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Comprehensive Ares AW .338 spring version (MSR-006/7/8) review.

Created an account on this website just to say how thankful I am to see an excellent review of this (have been looking everywhere over the past days), as well as how eager I am to learn what parts can be used to upgrade it. I recently purchased this gun myself (should be getting it this Tuesday) because I loved the externals and wanted something unique that most people wouldn't want to fool with. I look forward to seeing what happens in the future, and thanks again for what you've posted so far Ed, it's been very helpful!

Valdorian

 
Cheers Valdorian, there ought to be some updates on this thread within a month or so, just need to fix my L85, buy an L86 to pay back my brother and then get around to buying the upgrades!

It's student loan day in about a fortnight, and pay day in around a week, so it's all highly feasible. :P

Oh and Marcus, I didn't see this post until just now:

M_P said:
This also may be of interest- realistic colour too.

http://www.x-fire.org/ares/aw338/e.raven_full.html
Click to expand...
I've looked into it but it's for 1J springs only... even though the stock spring is 1.5J so I'm not sure who exactly is going to want it... Especially when it's $135.

But yeah, I do want a black cylinder. I wonder who ever thought silver ones were a good idea...

 
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Great review. I bought this gun a few months ago and share your frustration on the lack of upgrades available for it...and that bloody cocking indicator removal set up. Took me hours of sitting there staring at the back of the bolt before I just twisted it off and went WTF!!!!

I have purchased the Raven PDI cylinder set for it. Its really really nice. The guys at PDI did confirm that VSR pistons will work with the gun in their Raven set. I will say though that if you want o run it hotter than 400 fps be ready o replace even the raven piston. It's plastic and cannot take holding a 500fps spring back. Just food for thought.

PDI also informed me that they were/are/might/would be releasing a new trigger group for the ares. Let's hope so.

Look forward to sharing/exchanging/reading about what you find out about parts compatibility.

Cheers

 
As far as I know, it takes VSR pistons, springs, spring guides, cylinder heads and sears. I'm currently buying all those parts second hand for about £45 to keep the costs down, in case any of them don't fit... So I'll update this once I've received the parts and tested them.

The trigger mech is the same as the one used in the HFC VSR10, meaning as you say, there are no Zerotriggers or trigger box upgrades as of yet, but upgrading the sears ought to be possible. The barrel from what I've seen is an L96 cut, the hop rubber is a VSR type, as is the hop arm, though I imagine the unit itself is proprietary, I've never had a spring sniper prior to this one, so I don't know if the hop unit as a whole is from a VSR or not.

I just hope they either bring out a better feeding mech uprade kit, or at least sell the current ones are a purchasable spare part, 'cos mine's shit and is basically rendering the gun unusable.

As for the Raven PDI piston though, it does say on their website that it's only intended for 1J springs. I can't understand why anyone would want one, maybe aside from getting a black cylinder... Price is silly high just for that though.

Where'd you buy it from? I've not actually found one anywhere.

 
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I'm not sure where Fiddich got his from, but I know you can get them from http://www.airsoftatlanta.com.

I've personally bought here multiple times with no problems, but as you said, not sure why you'd want another plastic cylinder.

 
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Yeah I thought there'd be some places that sold it overseas.

I'm not really prepared to import from the US, the customs fees are ludicrous.

 
I got mine right from PDI. Their website is www.x-fire.org Up in the right corner is a link for the English version of their site. The palsonite cylinder is really nice. Much better than the silver one the gun comes with.

I still would like to get a suppressor on the end of the barrel. Not sure if anyone has tried anything to make something work....????

Also, I haven't had any issues with my feed mechanism. Haven't gamed it yet thanks to our wintery weather, but the target shots have fed flawlessly.

 
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Finally received mine in the mail, interestingly, it has a couple of things I was not expecting. First, it came with an extra spring....an M120 to be exact. Not sure why, did yours come with this Ed? Also, do you know what the stock spring is? Second, mine came with a different tip rather than the awesome muzzle break yours has. I'd like someone to take a look at these pics and tell me if this tip looks removable...it should be cause there are no threads on the orange part that I can see, and I can't see past that to the actual barrel to see if it's threaded.

DSC07368_zps17c7de71.jpg


DSC07367_zps88adcc8a.jpg


After testing, I have to agree how pathetic this gun is. Won't fire unless I basically point it straight down. Have half a mind to call and get my money back...

 
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Probably a stupid question, but have you tried twisting it?

 
M_P said:
Probably a stupid question, but have you tried twisting it?
Click to expand...
Lol no worries, and yes I have, albeit not very hard. I'm always afraid of breaking something when I first get a new gun :D .

 
The awesome muzzle break on mine does screw off, and it has a thread on the muzzle break itself too, so you probably just need to twist it a little harder and hope for the best. Kinda lame it doesn't come with it though =[ I think it's one of the best features of the gun lol.

Mine only came with 1 spring, but it came shooting at 400fps on the dot, which sounds pretty M120ish to me.

 
Thing is, from other pictures I've seen of this gun, it looks like the muzzle break is supposed to go ON TOP of the orange tip of my gun....which doesn't add up since there are no threads there...

 
I find you have to fill the mag up entirely to get good feeding.

 
Valdorian said:
Thing is, from other pictures I've seen of this gun, it looks like the muzzle break is supposed to go ON TOP of the orange tip of my gun....which doesn't add up since there are no threads there...
Click to expand...
It would go on top yeah... I'll have to get a photo up of mine with the muzzle break off, see if that helps anything.

It looks metal, is it? Have you tried just straight up pulling on it? Maybe it's just slid on over the threads? If your's is feeding like a POS out of the box then I would send it back. I had some mag fitment issues with mine, and slapping them in broke a part of the feeding mech, which is when it started being shit, but since I'd broken it, I couldn't return it...

That said, I've DIY'd the piece that broke and it's still not feeding right.

Fiddich said:
I find you have to fill the mag up entirely to get good feeding.
Click to expand...
Tried that, thing with doing that as well, is that the more BBs there are in the mag, the more careful you have to be about accidentally touching the release button, 'cos if you do you'll lose even more BBs than if you'd under-filled it.

I plan to experiment with metal washers and unscrewing all the screws a bit, see if I can adjust the sitting height of the mag in relation to the feed tube.

Not going to bother until I've got some upgrades though. Just bought a full upgrade set for £50 second hand, so fingers crossed I see an improvement or I'm going to be insanely depressed.

 
Something you might want to try is changing the spring in the hop-up unit feed blocker thingamajiggy.

So...hyper unique upgrade.....Viperskins for the AI chassis. I'm not sure about fitment but god damn its almost worth a try at the very least. Ares says it's 1:1 with the real steel..or almost...so I'm a little concerned about buying something that just might not work at all. Anyone here heard of someone trying one of these?

16.png


 
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I bought the gun for its aesthetics out of the box, I personally think that body kit looks utterly hideous.

In that picture it's also a Remington 700 that's sat in the stock, not an L96 derivative, so I'd be doubtful of it fitting. Especially the mags.

Good call on the hop unit blocker spring thingy though, that might be up for modification. Clipping it a bit might sort my issue out.

 
The rifle in that picture's stock is and updated AICS by The looks of things, which as Ed said isn't for the l96/aw.338

 
Hi all, created an account so I can join in this topic. Had my gun now for about 2 months bought the ares upgrade kit. Played 2 games all be it with a 170 spring. Sear broke 2nd game in. Hoped they would have lasted a bit longer. Any idea if vsr sears fit in this gun? Oh and as yet had no probs with the mag.

Cheers chris

 
Post an image of them we'lllet you know.

 
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