Initial Impressions of the TM SOPMOD M4 AEG

[Isamu]

Freedom Art swivel will fit the CQBR too, dont know about the quality thou, but for that price tag, it must be stronger than an AK about the sling, many people say its not the most comfortable sling out there, but... its magpul!

[morb]

which 1 point sling do you suggest then?

[Isamu]

It may sound cheap, but.... right now im using the one point sling bundled with the DBOYS M4 CQBR RAS II, pretty sturdy and being 2" wide, comfort is more than enough for 4 or 5 hours games resuming, look for a 2" wide slings, they distribute the weight better, making them more comfortable.

 

http://www.ebairsoft.com/sling-with-batter...uch-p-2463.html I have used this sling as if it was a one point sling, and when adjusted, its nice too, comfi, sturdy and if you dont need it, you can remove the battery pouch, but im sure people in forums can give you more examples of good one point slings.

 

Sorry for the offtopic ^_^U

[elanaiba]

And another version of the same thing:

http://www.x-fire.org/new_m4/barrelbase_delrin.html

[Isamu]

And another version of the same thing:

http://www.x-fire.org/new_m4/barrelbase_delrin.html

 

Nice! but... what is it for?

 

[elanaiba]

it's the clip that holds the barrel in place (under the barrel nut)

[Isamu]

And is a replacement really needed? or is it just for the sake of spending more money?

[Number5]

And another version of the same thing:

http://www.x-fire.org/new_m4/barrelbase_delrin.html

 

Or is it to allow the fitting of 3rd party rail systems?

[Elvis]

An orignal KAC RIS fits without any modification.

[Number5]

An orignal KAC RIS fits without any modification.

 

 

Ah, apologies, I meant: 3rd party rail systems which left the barrel free floating.

 

J.

Edited February 13, 2010 by Number5

[thefallacy]

have this coming next week *the socom version..

 

based on what i've read so far im planning

 

systema m100 spring

prometheus 6mm bearings <-- are these the best option?

madbull black python v2 tightbore

madbull shark (red) hob rubber

 

anything else upgrades wise that you guys recommend?

 

bottom line is I want to run it as reliably as i can on 9.6v batteries..

 

thanks!

 

[Isamu]

SOPMOD springs are different to regular AEG springs, so that systema spring wont work, in fact, it will kill your AEG... other think is hop rubber, I would keep the marui one insted the madbull, and would worry about it when the change is needed

[Abelius]

6mm bearings are just screaming for trouble. Better get solid 6mm bushings. Bearings are viable at 7mm and bigger.

[Richard Y]

6mm bearings are fine if you fit them properly and use nice quality ones... ive ran the prometheus 6mm bearings in mine for a year now no troubles and none expected!

[KDawg]

I have started reading through this entire thread since im deciding on whether or not to buy a sopmod or maybe a socom and there seems to be a lot of good information here. Ive read to pg 14 so far, but i decided to skip ahead and post and then i can go back and read later

 

So my first question is how are ppls sopmods or socoms working now, would really like to hear from the ppl that have had theirs for a while now to see if theyre still holding up? I also would like to know what you think I should get, a sopmod or a socom? originally i was going to get the sopmod, i really love everything about the gun except the fact that the battery is a little weak in my opinion but i really liked the quick and easy battery installation. I was planning on either adding extra cells to them or possibly doing a lipo conversion. then when i saw that the socom used a normal 7.2v battery stored in the handguard it seemed like it might be easier to get some bigger batteries in it than the sopmod. wat is your opinion on this? how long do the sopmod batteries last? it seems quite expensive to buy a sopmod battery for $53 and then buy a lipo also just to get one battery. also i could only find 11.1v lipos on redwolf, anyone know if they carry any other?

 

I was also wondering what do you recommend to upgrade? What springs do you suggest to use? I really wanna upgrade this thing and make it the perfect AEG but im scared to tear open a $500 gun especially since i havent had that much experience with upgrading :S but i wanted to have a more fps than stock but its gotta be reliable, I dont want a high fps gun with lock ups and a lot of wear on the internals.

 

Any suggestions on nice looking rails, stocks, etc that will work with little or no modding?

