kwa g18c upgrades?

shockinsocky

hi guys
heres the story,a week ago i bought a secand hand g18c(kwa) for 30 euro.nice deal eh?but im just wondering if i can upgrade it in any way(custom grips,slides)
and please note i cant seem to find the hop up and it has NO markings,not even any airsoft ones as seen on airsoft.ie.is this an old version?id realy welcome any thoughts on the gun,as its my first proper pistol.
thanks lads:)

Inari

The KWA/KSC pistols use a bearing design hop up - if you rack the slide back, you'll see teeth around the outer barrel (inside the ejection port) - you use a special key (corresponding teeth) to adjust the hop up.

The bearing style hop up has always been KSC/KWA's worst point - it has very little surface area for a BB, and in general assures that it will not shoot as well as a gun using the TM-based system. To improve the gun's firing you could fit an R-hop, which will drastically improve range and consistency, along with a tightbore barrel.

As for aftermarket external upgrades, you can get any aftermarket slide set for a KWA/KSC glock - Prime and Detonator do aftermarket slides; they cost a pretty penny though, and destroy gas economy. Grips on the otherhand are a little harder to come by - there's the likes of this etc. Personally I think you'd be better off either painting the frame you have, or by the addition of the crimson trace laser etc but that's just me!

Otherwise the pistol would benefit enormously from a full take-down, cleaning and re-greasing. I would also do the same for the magazine, and look at perhaps shimming the gas route rubber as if the gun is quite old, or seen a lot of BB's through it, it will have worn slightly reducing gas efficiency. You can cut a small thin piece of plastic to size in order to shim the gas route rubber (piece of rubber behind the feed lips of the magazine).

That's what I'd do anyway

shockinsocky

wow,:D.that was very helpful and informative inari and you gave me some new ideas aswell;).but im just wondering about the fact that it
has no airsoft words written on the side of it.("bb 6mm")i mean,is this bad?

McSheez

Not necessarily bad. If it shoots ok and it's not falling appart on you then no markings hardly makes a difference. I've got a couple of the kwa G18s and in my experience (and as already pointed out) the only thing that really needs worrying about is the pesky hop up. It's a bollox to replace.

As for modding it, there's not much. I'd suggest the same as Inari, tightbore and TM hop (not something I ever bothered with). Perhaps buy some C02 mags instead of the green gas ones, though you may want to track down a sturdier loading nozzle since they have a tendency to go bust in these pistols. Other than that it's only really sights and scopes and silly stuff. Don't think different grips and backstraps are out there for these.

Is it a plastic slide? Could always try get a magnesium one instead? Gives a nicer weight and sound to it.

shockinsocky

yeah im not too sure tbh .the slide doesnt feel like a proper metal.would you know if you can get night sights for it?il probably just buy a new barrel,recoil spring,and a new hop up!...speaking of which can i just buy a recoil spring on its own,or wil i have to reinforce other parts aswell,so they dont break
thanks:)

CpcRc

Night sights have been made anyway.

shockinsocky

thanks for the link there CpcRc:),but im a bit nervous about buying abroad with charges and such.shur ill ask an irish crowd to see if they can stock it themselves

CpcRc

That was just for an example, other places will have them I'd say. As a note, if an item plus shipping is less than 22 euro you shouldn't be charged. Only orders over 22 euro in value are charged.
And lots of people use ehobby, I would only suggest asia for items not available in Irelnad

shockinsocky

yeah,ill definately look around before i buy so,im looking at a few things on airsoft eire anyway.thanks for the tip tho:)

S.E.A.L.s

shockinsocky wrote: »

would you know if you can get night sights for it? thanks:)

There is a chap on our team, who paints these on to sights for between €5 and €10 euros per set, I've a couple done by him and it's pro

He's Lil Armour and based in Dublin, if your interested drop him a PM

Hope this helps

thermo

SEALs_Ireland wrote: »

There is a chap on our team, who paints these on to sights for between €5 and €10 euros per set, I've a couple done by him and it's pro

He's Lil Armour and based in Dublin, if your interested drop him a PM

Hope this helps

kit to do it yourself.

linky

Inari

What do you want the gun to do - what is your hope to achieve with the upgrades?

Stronger recoil springs and heavier slides will murder your gas economy - it will look and feel great though, just won't shoot as many shots-per-fill of gas. You can of course replace the spring, though all it will do is decrease the time it takes for the slide to return to battery - it makes it snappier, but it is more taxing on the gas system.

At present you cannot change the hop up from KWA/KSC to TM-style for the glock - they are incompatible systems, so unless you're willing to get into heavily custom work, you're not going to wrangle that one. There will eventually be a revision of the design, just not yet!

If you want superior performance out of the pistol (range and accuracy wise), then I would replace the barrel for a tightbore barrel and R-Hop it. The R-hop is a system where a piece of rubber is bonded in place on the barrel window at a depth specific to your requirements. It effectively becomes a fixed hop design, and your hop up chamber is then used solely for 'fine adjustment'. This makes it particularly good at slinging heavier BB's, also boosting accuracy. Power will go down though, hence why you should pair it with a tightbore barrel.

shockinsocky

well,im only a plinker and im looking for accuracy (mainly).i belive it has a plastic slide.but my budget is quite low:( . how much would a r hop unit be?

CpcRc

Many people make try to make their own r-hops so technically it'll cost time and the plastic material you use to make it. Not sure how much to get one made by an experiencedtechnician though, not too much I'd imagine.

shockinsocky

...but if i get another recoil spring from airsoft eire,would that damage my plastic slide?i mean will it damage the internals in any way,and also how would the gas efficancy go down if im only using a plastic slide?im confused

CpcRc

More gas needed to move the slide by overcoming the power of the spring

shockinsocky

oh right,im already getting 15-17 shots per fill,would the spring decrease the gas econemy by much?

CpcRc

I haven't installed upgraded recoil springs in any of my gbbs so I wouldn't know how bad it would be. I do know that a heavier slide can sometimes reduce the gas usage by about 5 shots on my one with two slides.

shockinsocky

thats not too bad i suppose,but if i pair the upgraded spring with my plastic slide, will the kick be too hard for the slide to handle? i wont buy it if it will break my internals.thanks for your insight and advice though mate:)

CpcRc

I don't imagine that the kwa plastic is too weak. But I think that my slides are all metal, so I'm not experienced to say how tough they are.
TM make plastic slides and they work so just because a slide is plastic doesn't mean that it's going to break. Yes, metal is stronger than plastic but in a lot of cases plastic can be more than tough enough to handle the forces involved in airsoft. Plastic can be really tough if designed and made properly.

shockinsocky

yeah,it seems fairly durable like,so i think ill chance it!
thanks again!