M4 'Stig'

The Systema metal hop-up unit was the trickiest part to fit. It requires that a slot is cut out of the lower receiver and the two halves of the reciever then have to be fitted together with greater care than the M4's usual quick takedown. I made the initial cuts with a junior hacksaw and then whittled the receiver down with a modelling knife until the slot was exactly the right size. This hop unit should outlast the standard Marui part which is notorious for giving up quicker than the parts used in the other Marui AEGs. One hiccup along the way was that when I first built the whole thing and tried to fire it nothing happend, though I could feel that the motor was getting power. One 0.2mm shim fitted incorrectly in the gearbox had completely seized the gears. A quick stripdown, and replacement of the offending shim fixed the problem and the gun now fires smoothly and with power. I have left the gun as a 'flat-top' and instead of a carry handle have fitted a 2.5x20mm scope on high mount rings. I would recommend 2.5 x magnification for all but the most uprated AEG's as more magnification means you're looking further than the gun can fire!!

The scope, long Dragunov flash-hider and small 190 hi-cap mags give the gun a nice/nasty sniper look. The long tight barrel gives the gun greater ranger and accuracy than a standard M4, and I may fit a longer (M16) barrel if I come across a suitably second-hand silencer to cover it. All in I think this AEG has cost me about £95, including the new hop unit and gearbox case. How long such an abomination will last we shall see! So far Stig is doing fine. It's even had to stand in as a hire gun a couple of times and there hasn't been a single problem.

I've been tinkering with AEGs for a while now and over the last few months I have accumulated a fair amount of spares, parts (bought off the forums or 'raided' from Airsoft Dynamics' parts/broken gun box) and left overs. I looked throught the bags of bits one day and realised I had almost enough to make an AEG! I bought an M4 gearbox case and Systema metal hop-up unit new, every other part of this gun is used, and no two parts are from the same original AEG. The reciever is an M4 item as is the foresight/outer barrel. The stock is from an XM and the pistol grip and motor came from a dead Car-15. The gear box internals are good used parts liberated from AD's parts collection and the inner barrel is a TN G3 item, which is a little too long for the outer barrel so I've used a Dragunov flash-hider to cover it.

Projects

AEGs

Gas Pistols

Stuff

Since being built Stig has evolved many times as parts have been added and swapped about. Currently it's got an SR 16 front end, grip and stock, a Mosquito Moulds RIS, and an FTK gearbox that I'm running in. The receiver got painted in a kind of flectarnesque kind of way. Some people hate it, but I think it suits him!