 

Thanks

[Isamu]

Well, Kdawg, Im saving for a socom carbine, not just because I can mod and tune it from the very base but because I can keep using my 9.6v batteries(overpriced 8.4v 1300mah? no thanks) with just a connector swap (i use Deans), for power upgrade Im planning to upgrade up to 330FPS with a RichardY spring, 6mm metal bushings (for peace of mind) and a 6.00 edgi inner barrel in the future, that should put the AEG somewhere in the 340Fps with very little internals strain, externally, well, its up to you really

 

If you are scared or not very confident, look for an airsoftsmith to make the upgrades for you, which is what im planning to do after I get used to the replica

 

BTW: socom carbine is 400$ at RSOV, nice deal

[KDawg]

yea thats one of the things i liked about it too, since i already have several 8.4 and 9.6v batteries it would definitely save me some money and since it is basically the same gun except for the battery I might be leaning more towards it now. Ok thanks for the upgrade tips Im most likely looking at a new spring, barrel, and possibly some new bushings. Anyone else have any tips on upgrade parts, would like to hear from people that own the gun as well since they know from first hand experience wat works best. Links are greatly appreciated, preferably from redwolf since thats where im gonna be ordering my gun. Also i just realized that the socom doesnt have any RIS so im prob gonna need a new handguard then, anyone know any good nice looking handguards that will easily fit the socom?

 

Yea I would but I live in sweden and airsoft is pretty small here so there are basically no good stores at all and redwolf doesnt do upgrades on the sopmod/socom, but i might ask some of the more experienced players for some help tho Thanks for the tip but I think Im gonna stick with redwolf since ive used them for a while now and they have a really good range of products.

[Richard Y]

The guns pritty solid and reliable without the upgrades.. Its prity well known that any upgrades for the sopmod are done more for the sake of upgrading than an actual need to do them.

 

When i talk about the sopmod / same goes for the socom and cqb they are all identical.

 

That said i still spent a load on promy parts lol they look nice dont they

 

You can pm me about the springs when you need one and what fps rating you need.

 

Theres plenty of videos on how to do the upgrades.. the socom version is certainly easier to work on but the helps out there to do the mods to the sopmod version as well.

 

The main upgrades needed are:

 

Spring

Barrel

Hop rubber

Hop nub

Battery upgrade to 9.6v at least

 

you dont need the accuracy upgrades its acurate as is, but i found the firefly flat nub and firefly soft rubber in tests to be a worthy upgrade with a noticable increase in accuracy when combined with the fps upgrade.

[KDawg]

Thanks for the help! looks like im most likely getting a socom, since its basically has all the benefits of the sopmod (except the quick change battery) plus its easier to upgrade and its easier to get a bigger battery in it Richard Ill send a PM now about some springs and stuff. I would definitely appreciate more tips and advice on upgrade parts and response on the sopmod or socom from people who have had theirs for a while

[Isamu]

Which barrel do you suggest Richard? I read people saying that using a madbull or systema, precision was worse than with the stock barrel... they upped the fps, but justthat. Even an EDGI 6.01mm inner barrel only upped a bit the FPSs and accuracy, but nothing dramatic, just... a little.

 

I was considering a scs nub for a stock socom (when I can afford it), is it a good adition?

 

About prommy parts, do they give any performance upgrade or they are just stronger than the stock parts? thanks and waiting for the harder recoil spring

[Gunfighters808]

KDawg,

the Socom is a great piece. I"ve had my Sopmod ever since the first release, and it's shooting like a champ. my OEM battery packs finally went, but I replaced the cells with better ones. (you won't have to worry about that with the Socom!) If you are indeed looking for performance upgrades on the Socom, I would ask around to see if there are any VERY experienced techs close to you that may have experience on this gun. they are a bit more difficult to work on than a standard AEG. I don't recommend opening it up if you have not done it before. especially on a sizeable investment like this. That being said, these guns come out of the box with AWESOME performance. it was a long time before I even wanted to start to work on it. it was just that good. and I use it against a predominantly 400fps group at the place I play.

(my Sopmod shoots 278fps with .20g Excel using a Tanio Koba barrel and Firefly hop sleeve, on a stock output box. that's how I play now.)

 

Isamu,

barrel wise, I"ve tried almost everything out there. most may have/or advertise a tighter bore diameter, but many have not been as consistently performing as the stock barrel or the Japanese manufacturers. (promy, pdi, tk). yes, you may get a gain on the velocity with any of the aftermarket barrels, but it's not a indicator of overall performance (distance, accuracy, consistency). seeing as you put the money down for these guns, might as well put the good stuff in, right?

oh, and the nub, keep the stock one. at the power output most of these guns shoot at, you don't need any aftermarket nubs. they don't help much at all, so save it for the barrel.

[Isamu]

Thanks gun fighter, Would a tanio koba barrel + Rychard Y 330fps spring improve the performance over a stock sopmod? or should I just put the barrel? BTW, what is a firefly hop sleeve?

