Building your own AEG

[Jbone 11 11]

I've been shopping around my local shops for a nice M4 sniper set up and can manage the 450 euro price tag on the G&P models, but have figured that I could save about a 100 Euro if I bought the parts separately and assembled it myself.
My question is, if you're a handy person (like I am), would it be out of the question to be able to assemble it properly? I watched the guy who put my M4 CQB together, and seemed like there were some tricky bits, but nothing to complicated.

Any advice on what/what not to do? Parts to avoid/ Mismatching? Also, any special tools required?

Thanks in advance,
J

[TokyoSeven]

If you can aquire all the parts for cheaper than the cost of an actual fully built AEG than by all means do so. If you have walk access to walk in retailers who can sell you all the parts you need then do it up, but if you have to order all your parts seperately then in the end once you factor in shipping costs you maybe spending more than what your saving.

Assembly can be tricky if this is your first scratch build. You will require a good set of screw drivers are varying sizes mostly phillips, some needle nose pliers. If your considering scratch building, its best to try to keep everything to one company so you can avoid possible fitment issues. If you want to save a little bit of time you can purchase a fully assembled mechbox from whatever company you choose, that element saves you alot of time and effort since you dont have to purchase parts and assemble a mechbox.

Once you aquire everything, set yourself up on a clean work space with lots of light. Watch a few videos online from mechbox.com and those may be able to help shed a little more light on assembling an armalite. Honestly though, for me for 100 EUR difference I would rather just spend the extra to save the hassle and be guaranteed a working gun with no issues. Since you bought it in a shop, one would assume that if you have an issue you can return it for a refund or exchange.

[Mikhail]

Having just recently gone thru a complete AS gun rebuild, including most of the pieces of the mechbox, of a basic AK to something very customized, I can testify to the truth of Tokyo 7's suggestion.

I am a business systems tech, and no slouch in the 'handyman' dept. Learn to be a airsoft tech with a working model to refer to. It is SO much harder to diagnose problems, from too many parts added all at once, as opposed to getting you gun complete, observing its normal operations, and customizing one piece at a time (if needed).

I especially like her suggestion of buying the mechbox complete (some very nice reinforced, pre-shimmed models avail) and then parting everything together after that. That suggestion alone, would make things sooooooo much less painful.

[diamond_SEA]

most people would suggest that you buy a pre-built mechbox, like a systema m120, or if your looking at G&P, get a G&P mechbox so you wont get compatibility issues.