Upgrading my friend's Kraken
 

So my friend's birthday is coming up soon, and despite council from me he decided to get a kraken about a month ago. Seeing as we are both underage, and him and I both have a limited number of friends that we can play with, I would like him to have a durable gun.

So I agreed that for his birthday I would provide and install some parts for it to make it not necessarily more powerful, but more durable. My budget it 70$ (dinky, I know) but it's all I got. So far I've thought of these, but I was wanting input from the experts before I went and wasted my money on useless and/or parts that are already in the gun.

-MadBull Polycarbonate piston, $20
-Deep Fire Bearing spring guide, $20

(Plus $11 S&H)

Now I have also considered metal bushings and a new air nozzle, but I wasn't sure if it came stock with metal bushings and on the necessity of either, keeping in mind i'm not trying to make it more powerful. Also If there are any other quick fix issues with the craken I should know about (too much grease in the gearbox, reshimming) that would be great. So any suggestions?

P.S. I'm ordering from Airsoftparts

Reshimming it probably wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm not sure how good the stock tappet plates are either.

buy a FTK ( full tune-up kit) and some white lithium grease....

get new METAL bearings and like said before, a new shim job.

But really, what do you want to get out of this upgrade? FPS, grouping, ROF, Durability?

heres a good FTK. Reasonable price too. You will probably sav like 50 bucks or more by buying the full package as to single parts at different times.http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/other-aeg...-for-ak47.html

http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/in...oducts_id=1062

This will be your best bet, and easiest to install for un-experienced people.

@Amos: What does the $180 package have over the $85 one? From what I see sans gear box, the $85 package is almost exactly the same. I want to get my AK to about 450 fps, as my gun currently fires at 390. I will probably degrease, regrease, rewire and put in a new battery, bushings, reshim, etc what you mentioned in your forum post etc. I don't plan on going full wood + metal just yet if I know for the effort, the TM AK47 is better base than upgrading this weapon.

Why do you want 450? That's way above any field limits for automatic AEG's in Canada.

The $180 one is pre-shimmed... so you can't fuck up the shimming... I generally choose modify parts over guarder, in my experiences Modify is made much better (And more recently too... some guarder kits have been on shelves for over 5 years)

Shimming is one of the most important parts.. If you screw that up, you can kiss your gears goodbye.

Not to mention the 85 dollar one is in HK, and in US dollars.. So it's 110 + shipping... So you're really only looking at a 20-40 price difference.

Sorry, but then what is the limit? And I know this question might sound redundant, lazy or just weird, but what would this upgrade give me and why should I do it? (Guess this will also help others taking the plunge)

most outdoor games, 420 is max for rifleman, and around 350-380 for indoor CQB. Every region has different limits.

Ontario its 400 for aeg's outdoor and 350 for indoor, both with .20's

Even then the "sweet spot" for performance is 360-380.

We've said this before: 400 fps is a limit, not a goal.

The spring that comes with the modify full tune kit should put you right in the sweet spot.

But.. People generally don't like new players to be running around with 380 FPS guns until they learn trigger control.

It also makes you more reliant on your gun instead of your own movement and skills.

Edit: Oh you're in Winnipeg, We'll set up an age-verification meeting and I'll teach you everything you need to know.

Sign up here: www.mb-airsoft.com

That'll give you an understanding on the rules for the manitoba scene.

If you don't even know why you're upgrading, WHY are you upgrading?

Try it out first. Run it till it breaks, THEN replace parts. A noob shouldn't be upgrading his gun anyway.

For all reading, I am looking at this. Why do I need to upgrade (or not) - with explanations! - Airsoft Canada

I would not say I'm a noob at airsoft, but when it comes to upgrading, I never have. I basically would love a greater rate of fire, durability, but it all comes in baby steps. :)