Army Armament R85 (L85A1)

[yusanai]

It's less likely that this piston will strip, if the stock piston strips you can say that's because it's plastic, if this one does there is something horribly wrong with the gb. Cmon, dont nitpick, this is the only reinforced piece out there.

[Stealthbomber]

It's less likely that this piston will strip, if the stock piston strips you can say that's because it's plastic, if this one does there is something horribly wrong with the gb. Cmon, dont nitpick, this is the only reinforced piece out there.

Point is that these guns DO NOT damage pistons simply cos the pistons are poor quality.

They damage pistons because the gears spin around before the piston has completed it's cycle and, as a result, the sector gear ends up smashing the first one or two teeth off the piston.

 

Replacing the piston does nothing to stop the problem happening.

 

The simplest way to stop the problem is to run the gun with 7.2v batteries. This slows the gear speed down so the sector gear doesn't spin fast enough to catch the piston while it's still moving.

 

The rather sneaky way that G&G got around the problem was to fit an M130 spring so the piston moved much faster than it would do with a 1J spring.

 

Some people have managed to get around the problem by shaving the first and 2nd teeth so that the sector gear can spin underneath the piston as it's still moving.

 

Fitting Marui gears and a 16 tooth piston is not really designed to simply "fix" the original issues.

It's designed to get rid of the whole pre-cocking thing and fit the gun with standardised parts which can be upgraded more easily.

[3vi1-D4n]

Now now SB, shooting people's ideas down is never the way to go.

 

No one likes being told that their idea won't work until they see it for themselves. Its part of innovation, and everyone has a slightly different perspective on things.

 

While I agree with the point that its not the piston material that is the problem. I do not agree on your interpretation that its the gears spinning and eating into the rear teeth (I believe we have had this conversation before)

 

The reason why is because:

 

- PSG1 works on the same piston/gear ratios and do not have those issues on 300fps power springs.

- A stock G&G/ARMY piston on an M130 still chews pistons, indicating its something else.

- Changing the slope of the first pickup tooth eliminates the occurence of piston chewing, indicating the issue is in the teeth slope/mechbox positioning.

 

I do agree that using the 16 tooth piston mod is a good long term mod for serviceability, but it disables semi-auto, which is not a good thing in some countries.

 

Grinding the 2nd tooth and changing the slope of the 1st pickup tooth is the best "functional" option, but is not good for those with less than novice gunsmithing skills.

 

I believe that what SB is trying to convey, is the fact that overengineering with better materials, overpowered batteries and oversized parts is never, and should never an option.

 

It is unfortunate that we are bought up in a world where we are taught, "enough" is never enough.

Edited December 21, 2009 by 3vi1-D4n

[Stealthbomber]

While I agree with the point that its not the piston material that is the problem. I do not agree on your interpretation that its the gears spinning and eating into the rear teeth (I believe we have had this conversation before)

 

The reason why is because:

 

- PSG1 works on the same piston/gear ratios and do not have those issues on 300fps power springs.

- A stock G&G/ARMY piston on an M130 still chews pistons, indicating its something else.

A PSG1 only shoots in semi.

The first couple of shots from any AEG, especially with a marginal battery, will be slower than subsequent ones.

You can check this for yourself by recording bursts of fire and reviewing the sound with suitable software.

 

What was probably happening with the G&G L85 was that the first couple of shots were fine but shooting a burst would result in damage as the speed of the gears picks up slightly.

 

Anecdotal evidence seems to support this.

I've met several people who bought a G&G L85 and claim to shoot mostly in semi with no problems.

Later on they'll report back that their gun snuffed it after shooting in auto.

 

All things being equal, this shouldn't be an issue since the pre-cocking system requires the piston to cycle after every shot, even in semi.

Thing is, this doesn't consider the way gears speed up as the first 2 or 3 shots are fired.

 

I do agree that using the 16 tooth piston mod is a good long term mod for serviceability, but it disables semi-auto, which is not a good thing in some countries.

Disables semi?

Nope.

It will disable the pre-cocking if you use a marui sector gear but the gun will still shoot in semi.

Why wouldn't it?

 

Course, the trigger cut-off system on the G&G L85 is also pretty terrible but that's another story.

 

Grinding the 2nd tooth and changing the slope of the 1st pickup tooth is the best "functional" option, but is not good for those with less than novice gunsmithing skills.

Shaving the first couple of teeth can help with the piston problems.

Personally, I think it's better to swap to a 16 tooth piston simply in order to make the gun more standard.

