Review: TM L96

[Windows]

I’ve had my TM l96 for a couple of Months now and thought it was about time to do a review, and upgrade review.
In this review I will cover the externals and internals of the stock gun, as well as many PDI upgrade parts. For those of you who want the goodies without reading the entire review here are some tips. Don't mess with the stock cylinder by opening it up. Upgrade the barrel, hop up, bucking, etc at your own leisure. However, all the PDI parts must be upgraded at the same time, and may take a long time as they are not plug and play and require modifying the receiver..

The Gun

The overall quality of the gun is exactly what you would expect from a TM. The finish both on the metal and plastic is a light matte. The plastic used on the stock is quite thick and only a couple minor squeaks are present. There is a small seam that runs the length of the gun where the two halves meet, and a mark on the base of the grip where the plastic is injected. The barrel is quite thick, similar to VSR 10, is not tapered, and is made out of 1 piece of aluminum. It has a threaded muzzle that accepts only thread adapters for the VSR 10. The receiver is also a single piece of aluminum with trades in the appropriate places. The action is quite smooth and yes... you can cock it easily with your pinkie. It is also fully aluminum bedded into the stock. The metal safety is fully functioning and also doubles as a bolt handle lock. The gun ships with a single metal magazine capable of holding 40 rounds. It was initially very hard to fit all 40 in, however after about 10 mag loads it becomes more then manageable. The front l96 bi-pod adapter has some wobble to it and is easily removable with the press of a leaver. The L96 also has a loop to accept Harris style bi pods and my china clone had no problems fitting.
The trigger is adjustable for both length of pull, and weight from about 3.5 pounds all the way down to about 0.5 pounds. It uses the old 45 degree sears similar to but not the same as the VSR 10. The cylinder is supported by 2 plastic rings and is made of black coated high speed brass (as near as I could tell) It has a fully plastic non vented piston and brass loading nozzle. The barrel is secured by about 1/2 an inch of thread as well as 3 screws and a locking ring. It uses a proprietary hop up chamber and barrel and accepts only VSR 10 type hop up rubbers.
The first thing you will notice about the gun is its size; it is quite long measuring about 3 inches longer than a full length g36 and 25% wider than the thickest part of an M4’s receiver. Fully loaded with bi-pod and scope it is about the weight of a full metal M16 with an RAS. Another thing that became evident during dis-assembly is the closeness of tolerances and build quality of both externals and internals. Nothing is greased that shouldn’t be greased (except for the hop up rubber and barrel which needed a thorough cleaning) and everything is sensibly tightened down and lock tightened.
The next thing you’ll notice is how many small parts are in the gun. Dis-assembly is slightly longer then gearbox maintenance and everything must be removed in order to complete even basic cleaning. Be very cautious when taking apart the hop up as there are quite a few springs under tension (who ever coloured the springs black should be shot as they are nearly impossible to find once they go shooting across the room)
The hop up chamber is extremely tight and requires careful application of considerable force in order to remove the pieces.
Stock, the gun will produce a consistent human size(8") grouping at 100 feet and 1 inch grouping at 30 feet. After cleaning, this will slightly tighten up to human size at 125 feet with a 1 inch grouping at 45 feet Using 0.25 unwashed Madbull BBs.

PDI V trigger(new trigger)
The trigger arrived in a sealed plastic bag containing: the trigger itself, The replacement piston end, and 2 screws that attach the unit to the gun. The first step was to remove the old trigger unit which was done by removing the 2 screws. The new trigger is basically a drop in. The two included screws are different sizes and the tabs they screw onto are different widths. Simply screw the long screw to the thick tab and the short screw to the thin one and the mod is complete. On mine, the size was a little larger and the plastic rings that secure the piston had to have about 1 mm scraped off of each side in order to fit. The build quality is superb and can easily be taken apart. The trigger also features adjustment for length of pull and centering of spring guide.

Rating:
Easiness to install: 9/10
Build quality: 10/10
Value for money: 5/10
Performance boost: Allows use of heavier springs

PDI SPR 250
Whel... what can I say... It's big, black, and hard as rock (get your mind out of the gutter). It measures exactly 1 piston length longer then the cylinder, It's about twice as hard as the stock spring and it's considerably wider then the stock spring. Yes, it is non linear, Yes it is anti corrosion coated, yes it is a bitch to install, and no it will not fit in the stock cylinder set. You will need a complete PDI cylinder kit for this spring to work.
Update ) I've finally managed to get this spring working. It turns out that "for all sniper rifles" means, "For all rifles except the TM L96". The spring is 4 coils too long for the piston when fully compressed and thus they will touch and prevent the sears from engaging. After a sleepless night trying to figure out what was wrong with my trigger, I simply cut the spring a little shorter, and everything turned out fine. The gun produces approx 500 FPS with .2 based on a conversion from using KSC perfect .3s.

