Initial Impressions of the TM SOPMOD M4 AEG

[Richard Y]

good move on the bushing tool, its the even pressure which allows you to hammer it home with out fear of damaging the bushing or bearing.. Ive never had a 6mm bearing fail.. the horror storys you hear about 6mm bearings i would bet my left testical that they have simply been abused during the fitting process or that they never applyed bearing oil. Imagine a flat screw driver hammering down on the top surface of a 6mm bearing, theresa good chance the runner in side the bearing gets compressed enough to make it wear faster in one place. You spread out the pressure and reduce the risk of damage.

 

Those mags do you mean the standard m4 mags.. 82 rds? ive never had one not feed, so have trouble at first but they siad a tiny squirt of silicon oil into the top hole and it free it up

 

also theres a cleaning video here

 

http://eagle6.co.uk/beta/reviews/how-to-guides/video-guide-how-to-clean-and-maintain-the-tokyo-marui-sopmod-magazines/

 

as they tend to attract dirt after a period of use.

 

what bbs are you using?

 

oh and welcome to the sopmod club

[Isamu]

Nice swivel Anakchan, is it possible to order it and be shipped to Europe?

[Richard Y]

whats this one then ? http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/tokyo-marui-qd-rear-sling-adaptor-for-m4-sopmod-series.html

 

 

[Isamu]

Magpul Iz teh Beztz!

 

no, seriously, Someone told me that sopmod buffer tubes could suffer if you put a sling swivel directly to it, like that Marui or freedom art version

[AnakChan]

Nice swivel Anakchan, is it possible to order it and be shipped to Europe?

Let me find out from my friend if I can buy it from him directly instead of Echigoya. If possible, then it'll be cheaper. Echigoya used to do international but now they don't.

[Isamu]

Great Anakchan, Too bad Im still saving for the Carbine model... ^_^U but I will let you know when I have it

[Richard Y]

Thats fair point, if the tube isnt on just right it can be bad for the threads.

 

Point worth noting when your reassembling your sopmod make sure the grip and motor go on first before the buffer tube as it puts the gearbox in the right place allowing the tube to screw on a litle further.

 

Also that locking up issue, i totally solved it the gun here that had the problem is running sweet just like mine !

[mrezzy]

Richard, that's a good tip for re-assembling, I was wondering why it didn't go in as much as before...

[druid799]

Also that locking up issue, i totally solved it the gun here that had the problem is running sweet just like mine !

well what did you do ? good god man tell us !!!!!

[BerserkDS]

whats this one then ? http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/tokyo-marui-qd-rear-sling-adaptor-for-m4-sopmod-series.html

 

that one is for the TM sopmod/Cqbr specifically. it fits over the buffer tube and doesnt interfere with the wiring underneath. best choice if you do not want to take apart your gun and not do any mods.

[Richard Y]

lol ok ok you twisted my arm

 

i went inside and as i thought theres nothing mechnically wrong with the guns, theres just not enough voltage to perform the single shot properly "in good time" which is why you need the long trigger discipline to get round it. So check bats they are all fine, being able to use both lipo and 9.6v helped. as they cant both be low voltage.

 

I did notice though that if i held the stock in a certian postion the gun wouldnt fire at all, so i went the oposite way and it fired fine illiminating the lock up, its becuase of the metal contact inside the stock and on the buffer tube. The natural angle of the connector means only two are pushing agasint it, which normally is fine but what if on some gunstheres a little bit more of a gap than usual. I think its this excess gap, which in essence is cuaseing a bad contact point, i mean if its only slightly touching, youre going to be loosing half your current through the bad conenction. its like having a dodgy tammiya connector thats not quite right. and then switching to deans.. on the face of it you think deans is way better but its simply that it provides a be contact and more surface area.

 

so i did a little picture to illustrait. Basically to fix the problem you bend the contacts closer to the stock. you could aslo remove the washer under the screw on the metal connector making it sit closer to the gun. the connectors closest to the gun sit lower down, this can be bent a little higher

 

(becarefull the metal contacts are fragile, as you see in the pictrue one of them broke of prior to attempting any of this, it was slilghty bent up and as a result cught under the stock so removing it was a biatch. when bending go slow and maintain a "curve" in the end of it so it is smooth sliding under the stock! but closer to the gun than normal)

 

Also the battery, wasnt lciking into place, so i moved the battry contacts closer together, now it clocks home into place, it actually sounds like a better connection. "clunk" into place. solid.

