Star M249 Para Examined...

[Deki]

It takes a full turn or two for hop-up to start working and it goes a bit stiff with brand new gun.

 

The easiest way to check how much hop you applied, is to take out the gearbox and look through the barrel. If you don't know how to take it out or you don't want the hassle, just turn 1/4 turn and check if there is any hop. Repeat this until you see some result.

 

Deki

[g.pugh01]

4-5mm below the top of the plastic hop unit? Wow.

 

cheers guys i'll try again tomorrow.

Edited April 2, 2006 by g.pugh01

[overide85]

anyone know if a G&G or CA 249 feed tray cover will fit on the STAR 249?

[Wupjak]

There's been some discussion of that idea elsewhere in the thread. I think the concensus was that the dimensions are different. Do a search within the topic for 'feed tray cover' and see if you can find the posts I'm thinking of.

 

Edit re: Hop Up settings: 4-5mm? On mine, the head of the grub screw was about 1-1.5mm below flush for the correct setting at [above forum limits velocity].

 

You are correct to be cautious, but just try an eighth of a turn at a time and see what happens.

Edited April 2, 2006 by Wupjak

[stevofett]

With the allen screw flush with the hop up unit, mine took about a full 2 1/2 turns to get them flying straight.

[g.pugh01]

Thanks guys. I had a play today and screwed the allan screw clockwise (into the Hop unit) until the bb's flew straight. The head of the allan screw is about 2 - 3 mm below the top of the hop unit.

 

Thanks again for the good advice.

 

Pugh.

 

P.S. It's a beast once you get it set up right. I'm well impressed!

[Jason-Alaska]

The issues I was having with the mag not getting power and winding seem to be sorted out. I think it was a problem with my AEG battery resting on the AA battery connector.

 

The connection was not tight. I unplugged and replugged and it's working great now. I also wrapped the connector in electrical tape to help it hold in the future.

 

Electrical tape and Duct tape. As airsofters best friend.

[freq88]

has anyone tried the PGC gearbox yet?

[Foukus]

I have PGC mechabox and internals on my rooms table. I tell my expierences when i have time to instal that gearbox.

[staticzero]

Try emailing STAR. They have been pretty helpfull to most people in this forum who have contacted them with issues. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After this and other recent posts I'm getting fed up. I've emailed Star on multiple occasions, and ASGI has said they have tried to contact them on my behalf. I've gotten no responses at all. I'm trying to get the very same parts discussed earlier (the plate with mag switch assembly Sure SHot posed a pic of) and a new trigger. Clearly they have been responsive to some users (and fast to respond too) but I have yet to see a single reply from them. I've been trying to get these parts since January. I've even tried contacting them from different email addresses. I'm going to try one more time from yet another account but if I don't hear from them soon I'm going to be very, very cross.

 

I'm sitting here looking at a very expansive paper weight. Furthermore it's very difficult for me to recommend a product to people when I can't get the company who makes it to answer emails when it breaks down.

 

Deki, Thanks for those pics. That's just what I've been planning on doing. Now I know just the switch to look for.

 

I still need to repair or replace the other parts though. Anybody have any ideas? I can't understand why they haven't responded to me. What email address have you used to contact them? What did you put in the subject? How long did they take to respond to you? How long did it take you to get parts?

 

Edit: LOL. Not an hour after emailing them from my other account tonight I got a reply! 'Bout time. They're going to send the switch/plate assembly, and asked for more info about the trigger. I hope they can help there too. *crossesfingersandhopesforspeedydelivery*

Edited April 6, 2006 by staticzero

[Sure Shot]

Good luck Static,it took me about 2 weeks to get my switch.

