Echo-1 M249 Para

Due to an extreme lack of regulatory maintenance, and abuse (which comes with being a light-machine-gun) the team's SAW para is temporarily out of commission. I will now explain in detail what caused such problems. First off, most people don't know this but light-machine-guns based off of the Classic Army M249 Mechbox (M60, M240, Minimi, M249Mk-II etc) NEVER come greased reguardless of brand-name. I am not exaggerating, I know most companies use ADEQUATE amounts of grease in 'other models' But in this case I speak of metal on metal, bone- dry. LMG's are NOT ready to shoot out of the box, they require shimming, greasing, compression-upgrades and fine-tuning before they can be suitable for the extreme conditions that come with 'hosing.'

In the case of our SAW, pre-maintenance was never performed after its purchase, thus far after prolonged use, and lack of annual deep-cleaning, the spur gear has stripped from grinding against the sector gear, and the pinion or 'motorhead' has shattered from oxidization due to grinding as well. The trigger-switch is also damaged from dirt build-up, and now boasts the saying made popular in Vietnam by M60 gunners; 'runaway-gun' That's right, let-go of the trigger and it still keeps firing lol I found the same problem in another SAW on the 28th at S.C village, it's more common than most would believe.

I have decided that purchasing a motor-head removal-tool, and/or a new motor, gear-set, and trigger-switch would range over $100 bucks and that I'm better off purchasing a new pre-assembled mechbox from Evike for $110 dollars. With the new mechbox I can shim, grease, and perform the necessary fine-tuning required to produce a powerful, reliable light-machine-gun. I will update this thread as I make progress and post pictures of the finished product in the coming weeks of September.

Good day Airsofters! -And remember to always clean and maintain your weapons after every game to ensure maximum service-life:)

GREAT ANALYSIS, REAPER! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND KEEP US POSTED!!!

Other Notes:

Motor:
M249 does not use a 'standard' Short-motor, it requires one with a slightly shorter axle/stem and narrower pinion-gear or gear-set will grind and strip. (Proven in several attempts to replace motor. This ultra-short motor is rare and not available for aftermarket sale in the U.S. Can be found in the older Famas models, or another M249. Buying a new mechbox eliminates this problem.

Alternative Costs:

Decant motor: $45
Motor-head removal/install tool: $40-60
M249 trigger-switch: 10$
Decant gear-set (that won't strip) $40-60

Sum total ~$135-175


Pre-assembled M249 Mechbox: $109

I get 15% off at parts at evike sometimes a bit more so send me a pm with the exact parts or a link to the parts on evike.com and ill pick up the parts at a decreased cost.

Dude, Greg so has to do a "safe sex" infomercial/public service announcement... would be funny as hell the way he writes! Nice Job!

Roger that! We still need to pay Mike for our shirts... maybe after EVERYBODY pays, the account balance could handle paying Greg back.

that is a neg on the part right now they really are out of stock =[

So far I've managed to scavenge a few hard to find parts off the net, pre-assembled gearbox was a no-go so I've went the alternate route of trying to repair the old motor and pinion gear and cleaning up the switch assembly best I can. I found an A&k M249 gearset so all that's left is for me to assemble the parts once they ship, I should have the Para good as new in under 2 weeks:)

Frago on that 2week deal, evike is jackin around with getting things in stock on time, EST: Mid December...

Evike never met their end of the bargain with the parts so I'm just gonna buy a new saw for you guys. I'll transfer the m4 stock to the new one and tune/upgrade it so it doesn't wear down like the old one did. The old saw echo gave us was defective from the start. The holes milled into the gearbox were positioned incorrectly and caused 'bad gear meshing' which resulted in slow rate of fire, (even under an 11.1V lipoly) and that 'squealing' mechanical-noise the weapon would make. Eventually stripping the gear-set. Found the same problem in Jon's Mp5 and a few Cyma M14s at work last week, it's actually quite common, more so now than several years ago when quality-control in China was better. Most techs fail to notice it. In any case that problem requires a new mechbox shell, and since those aren't too common to find for a saw. Don't worry about compensating me for the new gun, I get em pretty cheap anyways;) I get paid on the 22nd so I'll make the purchase that week. Sorry it's takin so long

uhh go evike and e1??

lmao

Are you talkin about the Classic Army Mk-46? Nobody has that in stock. We have one on display I've had my eye on for a while. Comes with a gemtech silencer and one of those short 249 mags that I believe simply needs a feed-tube. (I've got extra tubes on hand. Either that or you could just buy a ris kit from Evike for ~120 that'll fit any saw of your choice. its 65 bucks if you just get the top portion. Anyways I'll look into the MK-46 and see how well it functions (repair wise) I'll let you know between now and the week of the 22nd:)