Rating:
Easiness to install: 5/10
Build quality: 10/10
Value for money: 7/10
Performance boost: ~500 FPS with 4-6 coils removed from the tight end

SCS
I got the SCS off of a friend of mine. It is in practically new condition as he has only ever tested it once in an old bolt action. The SCS is clearly made on a lathe by someone who knows what they're doing. Although lathe marks are visible, they are extremely fine and the curve is (as far as I can measure with a micrometer) symmetrical. There is no seam marks and all edges are rounded and smoothed. I simply replaced the standard TM hop up bucking with the SCS and it seemed to produce the shape illustrated on Shredder's site. Extensive testing on my part is yet to be done to determine if there is any accuracy gain.

Rating:
Easiness to install: 10/10
Build quality: 10/10
Value for money: 6/10
Performance boost: Minor grouping gain. Not spectacular.

PDI paslonite cylinder set (VC)
I ordered the set from Atlanta airsoft and it came nicely wrapped in an over sized box with lots of packing peanuts. +1 for Atlanta. The set contains a vacuum piston (the one with a one way valve), metal spring guide with plastic bushing, tapered loading nozzle, and the cylinder itself. The cylinder is made of 1mm thick stainless steel and is coated with black palsonite. All the welds are laser welded and air tight and the joint is secured with 4 non removable pins. Installing the cylinder proved to be quite a hassle as I had to take off the bolt handle via the 2 locking screws(not too hard) and then try to fit it in the gun. I removed the 2 plastic rings and the metal one that secures the barrel and had to sand them down considerably to fit. The piston got stuck about 75% of the way in. On closer examination, The screw holes in the receiver left a little burr when they were tapped from the factory. Quite a bit more sanding inside the receiver, and the burrs were removed. Now the cylinder slid easily in about 90% and was very stiff to push the rest of the way in. It seems like tm may have some QC issues as the problem seems that the front of the receiver is about .1 mm smaller then the rear of the receiver and is pinching the cylinder. A ton of difficult sanding was needed on the inside of the receiver before the action became smooth.

The piston is made primarily out of a white and black plastics chosen for their various properties. It is very light even though the head and and "piston end" are metal. The head has 2 O rings, the outer (larger) one seals the head to the cylinder and the inner one acts as a cushion when the piston reaches the end of it's stroke. The vacuum piston has a hole drilled in the center and features a one way valve. This is said to increase consistency and therefore accuracy by reducing the turbulence from the overpressure. It comes with a 45 degree piston and is compatible with stock TM triggers or the PDI old trigger.

Update: 2/14/2014
The o-rings that absorb the shock of the piston were found to be much too weak. The rubber was also of inferior quality. On about the 10th shot using a high powered spring, both the o-ring on the nozzle, and on the piston dislodged and were freely floating around in the cylinder. This was due to them not being secured in a channel but instead glued on to their respective parts. The next shot reduced the o-rings to flakes and caused the feed ramp and pusher to break aswell as the bolt not locking to the rear. The piston o-ring happens to be a perfect match for a shock buffer for a hi-capa and securing the new much larger o-ring in place with some extra strength crazy glue was easy. Be warned that this part has a fundamental design flaw and may need modification to work.

Rating: UPDATED 2/14/2014
Easiness to install: 2/10
Build quality: 7/10
Value for money: 6/10
Performance boost: Tightens up action to 0 wobble, perfect air seal, Bore up to use slightly more then the 500mm barrel.

Laylax pss10 inner barrel
The barrel came in a vacuum molded package with cardboard backing but there was sufficient packing peanuts that the barrel was not scratched, dented, or bent. Both outer and inner surfaces are polished to a mirror finish and there was no manufacturing residue left on either the inside or outside of the barrel. The Barrel fit perfectly into the hop up unit and rubber, with no modifications necessary.

Rating:
Easiness to install: 10/10
Build quality: 10/10
Value for money: ?/10
Performance boost: Accuracy testing pending

Creation Part 40
Exactly what it says on the label. It's fine. There's nothing wrong with it. End of story.

Rating:
Easiness to install: 10/10 plug and play.
Build quality: 10/10
Value for money 10/10

If you have any questions regarding the TM l96 or compatibility feel free to post here.

[Ricochet]

I just purchased mine, but it won't be here for awhile. I did however aquire a very nice scope and bipod. Alas, the bipod is 20mm rail mount. Is this gun set up to receive an under rail if I wish? Also is there a one stop shop for upgrade parts, or did you have shop around allot?

