Advanced L96 Sniper Upgrade Guide

Intro and review-WELL L96-Copy of the Maruzen L96
OK so a few of you know that I am a big fan of spring rifles. I have owned 11 different sniper rifles. Some of them total junk and others that are priceless. My favorite rifle so far has been the Jing Gong Bar10 and so I will compare the WELL L96 with the quality of this rifle. Also, a lot of new players often ask the question, "What is better, the JG Bar10 or the WELL L96". So I will do a review of the gun, show how to upgrade it and also compare it to the Bar10.



Anyway, I have had a thing against the brand "Well" for some time because some of the previous guns that I bought from them were utter junk. To be fair on them, I thought it was time I purchased their top rifle. (You can't diss a brand without trying out their best product). So I went to Ehobby and purchased the spring L96. This is the version that is a copy of the Maruzen APS Type 96 and not a copy of the Tokyo Marui. The Maruzen version has the magazine well further forward and the magazine is flush with the stock compared to the Tokyo Marui version which sticks out. It came with a scope and a bi-pod. (This is not the version that has the folding stock because it is heavier and it just means that there is a weak point on the gun.)


When I received it, I noticed that it looked a lot better quality than the other WELL products that I have bought. The barrel has been powder coated (looks like a cheap powder coating though) which means it will not chip as much as other WELL products. Unlike other barrels from WELL that have been painted and chip easily. I can see that it will wear quicker than the Bar10 though. The stock looks great and I do not think that you will ever break it. I did notice that when holding it there was a seam on the plastic trigger guard that was sharp and so I filed it to be smooth. The mag looks good quality as it is made of metal and plastic and it fits into the mag-well really easy. Releasing is the mag is quick and easy too. Now the one thing that does let the gun down a little is the receiver. It is made of pot metal and so it is not as strong as I would like. I pull apart my sniper rifles quite often and I know that if I unscrew and screw the trigger system a lot, the thread will strip. (Note: The Bar10 has a decent metal receiver that can take a lot of punishment). Also the receiver and the bolt handle have been painted a gun metal colour and so they chip quite easily. They are not powder coated. This is disappointing because the gun would look great if they had only used better metal on the receiver and they had powder coated the receiver and bolt handle.

The trigger system is not good quality either as it is has a lot of plastic parts. This does not matter though because if you are really serious and want a good sniper, you will upgrade the trigger system.

Anyway I loaded the magazine and cycled the bolt and then I chronoed it. It was firing about 440-450fps. This is pretty good for a stock gun but it is still not high enough to out range a lot of SEG's. It also didn't feel that smooth when moving the bolt handle. It felt like I had to force it. Sometimes it was OK but other times the handle needed to be pushed fully forward before it would go down into the firing position. This will become annoying on the battlefield when under pressure.
One good thing about the WELL L96 is that the cylinder and the barrel volumes are matched very well. This makes the gun reasonably quiet as not much excess air escapes. Note: To make it quieter, put some foam on the piston head and the cylinder head. You may also add a silencer as this should catch any remaining noise that escapes. (Having a quiet gun is one of the main keys to airsoft sniping because if the enemy does not know that you are shooting at them and they do not know what direction you are shooting from, how can they engage you back)

Trigger Upgrading
I could see that the WELL L96 may have potential. So I made it my mission to make the gun into a decent rifle worthy of using on the field.
To start with, I wanted to upgrade the trigger so that it could handle a bigger spring. I heard that the stock trigger can be wrapped in electrical tape to strengthen it but I do not believe that it will have the longevity that I would like. So I needed an aftermarket trigger. I didn't want to fork out a heap of money on this gun as I did not know if it would be worth it. After looking on Ehobby I found a cheap upgrade kit from Army Force (No name brand) that had a trigger system, piston, cylinder, spring guide, barrel spacer and a few other little bits and pieces. Army Force - Upgrade Kit for L96 Bolt Action Series - AF-IN001
NOTE: If you can afford a more expensive trigger, then I recommend to get the Action Army trigger for the L96. Action Army Specialized Trigger Kit for Maruzen Type 96 Airsoft Sniper Rifles



Anyway, I installed the Army Force trigger and noticed straight away that when I pulled it, it felt very grindy. I took it off the gun and pulled the trigger system apart. I noticed that although all the parts looked strong, they had not been finished off smoothly. I could see the parts that were making the grinding feeling were the trigger and the trigger sear. Closer inspection of them showed that they were very rough.

To make them smooth was easy. I just got some sand paper and sanded the parts that touched each other.



The part on the trigger that I sanded is the long straight bit. On the piston sear I sanded the straight part touching the trigger and I rounded the pointed areas at the tip of it.
You might have noticed that on the trigger where your finger grips it, the corners were very sharp and so I smoothed these off too.

