How You Can Properly Lube and Perform Maintenance on Your Airsoft Gun After Cleaning (a do it yourself guide)

This page will be dealing with airsoft maintenance. Being as there are 3 types of airsoft guns, each unique in both design and maintenance; I will split the this into 3 sections dealing with each group individually. I will give you the method for barrel cleaning, a method of cleaning magazines and magwells, some general information about each type of gun, go into a basic discussion of what propels the B-B (being as that the method of firing is what distinguishes one group from another), and give an overall idea of what each type of gun is generally used for. So without further ado;

 

The 3 Types of Airsoft Guns and Their Maintenance

Cleaning magazines and magwells

Take your clip out and run a cotton swab with silicon oil on it over the BB track (where you see the BB in the mag). You can also use a cotton swab to clean other parts in guns that are broken down such as A.E.G's and GBB's. Use a dry swab after to pick up any excess lube, and be sure not to leave any pieces of cotton behind.
A quick spray of lube on the inlet valve (where you put gas in),the rear valve (circle on back of clip), and the lip (where B-B/gas comes out on top)
Also it should be noted that it is wise to gas up a gas mag very slightly before storing. This helps to seat the O rings, which in turn greatly extends the clip life.
Another good tip is to clean the mags first so as to be sure that your gun is unloaded before cleaning the it.

Barrel cleaning

All airsoft guns, no matter the type, can benefit from regular barrel cleaning. No matter how careful you are with your gun dust, dirt, and other debris gets in the barrel.
This causes lowered FPS (because the B-B's have to plow through the debris instead smoothly firing out of the barrel), and lack of accuracy (for the same reasons).
If you bought your gun new it should have came with an un-jamming/cleaning rod, if you bought yours used you may need to buy one. It is just a long, usually plastic, stick with a eye at the end like a large sewing needle.
First, before beginning make sure to turn your hop up all the way down, then take a small piece of soft cloth (or paper towel) and thread it through the eye of the cleaning rod much like this:

For the first run very lightly spray the paper towel with silicon lube, then insert into barrel. make sure that as you put it in, and pull it out, you twist the rod to thoroughly clean the whole inner barrel.
After the lube run, re-thread the cleaning rod with a dry piece, and repeat the process to remove any excess lube from the barrel. This step is extremely important, as excessive lube will attract excessive dirt.
It is advisable to clean your barrel after every use.
Spring Guns

I'll start with the most simple design first. The spring gun (aka springer) is powered by a spring housed inside the gun (hence the name), that must be manually cocked after each shot.
The spring gun is most likely the least used gun in airsoft; in fact the only people I have spoke to who used a spring pistol consistently are those who keep them around for winter time when gas pistols lose performance.
There are quite a few drawbacks to the spring design that leave them designated as beginners guns. The first is the most obvious; when you have to manually cock the weapon every time, you are forced to pull the gun off target, then bring it back up to bear and line up your sights all over again.
If practiced this motion can become quite fluid, but the difference R.O.F (rate of fire) between it and gas pistols is startling enough to shy away even those brave enough to go pistols only.
The next problem with springers is that they are generally cheap, shoddily made, and are the least realistic of all airsoft guns. The latter of which pretty much makes then strictly taboo to Mil Sim (military simulation) types.
There are two exceptions to the spring gun world, two types of weapons who's real steel counterparts make them an ideal candidate for a spring setup; sniper rifles and shotguns.
There are many shotguns to be had out there (the upper end of shotguns being gas powered), and some of them even fire multiple shots at one time making for a semi realistic spread pattern. They are ideal for spring guns because of the cock then fire action of the real steel.
Sniper rifles are often mostly single shot bolt actions in real life; factor in that you have plenty of room in a rifle to put in some pretty massive springs, and its not hard to see why most of the upper end sniper rifles on the market are spring powered.

MAINTENANCE

The simple nature of these guns makes them simple to maintain, with no real need for disassembly. I feel it is worth saying though, that many people I have talked to admit to using a spring pistol as a disposable sidearm due to their cheap construction and price tags.
Using a silicon lube (the same for all types of guns) spray any moving parts, i.e. the slide, and trigger, spray any metal part, and also where the the clip enters the gun.
Shotguns and sniper rifles are the same thing (I am unsure about breaking them down, so I will not advise that here), hit any metal, and most importantly any moving parts with a quick spray (too much lube attracts dirt) of silicon lube.

