WE 1911 combat

[max.power]

Originally Posted by Drake

About the slides not locking back, haven't encountered that yet (only put 2 mags through it so far though, no time to test it much yet) but I did note upon initial inspection that WE doesn't seem to believe in lube; the whole gun ships bone dry.

I went ahead and lubed up the valves on the good mag (silicone shock oil) and applied a thin coat of white lithium grease on contact areas between the slide and frame (something I do to all my GBBs, it makes a noticeable difference). That might help a bit.

Otherwise I'd guess it's related to pressure/mag cool down.

I'll be looking at it in more detail over the weekend.

I did notice the bone-dry gun as well. I only put a light coat of silicon oil on the slide/body contact. Maybe I'll try some grease.

As for the mags, I lubed them up well, but they don't cool down at all while shooting. Just seems I am getting inconsistent fills. The gas never "leaks" when it's reached it's filling capacity, it just keeps going without a sound.

I have filled for anywhere from 15 sec to 45 secs, with varying results. I'm never sure how much to fill because I never hear the "hissing" of escaping gas telling me my mag is full.

Oh well. Working fine enough on a 45 sec fill. Seems a lot, though.

[Crunchmeister]

45 seconds? Wow. Usually, you should never have to fill a mag for more than 10 seconds. Most mags will fill in 7 seconds or so.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by The Saint

Yep. Upgrade order priority should be: TM valves, tightbore, loading nozzle. You can throw an enhanced recoil spring in anywhere you want in that list.

What's wrong with the sock WE loading nozzle? I don't remember reading anything about that.

Also some people were saying the gun worked best with the WE recoil spring. Judging from it's stiffness I'd say that's probably the case. The only stiffer recoil spring I had was the one in my WA 1911, and it's much longer and won't fit at all in the WE (of course I tried )

As for the valves, I'm curious to know what's different about the TM ones. So far, what I've found, is that the valve design for the WE is standard (brass valve with 4 ports), however my calipers put the WE ports at 3mm in diameter, compared to 3.5mm for the TM M9 and 3.5mm for the WA 1911.

Could 4x .5mm have that big an impact?

I'd like to get my hands on a TM one to compare.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by The Saint

A lot of aftermarket slides won't work with propane due to increased slide weight, it's nothing unusual. Until someone actually does a proper weight test between WE slides and several brands of aftermarket slides of the same gun model, the claim that WE slides are unusually heavy is just unsubstantiated hearsay.

Have you ever owned a WE, or felt one of their slides?

[Drake]

Originally Posted by max.power

I did notice the bone-dry gun as well. I only put a light coat of silicon oil on the slide/body contact. Maybe I'll try some grease.

Yeah, oil is too runny. Grease works really well. Don't apply too much though, or it'll just goop up.

I have filled for anywhere from 15 sec to 45 secs, with varying results. I'm never sure how much to fill because I never hear the "hissing" of escaping gas telling me my mag is full.

Oh well. Working fine enough on a 45 sec fill. Seems a lot, though.

Actually I noticed that since I started using the new Version 5 A-I Adapter (the plastic one); seems to form a much better seal with the fill valve, so much so that when the mag is full it pretty much just stops filling without blowing a cloud of propane in my face :P



@Spencer: I can kinda feel it when it needs re-greasing. The slide cycles silky smooth when I lube it right (that sounds dirty). I usually have to redo it after games though since the grease tends to be a dirt magnet.

[Roughneck]

Drake, Makes sense.. I had to completely strip mine and clean with a toothbrush to get all the sand out of it after a little accident with an unclosed thumb break. Lesson learned, Serpa on order.

[The Saint]

Originally Posted by Drake

What's wrong with the sock WE loading nozzle? I don't remember reading anything about that.

Flimsy and kind of loose inside its cage. It's not crucial to replace, but there is room for improvement.

Also some people were saying the gun worked best with the WE recoil spring. Judging from it's stiffness I'd say that's probably the case. The only stiffer recoil spring I had was the one in my WA 1911, and it's much longer and won't fit at all in the WE (of course I tried )

My personal experience is that the WE recoil spring is too soft to keep the slide firmly in battery. I've had 2 WE in the past, and I find myself increasing the recoil spring in both. It's not a surprise that your WA1911's spring wouldn't fit, the two have very different internal design.

As for the valves, I'm curious to know what's different about the TM ones. So far, what I've found, is that the valve design for the WE is standard (brass valve with 4 ports), however my calipers put the WE ports at 3mm in diameter, compared to 3.5mm for the TM M9 and 3.5mm for the WA 1911.

