Army Kimber R28 1911 Future Upgrade list options
 

okay guys, now that I got the gun time to list some upgrades (potentially) that I can use. It's mostly Tokyo Marui compatible, so I know I can get SOME stuff working in there, but I had a few thoughts before I go too far, and was hoping for some feedback:

1: If need be, can I simply swap the slide entirely for a metal TM 1911 slide? or a clone that has good internals? That was instead of swapping individual parts the whole slide which contains all the important parts gets upgraded. I'm going to be using Tokyo Marui magazines, so I want to stay Tm compatible as much as possible. In my review, it was mentioned that the blow back unit is proprietary, and gets damaged extremely quickly. One of the reasons I thought of just swapping the whole slide entirely for a better one. If not then what can be done about this? I don't want damaged parts inside the gun in case it causes further damage and failure. Swapping the slide would also be nice if I could get one that had threads for either a silencer or the ability to mount a compensator (not sure which I'd go with yet just thought about it last night)

2: If not, I read on another post about the R27 that the owner put a PDI winter piston head. It's about $12 bucks US so it's not BAD, but if I'm going to be swapping internals I kind of want to use stuff that is good quality and will make it better.

Anything you guys can suggest would be great

Use it until it breaks, then worry about fixing it. For all you know, the few proprietary parts might not break. If the proprietary parts do break, only then should you think about investing in another slide or modifying the original slide to fit standard parts.

might be time for you to talk to a gun doc.

I wouldn't outright recommend the PDI head I used, because it was literally what I had lying around. the nine ball dyna head is much more popular.

slides will be hit and miss because the whole thing is so off spec. just run it till something fails.

From my experiences upgrading off-spec guns (KJW, Army, WE) is that you should not hold up hopes of things working like they should. Remember, these parts were designed for a TM pistol, to their tolerances and measurements, and a lot of these offshoots/redesigns simply don't hold up. Each seem to have their differences in one way or another.

So as said above, use it 'til it breaks, and hope to hell the parts you're putting in to fix it will work.

Honestly, if you're going to be upgrading a gun like this, you might as well just sell it and buy a Tokyo Marui. The performance increase with that simple "upgrade" will be DRAMATIC.

Otherwise, just use this gun till parts start breaking, and replace them as they break as mentioned above.

For what it's worth, I'd recently heavily upgraded an Army Kimber Warrior for someone. It wasn't cheap, but a huge host of parts were internally upgraded and it actually shoots really nice now. The gas consumption is still relatively high compared to a Marui, but at least the groupings were tightened up a great deal, the trigger response increased, lightened and shortened trigger pull, reinforced hammer/sear/strut/knocker for better trigger feel and faster lock up times, and the range increased dramatically (new inner barrel, hop up rubber & chamber.) And as I'd mentioned in your other thread, the wobble was reduced throughout the gun.

I still relate the process of upgrading low end guns like this to souping up a Toyota Corolla... but to each, his own. Some people have a serious sentimental attachment to a particular gun.

Here's a new one: Upgrading a craptastic gun is like making an ugly girl look better by upgrading her with a few pints of beer...

Well first thing is those magazines. If the gun breaks to the point where it's not worth it I'll switch to another 1911 that can take the same magazines. Guess first step is to see how it works as is lol I'll place that order very soon ILLusion

Post of the year.

the R28 isn't that bad is it?...

not if you plan to use it like a $500 car. make a conscious effort to spend as little money as possible and run the thing into the ground.

dude, chill. it'll be great. abuse the crap out of it, and save up for a custom built piece of art to baby around and leave on your wall.

already thinking of trying to get a Tokyo Marui MEU or something... but holy SHIT Milsig 500 bucks for a gun thats worth like 300 anywhere else?... over priced much? christ their 40rnd long tm mags are almost 100 bucks ILLusion sells them for almost half that...

Get A/V'd and maybe you'll find better prices for TM guns.

Been trying since I first made an account. Will be sending out a third request to the last two AV's near me again....

Might consider just doing a custom 1911 Tm build im not sure but I'll use the R28 for now, but I wan't something that's gunna last me a few years was hoping I could just swap better parts into it seeing as it was TM compatible.

You can get a TM 1911 for 280$ from a great retailer in the age verified section.

Also, the only part worth upgrading on this gun right now is the hop-up rubber. Get a Firefly soft, A+ Reaps or PDI W hop and you will get a HUGE increase in accuracy and range. Upgrading the barrel might be an option if after the hop up rubber upgrade you still have crap accuracy, but generally, a new barrel doesn't give you much bang for your money compared to other possible upgrade parts, unless the gun had a really bad or defective barrel to start with. If the number of BBs you can shoot per mag fill is low, say, under 15 for a full metal 1911, you might want to change the piston head.

But if it works well out of the box, all you need really is a hop-up rubber upgrade.

I was planning to swap the hop up rubber initially. Reason i thought about swapping the whole slide was for tm parts lol but first off I need to test the gun and see how it performs initially and go from there.

EDIT: stupid question, does it matter if the rubber is meant for an aeg or can it be used in a pistol anyway? This is what I'm lookin at: http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/pdi-w-hol...marui-aeg.html

:D
http://memimage.cardomain.com/ride_i...0001_large.jpg

Ya pretty accurate lol. I agree. Reaver, run that limber into the ground! Or pick up a beast up kjw and do a body swap if you want those sweet limber trades.

