Army Kimber Warrior upgrades!

[Shanker]

I recently got an Army Kimber Warrior for a great price. I know that this isn't that good of a pistol stock but I bought it as a project. It all works fine and is TM MEU compatible. what I am asking you guys is what upgrades should I put in it to make it a great and reliable pistol? I can take it apart and install it, I just don't know what I should get. Links would be great.

[TheEnd]

The two most important upgrades will be your bucking and barrel. These will make the largest difference of anything.

Barrel: 9Ball 6.03 112.5mm

Bucking: 9Ball purple VSR

To improve your gas efficiency a quality piston head will help. The PDI unit is very tight and some custom work is needed to make it cycle properly. I used a cut down BIC lighter spring to replace the stock spring. It needs to be cut down shorter than the original spring or it will snap the tab off the block back unit.

Piston head: PDI 1911 piston head

An upgraded recoil spring will allow faster cycling time, but will eat up a little gas efficiency. Personally I think it's worth it.

Recoil Spring: Guarder 150% recoil spring

This kit includes a hammer spring, but I would recommend sticking with the lightest hammer spring possible. A stiff hammer spring needs more gas to be compressed. I cut my hammer springs to be as light as possible while still getting a full strike.

I made some custom gaskets for my mags because the WE gas chutes are too short. I'm not sure if the Army suffers from the same problem, but the gaskets really help.

[Mles]

In addition, teflon tape your piston head - you will get great compression and this will greatly increase performance and efficiency.

Most of the upgrades TheEnd mentioned will not increase reliability. To increase reliability you simply have to take great care of your gun. This means cleaning it after every use, oiling the gun, taking apart and cleaning your magazines and basically just treating the pistol right. GBB's are a pain - get use to it.

TheEnd,

I am going to have to disagree with you on siding with a light hammer spring. For two reasons..

1. It really won't affect your gas efficiency at all. There are so many other variables that will weight a heavier effect than the hammer spring tension.

2. Having a strong hammer spring greatly improves performance. You will be able to snap off more shots more quickly and the GBB will feel more like a real gun. The trigger pull and the hammer action will feel smoother and crisp also.

[TheEnd]

The hammer spring does have an affect on gas efficiency. Take a pistol with a light hammer spring and a strong hammer spring. Then pull the hammer down. The heavier hammer spring will be harder to pull down. The heavier spring is harder to compress which means the system has to work harder to push it down. This can lead to blow by of the piston head if it doesn't get a good seal (for example the ARMY in question), and blow by from the rocket valve (which as far as I know are never 100% air tight). For example most stock WE's can't fire a full 14 rounds with a fill of gas. I cut a few coils off the hammer spring and it fires fast and locks the slide back. Add in the PDI piston head to stop blow by and the system works much better.

The important part is how strong the spring actually needs to be. If you are getting a solid strike and fully opening the valve on a fully gassed mag there is no need for a stronger spring. If the stock spring doesn't open the valve quickly on a fully gassed mag then it isn't strong enough and needs replacing.

In short, the hammer spring can be overpowered and hamper your efficiency. The important part to look at is the percentage. In TM's (and possibly WA's) that are designed for duster they use a soft hammer spring. The upgrade kits give a 150% (of stock TM) spring which will open the valve faster and give a stronger kick. But guns like WE (and possibly ARMY) that start off with something like 200% springs it is overkill. The spring has gone from opening the valve faster, to trying to drive the valve through the body. That's why I try for the lightest spring possible while maintaining a full strike.

[Mles]

The hammer spring does have an affect on gas efficiency.

In short, the hammer spring can be overpowered and hamper your efficiency.

?

What I was trying to say is that I would rather have the system work harder and receive better performance than gaining the benefits of having a more efficient system. WE's and ARMY's might be severly hampered by this, but when you are talking about building quality pistols, I would upgrade both the hammer and slide springs. If he is going to fiddle around with the pistol and throw some other internal upgrades in, I say try the upgraded hammer spring, it is not difficult to install and may greatly affect the shooting experience.

If you are getting a solid strike and fully opening the valve on a fully gassed mag there is no need for a stronger spring.

Not only do upgraded hammer springs effect the power, the valve also closes at a faster rate, allowing quicker shots to be made which I find very important especially in a GBB. As long as the valve is properly allowing sufficient amount of gas flow, I would say stick with upgraded springs. But, with any GBB, some form of testing will be necessary.

In the case of a WA (which is my primary GBB), I find stronger springs, both hammer and spring, are an excellent upgrade and I have received great results using them. I am also using various internal upgrades and a full metal kit, so those upgrades also may have an effect on the effectiveness of upgraded hammer springs. This may not be the case for a TM, WE or ARMY which forces me to repeat - some form of testing and fiddling will be necessary when upgrading your GBB.

[TheEnd]

Jul 25, 2011 21:14:35 GMT -5 Mles said:

In the case of a WA (which is my primary GBB), I find stronger springs, both hammer and spring, are an excellent upgrade.

Which is true because like I said, they have softer springs to begin with.

WE and possibly ARMY (ACM stuff is usually overpowered) start with near 200% hammer springs. The springs are ridiculously overpowered. Imagine putting a 400% hammer spring in a WA. It won't help, it's just stupidly overpowered.

There is like you said some fiddling to be done. I had a Guarder 150% hammer spring in my WE and I found it to be too much. My cut down stock spring fires just as fast (at least no perceptible change to me) but allows me to slide lock every time, where the Guarder would fail to slide lock or fire the last 2 bb's about 40% of the time.

In the end we are both saying the same thing. Upgraded springs are very helpful, provided they aren't overpowered. It is up to the end user to figure out what power level is best for their GBB.