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Review of the "Practical AEG
Upgrade" title
by Mr.
Steven "CornDawg"
Diedesch. Steven is a writer for the FPS Magazine. He regularly writes
articles and reviews for the magazine and also for other airsoft
forums. |
When you unpack your first name-brand AEG, it's a very uplifting
experience. Most stock guns cost between 200 and 400 USD new, and
sometimes we get a nice price on a veteran gun from a friend.
However, its still a pretty big investment.
As if it weren't enough to deal with already, no two models are
alike; each gun has its own strengths and weaknesses. We buy the
guns based on their strengths, but often end up shelling out extra
cash to accommodate for the weaknesses. In this quest for the
perfect gun, we learn many, many important lessons about quality,
precision, and the ongoing battle between durability and power.
Needless to say, most of us don't get it right the first time.
A good handful of us don't even get it right the second or third
time.
And, no matter how hard they try, there are even those who just cant
rebuild their gun after four or five tries.
As a veteran AirSofter, I've had more than my fair share of
chewed-up gearbox parts (including a CA v2 reinforced gearbox that
literally exploded inside my AR15), mech-jams, broken plastic and
trim, lost sights, et-cetera, and I still cant stay on top of
everything and still stay within my painfully limited high-school
budget. In a desperate effort to construct the perfect gun just six
months ago, I added some of the most expensive hardware I could
find; ball-bearings for the gears, ball-bearings for the spring
guide, a fancy Systema variable-pitch spring, high-speed gears, a
gigantic 9.6-volt battery, and even added a big ol 4X32mm
target-grade scope.
Needless to say, the gun was enough to have the owners of overbuilt
LMGs crapping in their BDUs with a phenomenal rate of fire and
velocity right at 450 FPS, requiring that I modify my gun to get in
as a support weapon (involving overtuning the hopup to slow down my
shot to approximately 275 FPS). It was an outright frightening piece
of hardware, right until it grenaded during a heated firefight. This
was after firing less than three magazines through my gun.
Not having the time or the parts on hand to facilitate a repair, I
was forced to "Sam Fisher" through the rest of the day with a
silenced Beretta replica and two stock KJW magazines. The term "gas
hog" had a whole new meaning. The experience wasn't that bad, except
for the fact that I looked like I'd come down with chicken pox and
had a $400 mess of an AR15 on my hands. You see, even the big guys
can make mistakes.
With our sporting rifles costing more than their real-life
counterparts, this kind of screw-up isn't exactly anyone's idea of a
good time, especially when the replacement and upgrade parts cost
more, still, than the stock gun. This is where "Practical AEG
Upgrade: Methods, Tricks and Myths" comes in.
The latest version, also the first version, is available in Adobe
PDF format for download, text form for purchase, and uh I guess
that's all there is.
Anyway, the 108 page guide, with enough simplified images and
illustrations to keep any noob interested, the book certainly isn't
without its professional feel.
The table of contents is in a simple format; just find the question
you'd ask a professional, and look up the page specified. It sounds
stupid, but trust me; if anything goes wrong with your AEG, this
books got answers for you.
Brilliant, accurate technical diagrams litter the books pages; well
labeled and surviving English translation better than any Eastern
publication I've ever seen before, the books descriptive nature
leaves nothing to ponder once you've finished.
Covering everything that goes on inside the gun in a general
fashion, with simple charts for calculating power for individual
upgrade parts, the authors findings recorded from REAL guns in REAL
life. No fancy formulas or what not here; this stuff is tested, not
calculated.
Covering hundreds of individual subjects, everything from batteries
to ball-bearings, spring guides to silicon oil and everything in
between, its difficult not to find a solution, or at least an
explanation for your problem.
Fixing problems isn't even the full extent of this books text;
upgrading performance and durability are also covered in-depth.
Using the books description and recommendation of certain parts, I
have an AR15 that's smooth-feeding, quiet, yet plenty powerful
enough to do some serious damage in any combat situation. The book
helped me by eliminating my habit of buying the most expensive parts
in hoping that they're also the best for my application.
Put it this way; you buy a brand-new car and decide that its simply
not good enough. Not enough pickup, not enough space inside, has a
nasty habit of sticking in the passing gear at cruising speed, it
wont grip the road well enough when its even a little dusty, you
know the deal.
The approach that our symbolic buyer would take is to buy a
brand-new motor, exhaust, repaint the thing, buy a new transmission,
new tires, new everything.
Only now, the car won't drive right at highway speed because the
tires our buyer added are off-road dirt tires, meant to handle more
than a little dust; the motor came out of a diesel semi-truck, which
has plenty of power, but possibly even too much. The transmission
was built for a drag-racing car, and just won't fit.
Our problem is nearly identical.
With a little extra cash here and there for maintenance and expert
assistance, we can save ourselves hundreds (I could have saved
roughly one thousand) of dollars on unnecessary rebuilds and
repairs.
From what I've seen, "Practical AEG Upgrade: Methods, Tricks and
Myths" is definitely a worthwhile purchase. |
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