Kimber Tactical Entry II: The Slide

I had a bit of hesitation on doing this custom work because of my experience building the Custom Covert II. Before I worked on this gun, I built two other pistols (they're not 1911s) just to take away my mind off the Covert. It helped doing just that. After the Covert, the next two custom builds I did were very easy. I'm not telling yet which model of pistol I worked on -- I'm not a fan of them then...but I am now!

So after those two other builds, I felt I got my confidence, momentum and groove running again so I decided to sit down and get back to action with the Tactical Entry build.

Being a 1911, and basically using the same brand/kind of kit -- only a different design/model -- the process is just the same  as what I did in the Custom Covert II. But this time I'll try to make it simpler and less detailed.

To sart off, the gun is stripped by removing the slide stop lever and the slide is taken out from the front.

The barrel plug, recoil spring and the spring guide rod was removed from the slide assembly. These were put in a pouch, labeled, and put away in the storage box.

The barrel bushing and the outer barrel assembly was then taken out of the slide. Notice that the barrel bushing is the 1911A1 bushing and not the original Night Warrior silver barrel bushing. I replaced it to get the exact look of the Tactical Entry II.

The hop chamber-inner barrel assembly was pulled out of the outer barrel.

By undoing the two screws, one half of the hop chamber can be removed to access the hop mechanism and the inner barrel.

The hop bar and the inner barrel-hop rubber assembly was then detached from the hop chamber to be replaced by the Nineball inner barrel and hop rubber.

The whole inner barrel-hop chamber assembly was put back together.

The stainless steel outer barrel and chamber was assembled with the o-ring that comes with the kit.

The inner barrel-hop chamber assembly is now inserted into the outer barrel assembly.

By removing the screw at the rear of the slide, and the screw on top of the rear sight, the blowback housing can be taken out of the slide. With a bit of a force to widen the gap in the slide cavity, the blowback unit can easily come out.

The photo below shows the blowback housing and the loading nozzle already separated. The blowback housing, screw and loading nozzle spring will all be kept in storage and replaced.

This is now the replacement blowback housing. It is an Airsoft Surgeon BBH and it comes with its own screw and loading nozzle spring. Also shown in the photo is the loading nozzle spring guide that came in with the Tactical Entry conversion kit.

After positioning the rear sight in the slide, the whole blowback unit was then installed into the aluminum Hurricane slide. It is again a simple drop-in fit. The BBH was then screwed into the slide to keep it from moving.

The outer barrel assembly was then put into place.

And after placing the new full-length guide rod and barrel plug assembly along with the 1911A1 barrel bushing and the upgraded recoil spring that was included in the Hurricane kit, here now is the finished Kimber Tactical Entry slide.

Wired out.

Kimber Tactical Entry II: Internal Parts

I have already discussed the internal parts that I usually would replace in customizing an airsoft 1911 so I'm just going to do some sort of recall on these parts for the Tactical Entry build.

The first major component that I would replace is the blowback housing or blowback unit. Just like the Covert, I used the Airsoft Surgeon Super Lightweight Speed Blowback Housing for the Tactical Entry because it is about 50% lighter than the original BBH of TM.

The next internal part I replaced is the hop-rubber. I used the Laylax-Nineball hop rubber because it is believed by many to provide better sealing. Based on the Covert that I built, this hop rubber works like magic as just a small turn of the hop towards the "on" position from the "zero/off" position gave me a very straight, consistent BB flight.

Now here comes the interesting part. When I built the Covert, my M.E.U. was already using a PDI 6.01 Palsonite inner barrel. After finishing the build and testing the gun out, the Palsonite barrel-Nineball hop rubber combination works wonders. In this Tactical Entry build, I planned to use the Nineball 6.03 inner barrel to see which combination works better. (I will post the results in a different entry)

Again, like the Covert, this custom build used other internal upgrade parts that are already included in the kits. The upgraded recoil spring is included in the Hurricane conversion kit and the steel sear is included in the Nova hammer set.

In my next post, I will discuss the steps in building the slide!

Just a special thanks to all my readers, followers, and supporters...even though there's not that many of you yet. Thanks!

Wired out.

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!