Thanks

[Windows]

No, unfortunately the gun is not set up to recieve 20 mm rail mounts in the place that bipods are mounted. If you bought a harris style bipod, it may still be compatable by taking the rail adaptor off. Alternatively, if you are good with DIY mods there is enough space forward of the hop up unit where you could drill and tap holes to mount a small rail section such as a g36c rail. I decided to go with primarily a PDI upgrade with a laylax barrel. All PDI parts are avaliable directly from Xfire or may be ordered through retailers such as redwolf, or atlanta airsoft. Laylax parts are also found at most large retailers. You may also want to look at TNT sniper shop that makes their own parts.

[Windows]

Had my first major break today, and yes, it's major. During a game, the piston wouldn't lock back. Opened up the gun today and a couple broken BBs, some black plastic pieces, and O-ring bits fell out. I knew it wouldn't be pretty. Turns out the very front O-ring on the PDI piston set decided it would detach and disintegrate It got blown out the nozzle and got stuck at the very end of the feed ramp where it promptly blocked the BBs from entering the loading area of the hop up, causing the BBs to jam and break the feed ramp. So the question still remains, How did the O ring come detached, It clearly was glued on as there was no recess for it to fit into so I'm guessing bad glue? So far not really too impressed with TM and PDI's "legendary internals". Now the sears won't engage because the extra half a millimeter the O ring provided is enough to cause the piston to be too far forward to engage the sear. This is going to get time consuming, and expensive.

[Oteck]

Sorry for reviving the dead but is there any tips for preparing the reciever for the pdi cylinder set? I asked about it and says it's fine w/o the guides but it really irks me to have metal to metal w/o smooth finishes....

Option1
Polish the inner receiver and debur faults. The problem is it's a 2 piece assembly so if it were to be separated again it won't be flush at the seems....

Option 2
Bore out the Receiver and plant a sleeve/bore with cut outs or insert teflon tape around

Option 3
Buy the PDI Receiver which is pricy but i don't think it's polished internal ID but at least it comes with the inner ring

[Snowstorm45]

Would it be possible to install PDI's V-Trigger and Palsonite HD set, but keep the stock TM spring? If so, would the reinforced end screw really be needed, since the spring is the same? Also, would these barrel spacers work with the stock TM inner and outer barrels, or are they intended for PDI's own barrels?

[Ricochet]

Yes you can use those with a stock spring, but then don't waste your money. The stock spring will barely hop a 0.28g BB. Yes the barrel spacers should work. The stock spring, barrel, and hop-up rubber all suck badly. You don't need an upgraded cylinder or trigger unless you're upgrading the spring, it'll just be waste of $500. The good news is, springs and hop rubbers are cheap. Get a Laylax barrel over PDI. I got the end screw, it's relatively cheap.

[Snowstorm45]

Yeah, that makes sense, I guess I should upgrade those too. I like the low FPS because it keeps me under all the field limits and special rules, but if I can't up the range (about 100-120 feet with .30s) with out increasing the FPS, then I might as well go all out on the upgrades. So the four I linked, plus a new spring, inner barrel, and hopup rubber should be everything I need? Why do you recommend the Laylax barrel over the PDI? Also, it takes the VSR/pistol hopup rubber, right?

[Ricochet]

Yes it does. For rubbers I recommend Firefly. Laylax is "Prometheus", and is just a better barrel, nothing against PDI though. Get a few barrel spacers as well. Also part #40 the loading fin. This'll be the part on the L96 that'll likely break on you. Creation makes a CNC aluminum one. For successful 0.30g or 0.32g launch, I'd recommend no tighter than 6.03mm barrel, and aggressive hop-up rubber, and at least 420-450 FPS. When you put in your cylinder set, gently sand out the stabilization rings, because the cylinder set is right.

[Snowstorm45]

Firefly and Prometheus are what I've heard to be the best at those respective parts, so that makes sense. Do you mean barrel spacers other than the PDI ones I linked up there? The PDI barrel is much thicker in the middle, is the stock one like that too? That would matter if I got a standard-thickness inner. I have the Creation loading fin, that's the only internal part I've changed, and I did right away. By "aggressive" rubber, you mean hard vs soft rubbers, right? I'd heard the PDI cylinder is tighter, but the stabilization rings are plastic so sanding shouldn't be hard to do.

[Flawless]

Sorry about bringing back this old thread. But I thought if I asked this question here it would be better than creating a new thread.

Just wondering if it is safe to order the PDI V-trigger from Japan to Canada? Wondering if it will get through customs.