Nine-Ball Barrel+Hop for the TM MEU.

[ThatblokewiththeScar.]

Hello to all. :D

This is a review for the Nine Ball 6.03 Barrel and the Nine Ball Hop Bucking by Laylax for the Tokyo Marui MEU.


What are they?

First up we have the barrel. This one is a 6.03mm bore and is 112.5mm in length suitable for the MEU, 1911 & Hi-Capa 5.1 models. It is superbly machined and polished and is a thing of beauty.

The Hop Bucking or rubber, is another very well made piece of kit, as far as little bits of rubber go this is one of the nicest I have seen. What it is made from is a closely guarded secret but I can confirm it is Purple!


Why buy them?

Everyone has there own opinions on upgrade's some do some don't some will some won't. I only tend to upgrade when I want something specific as opposed to upgrading for the sake of it.

There are many myths about tighter barrels & different grades of Hop and what they will and wont do. And there is enough conjecture about this to write a book so I am going to leave it there.


Why did I fit them?

I rate the Tokyo Marui MEU as one of the best Airsoft pistols yet made. Others will disagree but that's life. I wanted to try and improve on the already fantastic range and accuracy of the stock gun so after a bit of thought and research (weeks actually) these are the parts I decided to go for.


What will they do?

The idea behind the Barrel is simply Accuracy! During a game my pistol has two functions, first and foremost it's an emergency backup. But the bit I most enjoy is nailing some poor soul who hasn't seen me from a distance to far to be called sensible with a handgun and open sight's, Lovely. :D

The Nine Ball barrel could not possibly make things worse! it is beautifully made, polished to within an inch of it's life and clicked into the gun like it was coming home to a comfy pair of slippers. So if it can't make things worse then it can only improve on an already very accurate setup. I am expecting that the grouping at distance will be the biggest improvement over the standard barrel. I am not expecting this part to give any increase in range, in fact the reason I did not go for the very tight 6.01 bore is simply because these barrels can in fact reduce the range of a pistol by quite some distance and that would be counter productive.

The barrel differs from the stock TM version in subtle ways. Firstly there is a small difference in length but it's only about 1.5mm so no biggy. The hop channel is not cut as deep as the TM I can see no logical reason for this but it seems to have made little or no difference with the original bucking but the new one is a little tight. Looking down the inner barrel you can see where the money has been spent, It is flawless no other word for it, these barrels are like surgical instruments if you are in any way into engineering you could put this barrel on display.

The hop rubber was chosen for two reasons. Firstly I intend on using 0.25g up to 0.30g ammo and I feel that the standard hop rubber although better than almost every other standard bucking in production, may not be effective enough on the heavier ammo. I should point out that I have no test data to show that heavy ammo needs a better hop It's just observation and experience. The second reason for the Bucking change is Power! The MEU on propane hits an average of just below 300fps with 0.2g ammo. I am looking for around 330fps to 340fps. Again the reason for this is the use of heavy ammo. I will be using heavy ammo to help with accuracy and to help with hit detection at range, something all you snipers will know all about. So if heavy ammo is to be used I want a little more shove behind it to make sure that when it does hits you, just then you'll know it was me. :D

The Nine Ball hop also differs from the stock TM version both in size and design. It is smaller in most of it's dimensions and the internal venting/opening is different from stock. As we all know when the BB is fed into the barrel assembly it is held in place by the lip of the bucking. On the TM this is very minimal but on the improved version it is so pronounced that it is difficult to push a BB through it with your finger. It is this extra seal that allows more gas to be feed down the barrel and thus giving a small but useful increase in measured velocity. I have no doubt that the bucking compound will increase the grip level of the contact patch on the BB as it hurtles past and it is this combination that hopefully will make this upgrade worth the money.


Were they easy to fit.

Yes! well assuming that you are not my son who can explain plank's constant to his grandparent's and have it make sense but cant hold a screw driver without instruction. If you have ever taken anything more complicated than a plug apart then a TM hop unit will hold no fear. Just remember to be patient do things in order and don't try eating your dinner at the same time and all will be fine. The only difficult moment was putting the bucking on the barrel, as mentioned before it is a little smaller then stock and after fitting it does not look like you have put it on right. However once the gun is reassembled it is all fine and works as it should.

With the parts in place and the Gun gassed up I let off a few rounds to check all was well. The interesting part of upgrades is that when it's barrels and bucking's it is almost impossible to detect if anything has changed. Unfortunately I don't have access to a chronograph at the moment however I did punch a few holes on a 7mtr range to check I hadn't made things worse. The results are as follows.

All shots were taken in doors with a single handed grip, semi auto. The ammo used was the only type and weight available when testing and I only use propane these days.

7mtrs 0.25g Z1 ammo on Propane no silicon.

Stock Barrel and Hop. Groupings taken from center to center on the outer most shots.

5 shots 25mm X 27mm
5 shots 32mm X 24mm
5 shots 25mm X 23mm

7mtrs 0.25g Z1 ammo on propane no silicon

Nine Ball Barrel Nine Ball Hop. Groupings taken from center to center on the outer most shots.

5 shots 25mm X 15mm
5 shots 28mm X 18mm
5 shots 35mm X 30mm


Several things can be taken from these results. Firstly the inconsistency of the grouping with the new parts may be down to the hop needing to bed in, only ten shots had been through the gun prior to the test. Secondly I was not using the Madbull ammo I will be using in this gun from now on and this will change the result's. It should however be noted that the first shot on each target with the new parts fitted the BB went through the center of the target.

The new ammo will be here shortly and after a few hundred rounds to bed in the parts I will re test the gun and post the new results. I will also do a bench rest comparison to see how much my aim is effecting the results, and when the weather improves I will get some results on a 25mtr range and post them as well.


What else?

As soon as they are available I will be fitting the Nine Ball Magazine Gas Routers to my mags this will give an extra 20fps or so and should get me up to my 340fps target.

At the same time I fitted the barrel and hop I also installed a very nice 5KU trigger blade and a 150% spring upgrade kit. The trigger is a little more in depth to fit as you must remove most of the frames internals but I like the look and it make's the pistol stand out in a subtle way.

The springs were a doddle the hammer spring being the quickest to fit as I had to cut the slide spring down a bit. My MEU still has the plastic slide and with the 150% spring it cycled so fast that the slide did not stay back upon empty. So 20mm was removed and problem solved. The action is now very crisp and the whole pistol seems a bit tighter than before and the felt recoil and trigger pull is much nicer and heavier.

No doubt the hammer spring gives a small increase in power due to hitting the valve with a bit more gusto. It does still empty a full magazine with gas to spare, it is for this reason that I will not be fitting a Hi-Flow gas valve as this is still a gun for skirmishing not target shooting so I still want to be able to empty a full mag if need be.

There are a few other things that may find there way onto this pistol. Possibly a polished outer barrel a fiber optic front sight and probably a thumb rest. I like the look of the real Pachmayr Grips but I have been looking at the Silver-Back Laser Grips as well and they appeal to the kid in me.


The result?

Anyway more results to come as time and weather permit. Excuse the rambling but I find to technical a review sometimes misses the point. Only time will tell if these parts were worth the money. Speaking of money the barrel was £25. the hop was £12. the springs £8. and the trigger £10. UK prices are correct at time of posting.

Thank you for reading please comment or question at you leisure.


Phil...

[ThatblokewiththeScar.]

Re: Nine-Ball Barrel+Hop for the TM MEU.

Few more pics I couldn't load earlier.

Mods please merge.

Thanks...