[yusanai]

I'm gonna take the caveman solution from here, if in doubt use bigger stick, the stick being here this piston and a 120 or 140 spring, if anything strips i'm gonna swear alot and after that i'm gonna machine said piece from tool grade steel if hat fails, i'm gonna keep changing parts till my warranty goes void.so there. SB I'm not saying that you dont have valid point but i'm being optimistic about this piston that'll hold, just trying to share a slightly better piece of kit.

[SpecialistR]

I do agree that using the 16 tooth piston mod is a good long term mod for serviceability, but it disables semi-auto, which is not a good thing in some countries.

Well my semi works fine with the spacer kit?

I suspect that proper gear timing has something to do with it. It used to do an almost perfect two round burst everytime,sometimes three,the trigger was pulled. It annoyed me so I sat down with it one day and played around with the timing on the gears untill I got it right.

I do get the odd two burst every now and then but not for a while now.

 

[Stealthbomber]

Well my semi works fine with the spacer kit?

I suspect that proper gear timing has something to do with it. It used to do an almost perfect two round burst everytime,sometimes three,the trigger was pulled. It annoyed me so I sat down with it one day and played around with the timing on the gears untill I got it right.

I do get the odd two burst every now and then but not for a while now.

There's no such thing as gear timing.

 

The reason your gun shoots bursts in semi is because the trigger cut-off lever isn't working properly.

This, in turn, is because the trigger contacts are rather halfassed and the cut-off lever sometimes fails to dislodge them after a single shot.

As you shoot the gun it causes vibration and this will, after a couple of shots, dislodge the trigger contacts.

 

G&G/Army L85s are very sensitive to changes.

If I shoot mine on a 9.6v battery the gun rarely fires in semi.

If, however, I shoot it with an 8.4v battery semi works almost perfectly.

The change in ROF is obviously enough to stop the cut-off lever working.

There are changes you can make to the trigger mechanism to improve things.

[SpecialistR]

Then I should just attribute it to the cutoff lever working itself loose enough to work properly over time?

That doesnt explain my results though since semi was working just fine when I first installed the spacer kit. It was only after I had to replace a piston that the burst issue arose.

I'll go with that untill something else fails. Right now everything is working as it should so I am happy. Just thought I'd share my experience with the R85.

[ST19AG_WGreymon]

So there's no way to keep the pre-cocking feature and make the gun reliable at the same time?

[rolling-thunder]

My gun isn't my main weapon & it was one of the first R85s in the Country.I've long since got over survivors guilt & there's still nothing wrong with my gun some 150,000 BBs later.I run it on an 8.4v Battery & i've never had a problem so far.It's due a service but i'm worried in case i do something which ends up with it breaking.

I rarely use my British Loadouts but it's nice to have the choice.

[ST19AG_WGreymon]

My R85 stripped it's piston a few hours ago. I would love to keep the pre-cocking feature but if it affects reliability that much then I can do without. Now what to do...I've got mixed answers from people:

 

1) G&P SR-25 Polycarb piston (remove second tooth) Keep pre-cocking feature.

2) G&P SR-25 Polycarb piston (remove first and second tooth) Keep pre-cocking feature.

3) G&P SR-25 Polycarb piston + Standard Tokyo Marui Sector Gear

4) Ver.2 Piston + 10mm Spacer + TM Sector Gear (Not really a good option as RedWolf seems to have the kit out of stock)

 

Unrelated: I messed up my flashhider. Anyone know where I can get a replacement? I can't find any after-market L85 flashhiders so I was thinking about just buying an SPR flashhider, but I don't want to offend anyone.

 

EDIT: Nevermind, was looking through the thread and found out how to do this. Please tell me if I'm correct:

 

Ver 2. Piston + 10mm Spacer from Redwolf, file off three teeth from sector gear, change spring to Madbull Non-Linear M100(328fps?).

 

This would allow me to keep the pre-cocking feature as well as the blowback(every now and then to show friends)? Can someone show me which teeth to file off the sector gear?

Edited December 23, 2009 by ST19AG_WGreymon

[Apex]

The options have been covered to death in this thread but anyway.

 

You can keep the 18/19 tooth piston and stock sector gear and suffer the fate that 90% of owners get when they throw the junk battery out and get a decent 8.4v.

 

You can do the above but run with a 7.4v battery.

 

You could run with a stronger spring but it doesn't get rid of the issue all together.

 

You could get a normal piston with the 10/11mm spacer (to ajust the aoe), take 3 teeth of the current sector, keep the pre-cocking feature and see how it goes.

 

as above but get a normal sector gear and loose the pre-cocking feature.

 

A word of caution, the stock gears are not the best, i am the 2nd person that i know of that has suffered with them falling to bits, replacements are avaible from both ebaybanned and rsov.

