Kimber Custom Covert II: The Slide

It has been exactly a week since my last post, and in my previous entries I have discussed all the different parts that would be used for my Kimber Custom Covert II airsoft build. This time, I'm going to show the process of building the slide from stripping the Tokyo Marui M.E.U. Pistol up to the finished slide - step by step. I know most airsoft players, gun enthusiasts and gunsmiths already know this process, but I am posting this especially for those who doesn't know and for those interested to know how I did it.

My work desk as I begin the custom build

First, I removed the slide stop from the M.E.U. by pulling the slide back and pulling out the slide stop lever.

Then the barrel assembly was removed by taking out the recoil spring and spring guide assembly, removing the barrel bushing and barrel plug, and finally, pulling out the barrel assembly from the front of the slide.

I kept the barrel bushing, barrel plug and the spring guide for later use with the conversion kit.

After that, I pulled out the inner barrel and hop chamber assembly from the outer barrel. As shown in the photo below, I already had a PDI Palsonite 6.01 inner barrel installed.

The chamber was then opened in half by undoing the two screws. Generally, one doesn't need to open this, but in my case, I am also planning to install the NineBall hop rubber and clean the inner barrel so I disassembled the chamber.

The hop mechanism was removed and the hop rubber separated from the inner barrel.

After cleaning the inner barrel, the new NineBall hop rubber was installed. I also re-oiled the hop-up adjustment wheel.

This is the chamber now after putting it back together.

After I set the chamber assembly aside, I removed the screw from the rear of the slide using an allen wrench. 

This is now a photo of the rear of the slide with the screw removed. The small part where the hammer strikes was removed also.

By opening up the plastic slide using two thumbs, the blowback unit assembly can be taken out. In the photo below, the blowback housing can be seen with the parts where I filed to fit the Dytac luminous sight before. Please note that there is a spring on top of the blowback housing and that it can drop anytime after removing the BBH from the slide. Be careful not to lose it, although, replacements can be bought in most airsoft shops if you did.

The loading nozzle was now removed from the blowback unit.

Notice in the photo below that I had installed the nozzle spring improperly when I replaced the original Novak sights with the Dytac sights before so there was deformity on one end of the spring. 

The photo below shows a look inside the M.E.U. plastic slide. Visible are the file marks when I did a mod on the rear sight to have it properly fit with the BBH.

The next photo shows the new loading nozzle spring (good thing the Airsoft Surgeon BBH I used has one included in the set!) and the rather unexpected (at least for me, in a good way) loading nozzle spring guide that came in with the Hurricane conversion kit.

After doing the reverse to assemble the blowback unit, it is then placed to the metal slide. The Airsoft Surgeon BBH is a drop-in fit for the Hurricane Kimber slide!

Next thing I did was put a little silicon oil on the metal chamber thread and the o-ring that comes with the kit. The chamber and  the metal outer barrel was then assembled together.

The metal chamber slot is shaped and designed to easily accomodate the inner barrel and hop chamber assembly.

The new barrel assembly was now inserted into the slide.

I then placed the barrel bushing and the barrel plug. At this time, I had set aside the original recoil spring and replaced it with the stronger and stiffer recoil spring included in the conversion kit.

The recoil spring and spring guide assembly is installed.  And here's the finished slide in different angles.

Well, of course, my next post will feature the longer - and more difficult - process of building the frame. Until then!

Kimber Custom Covert II: Internal Parts

With all of the external parts already discussed, now I will talk about the internal parts that will be installed into the Kimber Custom Covert II. These parts are actually performance-enhancing parts which will help increase power, range and accuracy.

I don't usually tinker with Tokyo Marui guns as I always believe their guns are the best out-of-the-box guns in the airsoft market. Another reason why I don't modify Marui guns is that here in Japan, airsoft is legal, but there is a power limit. Japanese law requires all airsoft guns to not exceed 0.98 joule power (roughly 320fps) using 0.2g plastic BBs. And with the advent of TM's Next Generation AEGs, the recoil shock versions, no modifications are needed because the recent releases of TM performs very well. Consistent chrono tests show that these guns (assault rifles) shoot close to the Japanese law limit. With this, I can only think of a tight bore barrel upgrade to increase range and accuracy; but still, if you've used a Tokyo Marui before, you know that their guns are already accurate and has the best out-of-the-box grouping compared to other manufacturers.

