Today, we want to talk about maximizing your range and accuracy. This blog will first cover the basics for newbies, and then we will go into the essential modifications you should have made to enhance your range and accuracy. The first couple of sections will be refreshers for experienced players.
I’ve been playing airsoft since 2002 and building my guns for myself and others for years. I’ve worked for manufacturers before and moonlighted for the Fox Airsoft tech department occasionally in addition to my other responsibilities. So I can honestly tell you I’ve been around for quite a while and have been inside thousands of guns to date.
The information I will present today will be from my experiences, but I will try to simplify everything so that it’s easy for a new player to follow. I have compressed some information to keep this article at a reasonable length. If you are very much into the little details, I invite you to do further research outside this article or drop us a line via e-mail.
So, let's get into it! For you newbies, we must learn to crawl before walking, so let’s go into hop-up first.
1) Hop-Up: What it does and how to adjust it
If you don’t understand it already, the first thing we should discuss is hop up. When you shoot a BB out of an airsoft gun with no hop-up, your shot will drop off at some point due to gravity, and it's pretty dramatic. The hop-up effect is introduced inside the chamber, and it consists of a rubber patch protruding inside your barrel, making contact with the BB as it is fired and exiting the barrel.
This piece of rubber is called bucking. This produces backspin, which utilizes the Magnus effect to counteract that drop and thus give you a longer range. A gun with hop up will usually shoot 120ft to 175 ft to effectively hit a torso-sized target with some deviation. Upgraded guns can comfortably stretch out that maximum effective range further.
Most airsoft guns built for performance will have an adjustable hop-up, though some may have a simple fixed (non-adjustable hop-up). Adjustable hop-up allows you to increase or decrease the hop-up effect, allowing you to compensate for the different BB weights you might want to use. Adjustment involves turning a dial or moving a lever, shooting and observing, and adjusting accordingly.
Adjusting it manipulates how much contact the bucking makes with the BB and how much backspin it will produce. Since you can adjust it, remember that excess hop-up will cause the BB to curve upward when you shoot, and if it is too little, your BB will fall quite short. You will be able to spot what your BB is doing immediately after breaking a shot.
2) What BBs should I use
Some common questions we get at our store from beginners are the different types of BBs and what they do. First, all the BBs we are using are plastic 6mm BBs for clarification. The common weights are .20, .25, and .28 grams, though others are available.
To make it simple, if your gun has an adjustable hop-up, you can choose how you want it to perform. You should use the recommended BB weight if you have a fixed hop-up. Otherwise, your gun will shoot short or overhop the BB.
Ask those with adjustable hop-ups if you value cost or accuracy. Lighter BBs like .20s are less expensive to run, but you will see less consistent shot grouping and the BB is more susceptible to wind than a heavy BB. If you are playing indoor CQB, it will all be short distances, and there’s no wind to worry about, so lighter weights are perfectly fine. Your AEG is not adjustable for “power,” so we should consider how hard it shoots as being fixed (unless you modify the gun). Regardless, your gun shoots the same way whether it is shooting a .20 or a heavier BB like a .28. Your recorded FPS on a chronograph will be lower on the heavier BBs since the same amount of energy is now being used to propel something a fair bit heavier.
On the other end of the spectrum, you have your .28s. These cost more but overall provide better accuracy, especially outdoors. A lot of players with upgraded guns or guns pushing the limits of performance allowed at a certain field will run .28s or even heavier. Your shot consistency will also be better as a result. The heavier BB will travel slower to the target, so keep that in mind.
A common misconception is, “My field allows ____ fps, so I will use a heavier BB to use it there.” Again, BB weight changes FPS readings because heavier BBs move slower with the same amount of energy. Generally speaking, the BB's weight won't change how hard the gun shoots. Your gun’s power is the same regardless of what weight BB it shoots, but that same energy is pushing something heavier and thus slower. An accurate measurement of how hard a gun actually shoots is using Joules. Using Joules as the standard makes sure that regardless of the BB weight or FPS, the guns shoot with around the same amount of force so that no one is getting hurt or able to manipulate the readings on a chronograph. Some guns out of the box come shooting beyond the limits of what most fields allow. This usually requires some use to break in or be addressed before taking it to the field. Again, changing BBs to a heavier weight is NOT a solution to this problem.
