Upgrading hop and inner barrel

[harrym]

Hi - hoping to get some advice before I go for my first upgrade.

My Ares M4 has a broken hop and a stock inner barrel. I thought since I have to replace the hop anyway, I could just replace both at once - a better hop and a 6.03 inner barrel. But I have a couple of questions:

• I'm not sure what size inner barrel I should get. If I just measure the one that's in there and get one that's the same, I assume that'll be fine?
• Most important thing: Will any M4 hop fit in any make of M4? If not, what do I need to look for? Is it just a matter of making sure it'll fit in the receiver or is there more to it?
• Any tips on what sort of hop rubber to get? I've heard there are softer high velocity ones that don't reduce your fps so much, but that wear out quicker - worth it or just hype?
• Do I need to do anything to my gearbox/piston/piston head/motor to make sure the new inner barrel works nicely with the stock parts?

Thanks!

[balaclava ben]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

-ares guns tend to be a bit of a slut to get stuff to fit
- 6.04mm has been shown to be the "best" barrel diameter through extensive testing on other forums
- if on a budget get yourself a mabull barrel and TM bucking
- if not get a steel prommy barrel and firefly bucking

[Caveira]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

I'm a big fan of the Madbull ultimate hop/black python barrel/shark (or blue) rubber combination.

They can sometimes be a bit of a pain to fit (filing the "wings" on the hop a little and a bit of trimming on the hop rubber) but nothing that takes more than a few minutes to get right. They're designed to work together, which is a bonus as mixing and matching parts can work really well but is a bit hit and miss. I'm finding that they work very well together in my VFC 416, giving it the total range of my DMR M14 (though not, obviously, the accurate range) which BTW also has a black python barrel (I've fitted a few of these as I find them a great mid-price TB).

[harrym]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Thanks both.

Think this would fit? http://www.zerooneairsoft.com/produc...oducts_id=2976

Are there any other ZO ones that you'd suggest?

[HuntR]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

I was under the impression that Ares M4 hop units were attached to the gearbox. Thus meaning you can only replace them with Ares specific ones

[Snowdrop]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Harry, alledgedly the Ares M4 barrel is a tightbore, have the same aeg myself though I am awaiting confirmation by Ares as to what size it actually is. Personally if it is 6.04, then I'm not bothered about spending £30-40 just to get a little bit of more out of it.
THe Madbull hop is the one I am looking to get as well and it is the same price as the one you have looked at but, as robin says, if i do later decide to get the madbull tb, then the two are winners.
you may have to look at the spring because I think that with the new barrel and possibly the madbull hop you may get a bit of an increase in fps. Good thing about the Ares is that sorting the spring is easy

[Snowdrop]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

I was under the impression that Ares M4 hop units were attached to the gearbox. Thus meaning you can only replace them with Ares specific ones

Not on the new models, standard M4 hop units now.

Robin, what range are you pushing out?

[harrym]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Nah, it floats in front of the gearbox. Pics:


https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...eat=directlink

[harrym]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Ah - already a tight-bore? Interesting! I also don't want to pay £30 for 0.01mm

Would be good to get a definite answer on that... hmm.

[Caveira]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Robin, what range are you pushing out?

Not much help for the people who don't know GZW, but I can hit individual trees at the far end of the range about 1 in 3 shots on single and drop rounds into the area beyond the treeline to the far right of the range.

I'm making a guess here, but based on the 30m marker I'd estimate the trees to be about 45-50m and the open area at the back right to be about 55-60m from the left hand shooting position.

To put things into perspective, my M14 has a black python fitted, is fully upgraded internally and running at 423fps. That will hit specific parts (within a foot or so) of specific trees at the far end first time, every time. My 416 is a stock VFC except the TB/hop/rubber, all from madbull. That won't hit specific parts, but I can hit the tree I'm aiming for. Both are OK for area suppression into that patch beyond the range, with the M14 being a bit more accurate at the back of it.

[Snowdrop]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Harry, it's a bit of a weird one. I have scoured the internet for a while and no one has conclusively proved that it is actually a tightbore or just a marketing slogan

[Snowdrop]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Not much help for the people who don't know GZW, but I can hit individual trees at the far end of the range about 1 in 3 shots on single and drop rounds into the area beyond the treeline to the far right of the range.

I'm making a guess here, but based on the 30m marker I'd estimate the trees to be about 45-50m and the open area at the back right to be about 55-60m from the left hand shooting position.

To put things into perspective, my M14 has a black python fitted, is fully upgraded internally and running at 423fps. That will hit specific parts (within a foot or so) of specific trees at the far end first time, every time. My 416 is a stock VFC except the TB/hop/rubber, all from madbull. That won't hit specific parts, but I can hit the tree I'm aiming for. Both are OK for area suppression into that patch beyond the range, with the M14 being a bit more accurate at the back of it.

Thats not bad then!

[Caveira]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Harry, it's a bit of a weird one. I have scoured the internet for a while and no one has conclusively proved that it is actually a tightbore or just a marketing slogan

There's tightbores and then there's accurately machined tightbores

Thats not bad then!

I was seriously impressed the first time I got it on the range. That's with zero one 0.25s, I'm planning on trying it with some 0.30s I've got at some point.

[Snowdrop]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Ah - already a tight-bore? Interesting! I also don't want to pay £30 for 0.01mm

Would be good to get a definite answer on that... hmm.

Got the email back from Ares - they lied, well maybe the marketing was a bit off.

The barrel is a standard 6.05mm, hardly a tightbore at all, just a standard barrel.
And for info if you want to go down the li-po route, they recommend 7.4 15c. No idea if that is any good, maybe someone can answer.

However, looks like new madbull tb and hop combo coming up when i get the money!

[harrym]

Re: Upgrading hop and inner barrel

Ah, awesome. Thanks for the update. Will go for that madbull TB then, plus hop.

I'm running 7.4V 10C lipos in mine, which work great - though I do need to change over at lunchtime. They wouldn't last a full day. If you can fit a 15C in your gun, that would be better. Mine need to be tiny to fit inside my RIS.