[Zeeker]

Long story ahead please skip down 2 paragraphs if you aren't interested. This will be an ongoing build thread as more parts come in and some diy work has been done.

First of all I have been in search of a high proformance SVD over the last few years. I looked into the unicorn Realsword which from online forums seems to be the best of the best. Yet finding one, hence the "unicorn" status, is near impossible. Ive peeked at the cyma and A&K aeg versions notably the a&k seems quite awful and cyma quite promising. Yet the idea of an aeg in the current "arms race" of high proformance ie. Accuracy and range seems the best way to go was with hpa instead of aeg without much aftermarket upgrades across the board. I found myself staring at what others have stated probably the worst of all SVDs the A&K SVD springer. Though what I saw was pure potential.

Being cheap and with its poor reputation accuring one was not hard to do. I first wanted to solve it biggest problem the hop up unit. Diy upgrades involved using electrical wire to replace the rubber rod which is used to press on the hop rubber. That results were not optimistic. The airsoftpro hop unit had bad reveiws aswell. So I pulled up evike and started searching for great hop units which I might be able to cram in this thing. After some looking I found the Silverback SRS fast hop. This is where the project took off. After some grinding away at the hop up housing I fit the fast hop in (widened the opening a couple mm). Installed a mapleleaf 60° bucking (using srs buckings will not work) as this svd has a aeg style nozzle and the srs is slightly larger. I took it out to it's first outing as is. I have no accurate measurements but it was safe to say I was out ranging the aegs around me (still yet to get decent accurate ranges). This is where it has sat for two years, had a couple kids in the mean time which has ate up alot of my time aswell as other hobbies and covid making playing near impossible. I've decided to pick it back up. These are the current upgrades for it and the plans for the future

Current look

1. Upgrade parts:
-Airsoft Pro steel barrel housing

• Silverback Srs Fasthop
• MapleLeaf 60° bucking
• Wood stock kit

2. Things to do/ install

• Mancraft Sdik SVD version (enroute)
• ZCI 400mm aeg barrel (looking for other options haven't pulled the trigger on one yet)
• 3d print SAG free float rail system

Svd handgurad

this front i testet on the cyma svd

cults3d.com

• finish CAD modeling m4 pistol grip and buffer tube adapter, then print (half completed)
• shorten outer barrel to SVD-s length

-purchase a decent optic

The final look I'm trying to achieve, different stock most likely

Any recommendations on barrels for hpa would be greatly appreciated. Aswell I will complete a write up for the fast hop install. Which I have posted in a couple places across the web but might be hard to find.

 

[rasputero]

Long story ahead please skip down 2 paragraphs if you aren't interested. This will be an ongoing build thread as more parts come in and some diy work has been done.

First of all I have been in search of a high proformance SVD over the last few years. I looked into the unicorn Realsword which from online forums seems to be the best of the best. Yet finding one, hence the "unicorn" status, is near impossible. Ive peeked at the cyma and A&K aeg versions notably the a&k seems quite awful and cyma quite promising. Yet the idea of an aeg in the current "arms race" of high proformance ie. Accuracy and range seems the best way to go was with hpa instead of aeg without much aftermarket upgrades across the board. I found myself staring at what others have stated probably the worst of all SVDs the A&K SVD springer. Though what I saw was pure potential.

Being cheap and with its poor reputation accuring one was not hard to do. I first wanted to solve it biggest problem the hop up unit. Diy upgrades involved using electrical wire to replace the rubber rod which is used to press on the hop rubber. That results were not optimistic. The airsoftpro hop unit had bad reveiws aswell. So I pulled up evike and started searching for great hop units which I might be able to cram in this thing. After some looking I found the Silverback SRS fast hop. This is where the project took off. After some grinding away at the hop up housing I fit the fast hop in (widened the opening a couple mm). Installed a mapleleaf 60° bucking (using srs buckings will not work) as this svd has a aeg style nozzle and the srs is slightly larger. I took it out to it's first outing as is. I have no accurate measurements but it was safe to say I was out ranging the aegs around me (still yet to get decent accurate ranges). This is where it has sat for two years, had a couple kids in the mean time which has ate up alot of my time aswell as other hobbies and covid making playing near impossible. I've decided to pick it back up. These are the current upgrades for it and the plans for the future

Current look
View attachment 21538

1. Upgrade parts:
-Airsoft Pro steel barrel housing

• Silverback Srs Fasthop
• MapleLeaf 60° bucking
• Wood stock kit

2. Things to do/ install

• Mancraft Sdik SVD version (enroute)
• ZCI 400mm aeg barrel (looking for other options haven't pulled the trigger on one yet)
• 3d print SAG free float rail system

Svd handgurad

this front i testet on the cyma svd

cults3d.com

• finish CAD modeling m4 pistol grip and buffer tube adapter, then print (half completed)
• shorten outer barrel to SVD-s length

-purchase a decent optic

The final look I'm trying to achieve, different stock most likely
View attachment 21539

Any recommendations on barrels for hpa would be greatly appreciated. Aswell I will complete a write up for the fast hop install. Which I have posted in a couple places across the web but might be hard to find.

