Being an Airsoft Gun user, you need to know all the peaks and perks about it. Nothing goes work correctly when you don’t know how to maintain it properly. And when it comes about airsoft-gun, you need to take care of it a little more so that you can use it more years flawlessly.
However, it’s not only about perfect use, but it is also crucial to keep your gun properly clean and well-maintained if you stay caution about gun safety and any unexpected incident.
Anyway, this article will show you only the basic maintenance which can prevent malfunction and provide you with smooth gameplay.So, forget all the hassle that you face while you are using an airsoftgun. Let’s proceed to the details.
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The Basic Maintenance Of Airsoft Gun
Generally, there are three types of airsoft guns: Spring Powered, Gas Powered and Automatic Electric Gun (AEG). First, you need to know which type have owned.
Don’t worry; the basic maintenance of these three types is almost the same. When it requires a different procedure, we will mention that clearly.
However, the basic maintenance requires 3 steps-
- Cleaning
- Storage
- General use maintenance
So, you need some good and proper cleaning tools to maintain and clean it properly. We would like to familiarize you with those cleaning tools first.
Tools You Need for Airsoft Guns Maintenance
- Hex Drivers: An important tool to open your gun and perform the proper cleaning task. You need to have the right sizes of hex drivers corresponding the size of your airgun.
- Hand Tools: Hand tools like pliers and wire cutters are needed for re-wiring your AEG (Automatic Electric Guns).
- Knife: A hobby knife or cutting blade is required to curve the plastic pieces.
- Lubricants, greases, and oils: You need to have both thick and thin silicone lubricant/oil, mechanic oil, rubbing alcohol etc for cleaning purpose.
- Cleaning Strip: To clean the barrel you must use this.
- Cleaning kit brush: This set of brushes is needed to clean the external part of your airgun.
Airsoft Gun Maintenance Steps
Clean the Barrel
The first thing you have to do is the proper cleaning of your gun. Actually, it means the cleaning of the barrel. Your airsoft-gun barrel needs to be cleaned often.
Cleaning the barrel is not a hard job. All you need is just a cleaning rod and a good quality paper towel. And the most important component is the lubricant. A silicone lubricant.
Yeah, you must use silicone lubricant or grease silicone to clean barrel. Because oil lubricants may sometimes become the cause of damaging the rubber joint and may sometimes damaging the surface of your gun.
The Process: You may clean the external metal parts with the lubricants to evade deterioration. But you must avoid the cleaning pellets to clean your airguns.
To clean the rod rip, use a strip paper (not more than 3inches long and half inches wide).
Most of the guns come with a cleaning rod while purchasing. You can make your cleaning work done with these free equipment quite happily.
First, spray a light amount of silicone lubricant on the strip. Then slowly spin the rod and move it towards up and down. Repeat this process about 3 to 5 times.
For spring airsoft gun, after cleaning the barrel, wipe out the rest of lubricant with a soft cloth. Otherwise, the Hop-up system will be unstable if there are excessive lubricant on it.
And for the AEG (Automatic Electric Gun), turn the gun downward then spray silicone oil (a very small amount) into the Hop-up. To clean up the internal parts of your barrel and the AEG, put a stick with cotton. Put few drops of alcohol onto it and clean the dirt rests.
After that, replace the cotton with a soft paper towel, lubricate it with silicone oil, and push the stick through the barrel until it reaches the red mark. Repeat this process a several time and finally spray some silicone oil on the interior parts of you AEG gun.
Tip:
Before performing any cleaning or maintenance, do not forget to remove the charger, empty the bullets inside the feed or the internal chamber of your gun and empty the gas or battery.
Clean The Gearbox and Charger
If you want to solve any jamming or misbehaving of your airsoft-gun, it is necessary to clean the gearbox first. Cleaning the gearbox means lubricating it properly.
Remember, before you start the cleaning process of the gearbox, you must remove the motor and empty the bullets from the magazine.
The Process: First, put your airsoft piston on your lap. The position of your gun should be upside down. After removing the motor from the gearbox, you will see a small hole at the bottom of it. Just spray silicone oil on it a few times and keep the gun on that position for a few minutes.