When I play outdoors, I run .28g BBs. The .32s are nice, but travel to the target is too slow for my taste, and I run AEGs at the ~400fps/1.5 Joule mark. I use .25g for indoor play and occasionally use .20g to keep it super cheap. If you hate keeping different types of BBs around or mixing them up all the time, stick to a single weight if possible.
3) Cleaning your airsoft gun barrel
Now for the last bit of basic knowledge: cleaning your barrel. It is important to keep your barrel clean. This prevents jams, which can lead to your gun breaking, and maintains your performance and accuracy. Clean using your cleaning rod and small patches of paper towel or similar material, spritzed with 100% pure silicone oil. Run the patch into the barrel until it stops. Do not force it past that because you will be jamming it into the chamber. Pull the patch out and repeat the steps with a new patch until it looks clean. Then, run a final dry patch to remove the excess oil from the bore to prevent more dirt from sticking. If you need a refresher on AEG maintenance, check the vid below!
4) Gun Modifications for Improving Your Accuracy
This is a very broad topic with a lot of fine details to cover. I’ll keep all this information compressed and straightforward to avoid making a half-hour video. If the topic interests you, I invite you to do further research on the topic as this is something you could write a book on! The most common question we get from players who have been out a few times is, “How do you improve accuracy?”
Well, it starts with you, but for your gun, there’s some stuff you can do. You can have your inner barrel changed to what is called a tight-bore barrel. Normal barrels have a larger bore, usually 6.06mm and up, allowing your gun to shoot BBs without much issue if the barrel is dirty.
A tight bore barrel can improve airsoft accuracy. The BB travels down a more constricted barrel through tighter tolerances, leading to more accuracy and shot consistency; however, the tolerances also mean you must clean the barrel more often because you now have less room for error. Tight-bore barrels usually have an inner diameter of 6.03mm or smaller. The smaller you go, the better your accuracy will be, but you will have much less tolerance for imperfect BBs and dirt. If you know the type of environment you are playing in will create problems for you, you should use a 6.03mm. Some manufacturers have started including a 6.03mm barrel pre-installed.
Stock barrels will either be made of brass or aluminum
Aftermarket barrels can come in different materials
As I mentioned, the bucking is part of the hop-up system and makes contact with the BB as it leaves your gun. When you adjust the hop-up, you control how much engagement the bucking makes with the BB. The bucking compliments the barrel. The quality of the rubber used, and the shape of the bucking inside can enhance accuracy. The fitment of the bucking in relation to the barrel and hop-up unit can also enhance the air seal. The bucking should be considered a worn item, however. Keeping it lubricated with silicone oil will extend its life, but eventually, it will have to be replaced as quality deteriorates with age, which is the case with all rubber components. Changing your barrel and bucking is relatively easy to learn, though we recommend you do it by someone experienced if you need more confidence.
Improved buckings and barrels can increase FPS as a byproduct, so be aware of your local rules or have your gun tuned accordingly to match what you are trying to do.
Since airsoft barrels are smooth bores and fire round projectiles, there are still certain limitations from physics that prevent us from achieving mechanical accuracy without an airsoft gun the same way we would in real firearms. And with that, I like to equate consistency with accuracy.
One word of warning is that you should ALWAYS be using high-quality BBs. Experiencing a jam in an AEG can come from low-quality BBs or having a dirty bore, and trying to shoot out a jam means you could end up stripping the piston or gears inside your gearbox. These are labor-intensive fixes that will cost you more money than if you had just taken care of your gun better and fed it good ammo. This potential for jams is increased significantly with the addition of a tight bore barrel. You can't skimp out on ammo if you're going for performance. Poor-quality BBs have inconsistencies and imperfections that damage your gun and reduce accuracy.
To wrap things up, use heavier BBs, and you can enhance your gun's accuracy by installing a better bucking and barrel combo. We have barely scratched the surface of the topic, but I hope I have provided you with a good knowledge base so you can make informed decisions on improving your accuracy. If you have any additional questions or have other topics you are interested in seeing us cover, be sure to follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram) or shoot us an e-mail at sales@foxairsoft.com and shoot us some feedback!
Next time, we'll revisit this topic by comparing a stock AEG and a tight-bore barrel upgraded one.
