Looking through the scope; waiting for my target to line up with the cross hairs. There it is. The perfect shot. I take it. What? Missed??? I’m upgrading my L96 Sniper Rifle because the hop up
broke.

A hop up is a chamber that the BB goes through before entering the barrel of the gun. The whole point of having a hop up is that it puts a back spin on the BB so that it shoots straight and you can adjust it. There is a knob that pushes down on a tube of rubber that puts a back spin on the BB. The adjustment can make the BB go up or down. You want the BB to go straight and without the hop up, you wouldn’t have that much range. The hop up chamber goes right in front of the barrel. The whole unit is about an inch long but it can vary with different chambers for different guns.

The reason I’m upgrading my hop up is because it broke. There are some other reasons a person might want to upgrade. One might be that you can adjust the gun to shoot how you want it to shoot. A new gun probably doesn’t feel or shoot right until you get used to it or adjust it to how you want it. Another reason might be to make it more powerful and accurate. Barrels have a lot of affect on accuracy and power. Most stock barrels are 6.08 mm. You can get barrels that are as small as 6.01 mm. High quality BBs are from 5.95 to 5.98 mm. Having a tighter barrel increases accuracy and adds around 30 FPS to your gun.

What kind of hop up do I need for L96 Sniper Rifle? There are many different kinds I could get. Lots of companies make them but they are really hard to find. A few allow you to use AEG inner barrels instead of sniper cut barrels. UTG is the brand of my gun and the hop up broke. UTG is a clone company that makes clones of guns. Clone guns are guns that are made just like high end companies but they use cheap parts like pot metal and cheap plastics. PDI is a high end company that makes parts. They make two different versions of hop ups for the L96. One can take sniper cut barrels and the other one, which is more popular, is one that take AEG barrels. PDI offers repair kits that have extra allen wrenches, O-rings, screws and almost anything you would need to fix the chamber. Lalax also make two different versions that do the same thing. Lalax hop ups are harder to find and aren’t as good as PDI but if you want a sniper cut barrel, then you should go with Lalax, that is if you can find them.

What barrel should I get? It depends which hop up I want to get. If I get a PDI hop up that needs a AEG barrel, then I would get a barrel cut for an AEG. If I have a Lalax chamber that uses sniper cut barrels then I would get a sniper cut barrel. I took a look at both AEG and sniper cut barrels and the only difference I saw was the groove that the bucking slid onto was on different sides and the sniper barrel had a straight cut hole for the bucking to press down on while the AEG had slanted sides. I could also choose to get a ported barrel. A ported barrel has a hole for all the air in the barrel to escape. That means that I get more accuracy but it leaks out 5-10 FPS because there is not as good air seal.

Everything costs money. The UTG hop up costs around $8 but it wouldn’t last long. The PDI hop up chamber can cost from $45-$60 depending on where you get it. Lalax will be slightly cheaper but is harder to find. The barrel will cost $80-$85 if I want it ported. Airsoft is not a cheap sport but hey, I’ll have this gun for a while.

I still haven’t decided which one to get. If I can’t find a Lalax one then I’ll have to go to PDI. By the time I realize I can’t find a Lalax, the PDI might be out of stock. Now I am always checking web sites for the chambers and it will take a while to find one. Dad and I ordered the UTG stock hop up and it should be here soon. It should hold up until I get a high end chamber. Happy Sniping Eh?

Work Cited.

http://www.airsoftcore.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39052&mode=threaded&pid=352740

http://www.shootercity-airsoft.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2780

http://www.tntsniperproshop.com/product.detail_383178_th_1607027?lang=en

http://www.airsoftforum.com/board/lofiversion/index.php/f153.html