Once upon a time, there was a perfectly good Tokyo Marui M4A1RIS. One day, some idiot saw a thread on ASCUK about the L119A1 SFW, otherwise known as the Diemaco, the standard assault rifle of the UK special forces. The weapon came to prominence in the books 'Bloody Heroes' and 'Operation Certain Death' by Damien Lewis. The aforementioned idiot thought it would be a good idea to a) build his own L119A1 and b) make this his first airsoft rifle build project.
Anyone who has built an L119A1 will know the pain that this idiot went through. Initially, the components, such as the correct receiver, the barrel and the foresight were all very difficult to get hold of. Army Code produced limited runs of the barrel and then a very limited run of the extortionately priced foresight. DragonRed similarly did a limited run of the barrel which was far superior to the Army Code product (and the one that went on my rifle).
My personal build project also had the problem that the Marui RIS is shorter than the real M4 RIS and, by default, any accurate replica such as the Classic Army or DBoys M4 RIS which meant that the L119A1 barrel was built around the real thing, so that when installed, the Marui RIS was too short.
Cosmetic details apart, when I started this, I knew very little about the inner workings of the AEG. I know a lot more now and my next project (god help me) will be to upgrade a gearbox. When I put my L119A1 back together initially, it all seemed to work, but lacked power, range and accuracy. I had no idea what this could be so I scoured the internet for inspiration. As it happened, I thought I found the answer in the August 2010 issue of
Airsoft International magazine. I sat down on Friday evening with tools and AI open on the table and pulled my gun apart.
The problem was in fact, twofold. When I bought the Guarder receiver, it came with various bits and pieces of cosmetic hardware as well as a new plastic one-piece hopup unit. With the hopup was a tiny piece of clear rubber tube, what I though was going to be a spare hop-bucking. This turned out to be the actual hop bucking. I thought that the hopup unit would be ready to install, complete with hop-bucking and the instructions (such as they were) gave me no reason to suspect otherwise. Being a complete novice, I left this essential piece of rubber out. As a result, practically no spin was being applied to the rounds coming out of the rifle and they were going all over the place.
Problem number two was where AI came in. The August edition featured numerous how-tos, one of which was upgrading a Marui M4 Sportline, very similar to the M4 RIS in most respects. One of the modifications that they suggested was to glue a small piece of plastic to the front of the hop-up to shim it against the receiver and push it up closer to the gearbox. I duly followed the instructions and it eventually worked. The piece of plastic I used was too think to start with but with some patient filing and inevitable swearing, I got it to fit very snugly, making the receiver pins quite tricky to get back in, but at least they won't drop out like they were prone to before this mod.
Threadlock and PTFE grease purchased from
GEE DEE Models in Nottingham so the threads were locked and the gears greased (as much as possible), as were the sides of the gearbox to make it easier to insert back into the very snug receiver. All back together and a couple of rounds fire down the garden (much to the consternation of my fiancee and the three cats) and I can safely say that it appears to be firing as well as it ever was.
I'd like to say that I've enjoyed my first build project, but I can't. I'm very satisfied that it's finished (finished in as much as it is back together and working) and I've done it all myself, but it has been a right royal pain in the arse. I have learnt a lot and I may well start another build project in the future (most likely an L129A1 DMR). The L119 still has bog stock internals so the next job is to replace the barrel and upgrade the gearbox. I may get a shop to do the gearbox as I'm not feeling brave enough to butcher the gun again. If I can find a cheap, faulty gearbox, I may use that as a project base rather than ruining a good working gearbox, we shall see.
Almost as a postscript, I would like to mention
Airsoft International magazine again. The magazine has it's critics, myself among them. Some of the spelling, grammar and punctuation leaves much to be desired, as much the fault of the proof readers as the authors and many of the articles are badly researched and lacking detail. that said, it is a very useful resource. I have been buying it for the last two years. Most of the articles I have read have not been particularly useful but some of them are worth their weight in gold, such as the one that helped to rescue my gun project, plus it supports Airsoft which is commendable in it's own right.
This gun has cost me around £500 including the donor gun. It has also cost me countless hours of frustration as well as days and days waiting for parts to arrive from China. To anyone considering building a custom project gun, think long and hard about why you want the gun and read everything you can about it, even if it seems irrelevent. And good luck.
Parts Summary:
Tokyo Marui M4A1RIS donor gun
Guarder Colt Canada metal receiver
DragonRed L119A1 barrel
Guarder large AR15 grip
DBoys RIS
DBoys PEQ-2
Marui M4 stock, stock tube, foresight, flash hider and internals
ACM ACOG 4x Scope
Marui BUIS
AR15.com stock pad (incorrect one - to be replaced)
Single-point sling mount (Unknown make - to be replaced)
