Home Reviews Top M60
by Arnie

TOP
M60DX

by Aussy
Murphy

Stock
Specifications
FPS
280m/s
(stock fps may vary)
Length:
1100mm
Barrel
Length:
 ?
Weight: 5200g

Ammo
capacity:

1200
rounds

TOP


Background

Reasons
to purchase an M60:

If
you want attention on the airsoft field, the M60 “Pig” will
give you just that!  Its intimidating looks and distinctive sound
has psychological impact that exceeds greatly its actual capacity
as an airsoft weapon.  In
stock form it’s a heavy, awkward, long rifle that doesn’t
shoot any harder, farther or more rapidly than a stock Tokyo
Marui AEG.  It holds
1200 rounds which it can fire non stop at about 260 FPS with
20 gram.  Compared to players equipped with hi-cap magazines
there’s really not much upside! 
Fortunately our local team emphasizes true Mil Sims
and focuses on realism as much as possible. 
We insist on low caps for all but the Squad Automatic
gunners or designated Crew Served weapons. 
We require players using Hi-caps to have a bipod on
their weapon and an oversized magazine so they can be readily
identified on the field and experience some limitations.  In this environment, the high fire power, engine
burning performance, and trigger to the metal shooting justify
the M60.  Even so, after
several games we felt the M-60 in stock form just wasn’t adequate
to justify its heavy weight of 18 lbs, (roughly half that
of a real one) but still awkward for airsoft.  We asked around about upgrades and were told
that there were kits but were advised against trying to do
it ourselves.   After searching all over the Internet we couldn’t
find any guidance on how to do the modification.  Everyone said not to attempt it as the TOP design
is complex and intricate compared to a regular AEG.

Disaster:

Our M60 experience
was a nightmare from the get go. 
Our original ordered “60” from
Taiwan was seized at LAX for quite some time and we began to think we’d never
see it.  We dumped the
dough on the more expensive M60 DX. 
We liked the adjustable bi pod legs, additional use
of real metal and more detailed parts. 
Once it appeared our original order wasn’t going to
arrive, in our hurry to get an M-60 we turned to E-bay.  We bid a used M60 and when no one else bid it,
we got it dirt cheap.  This
was just the standard model which needed some TLC so it was
nothing too special.  Unfortunately the person we bought this one
from was slow with responses and it took about a month and
a half to get the gun.  Of
course, during this period, the M60 DX that was seized was
released from Customs, so we now had two M60’s.  We fixed up the used one we bought doing the
necessary repairs and improving its appearance and sold the
base version on Ebay.

We put actual M-60 slings on both and mounted the side with an actual
M-60 bandoleer and string of dummy rounds which made both
look considerably better. We did
quite well with the sale of our surplus M-60 and our buyer
is delighted with the gun last we heard. 
We would have loved to have 2 for the team but just
couldn’t justify it.  Neither of us looks enough like Sylvester Stalone!

About the TOP M60:

The
M60 is a very sturdy and heavy replica. 
Of course, the airsoft version of the M60 is about
half the weight of the real thing.  So my dad (who was a ranger in the Army) won’t
let me complain about it being too heavy to lug around (and
proceeds to makes fun of anyone else on the team who does.) 
There are several metal parts; the only parts that
really aren’t metal are the front fore grip, the pistol grip,
and the stock.  The pistol grip and the stock are both fine,
but the front fore grip is really plasticy and can tend to
crackle while hauling the gun around. 
Solution: as always, duct tape (the Red Green show
is like a religion to me.)  Dad says they did this in the Army as well as
taping the slings to cut down on rattle so doing so doesn’t
cut down on authenticity at all.

Firing
the M60 is quite fun, it has an impressive rate of fire and
reasonable velocity.  While
the rate of fire is awesome, the velocity is slightly less
than that of your average stock Tokyo Marui AEG (about 260
fps.)  For this weapon
to match its intimidating looks and justify its weight my
dad and I decided  when it jammed
again to dump the dough that we made from selling the one
M60 towards upgrading the other.

The
final decision was made when our M60 stopped firing. 
Either way I had to go into it. 
I had to unjam it once because my dad (genius that
he is) thought, well instead of upgrading it, let’s just put
.12 gram BB’s in it!  That will give it a higher velocity and most
likely the range.  Since
it was used in suppression role it wouldn’t need accuracy…

WARNING! 12 Gram BBs should never be used in a TOP
BB gun.  It jammed BB’s
from an inch into the barrel all the way to the loading mechanism.  Just to unjam it, I essentially had to strip
it half way down.  The
TOP barrel takes a “z” shaped turn so it’s not just a case
of using a rod to unjam it. It was fixed for now and my confidence
was boyed by the fact that I could take it apart and put it
back together. 

