We all want more range and accuracy in situations when we spot a target that is within our eye’s reach but not in our gun’s reach. Having a good gun that can reach targets can mean win or lose and it is fun to hit them before they get a chance to hit you, even they might have spotted you first. Gear really mean a lot but when you combine it with skill you have it all.
In this guide I will show you what you can do to improve the range and accuracy of your gun by introducing some techniques that you can apply right now and by mentioning inner parts and devices that your gun might need to unleash its full potential.
If your gun works good right now and you want to increase its potential, then this is the guide for you.
If your gun does not shoot properly (BBs do not go straight and bend too much at sides, BBs go diagonal…) because some of the fundamentals are broken or misaligned then this is the guide you want to read instead.
This is a guide for everyone that want to get advanced potential on their guns, thus the gun must already work normally. Sometimes people have a problem with their gun not shooting straight, bending at sides and so on, the problem that must be fixed then lies in inner barrel, hop up, BBs or gun’s quality and I have mentioned the guide above where I have covered exactly that.
Now, We must first mention what upgrades are there on the market and which ones of those actually work and you should consider. (I will primary focus on AEGs but you can apply the following on other guns too).
If you liked this guide you can also check my guide on how to increase the rate of fire because it is another useful stat on airsoft guns that make them superb!
Air compression is mandatory
There is no point upgrading stuff on your airsoft gun before dealing with air compression. The quality of a gun means a lot here, therefore cheap guns often are not properly sealed and lots of air finds holes to escape through resulting with FPS inconsistency, reduced accuracy and range.
High-end guns are way better at this and this is a reason why you can often find a 320 FPS gun outperforming 500 FPS guns with poor air compression and some other important traits, FPS alone does not mean a lot.
The good thing is that you can fix the air compression on any gun and thus increase its performance. You can send your gun to someone with expertise for such upgrades or play with this and do it on your own.
So, how does this work and why is it so important? The air is pushing the BB and it needs to go through many parts of a gun, on its way if there is any room for air to escape, it will escape. Air behaves just like liquid and when this happens the gun loses pressure that is supposed to project the BB out of barrel. Before the BB is found in an inner barrel, lots of air is already leaked and the gun simply does not operate at its full potential.
In order to fix this we need to determine where the air leaks, so we can improve the seal on those spots.
- The whole story begins in the piston area where the piston compresses the air with the help of the spring
- The air then flows through the cylinder head into the cylinder tube
- The cylinder head also connects with the air nozzle through a small metal tube
- The air nozzle then connects with the Hop-up and this is the last critical point.
Now we know what are the critical points where the air may leak, we must somehow seal it at those spots but the seal may not be bad at all of those spots, so it is recommended to test it and thus save the time by fixing only the parts that are causing the air to leak.
Testing the vulnerable spots
We can test the gearbox compression by simply pushing the piston into the cylinder while placing a finger at the top in order to block the air escaping through its route in nozzle.
If you block the airflow and push the piston and feel the pressure that makes it difficult to push the piston through while the air is not leaking from anywhere, you know that your gun is properly sealed and the problem probably lies in hop-up unit.
The Hop-up can not be tested using the mentioned technique but you can test it with even easier method. Chrono the gun and notice the FPS variations between shots, any variation above 5 FPS indicates that there is room for improvement on your hop-up.
When you test it this way, you first eliminate the odds of gearbox not being properly sealed and then you move on simple chrono testing that gives you more information on the compression of hop-up. Simply going with chrono testing from very beginning will measure the inconsistency but you will not be able to say whether it comes from gearbox or hop up.
How to fix the compression
The begin with this you need to check does your piston head have a o-ring on it, if it does not you will have to replace the existing one with the new one that is a o-ring on it, so this is the first upgrade that you should consider.
These rubber rings will take care of sealing but only if properly lubricated so the next step is to lubricate it with something like silicone oil or similar great lubricants. Another thing that you should check is whether the o-ring connect well or do you need a wider one.
The cylinder head that fits the cylinder tube is also sealed with o-rings.
The spot where the cylinder head connects with the air nozzle through a metal tube should also have a o-ring for sealing, if it does not, because perhaps your gun does not have a metal tube with a o-ring on it but instead some other metal connection you can replace this part with a tube that has a o-ring included.
Whenever we talk about o-ring you need to ensure that it is properly lubricated and it does not have any damage, if is is damaged you should simply replace it.
The spot where the air nozzle connects wit the hop-up requires a different approach just as it was a case with the testing it. You can not simply lubricate the hop up because of the rubber that must not get in contact with any lubricants because it is sensitive to it and may start to malfunction if it happens.
Instead you should ensure that the hop-up is as tight as possible on the barrel, you are free to use tapes to fix this or you can find some other techniques that work.
