Applying silicone oil to your hop-up and/or barrel

[mHo2]

Just wondering how its exactly done, i've seen a 'silicone oil' product, but most sites seem to imply silicone oil needs to be 'sprayed' on, and i have only seen bottles of this liquid.

My other question is, how much is required? I guess that can be controversial, but there has to be a middle-ground.

[Sha Do]

You will find silicone spray can be acquired from any shop supply location (such a Canadian Tire) and one of the brands to look for would be Amsoil (fairly common).
Anyways, I would not recommend spraying down your hop up bucking (sleeve or nub) as silicone causes rubber to swell and become slippery. And a slippery hop up sleeve would defeat the purpose of the hop up. For cleaning a barrel, you first need a cleaning rod and a piece of cleaning cloth (strongly recommended that you get proper barrel cleaning cloth, also available at stores like Bass Pro and Canadian Tire). Lightly spray down the cloth once you have installed it onto the cleaning rod and swab out your inner barrel being very careful not to go so far down the barrel that you hit the hop up. Pre measure the length of your inner barrel by eye by lining up your cleaning rod along side of the outer barrel and marking it at the front of the mag well.
Once you have swabbed the inner barrel down with the silicone coated cloth, switch to a clean cloth and swab it again to remove any excess silicone in the barrel.

If you do happen to get silicone onto the inner portion of your hop up, it could take as many of 1000 rounds to get the bucking working properly again.

Now I have heard of people spraying down the outer part of the bucking at the front of the hop up unit (barely noticeable, and usually covered by a brass ring), but I suspect that this is to cause the bucking sleeve to swell and "cement" the air seal, but if the bucking is good to start with, you should not have to do this at all. If you insist on doing so, I would say no more than one drops worth of silicone is more than enough.

In other words, do not spray down your hop up with silicone, and take care to avoid doing this when you use silicone to clean you airsoft guns.

SHA DO

[mHo2]

So silicone oil is *not needed* if i am replacing my hopup mechanism and barrel? i think what you were referring to (the brass ring) is what i had heard was needed. Is it not?

[Boomshakah]

Edit: Are you replacing the hopup or just cleaning the barrel?, the info given up was for cleaning the barrel.


Just a reminder, most silicone oil from Canadian Tire contains Petrolieum Distilates, who is known to eat plastic. Just watch out and make sure it doesn't contain any.

to get oil, I recommend RC car shock oil, look at your nearest hobby shop, or check online, quite cheap and a bottle last long.

[mHo2]

Replacing hopup mechanism, barrel, and rubber. is it needed?

Originally Posted by Boomshakah

Edit: Are you replacing the hopup or just cleaning the barrel?, the info given up was for cleaning the barrel.


Just a reminder, most silicone oil from Canadian Tire contains Petrolieum Distilates, who is known to eat plastic. Just watch out and make sure it doesn't contain any.

to get oil, I recommend RC car shock oil, look at your nearest hobby shop, or check online, quite cheap and a bottle last long.

[StrikeFreedom]

You apply a tiny bit so you can slide the barrel with bucking into the unit with ease. Heck spit works too (no joke). But for sure you don't want any oil getting inside of the bucking.

[Sha Do]

Originally Posted by Boomshakah

Just a reminder, most silicone oil from Canadian Tire contains Petrolieum Distilates, who is known to eat plastic. Just watch out and make sure it doesn't contain any.

I would never refer anyone to the Canadian Tire brand of silicone. I informed him to get the AMSOIL brand (which is actually a food grade silicone) which is available at Canadian Tire....
But yes (a good point Boomshakah), definitely avoid the Petroleum Distillates, as this will cause many headaches down the road.

I wouldn't say it is needed (I do as Freedom Strike...spit), but you should clean the barrel anyways, and then when there is still a light coating of silicone as little as possible, slide on the bucking sleeve, then re assemble the hop up unit. Try to remove as much as possible before hand though.

They tell you to apply silicone for this process to minimize the risk of you tearing the bucking sleeve, and the amount needed would be less than a little coating on your finger tip smeared around the area on the barrel.

And yes, that brass ring is important. Depending on your model of airsoft, it may be the support for the hop up load spring (Scars, P90s, and G36s for example) and it helps stabilize your inner barrel. Without it you could end up with the constant jamming of BBs as they try to feed into the hop up unit.

SHA DO

[mHo2]

When upgrading the hopup mechanism, barrel and rubber, do i need to replace the ring as well? or can it be re-used, because it doesnt seem to be included in the bucking from guarder, or the mechanism from PTW, or the barrel.

[Sha Do]

Originally Posted by mHo2

When upgrading the hopup mechanism, barrel and rubber, do i need to replace the ring as well? or can it be re-used, because it doesnt seem to be included in the bucking from guarder, or the mechanism from PTW, or the barrel.

The original one will do fine....and to my knowledge, none of the aftermarket hop up units come with a replacement one.

SHA DO

[CDN_Stalker]

Oil is needed at times once in a while to help feeding, otherwise the BB won't be able to get pushed through the breech and the gun won't fire. Don't need to oil it every month, more like once per year (unless you play a lot in dusty environments). Flip the gun upside down, aim a drop into the loading nozzle and cycle the gun a few times to spread around. Then use the cleaning rod with a clean patch to clean the inner barrel, that will get the oil off the hop up bucking, as will firing a few mags through the gun.