WE G17 Slide gets stuck and vents gas through barrel

[audi_bhoy]

I would of been surprised that a KSC/KWA style slide would of fitted AND CYCLED over a TM style glock lower, well... I'd look at the exploded parts diagram to see if parts are/are not similar...

[loafing_smurf]

Reading about shipping in the forums, it appears I should really avoid evike. Which is unfortunate because it appears that they have the larger inventory of WE G17 parts.

I'm now looking more into ehobby asia. This is a bit off topic, but is there a post that tells me what I need to know about having internals shipped to Canada?

Thanks for everyone's advice.

[audi_bhoy]

Internals are fine. A friend and myself haven't had any issue with our recent orders from Evike, though there was some custom fees/taxes (can't complain on this...)

[ARC-74]

Originally Posted by audi_bhoy

Internals are fine. A friend and myself haven't had any issue with our recent orders from Evike, though there was some custom fees/taxes (can't complain on this...)

I've also not had any issues with Evike, but sometimes it takes them a week or so to process an order. If time is an issue, it might actually be faster ordering parts from Hong kong (as strange as that sounds). Air mail usually gets to me in about a week from HK.

[loafing_smurf]

I did more research on the forum and found information about shipping from the States and Hong Kong. I'm surprised you can ship a pistol slide to Canada. Curious to know more about that. Interested to know if anyone has experiences ordering a pistol slide and not having problems. I might consider getting a slide since the problem with my G17 is the slide. Although, I think the real problem is with the blowback housing.

Also, how much was customs when your items came to the boarder? I read a post from somebody in the forum that they shipped an internal that was like $20 and got charged $50. Also, apparently I should not use UPS for shipping/

[FirestormX]

Never had issues with Evike. Just bloody expensive.

Pistol slides are fine and legal for importing. It's the lower receiver that is illegal.

What is all of this costing you to replace? When I talked to you at TTAC3 (I was the guy with the box of pistols :P), you mentioned you might want to buy an M9.
Like Brian said, the best fix for a WE, is placing it between a hammer and a hard surface. :P

If you want to switch your pistol platforms, I don't recommend dumping more money into a WE. If it was a TM or KWA, then sure. They're solid performers, with solid parts, that hold onto their value. But I strongly suggest you put $300 on a new pistol that is solid and won't die on you - rather than spending $100 (products + shipping + etc) buying crappy WE parts to put into a crappy WE gun, that will just fall apart on you again, and won't be able to be resold for nearly as much money as you've put into it.

[Emre1337]

I don't think WE is really that bad. I mean it's not as good as some of the other brands, or so I've heard from many people, but is it really better to just buy a new pistol? Why not order some RA-Tech internals? That way you can keep your G17, game with it, and then, later down the road, buy yourself a new TM. TM's are really expensive compared to WE, obviously they are more durable, reliable, and function better than a WE but I'm getting back to my original question, why not just get RA-Tech internals?

[FirestormX]

I'm pretty sure RA-Tech doesn't make internals for WE pistols.
They make them for WE GBBRs, but I'm pretty sure RA-Tech only make WE G17 slides and hop up rubbers (and maybe recoil springs?)

I know you run a WE SCAR (as do I), so I should also point out that WE GBBRs are much better quality than their GBBPs. They even brand them as WETTI - I like to think that they do this so that their GBBRs don't get lumped in with "WE" GBBPs.

If you take out the WE internals from a G17, and replace them with TM or something, then sure. But why not buy a TM in the first place? It's a bit more money (even if it is expensive to order parts separately, and "build" it up), but you don't have to worry about WE tolerance problems, where the housing might not fit, even though the WE is supposed to be TM compatible.

It's kind of like a car. You could get an old crappy Kia and swap in a Honda engine. The Honda engine will last longer and probably perform better. But you'd still be sitting in a Kia, and you'll have put all that money and time into buying the engine parts and trying to patch it into your Kia.

Why not spend a little more money, and get something that you know has proper fit-and-finish, that is going to be reliable, and that you know won't fall apart again in another few hundred rounds?

It's especially important on a secondary weapon (even though OP is using it as his primary). Generally, if you have to swap from your primary to your secondary, it's in an emergency. Your primary has malfunctioned, or you've run out of ammo and don't have time to reload. You transition to your pistol as quickly as you can, get it on target, and get back in the fight. But if your secondary is unreliable, and it is your emergency life line that will save your life, then you may as well not even be carrying it.

