Classic Army Steyr Aug - serious misfeed and low FPS

[gofairsoft]

Hi all,

Broke all of my rules and bought a used CA AUG with a stated 'small feed problem - only fires 2 out of 4 BBs'. Negotiated a price and took delivery. Well the 'small feed problem' was seriously understated and the gun, if it feeds a BB at all, pushes it out of the barrel slower than I can run. Corro with seller proved fruitless - 'I told you the gun had a problem and you still bought it'. Well I can't argue that point. Perhaps the seller could have been honest about the extent of the problem?????? Caveat Emptor I expect. I won't name and shame but if anyone wants to know the username just PM me.

Anyway, so I have this gun with a feed issues and low FPS.

Obvious things for me to check as far as I can tell are:

Mags feed properly - checked (the 4 that came with it and the three I already have)
Motor spins - checked
Hop rubber isn't cactus - checked but I will replace with a madbull one today for peace of mind
Feed nozzle intact - checked
Hop chamber alignment with feed nozzle - checked
Nozzle moves with motor rotation - checked
Nozzle moves far enough back to feed BBs - checked as far as I can and this needs a little more investigation

So with those things out of the way I suspect the next step is to remove the gearbox and check for obvious damage. There is a screw missing from the gearbox case that I can see through the ejection port. I also note the ejection port covers don't return to the front when the cocking handle is released. Perhaps the spring is missing (another thing I wasn't old about) or the gearbox is misaligned? A misaligned gearbox could cause the feed problem. Would it cause low FPS - perhaps the nozzle is sitting in the hop squarely and there is a significant air leak?

When I pull the gearbox and strip it what should I be looking for? Sector gear post intact and the tappet plate ok? Tappet plate spring intact and tappet plate correctly installed around nozzle? Cylinder cracks? Piston head and piston ok?

Sorry for the ramble. If anyone has any other advice or experience to share I'd greatly appreciate it.

My goal is to upgrade this thing for insane (in AUG terms) ROF. FPS below site limits and a longish TBB. My other AUG is locked to semi, fires at 400FPS and is my DMR. I want this CA one to be my skirmish rifle - close range and a lot of fun.

Cheers

Brad C

[JFSebastien]

Re: Classic Army Steyr Aug - serious misfeed and low FPS

Sounds like you know what you're doing. Feed issues on Augs are pretty common complaints as they age. Possible previous owner had the gearbox out (missing screw) and it's not seated correctly but I'd be having a closer look at the Nozzle as the likely culprit. You're losing compression somewhere with the drop in fps. Considering the feeding issue to, it points to the Nozzle. Might not even be an Aug Nozzle and hence not extending into the hop chamber enough and loading the next bb correctly. Check the spring on the mag feeding Nozzle as well, if that's knackered it won't sit right on the magazine and feed reliably.
Considering the upgrades you intend to install, id break in all down, full clean and build it back up in stages to ensure everything meshes correctly.

[gofairsoft]

Re: Classic Army Steyr Aug - serious misfeed and low FPS

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sourcing parts now for a full upgrade of internals. Waiting to see if the thread has stripped hence the missing screw or if it is just missing.

Trying to do this on a budget as I'm still sore about the 'error' in the advertising.

cheers

[JFSebastien]

Re: Classic Army Steyr Aug - serious misfeed and low FPS

Both my Rifles are TM Aug High Cycles - the backup is pretty stock apart from a tightbore and the usual tech tweaks, but my primary has been beefed up with the best components - lonex, prommy, pdi etc. I'd recommend SHS stuff on a budget, esp gears (13:1 are great for the money), I've liked Lonex (their blue piston is the go-to) so far although the Prommy spring guide is better than the Lonex one. Got the high cycle piston head and Nozzle but skeptical its worth the money over say the Lonex Aug ones. We shall see.

Anyway, crack that baby open and have a good poke around. I lost my front top screw at some point so it's possibly it's just miss place rather than thread stripped or sheered.

I might have a spare screw and other TM Aug components knocking about if and when you decide what you need

[gofairsoft]

Re: Classic Army Steyr Aug - serious misfeed and low FPS

Hi, Thanks for the reply and advice.

So far I've used the advice in this forum to:

- check the magazines feed into the nozzle- All good
- trim the nozzle spring and pack it out to allow it to drop further into the mags
- stretched the ejection port cover springs and lube. They nearly travel back when the cocking handle is released now
- checked that the hop unit feed aligns with the nozzle and that BBs feed into the hop - All good

So now I'm thinking nozzle is the culprit, or gearbox alignment or nozzle into hop. I'm going to change the hop rubber and give the hop some loving first. Easiest to do and I have all I need at hand.

Then I'll see what I can do to pack out the barrel to get the hop as far back as I can - not relying on the spring.

Then I'll crack the case open and see what is inside. Do you have advice on the best gear ratio to achieve a high ROF? Is 1200 possible out of these? I'm going to fit a 509mm 6.03 TBB and R Hop it. Got to keep it below 350FPS so won't be going overboard on the piston/cylinder. Maybe short stroke it? Fitting a MOSFET and lipo obviously.

Interested to hear any and all feedback on the fault finding and mods.

Cheers

Brad C