SA-H03 Upgrades.

[Hottomale]

I've just recently purchased a Specna Arms SA-H03 as my first gun and was wondering if there was any upgrades that could help with the range? I was thinking of getting ZCI 6.02mm barrel but was unsure if that was a good purchase? 

If anyone can suggest any useful upgrades that would be great. Noob friendly advice please.

 

[Rogerborg]

Yup, ZCI or AOLS barrels offer decent value for money and will generally squeeze a little more energy out of it.  Maple Leaf macaron hop rubbers work well, either 50 or 60 degree.  You can use a Maple Leaf omega nub or the Gear Parts clones, some people love them, I'm not completely convinced.  The stock Specna Arms hop unit itself is decent, being essentially the highly rated ZCI unit.

While you have it apart, I'd put a squirt of silicone lube up the nozzle, swirl it around inside the cylinder, them give it an auto burst to blow the excess out.  Just to lube the o-rings in case they've dried up a bit.

Other than that, clean the barrel and hop rubber and you're good to go, you shouldn't need to touch the gearbox.

 

[Lozart]

What ammo are you using, what range are you actually getting and have you properly adjusted the hop?

 

[Rogerborg]

Well, that, really. 0.28g or above is the best investment in any 1J+ airsoft toy.

 

[Hottomale]

What ammo are you using, what range are you actually getting and have you properly adjusted the hop?

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Currently using 0.20 BB's but have just bought some 0.25 BB's. I've tried it out in my garden since which is about 15 meters long (Roughly) but the hop doesn't seem to be doing much when I change it in either direction. 

Yup, ZCI or AOLS barrels offer decent value for money and will generally squeeze a little more energy out of it.  Maple Leaf macaron hop rubbers work well, either 50 or 60 degree.  You can use a Maple Leaf omega nub or the Gear Parts clones, some people love them, I'm not completely convinced.  The stock Specna Arms hop unit itself is decent, being essentially the highly rated ZCI unit.

While you have it apart, I'd put a squirt of silicone lube up the nozzle, swirl it around inside the cylinder, them give it an auto burst to blow the excess out.  Just to lube the o-rings in case they've dried up a bit.

Other than that, clean the barrel and hop rubber and you're good to go, you shouldn't need to touch the gearbox.

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Thanks very much for the response! I'll look into all them things you have mentioned. Will they be easy enough to install by myself? 

Also do you recommend the 0.28 over the 0.25. 

 

[Rogerborg]

The first thing I'd recommend is playing with it.  Specnas are perfectly decent out of the box, and we're talking about a few metres more range, under ideal circumstances, and ignoring puffs of wind, blades of grass or random airsoft physics.  They shouldn't actually need anything doing to them.

The only thing I would really recommend for any new airsoft gun is cleaning the barrel and the hop rubber, as they tend to ship with a light coating of protective oil inside them.

0.25g is fine, I'd shoot through that and then go to 0.28g (or maybe even 0.30g or 0.32g) later.  And again, the difference is marginal.  Again, you're talking about a couple of extra metres, and at that range you're relying on your target being helpful enough to sit still and wait for the BB.

If you do swap out the barrel and rubber, it's a very simple process on an M4. The video below is as good as any, although your rotary hop is a bit different.  It's actually easier to get the nub out, you just push out the pin holding the tensioning arm in place, and it lifts right out.  It'll be obvious when you have a look.

The only thing to be careful about is losing the small parts, they like to leap into hyperspace.

 

[Lozart]

Currently using 0.20 BB's but have just bought some 0.25 BB's. I've tried it out in my garden since which is about 15 meters long (Roughly) but the hop doesn't seem to be doing much when I change it in either direction. 

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You need to try it out on a site where you can properly gauge the range. 15m will only really tell you if you're massively under hopping (BB goes about 10 feet then drops to the floor) or hugely over hopping (BB leaves the barrel and travels skywards, never to be seen again). Start with the hop off and gradually increase it until the BB starts to go further. It should gently rise before it drops off when you're at the right sort of setting but that will be WAY beyond 15m even with 0.2g BBs (unless you've picked up a lemon).

 

[Hottomale]

I've just taken the hop apart and put it all back together and now my FPS seems to be shooting 300 with minimum hop and with maximum hop it is shooting at 250, is this normal? Originally it was shooting at 309 with the hop down or up. 

