G36C - Mystery of the Phantom Finger (G36 safety issue)

[The Legacy]

Greetings!

I recently got a hold of a G36C for a fairly decent deal. It shoots well, and it doesn't have a lot of problems...

...However, it seems to be possessed. If the gun is set to full auto, when the gun cycles, the safety will shift by approximately two degrees per shot. When this occurs, if you stop firing between full auto and semi, it'll get jammed, and you'll need to reset the fire selector. If you stop firing when it's over semi-auto, it will start firing semi. And when you hold down the fire selector so it stays in full auto, it'll jam.

Our local expert told me that it's possible that the previous owner of the gun may have taken out a spring and ball bearing of some kind, one that anchors the safety switch into the selected position; however, in all the pictures I've seen, and having a second gearbox to compare to, I don't see any problems.

I will note that it will click when it is switched between safe and semi, and has a small amount of resistance when going between semi and full auto. As well, this problem doesn't happen when set to semi, and the 'phantom finger' only goes as far as semi-auto, as the video displays fairly well.

Do you guys have any ideas what may be causing this? I'd like to make a fix for it if I can figure out what the problem is.

Thanks!

EDIT: Video added, attempt #2.

[lurkingknight]

only way to be sure is to take the gearbox out of the lower and shoot it manually without the selector.

Maybe the spring for the physical safety block is gone and it's just shaking around loose inside the mount on the side of the gearbox.

If you can shoot it manually by moving the selector plate on the side of the gearbox by hand and it works just fine, and the safety on the opposite side is there and springy, then it's not a gearbox problem.


edit:

oh yeah she's shaking right out of positition.. the ball bearings in the selector switch are missing. The fire selector should click as you move it through at each position. There should be a setscrew underneath if you want to take it apart. There should be a ball bearing and a spring that pushes it towards the lower reciever. The lever itself is just tension fit onto a cam and held with a setscrew. It probably fell out at some point and the guy lost the bits.

If you hold the selector in position and shoot does it do what it's supposed to?


http://www.airsoftworld.net/media/ca...file_18_16.jpg

in this picture you are probably missing that little cone shaped piece on a shaft just under the right selector.

[The Legacy]

Hey, thanks for the photo. Seems you're absolutely right; the little rubber stopper is missing. In fact, on the other one I'm servicing, the spring for the fire selector is missing (the rubber is still there, however).

As ordering the parts would be pricy, and would not guarantee that they won't get lost again, I'm thinking of building a new bearing of some kind. If you've done anything of the sort, let me know as I'd like your suggestions.

[lurkingknight]

for that since it's spring loaded and a special shape, no I haven't done that before.

I've made new ball bearings from solder though.. heat it up and drop it into a cup of water. They should be pretty round. Fixed a ps1 CD spindle like that.

[The Legacy]

Thanks for the tips. I actually found a piece of rubber from a stripped wire that seems to work well; the bigger problem is the spring. I've considered making my own, though would a pen's spring work for such? I'm going to check mine.

[ccyg8774]

I used to have a G36C having a similar problem: The fire selector moving from the viberation, and set it self to semi or safe.
But I didn't have the jamming issue that you have.
If you are missing the small steel ball that does the clicking and hold the selector, you can either buy some bearing balls from ebay, or, if you have a broken ball bearing piston head, that ball is just the right size.
For the spring, I scavenged a empty bic lighter and used the small spring were pushing the flint, a little thin but it works. The pen spring is a little thick for my fire selectors, but if you squeeze it with a pair of piler in a careful way, it may work as well.

[The Legacy]

Thanks. I was able to obtain a number of small springs to use; however, I'm still looking for a tiny ball bearing; the saudering idea has some merit, and I'll give it a try. Thanks again everyone.

[Kos-Mos]

If you have a hobbyshop near your place, RC cars use bearings in place of gears in the differentials.

They sell the BB sets for 5-10$.