 

thanks

[Richard Y]

I agree with gunfighter the barrels have to be the higher cost japanese made ones, its simply a hard process drilling at that small a diameter for that long a distance and keeping it dead straight, the japaneese have the tooling and do it right, the edgi which are popular in the states are just rebranded japanese products, they use a nice grade steel and the quality is simply fantastic from pdi and promy from a engineering point of view, you have to admire there stuff. although i would recommend madbull if your on a budget they wear over time, as what they couldnt acheive in manufacturing they made up for in teflon coating.. like a paint of coat on an ugly wall out of sight out of mind. but at 25 quid a shot, couple of years use!

 

promy or pdi for me.. dont rate the twists unless your dead on 330fps, then they are prity good..

 

The nub is a difficult thing most fit nubs and dont actually look and think how it will be affecting the bbs, some h peice nubs fit well others actually add a chance of movement becuase of how they sit in the strike arm. It really depends on what your fitting..

 

Weve done a lot of tests, infact nearly all of them on the market, (couldnt do the scs as when it arrived there was a hole in the packet and no nub!) the best results we got was the firefly hop rubber in combo with the firefire FLAT nub, it allowed for a flatter coverage between the strike arm and the dimples on the underside of the firefly rubber, allowing even coverage of the dimples on the bb.

 

The promy purple was perfectly fine if your looking for a high quality replacment of the standard TM one with a slightly better fit FPS wise, but you have to understand when people say they replaced the tm one with a guarder one for example and got better accuracy theres no difference! they are identical in design, its the nub which has an affect, or if the hop RUBBER / sleve has a different fin, dimple, lump whatever that affects the bbs..

 

Firefly has the dimples, madbulls got the fins on its shark i do believe, all the rest have the standard tm lump.

 

Standard tm rubber or purple promy rubber and the BIG OUT h peice worked really well for me, for the longest of time, and id imagine from good reviews the scs would be also as good.

 

I still think H peices have there places when combined with ordinary style hop rubbers with the normal lump on the underside, but the h peice has to be the right shape for your strike arm so it has equal amount of preassure on both sides...

 

AS you push your aeg high on its fps increasing your range there is a greater demand for accuracy, suddenly straight and true at 30 meters is now slight left turn at 50 meters.... simple becuase your now expecting further and greater range..

 

Fortunatly the sopmods hop unit allows quick change of the nub without changing the rubber so you can test these things.

 

This was our results from testing all of them and not only testing them but testing the effects of altering them, becuase if you take one that has a slightly left to right and twist the barrel in the opposite direction you can often correct the deviation. skewing the results slightly becuase you could fit one and it might not actually be the hop combos fualt, it could have been how it was installed.

 

also cleaning of tight bores... people usually fit tightbores striaght out of the box, but these have been drilled and dusted down and thats it, run a cleaning rod through them and i garrenty a brand new tightbore and youll be stunned at the dirt you get off it. Yet another thing which might affect results in tests..

 

Most know about peoples success with the fireflys and as a result they are out of stock everywhere..

 

 

[KDawg]

Gunfighters,

 

That sounds good, im getting the feeling that everyone who has this gun is pretty much 100% happy with their purchase and i think i will be too Unfortunately i dont think any of the airsofters in my area own either the sopmod so they prob wont have any experience with this gun, but they prob know enough to help me out. Then again i have opened up my G36C several times and taken it apart completely and changed the spring so I have some experience but im gonna see what i do. I wanna get better at working on guns so i guess the best way to learn is by doing, but i might get some1 with more experience to do it with me in case anything goes wrong Yea it seems like its a beastly gun out of the box but i really wanted to go all out on this one and it would be nice to have it shooting in the 330-350fps range since most here play with around 400-450 on AEGs and up to 700fps on snipers so i dont wanna get outranged

 

Seems like i might be going for a sopmod now with a promy barrel, firefly nub and hop rubber, and a 330fps spring and custom 7.4v 3000mah 15C lipo batt from eagle6 cant wait to get this thing!

Edited February 22, 2010 by KDawg

[TheEgo]

I've used my Sopmod 3 times now.

 

I'm having problems with my sopmod locking up in single shot.

It appears and sounds like that it fails to cycle, and then it's locked.

To clear it I have to switch to full auto and then it seems to cycle again.

 

The rifle is completely standard and the battery was charged

Although the problem did get worse as the battery discharged through the day.

 

Any suggestions on possible solutions.

(I've asked this question on another forum, and got some good suggestions, but didn't take note of them before the forum closed down )