[Buffel]

Hi,

I've recently bought an Ares spring L96 (Yes I know there are downsides to that particular toy) and upgraded the cylinder and trigger group to PDI. I've installed the strongest PDI Ares L96 spring that PDI sells, which is their 140 spring. I installed the washer that came with the kit.

I'm currently getting 400FPS. I have tested the air seal on the cylinder and I'm not losing any air there. I've taped around the hop rubber so I expect to have a fairly decent air seal there.

My goal is to get is to the region of 480fps. What spring do you recommend using? I'm guessing 160 strength, but what brand? It needs to be 9mm internal.

Am I missing anything glaringly obvious in the above actions taken?

Cheers!

 

[SinterMass]

Personally use Laylax 190 cut back to 540-550 fps. I keep a 170 on hand cut back to 490-500 fps in case I am somewhere that has max 500 for snipers, and I can just drop it in.
Sounds like you have don't have a good air seal.

 

[Buffel]

Hmm, when I put my finger on the nozzle, and pull the trigger, the cylinder compresses and then stops dead in it's tracks. So to me that means the cylinder air seal is good, right?

Which leaves the air seal on the hop unit. Anything specific on the Ares hop unit I should be looking at?

 

[SinterMass]

99% of the time, the hopup unit/bucking is the culprit.
Look at bucking closely for holes, is it seated right, etc.
Try putting finger over end of barrel and firing. If the cylinder reacts the same way, then you have good air seal.
If not, try teflon or floss mod, re-assemble and check fps.

Also, could be piston binding or bad spring/spring guide marriage, but unlikely.

 

[Buffel]

I can confirm the issue was the hop unit. I had put too much tape around the bucking, causing the hop unit not to close entirely. Removed some of the tape and now it works a charm. Increased FPS and less FPS variance too.