Echo1 Airsoft AK47 Exposed

With all the rumors floating around the airsoft fields about the Echo 1 airsoft AEG's, this review is long overdue. Rumors say that the echo1 airsoft products are simply reboxed and re branded JG AEG's, others claim they are not. I recently got my hands on one of the newest release Echo AK's and opened up the mechbox to expose and examine the internals. I must say I was impressed and pleasantly pleased with what I found inside the mechbox plus a few additions to the externals that caught my attention as well. Inside this mechbox Echo1 has added steel bushings and a counter balanced sector gear. Not sure why they chose to add a plastic spring guide vs a metal one to this hard shooting AK, but that is an easy upgrade to install once replacement is needed. The rest of the internals are cloned right from standard version 3 gearboxes so not much difference here. The internals used match airsoft standards so other airsoft manufacturer and after market parts will be fully compatible with the echo 1 clones. On the external side of this AK we find some small improvements have been added here as well. The magazine catch has been slightly redesigned and seems to function well. The biggest wow here would be the addition of a full metal hop up selector slide shown in the photo. All in all I would have to say that this AEG is solid built, features great performance and shoots at a chronograph verified 365-380 FPS out of the box. Most retailers are selling these for 200 dollars or less and I would have to say airsoft consumers are getting more than their moneys worth. If echo1 continues to put this kind of attention to detail and performance into all their products, I would say we will be feeling allot of echo 1 AEG's on the field in 2008. As for the JG rumors exposed, Its an Echo 1 silly.

Airsoft 1911 GBB Repair

The 1911 45 caliber airsoft gun is probably one of the most widely produced models on the American airsoft market today. This gives players a diverse selection of models and makes to fit every gamers character. I have begun a series of articles as a supplement for repairing your 1911 airsoft gbb. We have been adding more and more information and pictures to our airsoft gun pictorial repair pages. I recently added some DIY pictures of a we baby 1911 compact gbb service in progress so novice players can get a basic idea how to perform some basic prevenative maintenance.

We are preparing once again to list spare air soft AEG parts and spare GBB parts back on the AGR website for sale. The amount of replacement airsoft parts we keep on hand continues to grow to keep pace with our repair centers operation and continued growth. This is allowing us to stock larger quantities of the harder to find airsoft parts. The WE series 1911 and hi-capa models are gaining popularity, so quite naturally request to get them repaired have increased as well. We also have a good supply of HFC and KWA parts for gas blow backs and our AEG parts supply features both internal and external upgrade and replacement parts. If you are looking for a special airsoft parts thats not listed, just fire me an email as I might just have the part you need right here in the U.S. of Wisconsin.

CA Airsoft M249 Fixing, Tuning and Repairing

The Ca 249P is my favorite airsoft support weapon. Classic makes other models of the 249 and so does Star and A&K and by the time I finish writing this some other mfg will release another. For now my attention will be directed to the ones I personally "am hands" on familiar with. Shown below is the stock mechbox from the Star 249. Notice it is made of plastic, as is most of the rest of this model. Not really a bad thing if you are planning on becoming your teams airsoft support gunner and you have to lug this baby around the airsoft field all day. The rate of fire is very impressive and can rain a 1000 bb down on your opponents in less than 45 seconds. I also like the fact that the airsoft motor and electric box magazine switch are wired to the trigger on the star versions. On CA versions the box mag has a switch at the bottom to turn the feed for the magazine on or off that must be continuously turned on and off whilst firing your air soft gun.
But then there is the argument the star is plastic and it will break. This is true, plastic does break easier however most metals used in airsoft gun mfg are of a porous variety and are subject to breaking as well. One important note before I move on to the classic army model, I do not reccomend upgrading the star without purchasing the metal upgrade mechbox. The stock plastic body mechbox does not hold up well to increased forces applied by upgrades. I still like the feel of my 6.6kg CA 249. Add in the 2400 rd minimi box mag and a large battery and your pushing 8 kg of steel airsoft support weapon. I guess the real factor comes down to performance and I believe the CA out performs and outlast all the competition that I am familiar with.
The CA 249 is not without issues as it needs a little fixing out of the box. Brand new the CA 249 fires at such a high rate that it will self destruct its internals in a short time depending on amount of usage. If you upgrade to a CA m120 spring it resolves the issue and this weapon will fire smoothly for a year or better. The mechbox is an inline version and takes standard internals. The full metal spring guide takes about a second to pop out of the mechbox and you can do spring upgrades in about a minute.
Add to that the compact look of the 249p and you have a sexy support gun that will fire about 380 FPS with above mentioned 120 spring upgrade installed.
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