Next to shorten the trigger pull I made a round block about 11mm in diameter (You may be able to use a bit of doweling but I shaped a round bit of nylon instead) and then I drilled a hole in it so the block would fit onto the pin that is behind the trigger. This would in effect push the top part of the trigger forward and the bottom part of the trigger backwards, making the trigger pull shorter.



Note: Use thread locker on the screws that keep the trigger on the receiver.

Cylinder and Bolt Mod
One thing I noticed not long after putting a 500fps spring into the gun was that the bolt handle started wobbling and this made it harder to cycle the bolt as the handle would not be in the perfect position. Under closer inspection I found that it was not the bolt handle that was the issue but the back end of the cylinder. It was coming off. To fix this I hammered a screwdriver end onto into the slots at the back that hold the end on. Then I got four 3mm grub screws and a thread tapper. I drilled 4 holes in the back of the cylinder and then twisted the thread into it. Then I added some super glue to the grub screws and screwed them in. Once they were in I used a file to smooth off the parts that stuck out making it nice and round again.



When I had finished, the back of the cylinder had no wobble at all and it cycled great.
Note: After using it for another week, the bolt handle has started to wobble a little bit but it should last for a reasonable amount of time. I would advise before you put the grub screws in, to put super glue between the outer cylinder and the part that the bolt handle connects to.
I would also advise that if you can afford an aftermarket cylinder, purchase it.

Another thing that can make the cycling of the bolt easier is to file about 0.5mm as seen in the photo. This will mean that the pin that fits into this hole does not have to be fully out of the hole before you move the handle down. This makes for a smoother action.



Replacing the stock cylinder
The Army Force cylinder is way stronger than the stock one but it needs a lot of work to make it work well. The nut on the rear end is meant have one side of it horizontal to the bottom (horizontal to the opening for the spring guide) but it is on an angle when it comes from the manufacturer. So to fix this you need to unscrew the rear end off the cylinder. Then put a flat block of wood beside a bench grinder (This will make sure you have the cylinder level and high enough to grind it). Carefully grind the rear end of the cylinder. Do really little, little bits at a time and then check that it screws back on so the nut at the back has a flat side on the bottom horizontal with the spring guide opening. So the only reason you need to grind the rear end is to rotate the nut on the rear of the cylinder so that it is horizontal with the spring guide opening on the cylinder. So make sure you only grind the smallest amount off.





Once it is horizontal with the spring guide opening you need to make the nut smaller because once again the manufacturer stuffed up and by putting on a big nut. To do this measure the nut on your WELL cylinder and file the nut on the Army Force cylinder to be the same size. Do this slowly and carefully. If you have digital callipers use them to measure it so that it is small enough that the bolt handle will fit on it. Don't over do it though or your bolt handle will become sloppy. Once it is the right size you can put the bolt handle on.

Note: My nut measures 7.2mm but when I filed the nut I made it a little bit bigger (7.25mm) to make it more snug in the bolt handle



Next you need to shorten the cylinder by about 3mm so that it is the same size as the WELL cylinder. To shorten the cylinder you need to grind the front end. Check it every now and then by putting it back in the receiver with the air nozzle on and the bolt handle on. See how well the bolt handle opens and closes. Keep grinding until they work properly. (You can compare the stock cylinder and the Army Force cylinder and they should be very similar in length)



Note: Do not grind the back of the cylinder to shorten it. Only grind the back so the nut can rotate until it is in the right position. Shorten the cylinder from the front.

If the bolt handle goes up and down easily once in the receiver but the bolt pull back and forwards is stiff then you may need to wrap some sand paper around a drill bit, put the drill bit in a drill press and sand the inside of the receiver so that it is slightly bigger. Make sure you take the receiver fully apart if you need to do this (So take out the plastic cylinder guide). You want a nice smooth bolt pull.

Note: If you can afford it then I would highly recommend the Action Army L96 cylinder as it will make the bolt pull extra smooth and easy. Laylax PSS96 Teflon Cylinder for Type 96 Sniper Rifle

The Army Force Cylinder is only worth purchasing is if you are on a limited budget.

EJECTION PORT COVER
The next minor mod I done was to cover up the shell ejection port as I did not want dirt getting on my cylinder and scratch it. To do this I bought a can of "V" energy drink that comes in an aluminium can. I used 150 grit sand paper and sanded off the colour to make it silver. I then cut it into a rectangle shape with rounded corners. Then I put a layer of grease inside the receiver and on the aluminium then rolled it up further and pushed it into the receiver where the barrel threads onto. Once in I made sure it did not scrape on the cylinder by push it against the wall of the receiver.



This Modification can make your cylinder last for ages. I done this mod to my Bar10 and it has had about 9000-12000 shots through it and it still looks nearly new.

