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 Post subject: Modding King-Arms Mid-Caps
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:26 pm 
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Location: South-West UK
Country: United Kingdom
I've never been a fan of hi-caps for airsoft. Too much temptation to 'spray & prey'. Plus of course you need to wind them and they rattle. So i always use mid-caps. Unless i'm using the '60 which is a different story. The Snow Wolf/Matrix pulse rifle comes with a 200-round hi-cap which is similar in size to an MP5 magazine (note to you Americans; It's a 'magazine', not a 'clip' :wink:). It also shares the same similarities to an MP5 hi-cap in that it doesn't always feed too well. Due to the shallow width, sometime the rounds don't fall down into the winding mechanism too well. Plus of course, having a 200 round hi-cap means the ammo counter becomes redundant, unless you stop/start it when it gets to zero.

As far as Thompson mid-caps go you don't have a great deal of choice. It's pretty much King Arms all the way. The cheapest place i found these was Ehobbyasia at about £35 posted. They come in box of five by the way. The magazines themselves are actually really well made. They are solid ABS. They are however the 'wrong' size. They are the longer '30 round' Thompson size as opposed to the 20 round size the pulse rifle requires. They take 110 rounds but after cut done they should be close to the grail of 95 rounds. This gives you three options -

1 - Cut a hole in the base-plate or remove the base plate and use as-is. Protruding from the rifle
2 - Make a base-plate that is slightly longer to accommodate the extra length
3 - Cut the magazine down to the correct length

I went for the third option.

AT THIS POINT DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE THE SPRINGS !

So the first thing to do is to measure the magazines. Here is (left to right) a 200 round hi-cap. A 200 round hi-cap with a baseplate attached (Secured using fibreglass). a King Arms mid-cap :

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The first thing i noticed about the mid-cap is that it didn't actually lock in to the rifle. This is cured by grinding the hole in the back a little higher :

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In order to make my mid-caps the same length as my hi-cap (plus the extra length so i can glue a base-plate directly to the bottom !) i need to remove 32mm. You obviously cannot take that from the bottom of the magazine as the BB channel inside is 'U' shaped. Therefore you need to cut from the middle. So measure out your 32mm :

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To cut a clean edge i used a mitre block and a hacksaw :

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Once you've done all your cutting you need to make sure that all the internal edges are cleaned up. You can see how much swarf you get from cutting. Make sure it's ALL gone :

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Last edited by Prophet-KGB on Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Modding King-Arms Mid-Caps
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 4:29 pm 
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Location: South-West UK
Country: United Kingdom
CONTINUED -

All cleaned up :

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Once they are cut and cleaned up you can glue them together. I used superglue then a little filler to cover the cut :

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All five done !

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Lastly you'll want to snip about 2" off the spring length and reinsert.

I've tested them and they all work fine. They also hold damn close to 90 rounds :)


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:04 pm 
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Location: Kentucky USA
Service Number: A03/TQ1.0.12132E1
Country: United States
Hmm, strangely familiar.....

Great job on these! I used JB Weld as a "putty" on mine for added strength.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 5:25 pm 
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Yes this was my intention from day-one. I wasn't copying you :). I remember you doing the same and was going to put a link in but i couldn't find the thread ?


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 Post subject: Re: Modding King-Arms Mid-Caps
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:06 pm 
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Location: Kentucky USA
Service Number: A03/TQ1.0.12132E1
Country: United States
I didn't do a thread, I just added to my PR thread. How did you remove the spring before cutting your mags?

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:14 pm 
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Location: Sunny Cornwall
Country: United Kingdom
probably took the top plate off by knocking the roll pin out at a guess.

James, did you at least keep one standard length for 'project extended'?

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 Post subject: Re: Modding King-Arms Mid-Caps
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:44 pm 
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Location: South-West UK
Country: United Kingdom
robiwon wrote:
I didn't do a thread, I just added to my PR thread. How did you remove the spring before cutting your mags?


Yes there's a roll-pin behind the filling hole. Drift that out then jemmy the little plastic block out

Chef wrote:
James, did you at least keep one standard length for 'project extended'?


No i didn't :oops:. Didn't think about it


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 Post subject: Re: Modding King-Arms Mid-Caps
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:59 pm 
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Location: Kentucky USA
Service Number: A03/TQ1.0.12132E1
Country: United States
Chef, that roll pin keeps the back end of the spring in place.

You got the black plastic BB pusher thru the BB opening in the mag?

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 8:16 pm 
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Location: South-West UK
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No the whole spring comes out through that hole, pusher and all


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 Post subject: Re: Modding King-Arms Mid-Caps
PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 3:00 pm 
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Location: South-West UK
Country: United Kingdom
Gave these a proper test yesterday in Chef's PR (wanted to make sure they worked in other guns as well as mine)

Got to say they worked a treat. From a full fill they gave damn-near 95 rounds on the button. Fed every round with no stoppages either.

Next stop - Mag bases ! Also got a rather nifty mag-holder that i'm working on :)


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PostPosted: Fri Apr 19, 2013 4:08 pm 
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Location: Sunny Cornwall
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Got to say, the KA midcaps are much better than the Hi-Cap that comes with the PR.

I shall be getting some myself, but rather than cutting them down, I shall be making some extended bases for mine.

Midcaps for the win, no winding, no misfeeding.
If you're going to skirmish your PR, these mid-caps are definitely the way to go.

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