[Cheese Man]

This has been a question that I have noticed pop up time and time again. What people need to realize is that you don't want to upgrade your spring right off the bat. In fact, the upgrade list should go something like this:

1st - Hop Chamber and Barrel (includes bucking)
2nd - High Quality BBs
3rd - Trigger components (z-trigger or sears)
4th - Piston/Cylinder upgrades
5th - Spring upgrades

Now, people often ask what parts they should buy and the same thing gets recommended over and over again. These are some common recommendations, some may be controversial, but most of these are mostly universally accepted. The rifle types include compatible clones and other rifles based on that same design.

Hop Chamber -
APS-2/Type 96: PDI
VSR-10: TM Precision Chamber, or just shim the one that is in there
Tanaka: 2roy VSR conversion chamber (I think Spartan makes them now)

Hop Bucking -
You will want to use a different bucking depending on your situation. If you use an R-hop or some variant thereof (google it!) then you will want a hard bucking, the Prometheus Hard type works nicely. For other applications, the PDI W-hold and Guarder Clear (my favorite) are fairly popular.

Barrel -
Prometheus or Laylax makes really great barrels, failing that PDI, Madbull V2 and EdGi barrels are all quite good. The optimal length is often close to the stock length, for example, the VSR performs best with a barrel about 430mm in length. The Type 96 performs best with a barrel about 500mm long.

BBs -
This is more important than some people think, you need a high quality, heavy bb to use your rifle properly. I really like Bioshot and BBBastard, while other prominent brands are Bioval and Madbull (these need washing).

Trigger -
Laylax Zero-trigger. They make these for just about all models of spring rifle, and they work great for a very long time. The PDI V-trigger is a viable alternative.

Cylinder -
I personally don't think they need upgrading, but common cylinder upgrades are the PDI Palsonite kit and the Laylax Teflon Cylinder. For the piston, I like the Polarstar pistons, but the zero trigger comes with a pretty good one, and the PDI kits also come with nice ones.

Spring -
PDI makes beefy springs, and they work quite nicely. Laylax springs are also pretty good.

Thanks for reading, and if this didn't answer your questions, then search these forums first, we have a wealth of knowledge floating around on the interwebs. If you still have a question, feel free to post up and someone will be happy to help you out.

Remember: The fps of your rifle ONLY affects how fast the bb gets to the target.

 

[exomatt]

On behalf of myself and all the other noobs out there, thank you.

 

[~Ranger~]

The fps does more than just get the bb there faster though,but yeah for the most part its just a speed thing. The higher fps will sling heavier bb's further and that will give better accuracy but your post is perfect buddy!! I suggest keeping this up top in the stickies! Tons of great information that should and will help lots of people, noobs and more! I have been doing this for 11 years and never got into different upgrade parts so I dont know who makes better whatevers,lol.. I just make things work again and I am a DIY kinda guy. I could even learn from this. Thanks bro.

 

[Cheese Man]

Thanks guys, anything I should add?

 

[WorstInFinlanD]

Hop up buckings, combatibily of different brands, "ideal lenght of barrel" and high quality bbs. (for some, that's huge upgrade. )

 

[Cheese Man]

Got it, thanks fin.

 

[Wolfgeorge]

Very nice man, though I agree with Ranger, fps is not just speed.
It's very nicely written and simple enough for everyone.


Wolf

 

[Dishmechanic]

Speed dictates time in flight. Which means the faster your BB gets to target, the less time it has to be affected by external elements such as wind. So within reason FPS is actually fairly important, at least I would say more important than most people give it credit for.

 

[~Ranger~]

I know a rifle shooting 300fps will not be able to sling a .40g as far as my rifle shooting 500fps. Therefore I can get more range and accuracy.

 

[Cheese Man]

You guys are forgetting about the inherent limitations of the bb. A bb traveling at its optimal velocity (about 300 fps) will travel farther, more consistently than a bb traveling faster because it will have less off-axis wobble. In all of my testing applications, decreasing the fps actually increased the range at which I could hit things. Ranger, that is correct, but the bb coming out of the 300fps rifle will have a useable range that is longer than the bb coming out of the 500fps rifle (assuming, of course, that you do the proper modifications, etc.)

