L96 Ideas and Innovative Mods

[Wolf Bane]

I'm a proud owner if a new (somewhat) L96 Springer Rifle. Previous owner states current FPS of 410 w/ .40g King Arms BBs. (That's 580 w/.2g or 520 w/.25). He stated it has a metal piston and spring guide. It sports a threaded adapter for 14mm counterclockwise, but stock barrel. I will have a 6.03mm tight-bore in it shortly which will run to the tip of the adapter. Since this is previously owned with a history, I assume the trigger sear is a higher quality to handle that spring tension, but I read that component will commonly break with use regardless. I would like to purchase a mock suppressor/flash hider, but only for aesthetic purposes - something short. I plan to make my own barrel spacers out of wrapped tape to stabilize the inner barrel and I am contemplating filling the stock with an insulation compound to dampen sound (past forums suggest expanding foam, but I'm thinking some packing foam cut to fit would also work with less mess).

This thread is to get an opinion on some of the modifications and upgrades I should be making to get optimum performance and reliability out of it. Since some of the threads I've already read are several years old, I'd like to revive the subject for new ideas and current mods/upgrades.

What other suggestions and ideas do the rest of you have?

[Edit]: I also need a suggestion for an outer barrel that has some play in rotation. I'd like to avoid taping it to the stock (as seen in Battlefield 3), or gluing it in place. I'd like the impact to take-down to be minimal.

[Wolf Bane]

I wanted to post an idea on an externally accessible Hop Up Adjustment for the L96. I know that some of you that have dealt with this rifle have considered that adjustment in the mag well a pain in the  to get to and adjust out on the field. I liked the idea of the adjustment in the M14 and reverse engineered an idea I would like to implement.

For the below image, my idea is to JB weld the L-Bracket to the Mag release. Some filing and dremelling will be needed to preserve the release lever. The concern with this mod is the strength of the adhesion and the possibility that the adjuster will be tagged when changing mags. I had an alternate idea of using an S-Bracket to attach the adjuster to the frame of the gun. The only problem with this idea is making sure that the spring loaded hex key, aligns with the hop up upon re assembly. With the design below (if it holds during use) will not only make assembly easier, but also should preserve a true center to the mag release lever.

If you look at the drawing, I will have to find a hollow or semi hollow tube that will not only hold the hex nub, but be able to hold a spring for the hex nub. This tube will have to be modded to support a groove for the C-Washer that will snap onto the tub and create positive force of the adjustment knob to the bracket. The idea is to salvage or find an adjustment knob that has stippling on the bottom and drill or hammer matching stippling into the bracket for “snapping” adjustment. Snapping adjustment will decrease the precision of the adjustment, but will increase a positive lock to resist against unauthorized adjustment due to firing vibrations.

If anyone has any feedback on the idea I would appreciate it greatly.

[Rogue Fox]

Im surprised no one else has responded to this. Being a previous l96 owner[many times over] I like your hop up design, as long as it stays in place it will be a big improvement over the stock l96 hop up. One thing I will warn you about when it comes to the l96 is if you ever change the stock pay careful attention to where the trigger box rests. My last spring sniper had a zero trigger in a real steel stock, and I found out the hard way that the trigger's support rods[or whatever the actual name is] like to come loose when they are not held in place by the stock.