Stabilising the outer barrel and upgrading the Hopup
When firing the WELL L96 you will notice that it does not take long (only about 50 shots) for the hopup to move. This is because each time you fire it, the hopup screw slowly undoes itself. You will also find that to alter the hopup you need an Allen key that you have to carefully stick in the front of the mag well and find the bolt hole, then very carefully alter the hopup. This is a mission in itself let alone doing it on the battlefield. So I set about making it better. A lot better.

First you will need to put 2 o-rings over the hopup just in front of the round hopup adjuster and then cover them with Teflon tape to stop them from moving. This should help to stop the adjuster from moving backwards and forwards.

Put the inner barrel into the hopup unit as normal but do not put the grub screw onto the round adjuster.



Put the hopup unit and the inner barrel into the outer barrel as normal. (Remember to put barrel spacers in)

Next cut a piece of plastic in a rectangle shape about 39mm x 10mm (The harder the plastic the better). This part will go just in front of the mag-well. Before gluing it in there put the receiver and barrel back in and mark where the plastic part will come to. You need the plastic part to come flush with the mag release. Take the receiver off and glue it in place. Use "Selleys Quick Fix". It works a treat on all sorts of materials. Then drill a 4.8mm hole in the plastic. Make sure you do not drill the actual stock. Then get a 5mm Allen bolt (Get a black one to look good) that is 50mm long. Cut it so that it is 43mm.



Put the receiver and barrel back on the stock and then screw the Allen bolt into the hole that you made through he plastic. You want the Allen bolt to be snug as this will stop the hopup from moving. When the Allen bolt head is flush with the stock, the hopup should just be turned off. If you then keep screwing, you will increase the hopup.



Note that if you want to pull your gun apart you will first need to undo the hopup screw otherwise you may damage your new hopup system.

Since doing this upgrade guide I have also drilled through the front of my stock where you would normally have the bipod and put a bolt that screws into an inner barrel spacer. This locks the barrel onto the stock so that it is in the exact same place for each shot. (I will get pictures eventually).
Screwing the barrel onto the stock helps stabilise each shot when you have added a quick hopup adjustment bolt as in the modification just above. Without stabilizing the outer barrel it may move up and down and this could effect the tension on the hopup adjustment bolt causing fluctuations in the amount of hop applied. With the mod done your hopup will be awesome.

I made my barrel spacer out of wood.

It is best if it is not snug on the inner barrel as this spacer may be pulling to one side and so you do not want the inner barrel to be pulled as well. So when drilling the hole in the barrel spacer, make it at least 1-2mm bigger than the inner barrel.

Next drill a hole on the side of the barrel spacer for a bolt to go into. (This will be the bolt that goes through the stock and into the barrel spacer)
Then I measured where the barrel spacer will go on the inner barrel I then wrapped masking tape around the inner barrel on either side of the spacer to stop it from moving up or down the barrel. It is best if this masking tape is snug against the spacer as this will stop the spacer from rolling around. (Make sure the hole on the side of the barrel spacer is facing downwards). Once finished, put the inner barrel back in the gun and put the bolt through the stock and into the barrel spacer.

Tuning the Cylinder to Barrel to BB weight

Note: This will give the bb the maximum energy that your rifle can produce and it will make your gun very quiet.
(This will work better than any other mod to make your gun quiet. It is even better than filling the stock with foam which will make your gun heavy.) If the cylinder to barrel ratio is not matched right (Barrel is to short) then the excess air after the bb leaves the muzzle pushes the cracking sound from the piston slamming into the cylinder head, out the end of the barrel. If the barrel is the perfect length for the cylinder (depending on your bb weight), then most of that noise will be trapped in your barrel.

The way this works is that a lighter bb does not take much pressure to push it through the barrel. So it needs a longer barrel otherwise it will be pushed out to early and therefore making the slamming sound. A heavy bb needs more pressure to push it out and so if the barrel is to long there is not enough air in the cylinder push it out properly and this will make the bb fly less accurately. So you need to get the perfect match between cylinder to barrel to bb weight.

In effect your bb weight can alter the barrel to cylinder ratio. The heavier a bb the shorter the barrel it needs or the lighter the bb the longer the barrel should be.

To find the best bb for the 500mm (Stock 6.08mm) long L96 barrel I simply chronoed each bb weight and then checked which bb weight produced the most energy.

Here are the results:
0.2gm_______507fps_____2.38joules
0.23gm______478fps_____2.43joules
0.25gm______462fps_____2.47joules
0.28gm______440fps_____2.51joules
0.3gm_______427fps_____2.53joules
0.32gm______416fps_____2.56joules
0.36gm______379fps_____2.63joules
0.4gm_______381fps_____2.69joules
0.43mg______364fps_____2.65joules
0.45gm______356fps_____2.64joules

The bb that worked out to be the best was the 0.4gm. In saying this if you can find a bb that is anywhere between 0.36-0.4gm then you should be OK. Do not go over the 0.4gm bb weight as it was at the very, very maximum you should have. If you do go over you will lose energy and accuracy as there is not enough air in the cylinder to push it out properly.