For gas powered airsoft gun, remove the valve with a screwdriver first. At the end of it, fill empty space with gas through the charge valve. Then put a few drops of silicone lubricant in the gas deposit. Do not press the valve very strong just place it with care. And when it gets fully charged, put the gas bottle downwards. You will find the details with images in the instruction manual.
If you have AEG, do not fire excessively long in full auto mode. This will cause premature wear inside the gearbox. Bursts firing is sometimes better for the gearbox. Always squeeze trigger straight back, not the sideways.
Clean The Gearbox and Charger
First of all, the magazine care depends on the types of airsoftgun you have. For electric or spring airsoft-gun, you need to empty the magazine after using the gun every time. This can increase the shelf-life of the gun by preserving the spring strength of the magazine.
If you have a airsoft gas gun, then you should have to stay the magazine pressurized. So, what is that for? It helps all the components to stay intact. Moreover, you have to add a few drops of silicone lubricant on the internal components weekly or after several times of your usage.
Tip:
Remember, too much gas can damage the magazine or causes leakage. A 2-3 second charge is enough for a gas powered airsoft gun.
Another important thing is that, do not use the release valve whenever you eject gas from your gun. It can cause the o-ring to halt and may cause future gas leakage.
For AEG (Automatic Electric Gun), use a small amount of silicone oil into the feeding nozzle of its magazine. It is not necessary for all of the time but we recommend you to lube the magazine occasionally.
Unjam The Gun
Jams may occur in spite of your proper and regular maintenance. It occurs for various reasons. Most of the times, the jam happens due to excessive dirt and the wreckages within the magazine. Besides, your gun can be jammed if the nozzles are being damaged or due to the tappet plates. Another reason for jamming is the damaged or distorted hop ups. If you let the hop up is too tight, then jam can happen as well.
Well, above those are the reasons for jamming. So, how can you unjam your airsoftgun effectively? Here are some simple, effective maintenance rules:
The Process: Whenever you face jamming inside of your gun, you need to heed to the cleaning steps.
First, stop firing immediately and shut down the hop. Then put your gun upside down, insert the cleaning rod into the barrel, and push the BB back inside of your magazine.
After doing the steps properly, test your gun by firing several times. If you feel there’s still jam inside, then you might need to contact with a professional or a local airsoftgun dealer to have more extensive maintenance.
Storage Tips:
It is also necessary to maintain a good and proper storage for your gun. Here are some tips, which can be beneficial for you regarding the maintenance of your gun.
- Always double check and make sure that there are no pellets in the chamber.
- Buy a good storage for your airgun and always carry the gun within it to avoid dust and other lint cannot gather in the working parts of the gun.
- Do not store or carry an airsoft gun in raised position. It can downgrade the main spring and can be dangerous too.
Things You Need to Know to Keep Your Airsoft Gun at Tiptop Condition
To keep the maintenance useful for longer times, you have to maintain some rules of using an airsoft-gun. Here in below, these are some common things to follow or avoid.
DOs:
- Try to clean your gun every month or every 2-3 weeks (if you are a heavy and regular user of it). Use silicon lubricate every time during the cleaning process.
- A small amount of gas in the magazine is good for your airgun. Always let some gas stay inside of the magazine. This helps the o-rings get lubricated even if the gun is not in a working condition for a long period of time.
- Always empty the magazine before putting your gun on rest. It can avoid downgrade the spring and keeps the spring strong for longer.
- Always check the barrel if there is any wreckages, unwanted dirt, or small pebbles.
- Check and tighten if there are any loose screws and bolts.
DON’Ts:
- Never discharge all of the gas by pressing the release valve in the magazine. This can cause permanent leakage by distortion or frozen o-ring.
- Do not use an airsoft gun in cold weather. This may sometimes hamper the performance.
- Do not shut the magazine hard into the gun. It can result in breakage of the nozzle which can lead misfire.
- Do not fire too rapidly or repeatedly. It may cause the o-ring freeze as well.
- Do not overcharge your gun. It causes reducing the battery life.
- After playing, keep your AEG in safe mode.
Final Verdict
These are the basic maintenance of the airsoftgun, which can be maintained easily. We have made this article as details as we can. Do not think that you will be good at cleaning airsoft-guns overnight. It takes patience and several times of practice. If you face any difficulties or any other query about the maintenance of your gun, you can comment us in below.