You need a VSR/GBB pistol rubber such as: http://www.x-fire.org/vsr10/e.vsr_w_hold.html

Just thinking (happens sometimes) about a way to get around having to use the proprietary blow back housing. This may be an option that would allow the use of a screw to secure a different blow back unit.
Rear sight might may need to be swapped depending on the blow back housing .
http://www.airsoftglobal.com/shop/bm...ge.400x300.jpg
http://www.airsoftglobal.com/shop/in...ducts_id=16509
If it works out I'll post some photos....

wroug thread (edited)

Honestly, a lot of users don't use their sidearms 90% of the time. They've invested more money in to their primaries, and would rather run those, rather than turn to their relatively cheaper sidearm. As a result, it sits in their holster most of the time, and whether you get a crazy custom built one or a cheap Chinese clone, really doesn't matter to much. It's just in your holster as a weight, or in that ultra critical moment where you're out of ammo on your primary and need to transition to your secondary... which may or may not function when you need it the most. (Getting good quality GBB mags tends to help with that issue... LOL).

For some, having a really nice custom built pistol is... indescribable. Because so much of it can easily be changed out to other components, it's easy to customize a pistol to be *YOURS*, that nobody can duplicate, and that's why the huge attraction to custom built pistols.

So... whether the R28 is "bad" or not, is really subjective and dependent on what your intended use with it is. I personally wouldn't be using it to shoot competitively, but if you're just knocking over some cans in your basement, or just as a holster filler, then it really doesn't matter too much. After all, what good is a pistol that just sits on your shelf most of the time?

I would say to just shoot it first... see how it performs to your liking. And upgrade wherever you find it deficient. In general, I've found the Army hop up rubbers to be crap, so Drakker's suggestion to upgrade it is a sound decision.

I have a lot of really good options in stock right now. Contact me by PM. After messing with a few setups, the A+ Bucking with A+ Strike Chamber, ILLusion Kinetics Steel Hop Up Adjustment Arm and Hop Up Dial. That combo makes for an extremely solid and vibration resistent setup that gives really good air seal, range, and tight groupings.

I plan to use the R28 as a plinking pistol and a "holster filler". I was wondering if there is any parts that tend to break fast under reasonable usage? (like the loading nozzle of the WE G18)

If that is the case, is there any on those "consumable" parts proprietary or off-spec? (Also like the loading nozzle of the WE G18)

Is there a way to extent the life of those proprietary or hard to find parts (i.e. by replacing or modding some other parts, like the spring guide mod of the WE G18)

Is it worth doing that? (definitely yes in the case of the WE G18, but what about this case...?) or should I just wait till it break and replace the broken parts instead?

They're so unreliable, that quite honestly, anything could break at any time. There is no consistent pattern. If anything, the frame and the slide would be the most durable of the entire gun. I would just run it and replace as parts break. If you want to play the game of upgrading everything to make it more durable, then you might as well do a full overhaul like I've done for other customers. It won't be cheap, and the cost is probably twice what you paid for that gun alone. If durability is your main concern, it would honestly be cheaper to just sell this gun and to buy a Tokyo Marui.

Thanks! I am not really worried about the durability, I just want to make sure I don't break a gun (that could have been saved) from ignorance or lack of proper work...

Well I did get that hammer protection pad.
http://www.airsoftglobal.com/shop/bm...ge.400x300.jpg
.....and I did have an old TM Hi-Capa bbu lying around, so I went about seeing if a different bbu could be installed on my Corolla.
To get the pad to seat on the slide, I had to drill out a little of the opening at the rear of the slide. Not all the way, just enough to get the pad seated flush.(the dents around the hole were previously caused by the hammer striking the rear of the slide)
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2aec67e9.jpg
Shown installed below
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...ps250e30da.jpg
I had to slightly file the top of the TM bbu & make a notch for the rear sight. I also drilled a small hole so the rear sight could still be secured with its top screw.
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6f56f190.jpg
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...ps16e72d9c.jpg
http://i1071.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4d37e815.jpg
The bottom of the bbu also needed some minor filing and sanding to get the slide to cycle without binding on the lower frame rails .

So can a different bbu be installed? Yes, but it requires a fair amount of work to get it working. Is it worth it? That depends on you.....for me it was just to see if it could be done.
(hmmm, maybe needs more cardboard spoilers:D)

^ That's actually quite interesting to know. So even though it is proprietary it IS possible to fit a better BBU into the R28.... Mind telling me what you used to make it fit? Was it just a hand drill or did you use a milling machine? And performance wise, how has it affected it?

you had to cut that notch, square bit, out of the housing to fit the sight because you essentially fit an MEU sight to a standard 1911a1 blowback housing. Of all the cross compatible parts of a MEU and 1911, the only thing that doesnt work is an MEU sight on a 1911 blowback housing

however, the MEU housing will work with the 1911 sights -- it is strange that they dont use the one design for both pistols but hey, it is how it is.

I don't have access to a milling machine, it was done by hand & eye. I used needle files, a drill bit held by hand for the rear slide hole, and my dremel with a tiny engraving bit to start the notch in the bbu.
I've only fired a handful of rounds through it so far since this was done, so I can't for certain state any vast improvement performance wise, except the bbu doesn't get loose and wobble around like the original one did.

Yup, it's what I had on hand. (I didn't want to destroy a nice new bbu for this experiment .)

So basically, in theory, almost any BBU could fit, but would need modifications. However, I'm also going to be buying a new metal slide (hoping it fits good enough on the R28 lower... Anyone have a Surgeon Shuey Custom slide to test? :P

While this would function, you risk crushing the nozzle return spring if you do this, which would eventually result in nozzle cycling issues.