VSR Clone (JG) Budget Thread: Round Two!

[fuzzywolly]

Some of you may have followed my TM VSR 10 project thread on some of the other boards, and others may have not. I have pretty much completed it and all that is left is posting some final pics with the new paint job and perhaps one last accuracy test. That and some fancy external upgrades such as a fluted barrel and flash hider.

In that thread, I discussed some problems I had with the rifle, and looked for advice on how to fix them. Some of them on my own were fixed, others were solved with helped from various members like you guys.

Some of the problems included:

1. BB's curving to the right slightly: A major problem that needed to be fixed. It drove me nuts for quite some time. It took about a month or two before figuring out the answer. So much for the TM chamber being amazing in stock form...

Solution: Shaved hop up arm, and applied an o-ring over top for even pressure on bucking which applied the pressure on the bb.

Results: Worked like a charm!

2. Sticking: When chambering a round, the cylinder unit would get stuck in the "cocked" position. Sometimes it would result in a slam firing. This problem lasted about three times as long as the curving problem lasted. After trying nearly everything to try and fix this, it came down to one silly part.....

Solution: PDI spring guides do not work well with laylax parts including springs, pistons, etc! Although the PDI spring guide looks almost identical to the laylax spring guides, they are not the same...Turns out this spring guide was the problem. Replaced it with the stock spring guide, and boom! No more sticking....One reason why to stick with one brand of parts all the way through, however, it has been proven that the stock parts are friendly with the laylax parts and don't mind working together on a daily basis.

3. Mag catch spring lost: Lost my mag catch spring...

Solution: Cut a piece of spring from any pen and wola! You have yourself a cheap replacement. Does not need to be cut to exact size.

These are just some of the major problems I ran into, and for full information regarding this project, see this thread: www.c3airsoft.com/showthread.php/vsr-10-project-thread-25460.html

Now, onto what this thread is about. I have recently obtained a parts rifle and will be turning it into a functioning bolt action rifle, using the LEAST amount of money as possible.

While I have no set budget, I will be trying to build this rifle with the money tight consumer in mind. This means, I am not going for Z-trigs, PDI barrels, and Polar Star Pistons. No, that is not what this project is about.

That brings me to....

MY GOAL: To put together a parts (broken) rifle that literally costed me roughly $8 in items and shipping, and to turn it into a functioning bolt action rifle, and seeing how far one can go with DIY mods and only the parts necessary for proper function.

Can I get it on par with my own rifle which is almost entirely laylax, with the exception of a part or two including a DEEs custom barrel?

Stay tuned to find out! Pics and write ups to come!

[snafu]

I like were this is going Fuzz, I would like to build a budget boltie for a backyard plinker, and the occasional days I decide not to run and gun. You should post pics of your VSR for eye candy.

[fuzzywolly]

Nov 25, 2011 18:37:08 GMT -5 snafu said:

I like were this is going Fuzz, I would like to build a budget boltie for a backyard plinker, and the occasional days I decide not to run and gun. You should post pics of your VSR for eye candy.

Thanks man, will post some pics of the finally painted VSR (my primary) tomorrow afternoon.

Also received the bar 10 parts package, and cleaned her up internally. All that is left is the cleaning of the hop up portion and a few DIY mods and she is ready for round one of shooting. This is to get a basis of how she shoots, so that after MAJOR mods (shave hop up arm, etc.), we can see if it improved performance or if things got worse....

Updates and pics to come! Stay tuned...

[fuzzywolly]

Well, been working on it for the past few days, sorry for the delay.

Anyways, here I go:

First off, the rifle feels like junk. This is my first JG bar 10, and I am fairly dissappointed with how it feels, but it is a clone so no worries...

1. Started off with a basic cleaning of the cylinder set:


Using...


This is the mess that was on the inside after cleaning out the gunk:


Also cleaned up the guide rings including the one seen here:

^Not sure if you can tell from the pic, but there are black chips that cover the ring. This makes bolt pull more rough and scratches the cylinder...

Teflon tape the cylinder head as well as a o-ring on the top for increased compression as well as on the spring guide for less noise produced;

^I like to apply a little grease under the tape on the threads as well as over the top for easy assembly and increase in compression to prevent leaks in the gaps (if any)



The only thing I like about the head on the JG that I do not like on the TM version is that there are two holes (instead of one) that can be used when removing it with a tool. Not a big deal, but definitely easier to work with.

2. The hop up: Fairly disappointed with this portion. The screws that hold the hop up together were most likely super glued as they won't come off! They are in there for good, and this pisses me off. I had to clean the inside with a cu-tip, and wish I could have gotten inside so I could clean the bucking with some soap and water...This part was sad...JG glued the hop up together..nice...

This was also sad:

^Outstanding effort by JG on this one.

Fixed it up with some of my own custom spacers, but for the first time ever, electric tape has failed me. I used a different type this time and look what happened below. Saggage!






3. Foam stock and rest of body: Found a cement block in the stock, who knows why that was there...Regardless, it is gone now:




Butt stock is filled with foam now, and is much lighter and feels more proportioned in terms of weight.

