G&P sentry (vltor)

[hwagan]

It's clockwise threaded, so you'll need to unscrew it anti-clockwise; Wrap it in electrical tape and use pliers on the flat bits at the base of the hider, as G&P glue it on. If that fails to work, immerse it in boiling water for a few minutes to soften the glue

 

Ideally, an AR15 armourers wrench, but most people don't have those!

[Wingmann]

Yeah, are there any areas where it needs special attention in terms of lube? One of the reasons I've tried to stray from AEGs is that I'm death to gearboxes, so I'm not planning to open it unless I absolutely have to.

Mine was quite well inside the gearbox, a tad on the "too much grease" side, but ok. It was sprayed with gun oil pretty much all over though. I had to clean the externals throughly. I'd say you won't need to worry about the inner parts until much later on.

 

If you find some parts hard to move, like the sights, just give them use. Everything will settle down with a bit of time.

[G0LF K4RT]

hey so i've decided to do some accuracy upgrades you guys suggested (element H nub, madbull hopup, some hopup bucking that i cant remember the brand of at the moment) when i get a sentry.

 

however i also want to rig it for a really high RoF, around 30-ish. what upgrades would i have to do? i read that the piston is shredded very easily with a high RoF, so would a hurricane full metal piston be good, or would it be too much? what other upgrades other than a mosfet do i want? maybe new gears and/or piston head? i dunno

[fyurian]

does anybody else have the problem that the small sping that push the contacts against the motor keep breaking

i have replaced 3springs already

[hwagan]

What symptoms do the springs breaking cause? I'm rubbish with gearboxes, so i'm not sure what happens when those springs break, therefore i dunno if it's a problem that's been covered somewhere...

[fyurian]

i personally think its overstress from firing in semi only modus

[hwagan]

Hmmm... I've never heard of that problem myself, nor have i experienced it... Sounds like a plausible explanation, though. I take it you're using G&P replacement springs?

[fyurian]

the first 2times yes

and now i tried a marui > thats a no go

they just vaporize in semi modus

 

so i needs to order me some g&p ones again

[sigseals]

what do you mean "in semi modus"? Semi auto? I dont think ive had that problem but then dont really know what you mean so might not even know if i did. The problem of locking on semi is seriously annoying me to the extent that i may get an ab mosfet fitted to solve it.

[sigma3]

Holy hell, ehobbyasia! I was not expecting this gun to arrive today! That was some fast shipping! Too bad I can't play with it (or even open the box) yet...

[hwagan]

what do you mean "in semi modus"? Semi auto? I dont think ive had that problem but then dont really know what you mean so might not even know if i did. The problem of locking on semi is seriously annoying me to the extent that i may get an ab mosfet fitted to solve it.

 

 

Hmmm - A friend of mine is having the same issue with his sentry; I've literally just the other day learnt how to dismantle and rebuild a V2, so i'll have a look at his and try and shed some light on the issue.

 

Sig - If yours is locking up and you picked it up from LWA or within the UK, i'd strongly recommend sending it back to them and using the warranty - Should be F.O.C, and it's definitely the easier option. Might have to live without it for a week, but the warranty is there for a reason!

[sigseals]

Yeh i did get it from Land Warrior but it sounds like its a common problem with the sentry so how could they fix it? I think you are right though. Got a game on sunday so will try and sent it back on monday and see what happens. Be interested to know what you find.

 

 

[hwagan]

It seems to be there's some sort of minor hitch with the trigger block/contacts area - Tony's one seems to have sticky contacts and the trigger springs i've heard can be a bit clogged with too much lube - My plan is to give all the trigger mechanism a damn good clean, make sure the contacts are making a good connection and give it a proper coat of lubricant, and then if needs be replace the trigger block. I'll let you know what i find once i get it open this evening.