The
next time it jammed the problem was more involved. 
The loading mechanism wasn’t working. 
I knew I’d have to open this gun up once again.  At this, dad decided to invest in a full upgrade. 
(Something I wanted to do all along!) 
We purchased the Angs cylinder, Angs spring guide,
Angs 1 joule spring, and an entire gear set replacement for
the main gear system (If you didn’t know, there are two different
gear sets, one for controlling the spring and cylinder, the
other for the loading mechanism.) 
The total cost in parts was about $240.00. 
As I said it’s a complex design.

Upgrading

Important Advice:

Let
me just start off by telling you that this is not a fun gun
to take apart.  Some argue that it is the hardest airsoft gun
to work on.   Comparing
it to my P-90 is like comparing a cabin on the lake to the
Winchester mansion!  What I recommend is that you set aside an entire
day to do this operation. Lay everything out on a white sheet
so you won’t lose any parts. 
It took me about 6 hours to take the M60 apart and
back together again.  This was primarily because my pig was the first
gun that I’ve ever upgraded and because I had no guide on
how to do it.  The instructions
on the upgrade kit had a few pictures (hard to see) and all
the instructions are in Kanji!   There are a ton of parts and when it’s totally
taken apart, you can’t even tell it’s a replica weapon. 
If you do half of it one day, and the other half another
day, chances are you won’t be able to pick up where you left
off cause you won’t remember where all the screws go, and
what the heck each thing does. 
To make a long story short, your pig will become bacon
grease and pork chops.  I’m sure that many a TOP M-60 is lying in parts
somewhere in garages all over the world.

What
you need:

Things
that you need to do this operation are as follows:

  • Patience
    and a steady hand! 

  • A
    Phillips and flathead screw driver (preferably ones that are
    long and skinny and have a pretty sharp head)

  • A
    hex wrench set with the smallest hex wrench you’ll ever find,
    (one conveniently comes with the Angs Cylinder set,)

  • A
    pair of pliers

  • A
    pair of tweezers

  • A
    star shaped screw head with a hole in the middle. On the wrapper
    there’s the letters TX10 and it says that it’s a ¼” (6.4mm)
    size.  It’s a very obscure
    tool took several trips to the hardware store and is absolutely
    essential.

  • Also,
    you’ll need some of the special greases for the gears and the
    cylinder, as well as any parts that you will be installing.

Taking
it Apart:

*This guide is specific for the M60 DX version
and I don’t know how different the other variants are.
*

Ok, now that that’s said and done, let’s get started.  Obviously put it on safe,

 

Unload
the gun and disconnect the battery. 
You have to start off with removing the rear sight. 
Do this by tightening the adjustment screw until a
bolt sticks out and it exposes a little hole. 
Use your tiny hex wrench and unscrew that tiny thing. 
Remove the nut and unscrew the adjustment screw using
a flathead screw driver on the opposite side. 
Lift out the top portion of the sight. 
Then remove the gold thing and the spring below it. 
This will expose a screw, unscrew it. 
Slide the rest of the sight out to the side. 
Next comes the tray cover.

Take
some tweezers and remove the horseshoe clips located on one
of the sides of the joint. 
NOTE: Careful, these things fly and are nearly impossible
to find!  Slide the
rod out from the joint.  The
tray cover will now be free to remove.

Next is the actual tray that holds the bb’s.  Unscrew the four screws located on around the
golden barrel thingy.  Also,
unscrew the screw that holds the springy thingy to the golden
barrel thingy (notice how technical my terms are.) Then lift
out the golden barrel thingy.  Remove the last screw in the back of the tray
(located just in front of the hole that locks the tray in
place.  Finally, remove the thing that holds the magazine
bag.  Lift out the tray.
Now you have the bellows and spring exposed.

Next you will remove the front half of the gun.  Unscrew the 2 screws located under where the
site was on sides of the gun. 
Then turn the Pig on its back and remove the rod located
on the bottom (made for use on a tripod.) This rod is also
held in place using horse shoe washers.  This time you must remove both of them and once
again, be careful!  Once
the rod is removed, two hex screws are revealed. 
Unscrew them.  Then
take a larger hex wrench and remove the hex screw located
just in front of the trigger.  Now the front half of the gun is free to slide
off.  Proceed to remove
the front half of the gun.


The
bellows and spring will now be removed.  Unscrew the bottom two screws located on the
bottom row of screws.  Do
the same thing on the other side. 
Now the bellows system and the spring portion will
lift out.  Unscrew these
two screws on the portion you just lifted out.  Now the two silver bars that stabilize the bellows
system are loose and will slide out. 
The spring will come out with the spring guide as well
(careful, it can launch.)