[-Dan-]

After this and other recent posts I'm getting fed up. I've emailed Star on multiple occasions, and ASGI has said they have tried to contact them on my behalf. I've gotten no responses at all. I'm trying to get the very same parts discussed earlier (the plate with mag switch assembly Sure SHot posed a pic of) and a new trigger. Clearly they have been responsive to some users (and fast to respond too) but I have yet to see a single reply from them. I've been trying to get these parts since January. I've even tried contacting them from different email addresses. I'm going to try one more time from yet another account but if I don't hear from them soon I'm going to be very, very cross.

 

I'm sitting here looking at a very expansive paper weight. Furthermore it's very difficult for me to recommend a product to people when I can't get the company who makes it to answer emails when it breaks down.

 

Deki, Thanks for those pics. That's just what I've been planning on doing. Now I know just the switch to look for.

 

I still need to repair or replace the other parts though. Anybody have any ideas? I can't understand why they haven't responded to me. What email address have you used to contact them? What did you put in the subject? How long did they take to respond to you? How long did it take you to get parts?

 

Edit: LOL. Not an hour after emailing them from my other account tonight I got a reply! 'Bout time. They're going to send the switch/plate assembly, and asked for more info about the trigger. I hope they can help there too. *crossesfingersandhopesforspeedydelivery*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

 

 

i e-mailed them about my damaged piston, and they got back to me the next day, asking for some pics of the damaged parts. mailed the pics and again they got back to me the next day asking for my mailing address so they could send the parts to me. thats was today, so hopefully il get the parts in a couple of weeks.

all in all excellent service so far.

[stevofett]

Whew. After reading all that I was beginning to get buyers remorse!

[Foukus]

Uu jea. I yesterday installed PGC gearbox with Prometheus/Systema internals. It's workin just like perfect! I'm using much over forum limit spring and 9.6V 3300mAh battery. ROF is abaut 850 shots per minute what is the bestest for M249.

Edited April 7, 2006 by Foukus

[staticzero]

Highest ROF? I've clocked mine at nearly 1300RPM. I'm sure it could run faster than that if it was tuned properly.

[jnr4817]

foukos what mods are needed for the pgc mechbox. i bought the wild monkey mech box but havent installed it yet.

 

jason

[Foukus]

Static, I have M135 spring in of it. And I think real M249 have about same ROF (850).

 

Mods what you need to do is cut spring release button, mod that thing where dummy rounds go (above gearbox and hop) and rewire little bit.

 

I just tested this with Systema inner barrel and PGC Hop-up. It's so accurate! More better than STAR hop-up and inner barrel. (and sorry about my english, im not good at it)

[-Dan-]

PISTON INFORMATION

 

 

Hi all

 

well After many hours of fiddleing with verious different pistons i have come to the conclusion that , NO aftermarket piston will fit in my m249 gearbox.

 

this is because all of the pistons i have tried have been to wide, there for they get stuck on the piston rails and the spring cannot push them forwards. and im not talking just a little wide, im talking at least 2mm.

 

i noticed that when looking at teh star piston from the end its more of an oval shape than round, this would explain the width issue with the other pistons.

 

also another problem i have come across with all the pistons i have tried to fit ( systema area 1000 black, gaurder blue, stock TM white, and systema POM red). is that the last tooth on the piston (not the metal one) is too long, and hits on a cylinder were a screw goes through to close up the gearbox. (any one who has taken there gearbox apart will know what im talking about) luckerly i only had a few scews holding the gearbox together when i tried to fire it, and when the pistons last tooth hit the cylinder it only pushed the gearbox apart and didnt crack the cylinder, (which i think it would have done if i had all of the screws in the gearbox)

 

out of all of the pistons the SYSTEMA POM RED piston was the best fit, and Im my opinion is the best piston you can buy. because the rail grove is seperated into 3 sections on this piston it made it the easyest to modify. also it helped that it was the closest size to the star piston.

 

i have spent nearly 5 hours today sanding the rail groves in the piston to get it to fit. this is not the easyest thing to do as you dont want to widen the grove, only make it deeper, lots of time and patients is needed.

 

any ways i have finaly got the gun to work with a systema red piston and a systema vented POM piston head.