People kind of think of the secondary as "it's just my secondary - I'll hardly ever use it. I can just cheap out on it". But they don't realize that the reason you have the secondary, is because it's going to save your life when your primary is unable to.
It's like a backup parachute. If you aren't aspiring to obtain the Darwin award, then you will never say "well, my main parachute should open most of the time. I don't really need to check my backup parachute. I probably won't need it".

People tend to look at those who say "that's a crappy gun. Just throw it away and buy something good, instead of fixing it" as elitists or trolls. But sometimes (depending on who says it), it's because they've wasted a lot of money in the past, or they know how poorly the gun will perform, and so on. In this case, I know WEs rarely run very long or very well. No sense throwing more money at it, just to get the same sub-par performance, when you'll just have to do it again when it breaks.

Spend a bit more, and get something that has quality, reliability, and holds its value. You'll save money in the long run, get more money back when you grow tired of it, and have maximum enjoyability while you do have it. If I run one of my shittier pistols, that I know won't perform well, it always makes me uncomfortable when I draw it. I don't know if the next trigger pull will actually fire. I don't know if it will hit the target. I don't know if it will do what I need it to do, and it's a very unpleasant feeling.

[loafing_smurf]

In short, I haven't placed any orders for new parts yet. Furthermore, FirestormX mention things on my mind and things that deserve a response.

About the M9, I am probably going to get a KJ Beretta M9 from 007 airsoft. Although not right away, since I bought the KJ 1911A1 (for $150 brand new at Ultimate :P) Overall I think these are the pistols that last and are of good quality.

I should also add that I'm moving to BC in early May. I get the sense that BC airsoft fields are more outdoor and have more open space. Which means I really need to get an airsoft rifle. They seem to have indoor stuff too, so I still have use for a pistol.

Going back to the WE G17, I paid $110 for it used. So I am not terribly disappointed that it failed. In some ways it is expected. At the moment I am thinking that restoring a used G17 would be an interesting pastime activity. The real question is if after market/replacement parts could make a WE G17 "usable". FirestormX give me the impression that is not the case.

Thanks for everyones responses, emre1337 included

[FirestormX]

Yeah, KJWs aren't bad. In the heirarchy of M9s (and most other pistols) commonly available in Canada, I'd rank it third best, behind TM and KWA. My very first KJW M9 is still running beautifully after a few seasons of relatively heavy use.

Replacing parts in the G17 would make it more useable, but you'd basically be replacing the parts with TM parts - or parts made for a TM. The WE should be compatible, and if it was built correctly, it would be compatible. But things just might not fit.

You can take a look at this thread, to see what you can upgrade in a TM G17: http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=140496

Theoretically, everything should fit fine. Maybe do some research on each individual part first, before purchasing.

I still don't think that it's worth the time, money, and effort. But if you want a project, and don't set particularly high expectations for the gun, then go for it.
Just be aware that WE pistol parts suck, and that you may end up with just a TM pistol in a WE lower receiver with a WE slide, by the end of the project. :P

[Emre1337]

Sorry for replying late, FirestormX, you raise some good points regarding WE's (Rifles and Pistols) so I take your advice seriously. Coming back to the pistols, I have to say my 5.1 high-capa has given me little to no trouble in the few months that I've used it. It doesn't seem like a long time yes but I have used it a lot and I mean a lot, like back when my SCAR had a broken trigger (out of the box...), I would shoot my high-capa like crazy. I've dropped it, hit it, dropped mags, shot it in the cold (-20), didn't oil it for a bit (at first) and it shoots amazing. I really liked your TM for the fact that it was super light and the blowback on it was a LOT harder than I had imagined.

Getting back to WE's, I know that WE advertises their rifles under WETTI, maybe to set it apart from their pistols, but if they were truly that bad, airsoft websites would not stock them. It's like crossman, wtf is crossman you won't find their stuff at Toronto Airsoft, Evike, Airsoftdepot etc. However, you will find WE pistols. Now I'm not trying to say they are the shit, that no other pistol compares because that's obviously not true, but maybe what you heard and have personally witnessed on WE pistols is based off of their old models. Maybe they have finally gotten some quality control in their factory, resulting in shitty versions not being sent out to stores.

