Well L96 takedown guide

j0ey2069

I'm just posting this Well L96 takedown guide (taken from www.finmereairsoft.co.uk by TehAgent) up here as I know a few people that bought them recently. There's a few problems with the L96 that this guide will help you fix.

Joe.

INDEX

1. Problems your likely to encounter (this post)
2. Strip down of the L96 (see below)

First things first,

Problems your likely to encounter.

After trudging through a 76 page entry on ArniesAirSoft, I'm going to list the most common problems that arose when the rifle first hit circulation. Please bare in mind that a few of these so called "problems" are user created. either by heavy handedness or just general tinkering with a new gun to see what its capable of. don't worry, ill mark the problems as "UC" if its User Created so as not to get mixed up with QC.

- Trigger housing splitting around the securing pins (UC)

There were a few cases of this, but was found to be heavy handedness in tightening the retaining screws to tight after someone had been poking around in there.

FIX - Hot glue to fill in the areas around the pin locations, staying clear of moving parts and thus make it stronger. Or Replace with a Zero trigger unit for a Type L96 as these are confirmed to fit.

- Mag release catch snapping (UC)

The few cases where this was a problem, was because of people being too heavy handed when putting the two halves together

Fix - Can be fixed by using electrical tape,

- Mag Empty indicator not working (QC)

This was found in all rifles (mine too) and is a simple case of the spring for the indicator being in the wrong way and too strong.

FIX - Cut some coils off the spring and remount it in the correct location (mine still doesn't work mind you as the mag spring seems to not be working)

- Cocked indicator not working (QC)

This is a problem with a screw being to short to do its job efficiently

FIX - Replace screw with a longer version, (i need to update this as I've forgotten the dimensions?)

- Barrel spacers are not in the correct location (QC)

This problem comes from the barrel being inserted at the factory with not a lot of care, and the spacers end up all at one end.

Fix - Take out inner barrel, and use double sided tape or some electrical tape in-front and behind the spacers to hold them in position, once seated in the correct locations.

- Shots veering left or right. (QC)

This is barrel and hop rubber alignment problem, would be too fiddly and not production friendly to sort out in the factory, easy fix and gives you a chance to see how it all goes together.

FIX - realign hop rubber, hop / inner barrel and outer barrel

- Shots not consistent (QC)

This comes from to much lube being used in production and comes from a dirty barrel
Can be fixed when you have the inner barrel removed for spacer fixing.

FIX - two ways of fixing this one, if the spacers have been sorted out already and you just want to preform routine maintenance, just remove the bolt assembly, and use a cleaning rod and a bit of cloth, if you are yet to do the barrel spacers, just clean it when the barrel is removed from the gun.

- Broken safety selector (UC / QC) PLEASE NOTE, this only effects version 1 guns (white box red letters)

This is a mix of bad design and user carelessness, basically the v1 gun didn't have a cocking safety for the cocking handle, that would allow it to drop back down, letting go mid bull would result in the spring forcing the cocking handle back into the safety and thus braking it.

FIXED - Fixed by the factory, they redesigned the cocking handle with a small pin, that only lets the cocking handle back to its original resting place, once its fully pushed forward by the user.

Other problems that arise can be due to being taken apart and not put back together properly, i will not go in to that now, but if you come across something when putting it back together, post a reply and ill try my best to help.

Now for taking it apart.

j0ey2069

Welcome to the strip down section

First let me introduce you to the Well Warrior L96A1 (MB01)


To start with, there are two different manufactures of the L96A1 for the Cheap soft market, One by Well-fire, the other by Both Elephants. everything else (IE: produced by Double Eagle or UTG) are relabeled versions of either of the two. But as a rule. The Well Warrior, had a metal sub frame, where as the BE does not, Also UTG are a relabeled version of the Well-fire, yet have a closed cylinder so would need some drilling before you can upgrade or if you need to, down grade the spring and cylinder internals.

Although i know about the Well, i cant say to much about the BE upgrade side as i haven't really looked into it. so for now we will just be concentrating on the Warrior 1.

So on to the fun stuff

Strip Down of the L96

Tools you will need.

1 x 5mm Allen key
1 x 2.5mm Allen key (both come with the gun)
1 x 1.5mm Allen key (does not come with gun, yet you will need it to take the outer barrel off)
1 x blunt kitchen knife (the thing you eat dinner with )
1 x pliers Normal
1 x pliers Long nose
1 x small Phillips screw driver (the X shaped one)
1 x cup of coffee / tea / can of coke)

I suggest starting with the gun together rather than in two parts. as it would make it easier to remove the bolt.

First off, make sure the safety is engaged, the mag is out and the chamber is clear of any BB's.

First you need to release the retaining screws that hold the cheek rest in place, and remove the cheek rest, this is so the bolt can come freely away from the gun.

With the gun upside down, reach a finger into the front of the trigger, and pull down quite hard on the leaver you find there.



Until it is all the way down. with a resounding click



Now, move the bolt leaver as if you are going to cock it, and it should slide free from the rest of the gun.



This hole unit comes in one go, this is handy if you get spairs, you can pre assemble them to any FPS and change on the fly. but for now we shall put it to one side and come back to this later.

Now undo the two holding screws with the large Allen key, and remove the barrel / trigger housing from the stock.



With the gun in two parts, you reveal the trigger assembly and also the mag release catch (release catch covered later in post).



