Building my own m4

[zollen]

I am completely new to airsoft gun but I do not wish to spend money on those cookie cutter m4. I want to build my very own *unique* m4!

Is it feasible for me to build my very own m4 with nothing but custom parts? What's the difficulty? What do I need to know in order to build my very own *unique* m4?


Thanks.

[Doombringer]

Custom parts are a lot more expensive than original parts. Why don't you just buy something else than an M4 if you want originality?

[Mist3r.B]

Try buying all parts from the same brand. It will saves you a lot of fitting issue.

[zollen]

Originally Posted by Doombringer

Custom parts are a lot more expensive than original parts. Why don't you just buy something else than an M4 if you want originality?

I am open to any suggestions.

[zollen]

Originally Posted by Mist3r.B

Try buying all parts from the same brand. It will saves you a lot of fitting issue.

What's the difficulty? Any info?

[Doombringer]

What Mist3r.B means is that if you mix different brands of gears, piston, etc... inside your gearbox, they might not fit. The tolerance in the machining process is not exactly the same from brand to brand so they might not be an exact fit. To minimize those chance of problems, you should stick to the same brand for all your gearbox parts.

[BGrail25]

Originally Posted by zollen

What's the difficulty? Any info?

If a gun is the same brand as the gun, it is pretty much guaranteed to fit, since it is the same brand made for the guns. However, different brands might make their pieces a bit bigger or smaller, which in some cases require some modification.

Also, if you're looking for some cheap-ish parts, international dealers are sometimes cheaper. However, they come at a cost (no pun intended) because of shipping rates, times and customs.

[zollen]

Originally Posted by Doombringer

What Mist3r.B means is that if you mix different brands of gears, piston, etc... inside your gearbox, they might not fit. The tolerance in the machining process is not exactly the same from brand to brand so they might not be an exact fit. To minimize those chance of problems, you should stick to the same brand for all your gearbox parts.

Thanks. I am going to stick to the same brand for all internal mechanical components. But I would really want to mix and matched brands for all my ideals external components.

[BGrail25]

Originally Posted by zollen

Thanks. I am going to stick to the same brand for all internal mechanical components. But I would really want to mix and matched brands for all my ideals external components.

What type of parts did you have in mind? Rail systems? Stocks? Everything?

[zollen]

I guess I would like the following info:

1. Airsoft rifle internal working 101
2. How to build a rirle from scratch.

Any links?

[R.I.T.Z]

Originally Posted by zollen

I guess I would like the following info:

1. Airsoft rifle internal working 101
2. How to build a rirle from scratch.

Any links?

Mechbox.com is awesome few videos on there and youtube to be honest
as for the externals take a look through "doctors corner" on this website along with "parts and accessories" discussion boards those would be good places to start.


on a side note. how old are you?

[Doombringer]

Take a look at mechbox.com, they have some really nice videos on how to disassemble, reassemble and maintain a mechbox (the internal parts). IIRC, they also explain how the mechbox works in the videos when they disassemble it. Good starting point.

[zollen]

These are what I have found so far. I really have no idea how difficult to put the following components together. I am pretty sure I am missing many internal vital components. Please let me know as well.

Scope + Laser Beam
--------------------
A.C.M. 3-9x32 Blue Rangefinder Rifle Scope With Red Dot Laser

Silencer
--------
DBOYS M4 Ported QD Silencer

Stock
------
J.G. M4 6 Position Retractable Stock /w Buffer Tube

Rail System
-----------
J.G. M4 Floating RIS Rail System

Grip
----
Element G27 Ergonomic grip - BLACK

Front Iron Sight
----------------
Element Vltor Replica Flip Up Front Sight

Front Folding Grip
------------------
A.C.M. "Ice Pick" style Folding Vertical Grip

Motor
------
J.G. High Power Motor

[zollen]

I am over 30+ years of age.

[L473ncy]

I actually thought about this and I did get about 15% of the way figuring out which parts and what I needed. Scrapped the project before buying anything but I can give you a hand with the parts that I selected.

Basically it would have cost me about $1000 to build. If you have that kind of money to throw around then great but as it stands if you want high quality custom/aftermarket parts then it's going to be a lot.

Also keep note that you should stick to one or two aftermarket brands, don't mix and match, each aftermarket company will have different tolerances for one another and although will all work with TM guns (the "standard" they are usually based on) other companies may not play well with each other.

As well if you're not in Engineering or something related you're probably going to have a really hard time. It's easy to follow instructions but there's also a thought process that needs to go in as well if SHTF and you need to come up with your own solution to a problem (and believe me in every project there are problems).

Also get AV'ed that's pretty much the only way you're going to find a high quality metal body. I haven't seen any for sale not in the classifieds and it WILL likely get seized if you try to import one yourself.

EDIT: Crap can't find the file I'll keep searching but basically what the parts list boiled down to was a G&P Metal Body along with a Modify FTK (I think the S110+ spring for 400 FPS) and the parts that it was missing and a gearbox shell (I think it was either HurricanE, Modify, or G&P). The Hop up unit and rubber I was going to use were Prometheus Neo Strike Chamber Hopup and Prometheus soft.

The OTHER thing I was looking at was a G&P body, SystemA REVOLUTION Mechbox or SystemA Complete Mechbox and various high quality externals.

EDIT2: Does anyone else hate Redwolfs new layout? It kind of hurts my eyes but I guess it's just because I'm not used to it ehobby has a white background as well but it doesn't bother me for some reason.

OP: There's also the SystemA ENERGY Mechboxes as well. It's the newest bleeding edge technology and although I don't know if it's that much of an improvement (over the REVOLUTION or Complete Mechbox) if you have the money to drop and like being bleeding edge you'll be one of the first people rocking the SystemA ENERGY stuff.