 

Youll notice if you get a better connection the gun overall sounds faster and healthier.

 

 

if you have a socom and are experiencing it, double check your getting a good connection and also the status of your battery. For instance if its fine at home, but locks up once mid day though a game. You could easierly put that down to a slightly lower voltage or a trying to starts the next firing cycle before the other has finished. Basic rule, a single auto shot can take X amount of time to complete lets say 1 second, if your trying to fire shots faster than 1 a second then youll catch the gun mid cycle and get a lock up or a half trigger pull could start and stop a shot before it completes also catching it on the cut off lever mid cycle. More voltage reduces the time between cycles, so if you are abolutly sure that your connections are 100% increase the voltage and or mah and see if that fixes any locking up.

Edited April 7, 2010 by Richard Y

[mrezzy]

Bushing Upgrade and Spring Upgrade

 

Just finished doing the bushing upgrade and the spring upgrade and wanted to share with you guys what I did.

 

For bushing upgrade, I used the airsoft innovations bushing tool, and a soft head hammer.

Using the tool, it became VERY easy to install bushings; just slip the bushing into the seat post, and pound down on the bushing with the plastic tool. Viola!

 

The end result:

 

Now for the spring upgrade I took a JG SIG 552 spring [350 fps], took a heavy duty plier and clipped it at an angle. I found that snipping it at an angle is much easier than snipping it perpendicular.

 

Now here's a spring comparison after I cut it to the same size as the sopmod spring:

 

Now just stick the clipped portion of the spring into the piston and you're good to go.

 

Here are some pictures of the TM Sopmod piston compared to a regular AEG piston:

 

As you can see, the teeth are spaced the same distances apart, the only differences are:

 

1. Sopmod is a half teeth piston

2. Sopmod piston has a bump on the top to engage the bolt cover.

 

I think it is possible to use a regular AEG half tooth piston, and epoxy a little hump on the top to engage the bolt cover. But then again, you can always buy the reinforced piston from RSOV made by hornbill.

 

I was going to show pictures of my mosfet setup, but it totally FUBARed on me as I reassembled the gun. The wire stripped from the tight tolerances of the gun and the mosfet blew up in smokes! I just rewired it regularly with deans connector to the rear.

 

Question for lipo experts: Do you think it is ok to use 7.4V lipo without a mosfet? Maybe Richard can provide some insight on this?

[Richard Y]

loving the effort good work

 

congrats on the bearings see how tight they are, this will prevent them spining and making the hole wider over time. also they can now do what they need to do and stop the gears wearing the casing.

 

piston any half tooth piston will fit but like you say its missing the bump. I dont rate the hornbill stuff. i actually wouldnt put it in my gun if someone sent me one for free.

 

if prometheus come out with a piston then we can talk

 

Spring wise when you clip it youll loose fps from the original fps (350) but thats what we originially done till i made the proper springs, what fps was you aiming for ?

 

the 7.4v lipo will run fine with out a mosfet, ive ran mine for well.. years now with a 7.4v lipo and it keeps on ticking.. love this gun. infact so would an 11.1v it takes years and years for arching to affect the trigger contacts, at which point compared to the cost of the mosfets them selves it would be cheap buying a new trigger contact lol that said they have ab and increase rof so if thats your goal then its a worthy upgrade.

 

try this one from aws

 

http://www.awsairsoft.com/microfet

 

look how small that little bad boy is, i was tempted to fit it in my usp and glock aeps

[KDawg]

I just wanted to say that I got my 7.4v custom LiPo from Eagle6 a couple days ago and got it running yesterday and this thing is amazing! The rof and trigger response is absolutely perfect, shooting this thing in full auto with the lipo is the most fun ive ever had with an airsoft gun I can't wait to try it out this weekend, im pretty sure this is gonna be my new favorite gun and will definitely catch some peoples attention since I dont think anyone I play with owns one. In a little while im gonna install the Eagle6 350fps spring, Firefly Soft Hop Rubber and Buffer Rubber, and a Prometheus 6.03 inner barrel, which should bring up my fps and accuracy nicely

[druid799]

cheers for the hard work Rich , i have the socom so looks like its a "bita trigger finger control" thats needed , though its going to be hard (do love the recoil!)on the point of increasing the cycle i know its probably not a real worrie but cant help having the niggling thought in the back of the head about ramping up the rate of fire , will it have a detremental effect on the gun ? (having the recoil unit slaming back and forth at a faster rate ? )

[Richard Y]

nah the gun loves voltage... it cycles too slowly on 8.4v bats.. get the biggests bestest bats in there you can fit.. id prfer everyone be on 11.1v in a perfect world

 

least be honest when you use these guns, ill bet most people dont hold the trigger down for more than 2 secs ? So if you did go for 11.1v its not like your going to be constantly holding the trigger down. we need awesome trigger response and nice chrisp bursts.