 

[WorstInFinlanD]

Yeah, but a fps (with 0.2g) on 0.4g will be lower.

 

[Cheese Man]

True, so the optimal fps for a .4 bb is closer to 400/.2

I have found this (approximately) holds true:

.27 - 325/.2
.3 - 350/.2
.32 - 355/.2
.36 - 375/.2
.4 - 390/.2
.43 - 400/.2

 

[king..kranium]

I found this a while back.

sent from bad A android.

 

[Cheese Man]

I was talking about effective range increases. The .27 wobbles the least when your fps is around 325 with a .2 bb.

 

[SilentScope]

I may type a thread elsewhere including more detail about accuracy:

There's a trade-off between FPS and accuracy for several reasons. Some include:

• Increasing FPS decreases the effectiveness of predictable friction at the bucking (i.e. the BB passes a bucking/nub at an angle or to the side)
• High FPS setups will have more vibration in the inner barrel (due to stronger piston slamming) which will decrease accuracy. ***Most people (and I'm confident in saying most people, but not all) know that less vibration is a good thing so they incorporate barrel spacers for instance, but without knowing why it increases accuracy. The ACTUAL reason adding spacers and vibration reducing components of the sort is to aid in stabilizing hop-up spin. I'll refrain from going too much into detail in this thread.
• Airflow from the cylinder is more turbulent at a higher FPS which causes the BB to have a more unpredictable motion in the inner barrel which then leads to unpredictable points of contact (i.e. bounce path.)
• etc...

Obstacles created by a higher FPS can be counter-acted in one way or another, but these higher FPS counter-measures simply mock the effectiveness of a lower FPS system. In other words, a higher FPS rifle will have to be modified to get the accuracy that a lower FPS rifle can achieve.

There are certain components in a higher FPS system that have an advantage over a low FPS system, but in general as an overall system, an unmodified higher FPS rifle will be less accurate than an unmodified lower FPS rifle. This of course is assuming that two rifles are internally identical except the spring rating.

As far as BBs are concerned, physics holds that heavier BB's hold more stable spin due to a greater moment of inertia (a.k.a. resistance to changing a spin that was already applied.) Moment of inertia is only affected by two things in a solid sphere, or near solid for this matter, and those two variables are radius of the BB and its weight. Radius is more difficult to change since most people buy their BBs rather than make them, but weight can definitely be selected.

There are other factors as to why heavier BBs are more accurate, but I think this information (rant) may be better suited elsewhere lol.

P.S. Also dependent on the intended distance and FPS, a heavier BB in most cases will actually reach its target faster at further ranges.

I have found this (approximately) holds true:

.27 - 325/.2
.3 - 350/.2
.32 - 355/.2
.36 - 375/.2
.4 - 390/.2
.43 - 400/.2

I believe if everyone were to state values like these they would be different because effectiveness is relative to one's own perspective and rifle.

With that being said, my figures are VERY similar to your figures >
From my data, I personally have values just a tad higher in all categories (i.e. 0.43g- 425FPS), but then again my definition of accurate might be different from yours :yup:

Higher FPS will give more range IF the hop-up is adjusted properly, but once again the trade off (unless modified) will be accuracy.

I'd rather hit someone in one shot with enough force so they call out rather than missing 10 BBs-- each with enough force to blow up mountains. Well... actually... that would be pretty cool:lmao:

I feel like this rant should have gone elsewhere haha. Cheeseman, please let me know if you want me to move this information elsewhere or keep it here since this is technically off-topic lol :tup:

//rant over

 

[Cheese Man]

Keep it, it's all pertinent to the discussion.

 

[Cheese Man]

Don't want this to get too far down the list.

 

[Masterjuggler98]

This really should be stickied.

 

[~Ranger~]

I agree totally. :tup:

 

[zero]

Good guide man!!

Zero