More Ion foolishness

[JeeperCreeper]

On this episode of what to jam full of mechanical Ion, I'm going to make a rifle. I have this airsoft stock just begging for this. The chamber practically fits already. I also want to make a spring feed for it. I've been tossing the idea around for a few days now, and after seeing all of the crazy Ion builds that have happened this year, I'm gonna have to do it.

[NONOBLITUS]

Pulling up a chair to watch what happens next.

[XEMON]

Im right next to you

[Cdn_Cuda]

Ooh, fun! I have an SP1 with an Apex I’m going to mech and was thinking to do some fun. I’ll watch to see how you do.

[JeeperCreeper]

It is going to fit nicely with this Sith body. Now to start trimming and connecting the dots

[Jordan]

Love it! Great idea, looking forward to the final product.

[ChoSanJuan]

Digging it so far!

[JeeperCreeper]

It's been a while since I've messed with this, so today I started figuring out the layout, and started with some trimming. I have decided to use my XE body for ease of maintenance, plus it fits very nicely. I had to stare at this one for a little while to figure out how I'm going to mate the Ion to the hollow plastic stock, but I think I got it figured out now. I'm going to make a mounting bracket out of aluminum to be the frame of everything. The trigger box will house the Smav, so I will have use of both safeties. That would be a first for me, a Mech Ion with a safety. I still need to fit the regulator in the grip. Doesn't really make sense anywhere else. I want to make a stick feed for roundball, but I also want to cut out the hole so I can remove the stick feed and just hand feed FSR. Which leads me to my next question: How well does FSR shoot in an open bolt setup? Would I have to jam it all the way into the barrel, or do you think it would be fine being pushed into the barrel by the bolt. I'm guessing operating pressure will be down to 130-140psi by then to pass the chrony.

[JeeperCreeper]

Got the trigger box done. Smav is mounted. This thing is gonna be a blast to shoot. The feel of it is different and nicer feeling than any of my other Mech Ions. It has a positive click kind of feel to it. This has made me super excited to get this thing going. I need to order some hose and come up with some kind of fitting to adapt ASA to the small airline so I can mount the reg permanently.

[JeeperCreeper]

Made my "frame" today. My drill press is a real piece of crap (I did get it for free) so it's a little rough, but it will all be hidden. I just need to mount the trigger box on there. I need to make an adapter for the reg to the main line still. I might just cut another Ion frame up, why not. I'm really close to testing. I need to order a few more things for this build.

[Macdave06]

I guess that makes it pretty tough to screw up your measurements, right?

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

[JeeperCreeper]

You would think so, but I still messed up one hole by 1/16

[JeeperCreeper]

Everything is mounted to my frame. Plumbing is 90% done. Just need to add the regulator to the mix, cut down a few screws, and she's ready to test fire!

[NONOBLITUS]

This is coming out pretty slick. Can’t wait to see it.

[JeeperCreeper]

I may have it ready for this Sunday.

[JeeperCreeper]

First air up. Other than a slight leak on the front banjo oring, everything seems good.
https://youtu.be/tere1HhPX2g

[JeeperCreeper]

So everything is together. Now I just need some odds and ends, like a regulator lock. I plan on running a qd nipple right off the reg, so I need to lock it down so I dont adjust velocity by accident. I want to make a spring feed for it, and also mill out the hole for hand loading fsr. I have my long barrel for FSR and my Apex just looks good on it for roundball. I still need to do all the asthetic work. I'm not sure if I want to do a paint job on it just yet. I need to find out how I'm going to mount a sight rail as well.

[JeepDVLZ45]

That came out great. Excellent work, I’m excited to see it in action.

[JeeperCreeper]

Test shooting. This thing is stupid quiet with the 20" barrel

[NONOBLITUS]

Oh man , that came out awesome. It sure is quiet

[JeeperCreeper]

This thing is a BEAST. I took it out today and made some crazy long shots that even had the refs giggling. Open bolt with first strike worked out for me, I only broke one in the barrel today. I have a tap coming so I can mount a sight rail on this thing soon. But even with no sights I was still hitting long range targets, and I even was getting comfortable hitting targets on the run. I can only imagine how good this thing will be with a sight or scope on it. I have a cheap range finder scope I think would work perfectly with this.