The trigger assembly is held in place with two screws and once undone comes away with out any hassle



Top view of trigger assembly



Going to the other end of the barrel undo the end cap to reveal the inner barrel.
And take the small Phillips screw driver and undo the screw holding the mag release in place.

j0ey2069

removing the mag release will allow you to remove the inner barrel and hop, it will slide out from the front of the gun.



As can be seen here, i have repositioned the barrel spacers and held them in-place with some double sided tape.



The hop unit is attached to the barrel with a small brass screw in bolt. to undo this, take the pliers (normal) whilst holding the hop, unscrew the brass retaining bolt, and pull the barrel out carefully. you might need to use the smaller Allen key to retrieve the hop rubber that will be still in the hop (be very careful doing this so as not to damage the hop rubber)

This is the hop unit stripped down, laid out how they will go on the end of the barrel from left to right,

retaining clip , brass securing bolt , plastic spacer , hop rubber , brass spacer, hop adjustment bar with tightening grub, Hop bar spring (dont lose this) hop unit with hop bar



This is the hop unit on the barrel complete.



reverse side of the hop unit



In side is a small brass spacer that goes at the front of the hop rubber, this is important for when you want to fit a tight bore barrel, as it means your don't have to get a smaller outlet for the cylinder head, though by practice, if your replacing the barrel, a new hop unit would be a bonus.



There is a hole in the barrel and a groove that sits around the circumference that the hop rubber goes over



To align the hop rubber with the hop unit, take the barrel out, and remove the rubber, place the rubber onto the inner barrel's end with the hole in it, making sure the spacer is still in the hop, align the hop rubber groove that makes the hop and the hole in the barrel then align with the plastic hop leaver that can be seen in the reverse side photo, and push back into the hop unit. (i did this by using a marker pen to line everything up with, as can be seen in the reverse side photo) then do up the retaining bolt being careful not to knock it out of alignment.

To remove the outer barrel, there is a small (1.5mm) Allen grub that when tight, bites into the threads on the outer barrel, undo this and then unscrew the outer barrel.

j0ey2069

If you find that after adjusting the hop rubber and hop unit so they are aligned with the rest of the gun, you will need to align the outer barrel, as they are all connected once the gun is put back together. HINT, you can use the mag release to align the inner barrel with the outer barrel, always align the outer barrel first and secure in place before the inner barrel, and always look down the inner barrel for where the hop is in relation to the outer barrel, if this is all aligned correctly, you shouldn't get any side ways flight deviation on the BB's

On to the cylinder.

The cylinder head unscrews, use the Long nose pliers one part of the pliers in each hole on the cylinder head, and it should unscrew, if it does not, check around the head to make sure that there is no sign of a small pin, if you have this pin, then you will need to drill it out in order to unscrew the cylinder head (WARNING: if you do have to drill out a pin in the cylinder head, only do small drilling at a time so as not to go right through into the cylinder its self. thus by passing the cylinder head, or your gun will not fire as effectively or may even stop working)



Again, will update photos once i find me pliers (think they are in my friends car) and you need to remove this to fix the cocked indicator. so I'm stuck with it not working just yet.

Here is a picture of the end of the bolt where the cocked indicator resides



To replace the bolt and cylinder, just slide it back into the receiver, when the trigger assembly is still mounted to the receiver. you will need to use the Allen key to move this catch out of the way.



Right, if you get the real bad urge to take the stock apart to fix the mag empty indicator. then here is how to go about it.

Take the rifle apart so its just the stock and trigger / barrel assembly, Take the small Allen key that comes with the gun and undo all the screws that hold the stock together, and put them in a safe place.

Take the big Allen key, and remove the butt pad / spacers and sling mounts



Once all the screws have been removed and the butt pad and spacers removed, take your kitchen knife and careful pry the casing apart



(WARNING: be very careful and slow as there are metal pins holding the two halves together)

Take your time and it will come apart. you will have now, two halves, the inner metal sub-frame / metal bi-pod mounting point along with the front sling mounts. and a plastic cheek rest retaining point.



Located in the front action (fore grip in layman's terms) is the mag empty indicator



Take the small Phillips screw driver, and undo both screws and remove the cover.
If the spring is mounted like this, it is the wrong way round.



Take out the spring, count about 4 loops down, and cut with the pliers then with the plastic pit pushed down into the stock, replace the spring, if the spring is too loose, take it back out, and stretch it so it only just fills the gap, do not over stretch it, or it will be just as tight as before you trimmed it. it should now look like this



This way it will sit flush with the gun when its back together, the indicator should raise once you are out of BB's thus helping you to know, not to dry fire the weapon.

To put back together, just reverse the process.

The inner metal sub-frame has two bolts, these need to be in the sub-frame before you reconstruct it. it also has two washers, but although mine came out, they didn't want to go back in, even though they are no longer part of my gun, it hasn't made a difference.

I left out the trigger box strip, because frankly, i don't want to risk over tightening the screws.

But I'm in the process of waiting for a reply off someone who has done it, to see if i can use the pictures they took when it was apart.

Hope you liked my little rant, if i have missed anything out i reserve the right to edit it.

Disclaimer,

I bear no responsibility if you take your gun apart and balls up the internals.

For reference, here are some photos of how things sit in the stock

Front sling mount and bi-pod mount



Rear sling mount (sorry for the blurry image the batteries died just after this shot)



Butt pad retaining threads on the inside of the stock



Inner metal sub-frame

SolarNexus

fantastic guide, only having recently had mine malfunction... and now that I can tell that the trigger assembly is rattling, it would be nice if someone had a stripdown guide for that too...

at least so we'd know how to fix it ourselves. if we can.