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Introduction:
by: BattlePriest
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Just a few years ago, the decision on what Electric Rifle
brand to buy was relatively simple. There were two choices,
Tokyo Marui, and Classic Army. Tokyo Marui were the smart
buy, being the inventors, the stand by, the Hondas of AEGs.
Classic Army were the followers, but were metal and higher
powered, though required more knowledge of mechanics due to
their high performance nature.
Then in jumped ICS, a cheaper all metal alternative. Still..
The choice wasn't all the hard. Then AE comes around and gives
the ICS models an upgrade. OK now the choice is getting a
little harder. Though you still had to spend quite a bit to
get any of these brands. This fact alone kept many people
from ever stepping into the serious skirmish Airsoft world,
too much to spend.
Then came the LPEGs or Low Powered Electric Guns. They were
modeled after their advanced brethren the AEGs, but excessively
cheap (50 dollars), low powered and brittle. Good for playing
around the living room and not much more. Young kids jumped
at them when they came out, thinking YAY I can play with the
big boys! Only to be severely disappointed. This alone reinforced
the old standby rule, "You get what you pay for".
Then some of the LPEG makers changed their game plans, and
a few new makers joined the ranks with what have come to be
called the MPEGs (Mid Power Electric Guns). These were modeled
after, or "cloned" after the Tokyo Marui AEGs, but
with slightly cheaper materials, coming in at a nice less
than half way price of around 80 - 115 dollars from a US retailer.
Brands like UTG, WELL and BE are now making these MPEGs and
they are very affordable, and seem to be able to hold their
own in a skirmish with the big boys of Tokyo Marui, CA and
ICS. Only slightly less powerful, about the same rate of fire,
and relatively durable. They still have more of a lemon rate,
and aren't made with the longer lasting internal parts. But
as people have found out, it only takes a little work and
a few upgrade parts to get these things running on par with
STOCK TM AEGs. With a little extra time and money, they even
can take more drastic upgrades.
It seems that those with less loose cash lying around can
finally get into the skirmish world and not be at such a disadvantage.
They following articles were written by members of AirsoftForum.com
who have direct experience with what it takes to get these
MPEGs working the job and have direct AEG experience for correlation.
Enjoy. (On a side note, keep an eye out for an MPEG full upgrade
guide coming soon from another new Author to Airsoft Specialists)
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Article #1
by: NotAnotC
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The New Generation MPEG's (Mid-Power Electric Guns)
A non-biased review/article by NotAnotC
The Beginning of the MPEG world:
It all started when Leapers (UTG) released their UTG MP5
A4/A5 AEG. Many people, with a budget in mind, before had
not been able to keep up with other players because of the
higher cost of high-quality manufacturers such as Tokyo Marui
and Classic Army. UTG's MP5 was a 100% clone of the TM MP5.
It featured a full metal version 2 gearbox with metal gears,
interchangeable A4/A5 stocks, and a few other accessories.
Its stock velocity matched that of the TM MP5, and for less
than half of the price. After a much anticipated wait, the
gun was finally released in mid 2005. The first and second
version had some flaws, such as stripping gears, and other
parts breaking. Only a few months after its release, was the
Version 3 released, which had fixed just about all of the
previous flaws. The sudden idea of getting "more bang
for your buck" had the UTG MP5 selling like crazy. Shortly
after that, UTG took another step and released their UTG AK-47
War hawk. With as much anticipation as the MP5 had, people
were rather upset with this gun. There were MANY reports of
lemons, rust, terrible paintjobs, and poorly feeding magazines.
Some of those problems are now sorted out, but a few still
remain, and are not as common. After that, many more companies
such as CYMA, JG, BE, CSI, and Crossman became known in the
MPEG world by releasing many clones of their own, all with
the same idea in mind as UTG had.