The one good thing about the JG model was the mag catch:

^Won't be coming out anytime soon, and am very happy with this portion. Much less flimsy than the TM version, but its not like the TM mag catch gives me big problems any more, so no harm no foul.

Stay tuned for more pics within the hour, have a few more I need to upload.

[Kreeper]

Really great fuzzy, I love your work on the Bar-10. It is interesting to see how others mod their weapons. The makeup of your gun is perplexing though. I currently run an upgraded JG BAR-10 and mine out-of-box was different than yours...

First off, the cylinder head has only one hole on mine. I want to double check since it has been a couple months since I looked, but I am pretty sure of this. Secondly, my hopup assembly came apart very easily. So easily in fact that when screwing the tiny screws back in I broke the heads off of two of them trying to get the whole thing to fit back together tightly. Granted these parts were built and assembled in some cheap process, but that is significant difference. My only guess is a change in building process since when I bought mine a couple years ago and you bought this one.

I've been told that my gun is pretty dang quiet, but being the guy whose ear is next to it while shooting I am never quite happy. Your foam job inside the stock is an excellent idea that I am going to try next time I open it up!

PS. Fun addition. My orange tip was glued on and crooked. Shooting out of the box, the bb's would hit the edge of the orange tip and come out at a 20 degree angle. Also, because of the glue job they did, I had to literally break apart the tip to get it off for my silencer.

[fuzzywolly]

Thanks for the input Kreeper!

Very on that your hop up came apart easy, along with the fact that the cylinder head only has one hole. I wish I had your luck with the hop up though, and right now I am going to ask a friend to help try and get the screws out. I think once I get them out it will be easy in the future as the glue will be removed (which is what I believe is keeping them in there).

As for the orange tip, mine came off easy after boiling some water and melting the glue. For once that was not a hassle!

And I know what you mean about the gun being quiet, based on what others say. However, when you are the guy shooting, it just seems like its so dang loud. :/

^I have tried some new mods with o-rings and will see how that affects vibrations and if it dampens the sound a bit.

Updates to come, right now working on the trigger box problems..

[ctres]

Looks like you have a cool little project going here. I have done some similar mods to mine, and for an unupgraded gun it shoots really great. I currently have a new lonex bucking on the way, as I thought I would experiment with it since it was only $5.

I have a couple of reccomendations if you would like. All credit for these mods goes to members of ASR and vindicareassasin.

1. Instead of small barrel spacers, you can make a solid single piece one by wrapping the barrel in paper until it is the right thickness. This creates an extremely stable unit that also helps to absorb vibrations from the barrel. Even if you have the tapered version, at the end it is not tapered, and even at the tapered part it is doable if you are creative.

2. That light foam in the stock probably won't do much as far as adding to a realistic feel or dampening vibrations. One of the cool methods that someone on ASR came up with was filling every cavity with modeling clay, making the thing rock solid and capable of absorbing vibrations.

3. If you aren't going to spend any money on o rings or anything, you can get a perfect, or near perfect seal from the stock piston o ring by stretching it. All you have to do is stretch it around the outside of the cylinder, and gently heat it all around for a couple of seconds with a lighter. Then clean it and give it some silicon oil and you get 100% compression.

4. You can actually boost velocity by a bit if you port the back of the cylinder head into a funnel/cone shape. It's easiest if you attach the cylinder head into a drill and have it upright. Then turn on the drill and use a cone shaped dremel bit to mill out the hole.

Anyways, good luck with your build, the bar 10 is a great gun for DIY modding. Hopefully some of my reccomendations are new to you so that I didn't just waste all my time writing that up.

[unrivaled]

Where can I pick up some of those foam blocks at? That would really help out with the noise from vibrations.

[sgttom]

The hop up screws were not glued in on any of the JB BAR-10s I've owned, which is about 6. Too bad that happened with yours.

[fuzzywolly]

Ctres, thanks for the info, might have to try a few of them out.

However, the foam actually does add some weight to the stock and really balances everything out. Obviously the cement block in the stock had to go and without it, the stock felt extremely light and did not feel good in the hands at all. The foam really adds some weight and helps give it a better feel.

I have also seen the single barrel spacer thread, but did not bother with it due to the hassle of working with paper folding and crumpling.

As for the other mods, sounds like good stuff. Thanks for the input!

Where can I pick up some of those foam blocks at? That would really help out with the noise from vibrations.

It's furniture cushioning, not sure where to find it, found it from an old chair.

The hop up screws were not glued in on any of the JB BAR-10s I've owned, which is about 6. Too bad that happened with yours.

Well this is dissapointing...

[fuzzywolly]

After some work on the trigger box, it seems that I need to buy a new one, as I am missing parts in the old box I had lying around, as well as pieces being broken. I am looking at the cheapest box, obviously nothing like my Z-trig, but again, this is a budget rifle thread. So here is what I will be getting shortly: www.evike.com/product_info.php?cPath=648_678&products_id=34005

Should be more than enough to handle a 375 fps set up. Better than stock box, but nothing that burns a hole in the wallet.

Project will be on hold until I get my hands on one of them. In the meantime, perhaps a paint job, but nothing else for now. Stay tuned though!