I've never seen using a SRS hop up. Good idea.
I have 2 SVDs and have tested allí hop up chambres on the market. The older AP with the vertical nub was not perfecto, but in the new one you can use any nub on the market.
I have bought the new Begadi one for VSR buckings but not tested yet...maybe the holy grial.
Also have a custom one with VSR bucking and works like a dream.

 

[Zeeker]

I've never seen using a SRS hop up. Good idea.
I have 2 SVDs and have tested allí hop up chambres on the market. The older AP with the vertical nub was not perfecto, but in the new one you can use any nub on the market.
I have bought the new Begadi one for VSR buckings but not tested yet...maybe the holy grial.
Also have a custom one with VSR bucking and works like a dream.

I had never known they change the airsoft pro hop up. Wish I knew that. For this project I actually just bought a new svd. I didn't want to give up the wood furniture. But I would've bought the airsoft pro one instead of another srs chamber. Cause the real difficult part of using it is making sure I cut out the proper amount of material from the barrel housing/ hop up housing. If I get it wrong then it kinda ruins the alignment. The only reason I didn't use the airsoft pro one is I've heard old reviews saying it doesn't really make proformance a whole lot better. Might have to try this out moving forward.

 

[Doctor Jest]

I admire anyone prepared to put the effort into their hobbies and especially doing something I wouldn't have thought of - AND making it work. ZCI are great barrels for the money, perhaps also consider Lambda, DaVinci and Edgi as alternatives.

 

[Zeeker]

I admire anyone prepared to put the effort into their hobbies and especially doing something I wouldn't have thought of - AND making it work. ZCI are great barrels for the money, perhaps also consider Lambda, DaVinci and Edgi as alternatives.

Thanks, I'll look into those. I don't think I'll be picking up an edgi just because of the price, not sure about the price on the other two you mentioned but I'll look into it.

 

[Zeeker]

I guess I should also update this thread aswell. I have modeled the surefire flash hider from the reference picture aswell as printed it. So far I got the fit I like and a nice shape as far as 3d printing goes.

My prints aren't the best but I'll sand it down some more and paint it later.



A couple changes have been made to the final goal but I'm some what of a flip flopper when I comes to decisions so everything could change again. Going forward I won't be making the m4 pistol grip and buffertube adapter (though may continue work in the future). Aswell I have a gripe with the mancraft kit. The kit has no functioning safety. So in some of my free time I've been measuring and modeling up a way for the safety to work which is actually quite a simple design. That frustrates me quite a bit (my poor wife had to listen to me rant about this), so I'm just in the testing phase of it but once it's finished it will be up for free on thingiverse incase anyone else wants this function renewed. In a way I see why they opted out of making it as I think this will be an easy to break part, just because of the way the safety lever is attached to the internal parts is very tiny. A 7mm square with m3 screw to hold them both peices together. Since the mancraft "valve knocker" or pusher for lack of a better word is all 3d printed. I can see this being a problem for them in mass production and with customer service warranty claims. So opting out of a functioning safety is for them a good business decision.

I'll just be making a little hook that connects to the safety lever and print a new "valve pusher" which will interlock with the hook. Wish I could get better pictures for you guys but when everything is installed it's just a jumbled mess of black. Also there is no trigger return spring so it just flops around in the trigger gaurd, I found a small one in my bag of springs which will work for this. More pictures to come once the safety is finished.

Anyways progress is slowed right now as I'm back in school but I have not stopped altogether. I will have the best svd... one day haha

 

[Doctor Jest]

Edgi are certainly expensive but the other two are far more reasonable . I keep considering a Cyma SVD but acquiring a good PSOP scope is nearly impossible for a reasonable price. I look forward to seeing what else you come up with on the build.