 

Has to the teeth to take off, you see the tooth that is bigger then the others on the sector, it's the teeth from the other end you want to take off.

Edited December 24, 2009 by Apex

[marlvass]

hi guys,

 

i did the spacer thing (had to do a custom one since couldn't find any in stock), problem is full automatic seems to be working fine with the piston but for some odd reason single is not, its like the gear does not make a full turn and the piston obviously does not reset to its starting position thus it halts the gun (though if i switch to full it starts working again, which makes me worry obviously dont wont to dmg the gun on full auto either)

 

any ideas of what it could be i only added the spacer, sector gear and a new 16th piston

 

thanks

 

 

[ferdiii]

hi guys,

 

i did the spacer thing (had to do a custom one since couldn't find any in stock), problem is full automatic seems to be working fine with the piston but for some odd reason single is not, its like the gear does not make a full turn and the piston obviously does not reset to its starting position thus it halts the gun (though if i switch to full it starts working again, which makes me worry obviously dont wont to dmg the gun on full auto either)

 

any ideas of what it could be i only added the spacer, sector gear and a new 16th piston

 

thanks

Sorry but I think there is not solution for your problem.I have a L85A1 from Army and I have the same problem.

Regars

[Spacemonkey]

My gun isn't my main weapon & it was one of the first R85s in the Country.I've long since got over survivors guilt & there's still nothing wrong with my gun some 150,000 BBs later.I run it on an 8.4v Battery & i've never had a problem so far.It's due a service but i'm worried in case i do something which ends up with it breaking.

I rarely use my British Loadouts but it's nice to have the choice.

 

 

For what it's worth I have had two bog standard ARMY L85s for 2 years or more and both are used either in short 1 second bursts or single fire with no probs. The only prob is that if you don't do a definite pull on the trigger and all the way back, then semi can lock up sometimes. Stick to small bursts or long pulls and it's A ok. I use big-*albatross* 8.4v batteries only. Cracking guns and very good accuracy I find.

[rolling-thunder]

Yeah,i found they require a definate pull on the trigger.Even on full auto i can still fire 1 round or a 3 round burst.If i put the gun on semi auto that's where i find the problems.I'm hoping to use my R85 again soon.

[sasquatch1916]

anybody know if the reinforced piston for this gun from G&G is worth buying? Also, a link to get the A2 charging handle would be nice. G&G hasn't responded to my emails

[Sinis]

you best check the G&G L85 thread for advice on how to disable the blowback coz if that goes wrong your gonna know about it .

[Hop2]

Got a feeding problem with my R85. Insert mag, all fires well for about 10 or 20 rounds, then nothing, and then it kicks in again for 5 rounds, then nothing... Tried changing the hope rubber but no joy... Any ideas people. Gears and Piston is the original.

 

 

[marlvass]

started happening to me after the changes (changed hop up chamber as well), though maybe i did something wrong, usually i just remove the mag and put it in again, i still didnt identify what is causing the problem, it always had perfect feeding even know just sometimes it goes mis-feeds

[eldrad_ulthran]

My R85 ARMY has been a waste, I could only play once with her, and that I have it in September 2009, will remove the blowback, since a small piece broke loose and I could not run, in addition to this effect of R85 was fouled inside.

 

The piston broke, and now I put a GYG, but emits a sound like what happened to

first, and begins to shoot poorly.

 

Anyone know how I can fix this, I need to arrange for her to play quiet once and for all

[Domz]

Could you describe the sound? If its a whirry whine whenever the motors moving it could be incorrect adjustment of the motor relative to the gears?

 

Ive got to say mines going strong with the piston spacer, its been used heavily since a couple of months after the R85 came out!

Edited April 21, 2010 by Domz

[eldrad_ulthran]

Could you describe the sound? If its a whirry whine whenever the motors moving it could be incorrect adjustment of the motor relative to the gears?

 

Ive got to say mines going strong with the piston spacer, its been used heavily since a couple of months after the R85 came out!

 

The gears are good, is the piston was broken teeth, and left without firing replica

[33lima]

The gears are good, is the piston was broken teeth, and left without firing replica

 

 

Here is Stealthbomber's repair and modification guide for the G&G L85, it also works just as well for the R85 clone. Mine is working fine, since I carried out the piston replacement, except that semi-auto fires full auto, not a big problem. Blowback is enabled on mine.

 

http://www.man.poznan.pl/~bolen/ASG/G_G_L85_guide.pdf

[Meirson]

Nice gun, good build quality of the body. Cons are a weak piston, and the lack of ability to shoot single shots.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Meirson