I'm saying all these and basing it from my own experience. My VSR10 G-Spec sniper rifle was performing a bit low on power, but it sure shoots straight and true. I changed the inner barrel to a PSS10 430mm 6.03mm tight bore barrel at put a couple of barrel spacers and it almost broke the limit!

When I purchased a TM AK47, I bought along with it a Prometheus 6.03mm tight bore barrel that I had intended to install on it. But upon testing the gun, it shoots like a regular TM AEG powerwise, but it shoots straight and accurate like my upgraded VSR. So I never bothered modifying the gun and eventually I sold the barrel. In my whole airsoft experience, I have used that AK more than any other gun I've used, and it certainly got the most kills in the field compared to my other guns.

Right now, I'm using a Tokyo Marui RECCE Rifle as my primary weapon. It clocks at 300fps which is around 0.92 joules. Now, I don't wanna end up spending 3 years of my life in prison and paying a fine of 300,000yen (US$3,000) so I didn't modify it. Besides, like my AK before, it shoots straight and has a very long range like my VSR10.

With all that being said (I didn't realize it was a very long intro already!), I am modifying a few internal parts of the M.E.U. while converting it to a Custom Covert II just because it is a pistol. Although it is a TM and the quality and performance is great already, a TM pistol is just way below the Japanese law limit. Chrono tests show that most Marui GBBs (gas blowbacks) shoot at about 0.6-ish joule. While I don't intend to have my pistol shooting like my RECCE Rifle, an additional 0.1-0.15 joule won't hurt.

Before I was even planning on converting my M.E.U. to a Kimber, I have already installed in it a PDI 6.01mm Palsonite inner barrel replacing the stock brass inner barrel to increase a bit of the power and give it more range. When I fielded it after the modification, it certainly showed a significant improvement on range and power. So I'm planning to keep that inner barrel for the Custom Covert II.

The black Palsonite tight bore barrel can be seen inside the larger outer barrel of the M.E.U.

I've been doing a lot of watching on YouTube about custom works of TM 1911s and one channel that I find very helpful is LaZoucheCustomshop's channel. His videos and tutorials has been a very big part of my learning process in terms of customizing, upgrading or just simply swapping parts between different models and makes. In his channel, I also figured which basic parts I should upgrade to achieve my desired performance of the gun. 

He mentioned three major parts that help improve the performance of a TM 1911 pistol and those are the inner barrel, the hop-up rubber and the blowback housing. I've already discussed above the inner barrel so the next thing I will talk about is the other two.

Hop-up Rubber

The hop-up rubber, for those who don't know already, is the part that gives back-spin to the BBs thereby giving it a longer and straighter flight. There are many aftermarket hop-up rubbers but the one that is very highly recommended and most widely used is the NineBall Wide Use Air Seal Chamber Packing, or simply the NineBall Hop Rubber. They're really hard to find as they're sold out almost everywhere. The stock hop rubber from Marui is about the same quality as this one but it is believed that the NineBall provides better sealing which translates to increased power. Just like the stock hop rubber, this upgrade will give a better and longer BB flight than most other hop rubbers in the market.

Blowback Housing / Blowback Unit

The blowback housing or unit is the part that holds the piston and assembled with the loading nozzle to provide blowback action of the GBB once it is fired, mimicking the action of the real steel. The stock BBH of a Tokyo Marui 1911 is good but compared to aftermarket parts, it is heavier as it is made out of pot metal. One of the most highly recommended aftermarket BBH is the Airsoft Surgeon Super Lightweight Speed Blowback Housing. It is made of 6061 Aircraft Aluminum making it lighter (23grams) than the original one (43grams). This lightweight feature actually is more useful to people that upgrade and set their pistols up as a race gun for competition. Because of its lightness, it helps for speedy blowbacks and follow-up shots. While I'm not setting up my M.E.U. as a competition pistol, the use of a sturdy but light BBH will help since I'm using a metal kit. The Airsoft Surgeon BBH uses an O-ring for its piston which provides better seal with the loading nozzle thereby giving the pistol better gas economy. The set comes with a loading nozzle spring and a screw to hold the BBH into position in the slide.

The original Airsoft Surgeon BBHs have red pistons. I believe that because of other manufacturers imitating the design of popular makers, the Airsoft Surgeon BBH piston color was changed to blue. That, or it just has something to do with material choice and availability.

