Airsoft How to Modify a Gas Magazine

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Today'due south study is another guest blog from reader Ian McKee who writes equally 45 Bravo. Today he tells us how airsoft and BB magazines piece of work.

If you lot'd similar to write a guest postal service for this weblog, please email me at: [email protected].

Okay — take information technology away 45Bravo!

Ian McKee
Writing as 45Bravo

How Airsoft and detachable BB gun magazines piece of work

This study covers:

It's a replica matter
Low/mid capacity
Almost of them are very similar
Magazine capacities
High chapters
Information technology'due south high capacity clockwork!
Summary
Coming in the time to come

Information technology's a replica thing

A lot of replica air guns have removable magazines to replicate the look and function of the bodily firearm they are copied from.

From left to correct, is a real 5.56/.223 30 round mag, a 70 round mid-capacity mag, a "twenty round" mag that actually holds 150 rounds of airsoft ammo, a 300 round mag, and a 850 circular "fatmag".

Both airsoft and BB guns, employ the same magazine design. The simply difference being the size of the projectile being used.

As much nosotros would hate to admit it, many of our replica BB guns were get-go produced as airsoft guns. A LOT more replica airsoft guns are sold, compared to the replica BB gun market, partly because of laws in many countries that have more stringent regulations on BB guns than they do on airsoft. And parents perceive that the plastic airsoft projectile is less dangerous than steel BBs.

Low/mid chapters

Jump-powered models that have to be manually artsy for every shot, usually have a full sized mag that holds just fifteen-30 of the airsoft projectiles in a single column stack, and the magazine sometimes has small metal inserts inside to requite the magazine some actress weight.

Here are two low-capacity airsoft magazines.

Some CO2 BB guns like the Umarex Legends PPK/S, accept a small removable stick magazine and continue the CO2 inside the gun, while some designs like the Sig We The People 1911 BB pistol, and the Crosman SBR (short barreled rifle) have a removable full size magazine that holds the CO2 and the BBs together in ane removable unit.

The magazine for Crosman's brusk-barreled rifle (SBR).

Well-nigh of them are very like

But no matter how the airguns function, the BB feed mechanism in the magazine is the same, the projectiles are held in a channel, either single stack, or double stacked, and have a spring-driven follower that pushes the projectiles up to the feed lips, fix to exist fed into the chamber when needed.

Do they look similar? The one on the left is from the Sig Nosotros The People BB pistol, the other one is from an airsoft 1911 I take used for over x years.

This detail shot shows the similarities much better.

Magazine capacities

Airsofters that are into military simulation games (Mil-Sim), similar to use a magazine that features a similar capacity as the firearm it replicates. That way the number of their magazine exchanges plus their load out (the number of magazines they must carry) matches their real globe counterparts.

Build a Custom Airgun

High chapters

Some magazines for automatic electrical guns (AEG) employ what is called a mid-cap mag, where the channel that holds the projectiles under spring pressure is longer, and may hold lx-100 projectiles. 1 of the advantages of a mid-cap magazine is since the Bbs are under constant spring pressure, they don't rattle when you run.

There is a spring loaded tab at the acme of each magazine to keep the Bulletin board system in place until the magazine is loaded into the gun. The mid-cap mag. is on the left.

The BBs are nether abiding spring pressure while inside the mid-capacity magazine.

The most common type of mag for the electric guns are loftier capacity or "high-cap" magazines. They tin can concur anywhere from 150 to 1000 rounds or more, depending on the size of the reservoir that holds the projectiles before feeding them into the feed aqueduct.

magazine bottoms
From left to right, is a "20 round" mag that actually holds 150 rounds of airsoft ammo, a 300 circular magazine, and a 850 round "fatmag".

It'due south loftier capacity clockwork!

The high -cap magazines have a hopper that you pour the airsoft BBs into, and ordinarily they accept a wheel on the lesser of the magazine that you air current to compress a clockwork style spring that drives the feed mechanism to feed the Bbs from the hopper to the gun.

highcap mag wheel
That toothed bicycle (arrow) is wound to compress a spring that pushes the loose Bbs up toward the feed lips of the mag.

Every bit you current of air the magazine bike on the lesser, you hear clicks that are the anti reversing mechanism that keeps the leap from unwinding. When the mag is fully wound, a clutch in the winding assembly causes the wheel to "slip" and you hear the clicking sound unlike. The magazine is fully wound at that indicate, and you can usually empty the contents of the magazine without winding more.

Unlike the other magazines that may accept the gas stored in them, the high-cap magazines just agree and feed the projectiles. As the gun cycles, information technology strips off the meridian projectile, feeding it into the chamber. It doesn't affair if the gun is electrically operated, or run from compressed air, or CO2 from a remote tank.

The magazine wheel in the mag.

high cap mag insides
The insides are however, the larger mag shells just hold more of the projectiles.

Every bit you can see, they all accept the same basic components. The highcap magazines hold the projectiles in the open areas and feed them into the feeding aqueduct, and then into the hopup/nozzle area of the gun, as they are fired.

Here y'all come across how the hi-cap magazine. takes the loose airsoft BBs and organizes them into a feed channel. That jump you wound with the exposed bicycle powers this internal mechanism.

The major downside of a loftier capacity magazine, if you are playing in an airsoft game, is once you outset shooting, there is open up space in the hopper area of the magazine, and the bbs rattle when y'all run. So when y'all run from comprehend to encompass, you sound like you lot have a half empty container of Tic Tacs in your pocket.

By these photos, you would recollect all airsoft guns are based on the AR-15/M4 platform, but you would be wrong. These were merely the magazines I had on mitt. Magazines of all capacities tin can be had for any replica, AK47 & AK74, FN-p90, HKMP5, FNFAL, HKG3, MP7, Thompson M1A1, M14 (ALL of these replica machine guns, and others not listed do come with the giggle switch here in America.)

Summary

If you tin think it, it has probably been fabricated into an airsoft gun, with magazines and gearboxes adapted to feed it and fire information technology.

Airsoft replicas are available from a Mosin Nagant 91/30, to an electrically operated M134 multi barreled minigun!

Hither is a $3,840 M134 airsoft minigun!

Coming in the hereafter

In a future article, nosotros volition cover airsoft gearbox types, and other types of airsoft power plants.

Cheers,

Ian