As for the gearbox in the Bitch, I can get a Bravo 8mm for $40 or so, I think the current box in your gun is for an Mp5...

it'll run quieter than the 6 or 7mm variants, other than that all gearboxes are the same as far as strength is concerned. the MM is referring to the bearing diameter, the thicker the bearings the better the gears mesh, and the longer they stay aligned or shimmed correctly. my M60s use 8mm bearings as well, the bulky bearings cut maintenance down to zero, you'll like it:)

Yeah I can get the mechbox without any problems. We just can't exchange anything at the GI store site, has to be at a game or otherwise. As for the MK-46 we have on display, it's way more expensive than I'd pay for a SAW ~500, I'm just gonna purchase a base model and we can apply the ris kit later on. What type of SAW would you prefer to use as a base gun, the MK2 or the Para? Both variants will fit the RIS kit, but I can get better power-output out of the MK2 due to its lengthy barrel. ~410 with .25gs. Either way the finished product will be li-po ready, accurate up to 180ft and boasting 1200 Rounds per minute R.O.F

GREG YOU WILL NEED TO TRAIN THEM ON THE LI-POLY. LI-POLY IS THE BEST WAY TO GO.

yep, lipo's are actually way less maintenance than their NMH counterparts, they don't even loose charge from sitting around, and can last through 1-3 games without dieing depending on your setup and game-play style. They come with smart chargers so burning it is out of the equation, and often take 15-30minutes to fully charge.

Scratch the new saw idea, I managed to procure an A&K gearbox from a co-worker and have greased, shimmed, and dropped in a G&P hi-torque motor, the Para base gun is shooting between 370 and 380fps with 25gs @~800-950RPM on a li-po. Motor pulls a ton of amps so I don't recommend hosing for more than 6-8 seconds unless on a cool day, otherwise the low amperage on the li-po 1200mah will drain quickly and will have to be recharged. (Tony and I have made this mistake in 110 degree weather lol don't do it;)

We could simply use a higher amp li-po but then the spring would need to be upgraded to prevent the gears from revolving too fast and eating the piston lol I'll have more on how to handle li-po LMG's later.

Actually the batteries usually come with an orange charger, and all you need upgrade wise is a metal spring glide, a good polycarb, or aluminum piston, spot-shimming and at least an M120 spring to avoid over-spin (Guarder and Matrix are the stiffest)

let's not forget, The proper application of cherry grease:) Other than that it's quite affordable. Its a common misconception that lipo's are expensive and require crazy upgrades to run them. This is a myth... All of my guns are lipo ready, even my outdated Jing Peng Famas and it didn't cost much to upgrade.

np man, I know how it is having financial obligations and stuff, that's why I'm killing myself with two jobs lol

Boosted the SAW's rate of fire to 1300 rounds per minute, and installed a 30amp car fuse to level out power amperage. You can hose with it but you'd probably dump the whole drum in under a 2minutes lol Mag feeding issue has been eliminated, I found a design flaw in the mag-well bb stopper and removed it completely. The M60's come like this stock which is why they feed so well:) The bb grouping could be better but at least they get out to 230 ft or so before dropping off. (Used .23s for the test run) Could benefit from a tightbore in the future:)

You mean the G&G pneumatic blowback system for the M4/M16 series? They sell that separate?

I think he's talking about this?

http://www.airsoftgi.com/product_info.php?products_id=6546

oh that thing... Probably gonna put extra stress on the internals, you might need torque gears, definitely a high torque motor, (that CA one is for high speed) a steel tooth piston, (I might have a spare) and then you should be good to go. Some M4's are incompatible, ICS for sure, maybe a couple other brands, aside than that I wouldn't know, Armalites aren't my thing lol

Yes it should work, but your rate of fire WILL suffer and the added pressure from the recoil buffer WILL shorten the gearbox life some. No one makes a recoil kit for the AK. Cyma makes a blowback steel/wood Ak-47 with blowback and recoil features but other than that there has been no such kit. The cyma I speak of breaks often since the recoil feature was complex and experimental and is only available for that model. I can probably get one to run but the torque gears I use would drop the ROF to that of my RPK, 500-600 rounds per minute, half that of a typical airsoft rifle. (which is how fast Aks shoot anyways) but despite increased reliability may not be appealing to most players whom typically seek a gun that shoots 1200RPM +.