Other Parts

While those are the three major things that I had intended to replace internally, some of the sets I used have some internal upgrade parts in it. The HurricanE Kimber Custom Covert II kit has the upgraded recoil spring included in the package so I installed it as well to give my pistol a faster return to battery action and a crisper blowback action. 

The Nova Kimber type hammer set also includes what I believe is a steel sear so I replaced the original sear of the M.E.U., too.

The black steel sear is included in the hammer set

I think I have discussed all of the parts already, so up next...on with the build!

Kimber Custom Covert II: Other Parts

Kimber, like most recognized pistol manufacturers, has very distinct parts in their line of 1911 pistols. In this post, I will be discussing the different parts of the real Kimber Custom Covert II that is missing on a Tokyo Marui M.E.U. pistol.

First up is the grip safety. The M.E.U.'s grip safety more closely ressembles a Springfield Armory type of grip safety. If we look closely on a real Kimber, particularly in the Custom Covert II, the raised end of the grip safety has 2 sets of grooves. For this build, I will use the Nova KBR type grip safety.

The next part is the main spring housing. Although both are flat type, the M.E.U. main spring housing has a serrated pattern while the real Kimbers have checkered pattern.

Another part that needed to be replaced is the thumb safety. The M.E.U. has an ambidextrous Kings type thumb safety while the Custom Covert II has a single, left-hand side only thumb safety. Also, the appearance of Kimber thumb safeties is different compared to any other type of thumb safety and can only be found, of course, on Kimber pistols.

The hammer in the Custom Covert II is a Kimber type and so the delta hammer of the M.E.U. should be replaced.

I am some kind of a perfectionist, in a way, so even the grip screws weren't spared. The M.E.U. has flat-head screws while the Kimber has hex grip screws. I managed to find a cheap set of grip screws with washers. 

So there you go. Those were the parts, aside from those in the conversion kit, that had to be replaced to achieve the realistic look of the Kimber Custom Covert II. All parts are Nova except the grip screw set which is a Detonator.

Next up: The internal parts of the M.E.U. that I replaced and why. 

Kimber Custom Covert II

I never liked two-toned pistols: Those with the black frame and a silver slide, or vice-versa. Never liked them. But it kinda grew on me, especially when I saw the Kimber Custom Covert II. It has a black semi-gloss slide, but it didn't have a silver frame. Instead, it dons a tan/dark earth frame and sports a digital desert camo-patterned lasergrip. The result is a 1911 pistol with a different kind of swagger.

The real steel Kimber Custom Covert II
(photos from Kimber's website)

I've mentioned in my previous post how I love Kimber 1911s and this is no exception. And because of that, I attempted to build my first ever Kimber airsoft custom handgun.

My base gun was my favorite Tokyo Marui gas blowback handgun: my M.EU. pistol. This pistol has been fitted with a Dytac luminous sights (which wouldn't be used for this particular build...ouch!) and a PDI 6.01mm Palsonite precision inner barrel. Now, I'm not really new to customizing airsoft guns as I have done a few - successful and unsuccessful ones - before, but this is actually my first time to do a custom work of this magnitude, replacing majority of the parts of the gun. Most of the existing parts of the M.E.U. were replaced to achieve the desired realism. I had intended to finish this custom build and have the finished product look as close as possible to the real steal model.

In this build, I used the Hurricane Kimber Custom Covert II conversion kit; which I got on sale by the way. I know they're a bit expensive so the discount I got really was the push I needed to purchase this kit. They are actually cheaper than most kits out there and for a cheaper kit with a good reputation for quality and fit, this is bargain.

HurricanE Kimber Custom Covert II Conversion Kit

The kit includes:

-Aluminum powder-coated slide and frame

-Stainless steel chamber and outer barrel

-Front (in slide) and rear sights

-Kimber type slide stop lever (which has a little bit of rust!)

-Dummy extractor plug (inserted it into the slide and forgot to take it out for photographing)

-Steel checkered magazine catch

-Aluminum 3-hole trigger

-Upgraded recoil spring

-Reinforcing rail and frame pins and O-ring for outer barrel

-Small allen wrench for zeroing the laser

The lasergrips that came with the kit has an adjustable laser. Both windage and elevation controls work perfectly and I have tested it to be adjustable in very small turns of the grub screws which means it can be positioned correctly and accurately.

The laser on the right side of the frame

The grub screws for windage and elevation controls are very tiny but visible in this photo

On my next post, I will show the other parts I installed to replicate the real Kimber Custom Covert II. Thanks for reading and visiting my blog!