My friend has the same gun and his is doing the same thing. 

 

[EDcase]

Its normal for the fps to go down slightly when increasing hop as its adding more friction to the BB.

300 does seem low though.

As Roger said, clean the barrel and hop gently with a little Isopropyl or other mild cleaner.

The hop and barrel should have NO oil in there.

Its not recommended to mess with internals on a new pew because it takes time for hop to bed-in and work effectively.

And even less recommended for a new player to start tinkering...

 

[Rogerborg]

Well, we are where we are.  Specnas come with an M90 spring[*]and I was seeing around 0.83J ("300fps") out of mine today with the M90 in it.  90m = 295 feet, so that's actually about what I'd expect.  Fine for CQB, not so great for woodland (only Tokyo Maruis go further with less energy  )

Hop should effect energy. If it was shooting at the same muzzle velocity with or without hop then it sounds like something was wrong there, and it's now actually applying hop - and you won't need much to lift 0.2g.  Although 0.58J (250fps) is pretty weak, I'd want more than that for outdoors.

Given the quick change system in the Specnas, and that the air seal could be better (reportedly and from experience) I'd be looking at looking at throwing an M100, 105 or even 110 spring in there.  Or sorting the air seal, but I couldn't get mine perfect with grease or new o-rings, and a spring is cheaper than changing any other part.

[*]As well as an M120 which isn't much use for the UK - too much for an AEG, likely not enough for a DMR.

 

[Hottomale]

Well, we are where we are.  Specnas come with an M90 spring[*]and I was seeing around 0.83J ("300fps") out of mine today with the M90 in it.  90m = 295 feet, so that's acutally about what I'd expect.  Fine for CQB, not so great for woodland (only Tokyo Maruis go further with less energy  )

Hop should effect energy. If it was shooting at the same muzzle velocity with or without hop then it sounds like something was wrong there, and it's now actually applying hop - and you won't need much to lift 0.2g.  Although 0.58J (250fps) is pretty weak, I'd want more than that for outdoors.

Given the quick change system in the Specnas, and that the air seal could be better (reportedly and from experience) I'd be looking at looking at throwing an M100, 105 or even 110 spring in there.  Or sorting the air seal, but I couldn't get mine perfect with grease or new o-rings, and a spring is cheaper than changing any other part.

[*]As well as an M120 which isn't much use for the UK - too much for an AEG, likely not enough for a DMR.

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I've actually just put an m105 spring in it  and now I'm averaging around 334 maximum hop and 369 with minimum hop. I'm going to an indoor site in a few weeks and that is a site limit of 340, is it allowed to lower the hop to shoot at below 340 or would that be classed as cheating the chronograph? 

 

[Rogerborg]

It would be a dick move, as you're not going to be playing with the hop full on: you'd be bouncing 0.2g off the ceiling.  And if you get caught hot in-game (unlikely, but decent sites do chrono in-game) I'd have zero sympathy for you being kicked out and banned from that site.

This isn't meant to be judgemental, I get that it's very frustrating that airsoft is such an inexact science.  And if you've only got one gun with you there's a strong incentive to take a... liberal... interpretation of chrono rules.  I've come a cropper at chrono with an unexpectedly hot gun: just barely, but barely is enough. But that's a great reason to always have a backup.

If you don't have an M100 handy, you could clip that M105 down.  Clip off the last coil or two (I do one at a time), heat the raw end in a gas flame (I've just barely managed it with a cigarette lighter on site) to get it glowing dull red, and flatten it down.  Give it a little run over with a file if you fancy getting it really flat.  Chrono, and repeat if necessary.

 

[EDcase]

I've actually just put an m105 spring in it  and now I'm averaging around 334 maximum hop and 369 with minimum hop. I'm going to an indoor site in a few weeks and that is a site limit of 340, is it allowed to lower the hop to shoot at below 340 or would that be classed as cheating the chronograph? 

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Yes, that's cheating the chrono and that kind of power isn't needed for an indoor site.  Lots of people actually use pistols instead.

Even doing the dick move using full hop to pass chrono they do vary in accuracy so being that close it still might fail.

Best to get an M100 or clip the one you have as Roger suggested.