Sometime in early 2006:
Around this time, I had started moving up from spring rifles
and cheap gas pistols to AEG's. Seeing as I did not yet have
a job at this time, my wallet and a Marui were not seeing
eye to eye. My friend had bought a UTG MP5, and I saw how
they shot with my own eyes. I bought it off of him, after
it was just about two months old. This was my first step to
getting to work with AEG's and gearboxes. I had no problems
with this gun for the first 7000-8000 shots, but then it stopped
shooting. I found out that simply one of the wire connectors
to the motor had slipped off, so I put it back on and was
good to go. I read articles about how UTG guns have a bad
compression system due to a poor O-ring on the piston. I replaced
that one, and was excited with the sudden 20-30 FPS boost
I got out of it. At the time, I was keeping up with my one
teammate that owns a TM Thompson, but he still had a slight
advantage over me with his gun. Seeing as how I seemed to
be getting "out-gunned", and how opening gearboxes
came easy for me, I started to wander how far the limits could
be pushed with these "clones". I bought a PDI 120%
spring and a Systema metal spring guide (the old one was breaking).
Running this set up, my MP5 was putting out around 320 fps
on full auto, with no problems at all. It lasted for a good
while, and kept up against the TM, until finally the gearbox
shell cracked after maybe 10,000 rounds after the upgrade.
Even with the gun broken, I was happy what I got out of it
for how cheap it was.
Late 2006:
All my friends were getting into the MPEGs, and I must say,
the newer guns including the Crossman Pulse R72 and CYMA .028
could actually hold their own against stock TM's. However,
as you all know, you get what you pay for, and few of these
guns started breaking down a few months into their ownership.
At the time, I was the only one on my "team" that
new what I was doing inside gearboxes. This, in turn, caused
me to be my teams "Airsoft mechanic". After some
of my friends saw what I did with my MP5, they were asking
me if I could help them out with their MPEG's. Some problems
I have found in the stock MPEGs are that pieces seemed to
always chip off of parts, and this would get lodged in the
gears, causing a lock-up. Taking apart my friends Pulse R72,
I was completely shocked to find that the gearbox shell was
full plastic. The power and range that the gun was putting
out, nearly equal to that of a TM, had all been coming from
a completely plastic gearbox. (The only metal part in the
gearbox is the bevel gear.) Still, after multiple pieces had
chipped from the shell, I managed to get it up and running,
after about 25 times (not even kidding) of disassembling the
gun and the gearbox to find out what was wrong, along with
replacing some parts, including gears and a piston. The UTG
AK47 War hawk broke down also, and the problem lied in the
trigger contacts, which somehow bent and were not connecting
anymore. This was a simple fix, and was also my first time
into a Version 3 mechbox. I did some upgrade work on another
Pulse R72, and installed a Systema M100 spring with a new
gear set. It has lasted a while, (with a few minor problems
requiring a gearbox disassembly and re-shim/re-lube job),
and is still shooting this day. (About 3 months since the
upgrade).
Present Day
MPEG’s are not the only guns that I have worked on.
I also did some upgrade work on my friends TM Thompson, getting
it to the 400 fps range. I also just recently received and
upgraded my first high-end AEG, a Classic Army M15A4 rifle.
All this time, I noticed that the MPEG’s can indeed take
upgrades, but not nearly as well as TM or a CA. I have seen
it first hand, that I put SO much more time into working on
the MPEG’s to keep them shooting at the higher level,
than what it takes to get a higher quality gun to get to a
level that MPEG’s can not reach. You can put less than
50 dollars into a TM, and less than 20 into a CA to get it
to shoot 400 fps and not crap out for at least a year, while
within that time you would have put so much more money and
work into your MPEG that it just would not have been worth
it. All the MPEG’s I have dealt with have solid, nice
feeling bodies, but the truth is, when compared to a higher
priced gun, there is an obvious winner. I believe that a stock/lightly
upgraded MPEG can INDEED stand its own against higher quality,
higher priced guns, but the simple fact is that the cheaper
guns will now out-last the TM’s, CA’s, and other
higher priced guns. Stock MPEG’s, however, can last quite
a good while themselves, but with the quality control of some
of the companies, you should be careful because you may end
up getting a long lasting gun, or one that dies out the first
week. I have personally not seen any gun break within the
first few months, (unless upgraded), but there are all those
stories out there on the forums about people’s whose
gun has broken quick. I believe MPEG’s are perfect for
people who honestly can’t afford a higher priced gun,
and also for people who are new to the sport and want to try
it before making any drastic down payment. Thank you for taking
the time to read this, and I hope it helped some of you guys
understand that the new generation MPEG’s are improving
a lot, but I feel they still aren’t up to par with your
high-end AEG’s.
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