[sigma3]

This gun has pretty much been reviewed to death, so I won't bother going very deep – but first impressions out of the box? Fantastic. Absolutely rock solid, like the whole thing was carved out of a block of solid metal. No wiggle in the stock, in the rails, anywhere. Looks terrific, shoulders very well, balance is superb. Only complaint (and a very, very minor one) is the front sight, which feels tacky to unfold and doesn't lock in the upright position. Compared to the PRI sights I have on my other AR, no contest. The rear sights also didn't seem to like folding back down at first but seem to be breaking in. Anyway, I just put my new CompM2 on there, and I don't imagine I'll need those sights much.

 

Hopefully I'll actually get to shoot it some over the weekend! With the lipo in the buffer tube, I'm pretty excited about actually being able to use the storage areas on the stock for other batteries and such!

[fabio]

the rear flip up sight is a bugger at first to flip down.

im hopefully converting to lipo since i think a magpul moe stock will look good with the gun

[faramon]

I like the look of the VLTOR, though i must admit I had not heard of it before.

 

From your review would definitely consider it.

[sigma3]

This is the first airsoft gun I've bought strictly to play airsoft with – all of my other guns I was very concerned about authenticity and looks so they can be used as photo and movie props. So I'm not actually sure that VLTOR ever even made lower receivers, but it doesn't bother me too much for once.

[hwagan]

The VLTOR lower definitely looks pretty - I reckon it's probably made up, but who cares? I personally think G&P have done a fairly nice job of inventing some believable markings for it.

 

 

Anyhoo, as for the lock-ups in semi - I reckon i've figured out the problem. Well, i have in Tony's at least. The G&P TangoDown style grip has VERY little space for the wires - This basically makes the spring on the motor useless, as the motor is very stiff in the grip. Ideally, i'd suggest switching it out for an MOE/A2/Other grip of some kind. Still, if you're really that into the TD grip, which Tony was - Take the grip baseplate off, and back the motor out of the gearbox. Unscrew the height adjustment screw on the baseplate til it's almost completely out of the thread. Put the baseplate back onto the grip and screw it down onto the grip, being careful not to push the motor further down than screwing the baseplate down does. Once you're done with that, carefully start tightening the adjustment screw until you feel the screw touch the motor, and give it a couple of turns - Check for sound, and from there on out give it a 1/4 of a turn at a time until the noise is right.

 

The motor in question had quite a lot of wear on the pinion gear, which leads me to believe it wasn't engaging properly with the gears, causing a slow trigger response and far more lockups than usual. I also opened the gearbox and gave the gears a good looking over, but happily they weren't worn at all. Switch assembly, which i thought was the problem turned out fine. I cleaned and tightened the contacts a little bit to be on the safe side, but i think the problem lies within the TD grip not allowing decent adjustment of the motor. It can be worked around using the above method - Tony's sentry is now shooting beautifully, but i've convinved him to replace it with an MOE grip on payday.

 

Long story short, swap out the grip for one that allows more space for the motor wiring, and make sure the trigger assembly is correctly lubricated, contacts are clean and the parts are moving smoothly and it should sort out the lock-up issues.

 

 

[sigseals]

That is a bit of a worry to be honest. Wish you were here to do that for me! What have you actually changed though, sounds like youve just repositioned the motor in the grip... Thanks for the info and interestingly trigger response was something that worried me to. Are the magpul grips a fair bit larger?

[hwagan]

That is a bit of a worry to be honest. Wish you were here to do that for me! What have you actually changed though, sounds like youve just repositioned the motor in the grip... Thanks for the info and interestingly trigger response was something that worried me to. Are the magpul grips a fair bit larger?

