sector gear tried to pick it up again; the piston was simply defective.



On a positive note, the other internals seem to be fine, but there's not even 2K through the gun yet.

[TriChrome]

This happened with about 5,000 rounds through the gun:



The top shaft on the sector gear broke clean off. Something to note is when I replaced the piston I also replaced the higher performance G&P M120 motor (30 RPS) with a regular TM EG1000 motor (25 RPS) to lessen the strain on the gun... and the gears still broke at a measly 400 FPS with .2's.

Well, at least it seems like they fixed the problem of the shaft freely rotating in the gear... now it just breaks off instead.

[wildcard]

Originally Posted by TriChrome

This happened with about 5,000 rounds through the gun:



The top shaft on the sector gear broke clean off. Something to note is when I replaced the piston I also replaced the higher performance G&P M120 motor (30 RPS) with a regular TM EG1000 motor (25 RPS) to lessen the strain on the gun... and the gears still broke at a measly 400 FPS with .2's.

Well, at least it seems like they fixed the problem of the shaft freely rotating in the gear... now it just breaks off instead.

My SR25 was the same thing for a while it chewing up piston and one of the sector gear, it kept on breaking three times even with a new G&P box the problem was finally fixed when i had enough of the stock replacement G&P box and replace the whole damn thing with Systema box. It seems that the allignment was off from the factory and I found out that the holes were a little off so when the pressure from the motor when activated it moved the sector gear a bit so over time it cause an abnormal wear and eventually broke or caused a catastrophic failure of the gear and piston, the strange thing was everytime it's always the same gear and piston.

[Dragate]

wow seriously nice man some nice stuff