 

[Zeeker]

Great, one of those will be the direction I head. I've heard good things about DaVinci which kinda peaks my interest. But I have been a religious prometheus buyer, somewhere I heard their quality control has gone down. Hardest part about airsoft parts is there's always a level of subjective experience. Seems hard to get the best info without scouring the entire internet and taking in all the reveiws and going from there. Though it may just be me I always lean to bad reviews then good. But thanks for the help, I find this forum and it's users to have some of the best info out there.

Yeah I too looked at the cyma, they definitely seem great lots of people love them. The scope is really the biggest bottle neck for anyone building a svd. The Chinese repros are terrible. I got swindled at my local shop saying their repro did line up with the barrel and worked great. I've found this total bs, I couldn't see a bb in the sight with maxed out hold to the right. I had to run my springer with iron sights. With only real posp's being the answer it hard to justify near twice the price of the rifle for a scope. I have thought about cutting off the cast mount from the repro and 3d printing one which moves places it inline with the barrel. This just brings so many more problems this biggest being the strength of 3d printed parts, then holding zero. I will say that since I'm printing a new rail system the idea of cutting up the scope and making more traditional scope rings to mount to the chassis seems like a fun experiment. I'm not completely sold on this idea yet though.

 

[Jbrinker1]

Cool idea making the FAST work. I am curious if I can get the FAST or the new cyma to work in my KA svd AEG. Could you show some pic.s of your mod?

 

[Doctor Jest]

There are certainly options for higher tensile strength 3D printing but I'm told the price goes up quite rapidly, and as you say, a lot of the repro scopes are totally worthless. I always used to swear by Prometheus or PDI, but just recently switched to Edgi, and whilst they are ridiculously expensive, they are subjectively extremely good. Lambda and DaVinci come recommended via people whose opinions I trust BUT my caveat here is that I haven't tried either in a build yet.

The MLOK version of the SVD is always an option - comes with a pic rail so I can at least use scopes I already own - but even if I just replace the barrel, that's £140 or so

 

[SiliconeSword]

DaVinci, Lambda, and PDI barrels are about the same, but window is the only major difference. PDI has their cut made only for mound style buckings since PDI barrels have been around forever, but Lambda and DaVinci have larger square or rectangular windows.

I'd choose whatever is cheapest, as they'll all perform about the same. If you want the best barrel, I'd lap the thing, which would result in a as good or slightly better than EdGi barrel if all went well. Another kickass option would be an ESCW 5.98 barrel as they're surprisingly affordable for what they are, and should be on par with EdGi. Not sure if you want 5.98 in this gun, as they don't like dirt or BB buildup, but you'll get a good deal more power out of a spring compared to a 6.01 of the same length.

 

[Zeeker]

Cool idea making the FAST work. I am curious if I can get the FAST or the new cyma to work in my KA svd AEG. Could you show some pic.s of your mod?

I don't think it will work with the aeg version. The main reason being the feed tube on the springer version which releases the stopper for you bbs one the magazine allowing them to feed is built into the receiver on the springer. Where the aeg version is built into the hop unit. Now you could find a way to retro fit a feed tube onto the FAST hop unit but sound like alot of work. Aswell I don't know how much room there is to grind away to fit the FAST into the outer barrel on an aeg. But I'll post some pictures tonight for you and heck I'll just finish the write up as I promised in my first post.

There are certainly options for higher tensile strength 3D printing but I'm told the price goes up quite rapidly, and as you say, a lot of the repro scopes are totally worthless. I always used to swear by Prometheus or PDI, but just recently switched to Edgi, and whilst they are ridiculously expensive, they are subjectively extremely good. Lambda and DaVinci come recommended via people whose opinions I trust BUT my caveat here is that I haven't tried either in a build yet.


The MLOK version of the SVD is always an option - comes with a pic rail so I can at least use scopes I already own - but even if I just replace the barrel, that's £140 or so

You are very convincing on getting an edgi. I'll have to consider it more as I work on finishing the project. Also seeing where Canada goes with the new laws, I'm not to keen to invest alot on a barrel when gun gun might end up as a wall hanger. But yeah you're right there is some stronger filaments out the like the carbon fiber nylon which is like you said quite pricey. For two rolls of that I could get a decent optic good enough for airsoft at least. So it's hard to say that's for future me to decide lol. Also the mlok would be pretty sweet, I really like the look of the modernized svd.

 

[Zeeker]

DaVinci, Lambda, and PDI barrels are about the same, but window is the only major difference. PDI has their cut made only for mound style buckings since PDI barrels have been around forever, but Lambda and DaVinci have larger square or rectangular windows.