Also you need 100% compression from your piston o-ring. If you do have a minor leak then you will not have enough air to push out the heavy 0.4gm bb and you would be better off with the 0.36gm bb.

If you use a 0.36gm bb and you have a good seal then you are not using every little bit of air in your cylinder. This may mean that you could have more consistency in each shot.

I personally use 0.36gm bb's just because I seem to find these more consistent. If you have a tight bore like a 6.03mm or 6.01mm, then I would definitely be using a 0.4gm with the 500mm barrel.

Now to carry a 0.4gm bb over a long distance you should have rifle that is firing at a very minimum of 490fps upwards (with 0.2gm) when the hopup has been set for the heavy bb. I have tuned my rifle to be about 540-550fps and can hit an A4 size piece of paper at 70m's reasonably easy.

WELL L96 Buckings
It has been really hard to find a good L96 bucking until now. They are near impossible to come by. Some websites say that you can use a standard VSR bucking but the whole where the air nozzle fits is too big and you will end up with a massive leak. Anyway, Action Army have now put one out and it is awesome. I gained an extra 50fps because the seal between the air nozzle and the bucking is more snug than the standard WELL bucking.

Barrel Spacer
To make your gun as accurate as possible, it is best to get rid of any vibration that may occur in the barrel by adding barrel spacers. These are spacers that go between the outer barrel and the inner barrel. This will help transfer any vibration from the inner barrel to the outer barrel.

Wrap 1 layer of Masking tape around the barrel with the sticky side facing outwards (This is so your barrel spacer is not permanently stuck on to your inner barrel). Then with the adhesive sides facing each other (So it is not sticky on the outside) wrap the Masking tape and around and around the inner barrel until it fits snugly into your outer barrel.
Do not use electrical tape as it stretches under tension and then it move by itself. Masking tape does not stretch.
It is normally advisable to have 3-4 spacers in your barrel.

Rating the WELL L96

Here is how I rate the WELL L96 when unmodified
Styling/looks 9/10
Weight 6/10
Feel when holding 8/10
Cycle Motion 5/10
Exterior Finish 6/10
Usability 6/10
Reliability 5/10
Total out of 70 = 45

Here is how I rate the WELL L96 if you purchase a brand new cylinder and done all the mods
Styling/looks 9/10
Weight 6/10
Feel when holding 8/10
Cycle Motion 8/10
Exterior Finish 6/10
Usability 9/10
Reliability 9/10
Total out of 70 = 55

For those of you who would like to know what is the better gun, the Bar10 or the L96
Here is how I rate the JG Bar10 when fully upgraded
Styling/looks 7/10
Weight 9/10
Feel when holding 8/10
Cycle Motion 9/10
Exterior Finish 9/10
Usability 9/10
Reliability 9/10
Total out of 70 = 60

Cost of the L96 project: IN US Dollars
Well L96 = $180.00
Army Force Enhanced Upgrade Kit =$80.00
Spring Guide = $0.00 (Part of the A.F Kit)
M170 spring = $0.00 (Part of the A.F Kit)
Cylinder Dampener = $1.00
Action Army Bucking = $8.00
Silencer Adaptor = $13.60
500mm x 6.03mm Tight Bore Barrel = $76.80
330mm x 40mm Silencer = $32.00
Total =US$391.40 (THIS IS VERY CHEAP FOR A GOOD SNIPER. GO FOR IT)

Conclusion
After 6 weeks of excessive use the condition of the WELL L96 is still OK but it has got some small bits of wear. One layer (there are 2 layers) of paint in some spots on the barrel is coming off (Just little bits) and the bolt and receiver have a few chips. Apart from that it still looks pretty good. I would recommend this gun but you do need to upgrade the trigger, piston and cylinder otherwise the gun will not last if you put in a bigger spring. Also, remember to use thread locker when putting in the new trigger and try not to ever remove it as the thread will strip in time (Doesn't take long).

After 10 weeks the stock cylinder failed and so I put in the Army Force Cylinder (It needed a few modifications to fit properly). Now it is awesome and should last forever.

After 6 months of excessive use (I thrash my guns as I like to experiment) it is still going strong and still looks reasonably nice.

One year down the track and it is still going fine. I ended up putting in the Action Army Cylinder as it makes the bolt pull very smooth.

Check out this thread as it may help you decide what parts to put in your rifle: What parts does your L96 have?

Here is my write up on the Jing Gong Bar 10:
Advanced VSR Sniper Building Guide - Airsoft Sniper Forum