Comeau-SCS, thanks for answering my questions! Much appreciated! :)
Please the link below for a pic of my piston and seal:
CLICK ME!

Upon looking at another gun, it seems that I have an aftermarket piston too.. hmm?

Daishi, is the V1 bolt that bad? From my limited research, it's mainly less reliable in terms of FPS correct? The reason I got the V1 is because I'm in the land down under in NZ. We don't have a plethora of stuff available here! Just found someone selling this locally and so I went for it.

Grantmac, what aspects of the V1 bolt do you like? What's the main reason you run a V2 now?



An extra edit/question:
I'm running a Falcon 509mm 6.03mm, and the hopup is green, so I'm assuming it's Falcon as well. Seems like all the bits on my gun is Falcon.
Anyways, I stripped it all down, cleaned my barrel many times, took the hop-up out and washed it in warm soapy water, did the heat shrink mod on the hop-up lever arm thing, put it all back together, and shot some 0.25g bb's.
The hop-up seems to be doing OK vertically, it would stay "level" for at least 50m (160ft). However it would curve to the left quite significantly after say, 25m (80ft). Is my hop-up bucking buggered?

In m experience the V1 performs slightly better in cold weather and it's much easier to adjust the FPS if you need to run near field limits. Otherwise the V2 seems like an improvement in consistency and durability.

That piston is stock, but the piston seal is aftermarket. Likely a falcon.

In my personal opinion the gun is both more efficient and more consistent with a shorter barrel. It just doesn't perform well when you have to choke the gas system way down to get it to a fieldable FPS.

-Grant

so my charging handle broke and just got a Hephaestus steel charging handle but it is extremely tight, is this normal? been taking off material and now it operable but still tight upon pulling it

I just noticed my charging handle is worn and cracked where the guide rod slides threw. Anyone else have this problem?

Time to get a REAL STEEL one! :D

Do tell, I wanna add a rainier arms raptor charging handle, I have read this thread twice and all its about the inner barrel and nothing about charging handles

New to GBBRs, but my charging handle has been moving with the recoil recently, as if it were a bolt. Any ideas? The hook and notch seem fine.

Make sure that the charging handle's latch still has it's spring to clamp on the upper receiver. You might want to check also if the bolt slides freely into the charging handle. You could always apply a little grease into the charging handle to smooth it out !