 

i did email star asking for a replacment piston, which they kindly said they would send me, but im running my gun on a 9.6 battery so a stronger piston would be the better chouce, plus the fact that the star piston is a load of ****

 

 

hope this information is usefull to you all.

Dan

Edited April 8, 2006 by -Dan-

[overide85]

So basically the star 249 needs to be modified to shoot reliably?

[jnr4817]

what about CYLINDER HEAD, CYLINDER, and TAPPET PLATE. these items seem slightly different then v.2, v.3 mechboxes.

[-Dan-]

So basically the star 249 needs to be modified to shoot reliably?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

no not at all, its a fantastic gun stock, higher rate of fire and fps than any TM gun. but obviously if you want to put a stronger spring in it you want to match it with other stronger parts. dont forget that star is a new make of AEG's that have only been around for a few years, TM have been around for at least 10, theres bound to be a few small problems with such an innovative gun, the fact that star have the bullocks to try some thing new is great, as far as im concerned star are leaving TM in the dark.

 

 

i recomend this gun to any one, and yes there may be a few problems but these only occur when tring to modify the gearbox, which to be honest you dont really need to do, it shoots great stock , and for the price its a great bit of kit.

[-Dan-]

what about CYLINDER HEAD, CYLINDER, and TAPPET PLATE. these items seem slightly different then v.2, v.3 mechboxes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

ive tried fitting a version 3 silent cylinder head. its a great fit on the cylinder, and also fits in the notches, but its a lot shorter than the star cylinder head, meaning there is a gap between the front of the gearbox and the star of the cylinder head, i would not like to try firing the gun like this, as all the stress is on the two little nubs that fit into the cylinder head, i fear they will crack eventually. im not sure if a version 2 cylinder head is longer than a version 3, if some body can find out that would be great.

 

as for the cylinder its self, i took the cylinder out of my styer aug and they were the same size, so a aug cylinder should fit, ive not tried it, but they looked exactly the same. the star cylinder is of good quality so you dont really need to change it, unless you want a bore up or teflon coated cylinder, again fitting a bore up would be difficult due to the cylinder head differences. a aug teflon cylinder should it fine, if you can find one.

 

 

the tapped plate, i think the closest tappet plate is a version3, but it will need modification to fit. the stock tappet plate should be fine, and why you would want to upgrade it is beyond me.

[freq88]

that's because he's not in the UK so not restricted by the FPS limits

[blink281aa]

Hey. i just got mine yesterday, but it wont feed. i read this whole thing like 3 weeks ago and wrote down everyhting i thought was important, so if this was already covered, sorry, i must have missed it.

 

anyways, it wont feed. new AA batts and everything. Am i missing a step or somehting? All of the connections on the inside of the box seem to be ok, but i dont know.

[-Dan-]

Hey. i just got mine yesterday, but it wont feed. i read this whole thing like 3 weeks ago and wrote down everyhting i thought was important, so if this was already covered, sorry, i must have missed it.

 

anyways, it wont feed. new AA batts and everything. Am i missing a step or somehting? All of the connections on the inside of the box seem to be ok, but i dont know.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

hi, i think the first thing to check, is the connection between the box mag and the gun, i have to put this in just right or the gun will fire but the box mag wont wind, for me, i have to put the right side of the connector in first, then push the left side in, try this and other ways to see if it helps. also make sure the 4 little round connections in the boxmag are not pushed in to far, resulting in no connection being made between the gun and the boxmag..

 

if still no luck, put the two AA batteries into the boxmag, but dont put the gun battery in..

then get a small bit of wire and use it to connect the two smallest pins on the boxmag connector. if the boxmag winds and BB's start pouring out all over the place, you know that the connections in the mag are ok, if not you either have a jammed bb in the boxmag or a connection has come loose some were.

do the above test at your own risk. I do it every time i fill the boxmag from empty, as it saves dry firing the gun for the first 20 or so shots.