 Gas Guns
Gas guns are, in my opinion the most realistic (realistic=fun) airsoft guns on the market today. Some higher end collectors handguns even have ejecting shells that are loaded into the clip in exactly the same way as the real steel.
Most gas guns are pistols, but there are also plenty gas run SMG's (sub machine guns),shotguns,sniper rifle,grenades, grenades, grenade launchers...........it suffices to say that gas is a staple propellant for airsoft guns.
For the purposes of this article I will focus on the two types of gas pistols, if for no other reason than my general lack of knowledge about any other gas propelled weapons.
The first type of gas pistol is the NBB (non blowback) in which the slide stays stationary. This type is generally more gas efficient as there is no gas being wasted pushing the heavy metal slide back, but it lacks the realism of GBB's (gas blowback).
One thing to note about NBB's is that some models may tend to shoot at too high a level of FPS (feet per second) for some fields, it is a good idea to keep this in mind when shopping for a NBB.
The second type of gas pistol is the GBB. GBB's tend to use gas faster; due to a usually metal slide that must be pushed back after each shot, but it's worth it for the added realism in my opinion.
A good quality full metal gas pistol will feel and look almost identical to the real steel, and the blowback offers a kick and slide movement that is beautiful to behold (can you tell I like GBB's). There are 4 main gases that are used to power gas guns and most quality guns can use any of these interchangeably, except co2. Co2 pistols usually use special clips to hold the co2 cylinders that we all know from BB guns.
The 4 main gases are 1.green gas (basically propane with silicon oil added) 2. Red gas (harder hitting version of previous) 3. Propane and 4. co2.


Maintenance

 NBB-  NBB's are even easier than spring guns, being as that there are no external moving parts. Maintaining a NBB is as easy as lubing the mag and magwell, and barrel cleaning.

GBB- These are a bit more complicated, as you have to take the slide to properly lube the whole firearm. Lube is absolutely necessary as most mid to high price GBB's are full metal, which means a lot of metal on metal movement.
Most GBB's have a slide release that is centered around the slide lock. For instance most GBB's designed after the 1911 break down  by locking the slide all the way back, pushing out the slide lock pin, then pulling the slide forward. If your not sure then Google the gun type you have and you should be able to find specifics.
The next step is to take out the barrel. If you look into the bottom of the slide , you will see a spring. Pull the spring back away from the barrel's front and tip back to allow a black tube (called a buffer tube I believe) to come out, then just take the now free barrel out and set it aside.
Now with the slide off and the barrel assembly free, lightly spray both the slide and gun body where they meet. This is where most of the friction takes place on a GBB, so do not forget to lube here, and pay attention to wear patterns on the metal, they mean friction spots are there.
Clean the barrel while it's off, then re-assemble the barrel, and put the slide back into place.

 A.E.G.'s

A.E.G's (automatic electric guns) make up the biggest share of the airsoft market, and they come in every grade from "cheap Chinese crap" to "way more than I'd ever thought I'd consider paying on, what is essentially, a toy".
I have seen electric models of every type of gun except a shottie, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone made them too. With that being said A.E.P's (automatic electric pistols) should mostly be avoided like the plague. They have only limited mag capacities (it is just a pistol) which results in fast drained clips in full auto. Also if its a blowback A.E.P, the limited accuracy it had in semi auto will disappear completely in full auto.
Another problem is the FPS is usually waaaaaay low. I mean low enough that your target could do a Texas two step through the middle of your line of fire, only to come out untouched on the other side; where he would then have plenty of time to pwn you while you reload the clip you just wasted.