I'd choose whatever is cheapest, as they'll all perform about the same. If you want the best barrel, I'd lap the thing, which would result in a as good or slightly better than EdGi barrel if all went well. Another kickass option would be an ESCW 5.98 barrel as they're surprisingly affordable for what they are, and should be on par with EdGi. Not sure if you want 5.98 in this gun, as they don't like dirt or BB buildup, but you'll get a good deal more power out of a spring compared to a 6.01 of the same length.

Okay thanks man, I'll try for the lambda or DaVinci then as I think the larger hop window will be better long term if I decide to mess around with nubs. Also I'm thinking I'll probably stick with a 6.03 as the mancraft hpa unit has be know to be over volumed and I'm hoping to make the rifle as quiet as possible. Hoping the larger size will absorb some of the volume enough to keep it quiet that is.

 

[SiliconeSword]

I'd still push you towards 6.01 as there should be little sound difference, and if there is excess air you can always lower the PSI or add a volume reducer to the engine. Larger bore diameter will only make your gun louder as you will be using more air to get your desired power, resulting in more air escaping and making noise. The higher pressure required to get your desired power will also result in more noise if there are any internal parts in your engine that move, as they will move faster and therefore impact things harder, resulting in more noise.
It may not matter much, but if you do go with a tighter bore you will save money on air in the long run if you pay for air or compressor parts, and if not, you will get more shots per fill which would maybe let you downgrade your tank size to something cheaper and more manageable to carry.

 

[Doctor Jest]

I would say that whilst I do really love Edgi, I'm a sad git who paid for the tiny differences they have compared to a more moderately priced unit. I doubt I could tell them apart in a blind test My wallet could, however!

 

[Zeeker]

That's a really good point I never though of. I have one of the regular size tanks can't remember exactly but I was hoping to the future to down grade to a 13ci as I typically don't spray and pray as much anymore as when I was new. 6.01 it is then. I have checked out your lapping guide aswell but idk where I'm going to find the proper wooden dowel. might be a future project once this thing actually starts shooting again.

 

[Zeeker]

So here's my write up for the FAST hop unit.

1. With your calipers measure the diameter of the FAST hop unit (tolerances could vary between guns and units) and the inner diameter of the airsoft pro housing. The FAST unit at 16.9mm and the housing 15.8mm, so we have to grind out 1.1mm.
2. Measure the depth of how far you must reem out to fit the FAST unit I measured around 22mm deep. In the picture below you can see the difference in size of the two units

3. Next is to reem out the barrel housing. I suggest ordering the airsoft pro upgraded on as the stock housing does not hold the outer barrel very well, after a day of playing you might find the outerbarrel is loose. I don't have access to a machine shop or the proper reaming tools to do a proper job, so I improvised and used a drill bit with some 180 grit sand paper taped onto it. I marked my 22mm depth with a peice of masking tape around the sandpaper so I didn't go to far into the housing. If you take this route then it's going to take some time and effort aswell attention to detail. Basically I but the bit in a drill press to have the grinding tool stationary and then holding the housing ground each side. I tried to get an even grind by constantly rotating the housing while pressing it against the sandpaper of course while the drill was turned on. Here is what I ended with in the picture below. It's not a great job by any stretch but it seemed to work out for me and my gun is shooting straight. (Left side is the ground airsoft pro housing vs a brand new one on the right)

4.After this it's basically just install, now this too will take some attention to detail. There are no aligning posts or notches to ensure you hop is perfectly vertical. What I've done is install the outerbarrel and hop unit to the housing, do not secure the hop unit though. Then install this into your receiver and using the platform below the hop unit to try to level it. You can see this better from the pictures below. Then once "leveled" tighten the crew to secure the unit.

*note: do not use the supplied srs bucking as it does not work with the svd nozzle. I've been using a maple leaf 60° bucking and it's been great.

5. From here it's just assemble the rifle and take it to a game. Hope this helped any other springer svd users.

 

[Plazmaburn]

May or may not have ripped your post and made a new thread, and "sticky" it. The level of genius is worthy of a sticky.

 

[Zeeker]

Wow that's great! I really was banging my head against a wall for a couple months scouring the internet trying to find a good hop unit to put in the gun. It always made me mad that we couldn't have excellent hop units in svds. While browsing evike I came across this little thing ordered it and told myself I'd make it fit no matter what. Turns out it's so much easier than I thought it'd be.

 

[Plazmaburn]

I still prefer the Real Sword design for the SVD over the classic army design. That mod certainly will make them more attractive. Still prefer the AEG version over the spring version. Mostly due to the charging handle being tiny and easy to break.