All in all, I have no idea what could be the cause of this hatred towards WE. They have some nice rifles, and they kick like a donkey =P. The pistols may not be on par with the rifles, but a WE pistol will fill its role, it's not really going to crap out on you in the middle of a game, it's happened to me once, but it wan't even the pistol, I used shitty bb's which jammed my gun in the middle of a firefight... I love WE rifles, I think they have some amazing products, and they primarily have a stock of GBB's which appeals to me. Again, I'm not saying they are the best, I know for example that GHK has superior GBB AK's compared to WE and some of the other companies, but I also know that, that GHK AK, is going to cost an extra $200 compared to a WE or a KJW or w.e.

I don't even know how I got into this, I just wanted to see if loafing_smurf was able to find a fix for that glock or not =P. As for the Kia analogy, it's good, but cars and guns are kind of like apples and oranges. A Honda b16a engine would most likely not find in the engine bay of a Kia =P, but speaking in hypothetically, let's say it does. That would be like replacing the ENTIRETY of that pistols internals with all TM parts: the blowback unit, nozzle, barrel, hopup chamber etc. The problem that loafing_smurf is having is with the blowback unit and the nozzle, so a stock nozzle from WE and a TM blowback should fix his problem, and make that pistol game-able. Yes it will still be a WE, but come one let's be serious for a minute, WE pistols are not going to crap out the minute you pull it out of your holster...Maybe it's not a pistol that you can run as a primary reliably (Say at TTAC during the CQB skirmishes) but it will be a secondary and when you un-holster, sight, and pull the trigger, the bb's going to hit it's mark.

[Danke]

A few years ago WE was pretty hit or miss. Now with their GBBR popularity they have stepped up their game.

For a long time though a WE pistol was what new players got as a holster filler when they needed an OMG metal pistol to amaze their friends. The were cheap, they weren't reliable and parts were nonexistent. Docs wouldn't touch them as a result there a bad vibe.

The G17s are OK. I'm working a couple builds right now with them. As nice as TM? No of course not but for the price fair. Add in all the stuff you change on a TM anyway and they may be the ticket.

G34 build with Guarder steel slide.

[FirestormX]

A lot of people do run WEs, and some of them do really like them - and some seem to last a year or two.
But you very rarely hear tales of "my WE is a workhorse. I've been running this thing heavy for the past 5 years, with tens of thousands of rounds through it".
More commonly, though, you hear "yeah, I've had it for a couple years. X has snapped, Y has leaked, and Z is just poor quality". A lot of it, too, is just not knowing what could be better.

"I can hit a man sized target at 15 metres" is good enough for most pistols.

Companies do evolve over the years, but the general consensus seems to still be that WEs aren't great. Granted, it's mostly the older players saying that. Their opinion holds more weight, because they've been around the block, and tried a lot of brands. On the other hand, they tried WE years ago, made up their mind, and haven't purchased one since then, to see if they're getting better.

And there is the whole culture of ASC, and how it seems to perpetuate things.

My opinion, from a little personal experience, and a lot of second had experience, is that the quality of WE pistols has risen in the past few years, but is still not reliable enough to spend $200 on.

[Emre1337]

Thanks FirestormX, I played a game over this weekend and I actually wished that I had a backup to use instead of my SCAR. The SCAR works pretty good, but I'm not sure if I could call it a workhorse. It works pretty good, fairly accurate, even on full auto. However, I've recently been having some issues with my hi-capa, and I've finally decided on buying a KJW P226. Like you had originally said, a sidearm is a backup in case your primary is dry or down, and my hi-capa let me down a few times. That being said, I think some of the newer WE GBBR models are getting better and better. This is a little off topic but I plan on getting a CYMA AK as a backup rifle, could anyone possibly give some information or opinions on CYMA AK's?

[FirestormX]

Yeah, WE GBBRs are pretty great, most of the time. A whole other level from their pistols, haha.

As for the AK, a quick search through the forums brings up threads like this:
http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=160269

CYMA AKs (CM 04x models specifically) with a full stock are supposed to be decent entry AKs.
As always, it's recommended that you save a little bit off one more pay cheque, and buy higher quality - get an LCT.
Apparently Real Sword is producing their Type 97s again, so you might be able to get your hands on one of those, too.

Probably best to revive another thread about this, rather than hijack this one.
Also, you should remove the link to buying the gun, since this is outside the age verified area, and it's against the rules.