Now you must assemble and install the new spring and the cylinder
that replaces the bellows. 
First you have to remove the front part of the bellows
system, and use the back portion with the guides. 
Do this by removing the metal bar that holds the bellows
in place and keeps the upper portion connected to the back. 
(Don’t think you can just cut the wide portion from
the thin portion, you’ll see why after you take it apart.) 

Once you have this done, attach the piston to the piston head
and use the same bar that held the piston to the bellows system
together to hold the piston head to the piston. 
Put on the rubber ring that came with the cylinder
set on the piston head and two on the cylinder itself.  Add
the grease to the cylinder and it’s mechanism to ensure a
smooth action. 

Assembling this part is slightly different than disassembling
it.  You won’t use the
silver bars used for the bellows system to hold it in place.
 Instead, you will bolt the cylinder directly
to the frame.  Be sure
to put the piston into the cylinder before you screw it in. 
Also, use the screws that came with the new cylinder
and put them in the front two holes that hold the cylinder
in place.  Next put in the new spring and the new spring
guide.

Next
you have a crossroads, if you are not planning on replacing
the gears; you are done and can now reassemble the gun.  If you plan on continuing and replacing the
gears, you’ve got more to do!

Your final thing to do is the most annoying.  Start off by removing the stock.  Unscrew the four screws located on both sides
of the stock. Then remove the large screw in the back.  The stock with slide off and expose the motor
and fuse.

Unscrew the cover with the loading mechanism and remove this
plastic cover.  This
holds the second gear system that turns the loading mechanism.
Now remove the thin metallic piece that goes around the long
metal rod running from the motor to the gearbox.  

Now that the gear box is totally exposed, unscrew the two
screws located in the back of the gear box. Unscrew the two
screws that hold the motor into place located in front of
the motor and on the left side of the gun. 
Lift the motor out. 
If you have a gear replacement set, you will replace
the long rod.  (You
must keep the spring and the smaller gear that drives the
loading mechanism.)  Next,
you must unscrew the large hex screw located behind the pistol
grip as well as the screw behind that. 
Now, lift out the gearbox (careful of the spring for
the charging handle.)  Remove
the screws that hold the gearbox together and open it in half. 
Add grease appropriately (a light film) and insert
the gears into the correct place.  I also thought it was best to keep the teeth
of the gear that pulls back the piston facing down.  This puts the gears in the correct position.
If they are not like this then your gears will be set to pull
the piston back when it’s already back. 
This could strip your gears (If you test fire it while
reassembling it, be sure that before you assemble the piston,
spring and cylinder portion that you have the teeth of the
thick gear facing down.) When putting the gear box back into
place, the wires must be put on the thin indent on the side
of the gearbox.

 

Left over parts

Time for the hard part, putting it back together.  For the most part, you can reassemble the gun
by reading these instructions backwards, but some things
to keep in mind are to not to over tighten screws.  Tight
is good but not to a point where if you try and loosen
them, they’ll strip. 

Also,
while reinstalling the motor, you must use a lot of
test and error as to the correct length that the rod
will stick out of the motor. 
There’s a bearing near the gear at the end of
the rod that sticks out of the motor, be sure that this
fits correctly in the gear box.

The
rest should be pretty simple. 
Don’t forget to place the inner barrel in right
side up so the hop up screw will function. 
Remember, after different sections are installed
and secured; be sure to test the mechanism and double
check that everything is working correctly (plug in
a battery and give it a few test fires.) 
Just a heads up, don’t be surprised if you forget
to install something and have to go back and correct
it.

Results:

Once it’s all together remember that even once loaded the
M-60 takes a while for the BB tube to prime. 
The initial firing sequence after loading requires
several bursts before BBs are funneled up to the chamber. 
Don’t panic when this happens. 
I did!  After
the gun started firing, let me say that the results were EXCELLENT! 
The velocity had definitely been improved it probably
shoots at a solid 330 FPS. Significantly better then when
stock.  The gun is even
louder and more intimidating because it now uses a cylinder
instead of a bellows system. 
Now it sounds like a vacuum cleaner sucking up nails
instead of a dirt devil.  The
accuracy isn’t exactly the best feature of the gun, (should
have put in a custom barrel)   but that doesn’t seem to matter much since
this gun is meant to make heads duck and create a large beaten
zone.  My dad is shocked
that I got it back together with only a few parts left over
( a mystery screw and washer) and just a few bruised knuckles.  Oh well you can’t make an omelet without breaking
a few eggs.  I can’t
wait to wallow in the mud with this Pig on the next skirmish. 

I will update this review with information on skirmishing
with then newly upgraded gun as soon as possible.

Comment
on this review in the forums


Last
modified:
Sunday, May 18, 2003 7:54 PM
Copyright 2003 ArniesAirsoft




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