 

Basically that's exactly all i've done - Repositioned the motor. Due to the wiring causing the motor not to 'bounce' on it's spring, it seems to have been pushed a little too far in, thereby causing the gears not to mesh properly and making the motor struggle to turn, and wearing the pinion gear. It's a really simple process matey - There are 2 allen screws in the baseplate of the grip, along with the big flathead height adjustment. All you really need to do is take the baseplate off, back off the height adjustment screw as far as you can, pull the motor down a little (not totally out of the grip), then put the baseplate carefully back on. Once that's done, tighten the allen screws so the baseplate is flush, and then slowly turn the adjustment screw - You'll feel it touch the motor after a few turns - Once you've done that, give it 2 full turns, and fire a shot in semi auto. The trick is to listen carefully to the sound - Basically, you want to remove as much of the whine/screeching sound as possible without overtightening it. It's quite difficult to describe, but when the motor is properly seated you should hear a 'smooth' whine of the motor, pulling the spring back, piston slamming home and a little click as the anti-reversal latch catches. It isn't too difficult, but if you don't feel confident it's definitely a good idea to use the warranty

 

Best thing you can do is send it off to LWA and ask them to fit an MOE pistol grip - Mainly because there's more space for the wiring. They're a little larger, but i find them to be about the comfiest grips around, and they look nicer IMO. LWA will also adjust the motor height properly and save any risk of you accidentally losing a motor contact screw or similar if you don't fancy opening it up.

 

 

 

[sigseals]

Great thankyou very much. And that simple step has stopped the locking problems in semi? Has it had any effect on trigger response at all? From someone who only opened a gearbox recently you sure learn quick!

[bladerunner168]

Finally got all the furniture together.....

 

 

Have to say, superb piece of kit. Rock solid, handles very well, very much a CQB weapon. The only difference to the normal G&P M4 Sentry is the Magpul pimping, which at only £25 extra, is worth it IMHO. Told LWA to downgrade it, now shoots 305-320 which is perfect for my CQB site. My only gripe is the utterly ridiculous way the batteries go in but I'm on the lookout for some good quality 7.4 lipo's.

I too have has some lockup issues, but for me, it's not that bad, I switch back to safe, then to semi. To be honest, I don't play full auto that much anyway. If it get worst, I will take advantage of LWA's very good 18 month warranty

Another thing is I think I didn't eat enought spinich as a kid, because I still can't get the "suitcase" flash hider off. It's tighter than Scrooge when it's his round

Needless to say, I am extremely happy with this purchase, I hope you enjoy!

 

 

 

[hwagan]

Great thankyou very much. And that simple step has stopped the locking problems in semi? Has it had any effect on trigger response at all? From someone who only opened a gearbox recently you sure learn quick!

 

 

Gah, i feel like a right dimwit. I've just found out the grip fitted to Tony's is a King Arms TD grip, hence problem. It *has* solved the lockup issues though, so i'm guessing it's more to do with the motor height adjustment. Any V2 will suffer the occasional lockup, especially when rapid firing - How bad exactly is it? Really really often? Trigger response seems fine now the contacts have been tightened up a little, although it's not as snappy as my MRP. I did notice the sentry had a really stiff trigger spring, but i can't see how that could cause the problem... how odd. You using a NiMh battery or a Lipo? Tony runs NimH's, and i've noticed using one of my 7.4 lipo's makes the whole thing much quicker.

 

Also, Bladerunner - Really nicely done mate, looks the tits, especially with the EOLAD. You tried immersing the flashhider in boiling water for a few minutes? Take the inner barrel out when you do so just to ensure it doesn't get hot and affect the hop rubbers - That should loosen the glue up. Failing that, wrap it in a rag and use a decent pair of pliers on the flat bits at the base - It WILL come off, it just needs some welly

 

 

*edit* Also, i learned quickly for one simple reason - www.mechbox.com - They make it easy. Seriously, can't thank the guys who run that website enough.

 

*another edit* Lipos i use i get from www.componentshop.co.uk - Fantastically priced, very good quality, and the 7.4 1200 fits perfectly in the G&P tube

Edited June 12, 2010 by hwagan

[BIGBC]

Really good looking rifles. Cant make my mind up between black/tan + VLTOR/Magpul lower.

 

Got another month to think about it anyway. Thanks for all the pics and input people

[sigseals]

The lockup problem isnt too bad although its gets worse as the battery charge diminishes. Im using 9.6v nimh's. The trigger response is ok but i would like it a little better. I think im going to send it back to LWA next week with a note about the problems etc.