Maintenance Here is a quick picture of an M4 breakdown to give you a reference for what I will be explaining next. The silver and brass piece shown here are what is referred to as the mech box, or gear box.
Most guns have a pin somewhere on the body that must be released to open the body up. As I said earlier, a quick Google of your gun + disassembly should yield plenty of videos and articles.
With the body disassembled you can locate the the mech box at the back, and then begin to take a look at your mech box . Every gun is different, so you will have to either poke around till you find all the points connecting the mech box to the gun, or do another Google search (Google is your friend). As an aside; if you still haven't found the contact points, send me a message with the make, model, and all other applicable information on your gun, and I will consult some of my tech associates. I cant guarantee I can back to you fast, or that I can even get the information, but I will try everything in my power to get you the information.
The last step before lube on most guns will be to remove the pistol grip. This may even reveal a hidden contact point or two. After your mechbox is free to be removed you should be looking at something like this (please note that the picture is of a mech box with the front plate removed to view the internals, there will be a small multitude of screw around the perimeter of the box that must be removed to get to this point):  

 Before actually removing the top plate, you will want to insert a smaller screwdriver in the hole on the back of box (behind trigger) to compress the spring that you see through the cut out in the side. Always remember to compress the spring and go slow and careful when opening the mech box, lest part fly back out at you with great speed (and as anyone who as ever worked on something with small airborne parts can tell you, once they hit the ground they tend to disappear quickly).
After you have the plate removed, then you can slowly, and carefully release the tension on the main spring and remove all pieces to the front of it, including a small spring that holds the cylinder assembly to the box (see the brass tube in the in both illustrations, but the spring can only be seen in the 2nd).
Now that you have clear access to the gears, can begin to remove the gears, making sure to keep any shims with the gears they belong to (slip them on the bushings on the back of the gear).
After the gears are out you should take a clean, dry rag and clean out the insides of both the front and back plate to remove the old grease. If you don't it will somewhat akin to painting over  a houses old paint; which is to say at some point your gonna have a huge mess. Also while cleaning the inside of the plates, make sure you haven't brought in dust, hair or other debris with your wiping.
Now you can begin to lube the whole thing using white lithium grease (only used for the gears). First begin with a small dab on your fingers and lightly rub it around the inside of the plate, but only where metal on metal contact is made for less mess, paying close attention to the track where the cylinder sits (the key word is lightly, remember excess grease attracts dirt and debris). Also take take the cylinder tube and rub it back and forth in it's track to make sure everything moves smooth, and also to lube the outside of the cylinder tube.
Next you will lightly grease your gears. The 1st set of gears, called "Spur" gears, only need a greasing on the bottom and on the teeth of each one. Lubing the teeth will help spread the lube throughout the whole gear setup.
The last gear of the three is called the "Bevel" gear; this one should be lightly lubed on both sides to ensure free movement against not only the spur gear but also the top plate that will go over it.
Also it is wise to lube up the bushings (the posts on the back of the gears that go through the mechbox, and support the gears on the inside), as they come in contact with the metal of the mech box itself.
Next you will take the cylinder tube and take the head off. After taking the head from the tube, you will next lube the rubber o-ring on the cylinder head and then the inside of the tube itself.
After that, put the cylinder and cylinder head back together and clear the old grease off the top of the the cylinder head with a cotton swab. Reverse the swab (or get a fresh one) and swab replace the grease with new fresh stuff.
It is also wise to take a swab and and run it through the air nozzle to clear any debris that might have made it's way into there, as this could lead to debris making its way further into the gun.
The last step is to simply reverse what you just did, being careful to make sure that you get everything back in the exact same way it came out, and your done.

Clean the barrel while the gun is till apart so as to make the process easier, test fire, then reassemble.

General Maintenance Tips
These are just some basic rules that are important to know, but yet some might not know right off the jump:

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• DON'T dry fire your weapon needlessly, it lowers the life of your gun, and causes abnormal part breakage.
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• ALWAYS make sure to decompress your A.E.G's spring by firing semi auto a few times before storage.
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• NEVER re-use B-B's, they could have dirt, dust, debris, or imperfections that could royally mess up your internals.
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• ONLY use high quality, high polish, seamless B-B's if you value your weapon.
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• ALWAYS start your game with a fresh battery charge, a low battery cause a low cycle rate and possible damage.
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• NEVER forget to swab your gun to clean the dirt and dust before lubing
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• ALWAYS remember to wipe down your whole gun if you've been playing in the rain, to prevent rusting.
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