Could 4x .5mm have that big an impact?

I'd like to get my hands on a TM one to compare.

The difference is not just gas ports, it's the way WE valves are designed and built. The narrow stem and sabot/cap arrangement is of very poor tolerance and has a tendency to wobble in the valve body, allowing the stem to stick or seize even when lubed. TM valves, with their wide stem, do not have that problem and are far, far more reliable.

I've got some TM valves for sale, incidentally.

Originally Posted by Styrak

Have you ever owned a WE, or felt one of their slides?

Yes, I've owned a WE1911 and did a lot of tinkering with it. On the other hand, have you done the weight test I mentioned? I'm guessing not.

[Styrak]

Originally Posted by The Saint

Yes, I've owned a WE1911 and did a lot of tinkering with it. On the other hand, have you done the weight test I mentioned? I'm guessing not.

A WE Hicapa 5.1 is one of the heaviest gun's I've picked up, short of maybe a Desert Eagle, and even then it might be heavier. Much heavier than a TM Hicapa with metal slide.

[Drake]

Okay the whole slide weight thing got me wondering, so I decided to weigh it along with my WA 1911's.

The WE is all stock (WE 1911 Tactical). WA is a stock slide (HW plastic) with Guarder stainless steel chamber and barrel.

I don't have a digital scale here, so I had to Obi-wan the measures a bit, but its accurate enough to compare:

Both the WE and WA slides (complete with barrels and chambers) weigh in at 300 grams +/- ~15 grams (the WA being the heavier of the two). Seeing as how the barrel doesn't get "blown back" I stripped down the slides and weighed them without the barrel, chamber/hopup,etc (just the slide and gas assembly):

WA was about 155g, WE was 150g on the nose.

So I think it's safe to say the WE slide, at least on the 1911, isn't abnormally heavy.


Saint, how many valves do you have and how much are you looking for them? (actually you can probably take this to PM)

[Drake]

Update...

So I finally got some time to check the gun out a bit more, put a half dozen mags through it, etc. What I've done so far:

• wrapped a few lengths of PTFE tape (folded in two) around the piston head, and relubed, so the piston head would seal a bit better (cheap KWC Mini Uzi fix);
  
  
• wrapped PTFE tape around the hopup for better seal;
  
  
• did a better job of lubing up the slide and frame contact areas with white lithium grease

Performance was good, at least in the limited space my garage offers (~15 feet).

• Contrary to what I'd read in at least one review, the iron sights were lined up properly with the point of impact (at least at that range);
  
  
• BBs fed properly;
  
  
• I was able to empty almost two full mags of BBs on one charge of gas, firing double taps at 1 second intervals (2 shots per "X-one-thousand", which I consider to be a realistic combat firing rate);
  
  
• The slide always locked back on an empty magazine: the only time it failed to was when it ran out of gas, the BB fired with little power and the slide didn't fully cycle. Any GBB would have done that.

I'm curious to see how it'll perform with the TM valves installed in the mag.

I also noticed an interesting (and potentially annoying) feature: when going from an unloaded/uncocked state, simple cocking the hammer will not fire the gun (the hammer just drops without firing): you have to rack the slide back.

Somewhat more realistic, but if you want to carry your gun loaded but uncocked (as I prefer) you have to remember to decock it to the half-cocked position by riding the hammer down, instead of pulling the trigger while the mag is out (what I usually did on my WA).

[Lakonian]

Can you run TM compatible slide innards? (Loading nozzle, BBC, etc...)

[Drake]

Don't own or have ready access to a TM so I can't compare, but based on what I've read on other dboards from people doing upgrades and stuff, the slides are generally compatible but a few parts aren't.

For certain, the recoil spring guide is different (the WE doesn't impale on the hopup unit like on the TM) and the hopup unit is different also in that respect.

Also heard about the recoil spring cap being different.

The loading nozzle and piston seem to be compatible. I think the whole gas/blowback assembly in the slide is the same.

[DENZILDON]

I just got one of this babies from mopic as well. Got it yesterday and it is sweet!!!! I also got the hi-capa hardkick from him...I think I'm a gun whore no?

[Drake]

Originally Posted by DENZILDON

I just got one of this babies from mopic as well. Got it yesterday and it is sweet!!!! I also got the hi-capa hardkick from him...I think I'm a gun whore no?

No, not unless you have a lot of other stuff, too

[Lakonian]

Hmmm. I think it's time for me to get my 9th 1911...