Proper Care and Maintenance Help

Hello fellow airsofters!
As some of you already know, I am fairly new to the airsoft community and I have some questions for you more experienced airsofters regarding proper care and maintenance of my airsoft AEG and other equipment. So I was hoping anyone who had experience with the following concepts would post thoughts and hints to help a new airsofter out.

1) Proper cleaning and Maintenance of airsoft AEG's (Mine is a CYMA M14)

2) Proper cleaning of midcap non-winding magazines (CYMA 180rd mags *Also, how to break these in for first time use*)

3) Proper maintenance of Spring airsoft guns (Tanner, I look forward to your insight. My newest secondary is the UTG M3L multishot shotgun)

4) Proper cleaning of airsoft shotgun shells (Also need to know anything about breaking them in. 30rd UTG shells)

5) Anything you as a community member think I should know.

Thank you all in advance for reading this and providing your expertise. I really appreciate how warm and receptive this group has been to my brother and I and I look forward to enjoying this hobby with you all.

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,
JD

PS: There are a few Items that I am looking for before Throwdown. Unfortunately, I am dead out of money and wont be able to buy what I need before the game. Check out my post in Wanted to see if you can help!

JD, I can't help much with the care and maintenance on the weapons, as I have no experience with them, but as for mags, the best thing to do is get some of the non-petroleum gun oil spray, give each mag a 1-1.5 second burst down the feeder, and load it. Run that same load of BB's in and out of the mags three or four times, that way you don't load each mag with fresh BB's and have them soak in any extra oil. It does ruin a full load of BB's but for me, this has been the best way to break in a new mag. I tend to oil them after each engagement as well, to keep them in top shape.

Dutch

k well a few tips,
focus on what parts go where during dissassembly
never EVER use wd40 to lubricate EVAR
Be sure the barrel is clean to prevent jams
aaaaaaannnnd..... any other questions specifically just ask

Dutch was right on with the silicon based lube down the mag then load and unload it. I tend to mash all those steps together and coat a few (all fully loaded mags worth) bb's before I load them and then run them through 2-4 times. I haven't had to take down my Shotty EVER, yet... but, as long as you keep the barrels cleared, clean and lubed once and again it shouldn't need to be taken apart.

Springers tend to run forever whether you take care of them or not though.

-=Tango=-

PMCS (preventative care and maintenance) of an AEG
always have a clear and clean area you can set parts so they don't get lost.

1. Field strip your weapon- this means breaking the weapon down, i.e. removing the parts of the gun that aren't the gearbox and the motor.

for example
make sure your gun is on "safe" the magazine is out, and the battery is disconnected


remove the takedown pin, separate the upper and lower receiver, pull out your hopup and barrel, check the barrel for any foreign objects or debris. run a cleaning patch covered in silicon oil down the barrel until it comes out clean. lubricate all the moving parts. re assemble and function check it. simple.

lube your magazines, stick the silicon oil "straw" down as far as it will go into your mag, and spray as you pull it out. this will keep your mags from seizing and not firing.

in the field keep an unjamming rod with you so you can clear out the barrel if there is a jam. if you keep firing with one, there's a chance the compression will cause the pressure in the gear box to break gears or the piston head. you don't want that.

I've read everything here but I have a few pointers both big and small. I certainly don't mean to come off as I know it all but I feel I can share my knowledge in a constructive maner.

1. Never use oil that is not 100% silicone and never use a silicone spray that has a flamable propellent. The small amount of propellent is what is breaking down your BBs. You can find cans of lube that fit these requirements on just about any airsoft website but I use airsoftmegastore.com with no hitches or problems.

2. Don't use silicone oil to clean your barrel. Use rubbing alcohol in concentrations higher than 70% but I use 90% myself (and while using alcohol don't smoke or you might light yourself ablaze from both fumes and what's on your hands, just be smarter than what your working with). Now the reason for using alcohol as opposed to silicone is simple... alcohol removes dirty and grime while silicone isn't a cleaner, it simply coats so some dirt is left in the barrel. The second issue with silicone is that it is designed to reduce friction but does come with a certain amount of drag no matter what. Most high end BBs are already coated in an anti-friction coating and more lube only weights them down and throwns of the balance of a bb causing a small loss in accuracy but when you first go to shoot after lubing you'll notice BBs go everwhere.This is also backed up by the simple fact that if your hop-up bucking is slick the BBs wont get much backspin and thus not travel as far. Add that with the known fact the distance is not gained by FPS but by a great hop-up system, lubing the barrel does nothing but keep your FPS up, if it does at all.

I think I've covered everything but I have a broncos game to get to (lucky me!) my first ever so I will answer any questions later tonight.