Airsoft Troubleshooting Guide

In this article we are going to cover troubleshooting your AEG. 

Sometimes a gun will stop working. Often it is a very easy fix that you can do yourself rather than spend $50 for repairs. 

Troubleshooting Tip #1

If your gun is completely dead, try charging your battery. 

For most of the guns you buy, the chargers that come with the gun are useless.  Buy a decent smart charger.  This keeps your battery charged and will not wreck the battery.  For the cheap chargers, if you over-charge the battery, it can wreck it.  Buy a charger that can charge both Nicd and Nimh batteries. 

Tip #2

Check your Fuse.  This is usually located where your battery is located.  You can double check your fuse by taking your fuse out and then attaching the two ends of the fuse together to see if you get power to the gun.  If you get power, the problem was the fuse.  Replace and you are good to go.  Any standard 20 or 30 amp fuse from any hardware store is fine.  Buy some extras.  If you fire your gun when the battery is low, this can cause your fuse to blow.  If you notice that your rate of fire is slowing down, charge up the battery. 

Tip #3

If you have a funny noise coming from the gun but no bbs are coming out, check your barrel to see if there is a bb blocking the barrel.  Do not keep shooting your gun if nothing is coming out.  You can strip your gears. You will just make it worse. Take the barrel rod that comes with most guns and insert it in the end of the barrel.  Make sure you take out your magazine.  You can shine a light into the mag area and look down the barrel to see if there is a blockage.  Make sure your gun is on safe when you do this.  Do not pull the trigger while looking in the barrel.  If you find that you are getting a lot of stoppages from bbs stuck in the barrel, you are probably using cheap bbs.  Cheap bbs are the quickest way to wreck your gun.  Buy decent bbs, not that crap from Malmart or other big box stores.  Cheap bbs have air bubbles inside them and seams that cause the bb to jam and crack open. Once they are stuck, they can strip your gears if you keep shooting.  Most of the cheap bbs come in .12 gram weight. Buy at least .20 gram.  If you are paying less than $12 for 2000-3000 bbs, you are probably buying cheap bbs.  Decent bbs run about $12 - $25 for 3000 bbs. 

Tip #4

If your gun makes a funny noise, it could be the motor screw just needs adjusting.

The screw to set the height on the motor is usually located in the bottom of the handle of the gun.  Make turns on the screw until the bbs seem to come out at the right speed and the motor sounds better. 

Tip #5

Do not attempt to take your gun apart unless you are mechanically inclined. 

Working on airsoft guns is not impossible, but it might be a good idea to buy a used and broken gun and take that apart to learn, rather than a good gun.  If you take your gear box apart, it can be very hard to get it back together.  Most repair places will charge a minimum of $30 just to look at a gun.  Then, it is usually about $30 per hour plus parts for fixes. 

Tip #6

Parts are not easy to come by, but some models are more popular and they do have more parts available.  Consider this when buying a gun. 

Tip #7

If you buy a cheap AEG, there will probably be absolutely no parts available.  Anything under $100 is a cheap plastic gears AEG.  If you buy in the $150 range, some of these guns can be upgraded and fixed.  Look for guns that are TM compatible, which means there will be Tokyo Marui parts that will fit in the gun.  This makes it easier to fix.  Echo 1 and Jing Gong are some examples of guns that can often take TM parts.  That way, if you strip out your gears, you can buy another gearbox and even upgrade your gun if you want.  Sometimes it pays to spend a little more on that first gun. 

Tip #8

If you are unsure or have questions to ask, one of the best places to find answers are your local airsoft field, a local or national airsoft forum or even Yahoo Answers is a good place.  Most people at the local field know of someone that fixes guns for a very low fee.  I had an M4 that needed work, and someone on a team fixed it for me for $18.  Just ask for a gun tech but make sure you get proper info on them like address, etc and PUT IT IN WRITING. Put down money amounts, time frames for the fix, and any guarantees.  Have both tech and customer sign paper.  Forums are great too.  Most people will help you if you ask nicely.  Also, you can post a question on Yahoo Answers and people will answer your question as best they can. 

For a link to a video that shows how to troubleshoot, please click below;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcP8c1j7Otc&feature=related



Motor Adjustment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKxyAWk0Ly0&feature=related