Larger Spring
You can consider upgrading the spring on your gun if you want more FPS. More FPS does not always mean a better gun and you need to ask yourself whether you really need it. If your gun desperately needs more FPS, so it can support heavy BBs then this is a great upgrade, otherwise not a necessary one.
This upgrade alone will not make a big difference and should not be a priority, however if you have dealt with compression and hop up first, then you should consider furthermore upgrading it with a larger spring as well.
Big benefit of being able to use heavier BBs will mean more resistance to wind and BBs will travel with an ease, leading to improved accuracy on longer distances.
Tight bore Inner barrels
Inner barrels are often a cause of lack of accuracy, especially when it is the case with cheap ones from unknown brands. The most important criteria for choosing a proper inner barrel is the quality of manufacturing, not the length.
The length alone does not mean much, as a matter of fact if the quality Is bad no length is going to save it and it can only get worse. The inner barrel needs to be smooth and without imperfections and this is something that good brands take care of.
Even a slightest imperfection at total 1% of barrel’s body is enough to break the path of a BB and decrease the accuracy but this is not the case with high quality inner barrels.
The length does not mean much when the quality is present, so a 229 mm tight bore inner barrel will perform very similarly to other high quality tight bore inner barrels like the 450 mm one.
It is recommended to choose 6.03 mm for AEGs, while snipers may benefit more from 6.01 mm, the optimal length would be 450 mm but as I mentioned it is not that important, however assure that the inner barrel does not outreach the outer barrel or if it is a case then cover it with suppressors. The inner barrel must never be exposed or it may get seriously damaged by dirt or other forces.
Polish the inner barrel
The cheaper option is available, instead of replacing the inner barrel you may first try this out. Polishing will hopefully remove those imperfections inside the barrel and therefore you will have a smooth road for BBs. This is not always possible because the quality of the inner barrel still means a lot but sometimes this can be enough and you will not know before you try it out, it is simple and cheap.
Hop up
Hop up is still the most important part of the gun when it comes to accuracy and it is its only job. Hop up does not have to do anything with fps but without it no matters the velocity of your gun, it won’t be accurate.
Knowing that hop up is so important because it creates the path for a BB by causing a magnus effect that spins the BB and thus making it fly at certain angle, we must not only adjust it, which is a very easy job but most importantly the quality must be guaranteed.
This is an important upgrade if your current hop up unit does not work as intended. To see whether it works good or you need to upgrade it you will have to check some things out like how well is it sealed? Are bucking, barrel and nub fitting in properly or not? Its interaction with the nozzle? How well does it feed the BBs?
If any of questions bother you because you notice that something is not working properly, you will have to upgrade it.
I will be also adding a guide on Hop up mods and how to modify it, so you can make a further research on it because it is also correlated with accuracy but also deserves its own guide and can not be explained in a few sentences.
Bucking
Sometimes a small upgrade like a better bucking may be that difference in accuracy that you are looking for. As mentioned above the air must not leak and everything should be sealed as much as possible, so a bucking is that silicon rubber sleeve over the end of the barrel and if it does not fit properly they air may leak.
Do not forget heavy BBs
I mention this too often but it is worth mentioning it because this directly impacts the accuracy of guns and it is such a simple adjustment. Not all guns can support heavy BBs but some can and in that case it is a must. If your gun does not have that FPS that Is required for some BB weights then you can upgrade it with mentioned stuff above to reach the higher FPS and then start using heavy BBs and see the improvement in accuracy.
If you want to read more on choosing the best weight for BBs and whether your gun supports them, I have dedicated a post on this topic and you can find it here.
Use scopes and sights
It may sound simple and has nothing to do with guns internals but do you use a scope?
Using a scope can mean a lot because aiming through iron sighs is harder for most people and once they install the scope, they see big differences in consistency of their shoots.
This is due to their aiming skills and scopes help you upgrade your own aiming skills, just be sure that the gun is aligned with the scope because otherwise, it will not serve you as intended.
Take a look at some of my favorite scopes and sights for airsoft guns.
Conclusion on upgrades for accuracy and range
There you have it, the fundamentals should be taken with care first and then you should upgrade the rest if you still want it. The mentioned stuff works great for increased accuracy and range and you can do it on your own ( in which case you should make more research before you start doing it, so you have a deeper understanding which part is what and what goes where) or you can lend it to someone who is good at this.
In the future, I will be creating more guides that will show how certain upgrades are done in action, but every single upgrade deserves its own guide. In meantime, you can read about upgrading the rate of fire and consider it as another upgrade in the future if your airsoft gun needs it. There are also more things that can be done for your gun and I shall mention them as well in the future but this is the most important stuff that you should know about.