 

In side its a normal aeg, its just it has to do a little more work, so it natrually has a slower rof, so you have to compensate with a little more voltage.

 

i think we are about two years in now, with very few reported failures.. most of which have been installation error lol

 

can i ask what battery your using druid ? in my mind i couldnt imagine the socom having a problem, it does use a mini tamiya connection its worth check its making a good conection, or switching to deans if you can.

[Isamu]

Which discharge rate would you suggest for a 7.4v Lipo and for a 11.1v Lipo, Richard?

 

Thanks

[druid799]

can i ask what battery your using druid ? in my mind i couldnt imagine the socom having a problem, it does use a mini tamiya connection its worth check its making a good conection, or switching to deans if you can.

yup no probs mate , the batts i run are all 9.6 1400"s with tamiya"s , have been thinking of changing over to deans (every one i speak too say there better) also have been toying with idea of li-po but bit nervous as i don"t have a "scooby doo" about them .

[mrezzy]

loving the effort good work

 

congrats on the bearings see how tight they are, this will prevent them spining and making the hole wider over time. also they can now do what they need to do and stop the gears wearing the casing.

 

piston any half tooth piston will fit but like you say its missing the bump. I dont rate the hornbill stuff. i actually wouldnt put it in my gun if someone sent me one for free.

 

if prometheus come out with a piston then we can talk

 

Spring wise when you clip it youll loose fps from the original fps (350) but thats what we originially done till i made the proper springs, what fps was you aiming for ?

 

the 7.4v lipo will run fine with out a mosfet, ive ran mine for well.. years now with a 7.4v lipo and it keeps on ticking.. love this gun. infact so would an 11.1v it takes years and years for arching to affect the trigger contacts, at which point compared to the cost of the mosfets them selves it would be cheap buying a new trigger contact lol that said they have ab and increase rof so if thats your goal then its a worthy upgrade.

 

try this one from aws

 

http://www.awsairsoft.com/microfet

 

look how small that little bad boy is, i was tempted to fit it in my usp and glock aeps

 

I was looking for...320ish? I'm not very picky as long as it's over 300 fps!

[druid799]

just realised asking all these questions and haven"t posted my socom , how rude !

Edited April 7, 2010 by druid799

[mrezzy]

wow...can you talk a bit more about your sling adapter on the stock? Looks like something I will need to do.

[druid799]

wow...can you talk a bit more about your sling adapter on the stock? Looks like something I will need to do.

very easy mate , strap with a press stud on one side then a nexus D ring on the other side attached with a short lenth of webbing bar tacked in place .

[Richard Y]

Which discharge rate would you suggest for a 7.4v Lipo and for a 11.1v Lipo, Richard?

 

Thanks

 

anything over 12c should be fine but obviously more the better, anything over 20 - 25c is usually the old more powerfull lipo tech, big flat cells.

 

 

yup no probs mate , the batts i run are all 9.6 1400"s with tamiya"s , have been thinking of changing over to deans (every one i speak too say there better) also have been toying with idea of li-po but bit nervous as i don"t have a "scooby doo" about them .

 

That should be fine but you could avoid issues midday with a big *albatross* lipo, a 7.4v 2200mah fits if im not mistaken, should be a solid days play. Check out the imax b6 charger on ebay its like dirt cheap and has a built in balancer and digital display and it will charge you nimhs. check ebay for lipos, some sites even give size and meassurments, worst case someones always looking for a lipo if you go too big and it doesnt fit. that said theres always dremeil :D

 

also im loving the multicam bed sheets... i want a set

 

I was looking for...320ish? I'm not very picky as long as it's over 300 fps!

 

sounds about right for what youve cut off, surely in the states your site limits are higher ? i get a lot of requests for 400 + fps springs..

Edited April 7, 2010 by Richard Y

[mrezzy]

Most airsoft sites in the northeast US here are 400 fps Max. 320 would be ideal for CQb too.

[Isamu]

Springs for over 400FPS would be nice for DMR setups, many people say that this new Hop chamber is Impressive