We Airsofters only want one thing: Go out there play and have fun! Well, I agree, but having a good time requires some preparation and maintenance of your gear and gun. If you want to protect you investment for the long haul, treat it with caution and maintain it well.
Maybe you don’t feel like an Technician but that doesn’t matter. Do what you can. You don’t need to break down the entire gun in order to maintain it. Simply break down in it’s major components as far as you feel comfortable. So, don’t think it’s too difficult for you but do it anyway if your want your gun lasts longer.
So let’s break the maintenance down in several parts and make it easy for you. Let’s get started!
Which tools do you need for maintenance your gun?
Before you begin you need to gather some tools in order to maintain your gun well. You may have some tools already but others you can easily buy at the nearest tool store. Check also your manual for further information about tools.
So what do you need before starting your maintenance? Which tools do you actually need to start out? This is a list of tools we recommend for your maintenance:
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- 2 sets of Allen wrenches one is standard the other is metric sizes
- A screw driver with both sides having a phillips as well as a flathead option
- Multitool
- UTG Airsoft Silicon Spray
- Some paper towels cut up
- scissors
- cleaning and unjamming rod
With a scissor you can cut up some paper towels which you use for cleaning the barrel. The barrel has to be cleaned more times in a row, you need to make several paper towel parts in order to get the barrel clean.
But before we explain how to maintain and cleaning the barrel we want to mention something what you can do right away without breaking down the gun or whatever. Most Airsofters don’t pay attention to it but it is the most forgotten and easy thing to do when it comes to maintain your gun.
Relaxing the spring
One of the most important components of your AEG maintenance is relaxing your spring. This one is going to allow your investment for the long haul, I bet you. The spring of your gun is one of THE most important parts when it comes to accuracy and F.P.S. Of course there are other factors but the spring quite important.
Now if you have been playing the whole day on full/semi auto your gearbox may not cycle completely when you did your last shot. That causes an unnecessary strain on your gears, your piston and your spring. It’s kind of half way to fire a BB; it’s like an elastique which is stretched and ready to unstretch. The longer it is stretched the weaker it will be. And that has an impact on your F.P.S. So what to do about it?
Well, to fix the unnecessary strain is actually quite simple. All you need to do is flip your gun to semi auto and take a couple of shots. That way you ensure your piston is all the way forward which lead to a decompressed spring as possible and finally to a relaxed strain on the internal components of your gearbox. That will extremely benefit the durability of your AEG. So the next time you store your gun you want to decompress it, otherwise it’s reading maybe 20-30 F.P.S. less that it was last time and you may be having to shell out for a new spring. I think you don’t want that at all!
While relaxing the spring you want to make sure there is no BB left in the camber which can cause any injury because you could actually get a BB come out when you’re relaxing the spring.
Cleaning the Inner Barrel
To reduce the amount of jams you want to regularly cleaning your inner barrel. You also want to make sure your guns works the next time you go out on the field. The more you use your gun the more rounds you put downrange and the more often you need to clean your barrel in order to make sure it is going to be operate consistently over time.
Take a clean piece of paper towel and cut it into rectangular strips – maybe a couple of inches long – and make sure there easily go through the loop at the end of the cleaning rod.
That paper towel will be sprayed with Silicone spray for a better cleaning of the inner barrel. Make sure that it’s 100% Silicone! If you use a cheaper Petroleum based oil than you may ruin some rubber and plastic parts inside the gun. You just want the paper towel to be damp not soaking wet!
Before you’re going to clean your barrel you have to make sure that your hop-up is turned all the way off so that you don’t put any wear and tear to your hop-up!
Now insert the cleaning rod into the muzzle all the way down through the inner barrel. While putting it down spin the rod from left to right to get out all the dirt and obstructions. You may have to repeat this process several times until you pull the patch out and it’s nice and clean.
some guns requires to take out the inner barrel. On most guns that can be easily done by removing the pin (pushing out of the gearbox) on the gearbox . For that you need your screw driver. Push the pin out so you can separate the upper from the lower receiver.after that you can remove the inner barrel with the hop-up.
First before removing the hop-up make sure your hop-up is fully closed by dial the hop-op all the way back and what that does is it lifts you nub up off the actual bucking and that’s important or also it won’t be slight out.To remove the hop-up from the barrel first remove the retention clip that is holding the chamber from the barrel. At this point you would be able to slightly wiggle out the bucket. Then you can pull it out, remove the rubber and remove the bucking and remove the metal ring.
You may be wondering how often you should clean and unjamming your barrel. Of course that depends on how often you use your gun but we recommend doing it after shooting about 5000 rounds.
Lubricate the magazine
This one may be to simple but to be complete, I don’t want to skip this one. On the image above you see the Silicone lubricant. On the side you see a straw. Take that straw on your Silicone lubricant, stick it into the nozzle. Then take your magazine and give a couple of squirts into the feed, 2-3 times max. Be careful to not over lubricate your magazines otherwise you diminished and sluggish the performance of the magazine.
Go over all the fasteners
After a full day of playing always check your equipment before storage your gun. That means that you have to go over the whole gun and make sure that you go over all the fasteners: all the screws, nuts, bolts etc..
A couple of things need to be checked before you’re playing the next day:
- Check the 2 screws on the gearbox which hold the take-down pins in place
- Carry handle screws tend to rattle loose make sure that they are fastened down
- 2 screws on the motor plate
- Maybe your stock is being wobbly so check this one too
- Is the barrel still fight and fastened?
Make sure everything is tightened down to prevent any malfunctions. Don’t be fullish about tightening your screws. Tight is tight! Otherwise you will break the components and that is going to cost you a money for replacing components.
Prevent your gun from internal condensation
In this article I wrote about the different Airsoft guns and their advantages and disadvantages.One of the disadvantages of an AEG is getting a weak battery over time. After a day full of playing in the rain or snow you want to store your gun immediately and start to take care of yourself. Well, that’s fine but remember that the internal parts are made of iron so if you bring your gun in a warm environment your gun will start to condensate. What to do about it?
Well, you can break down the major components so that the electric components can dry out. That means disconnect the battery and separate the upper receiver from the lower receiver. That way you can get things air out. Break things down as far as you feel comfortable and let it dry for 24 ours. After that you can store your gun away.
Cleaning the outside of the gun
We discussed sofar the internal maintenance of your Airsoft gun. Now there’s is also the outside of the gun and maybe you should begin with the outside first before starting the internal maintenance. What do you need for internal maintenance?
- A bottle clean water
- A bowl
- Clean towel
- Vacuum cleaner
Now you’ve all gathered we can start cleaning the outside of the gun. Take your vacuum cleaner and your clean towel and start cleaning the outside. Use the vacuum cleaner and clean towel both at the same time so that you can brush at the same time while using the vacuum cleaner. Doing this use a dry clean towel.
After doing this take your bowl and put some water in. Make the towel a bit wet and then clean the rest of the gun. Don’t use too much water because that might damage your electric parts and also other internals. Also don’t use a air-compressor instead of a vacuum cleaner because this only blow dirt deeper into the gun and may cause malfunction and unreachable dirty places!
Conclusion
So that was it for today. Cleaning and maintaining your gun is actually not that difficult. Most of you guys have two guns so you have may have already done it once. If you didn’t and you are not sure about what to do ask a friend for help so you can do it the next time by yourself.
So be patient and do it well and make sure your investment is working for as long as possible.
*featured image from Airsoft GI
* image from airsplat
