Review and installation. 

Like most people locked in the house with very little to do, and a gun sat staring at them saying “upgrade me!” (wine, lots of it), I’ve decided to do some work on my VSR. Not that I have many complaints about it, it’s just little improvements. There aren’t many stock things left on it, and one thing I’ve never changed are the two guide rings. Bolt pull has never been great, and it doesn’t really bother me, but while I’ve got the time…

A few days ago, I got a package from longbowbb.co.uk to help rectify this. Some orange coloured guide rings.

First thing that stands out, apart from the satsuma colouring, is the length of one of them. I’ll admit to being a bit confused at first. If you don’t know your way around a VSR, first of all I highly recommend buying one. These white plastic rings inside are what the bolt slides back and forth on. They’re pretty important, albeit a little basic.

So, a quick installation guide. First of all, you need the stock taking off via the three big screws on the underside. Put the stock somewhere safe – you’ll need it later.

Take the trigger off by unscrewing the upwards facing screws at the front and back (1,2). It might need a bit of force to pull the sear out which is behind the spring, and can be a bit tight. Then unscrew the outer barrel. This will be held in place by a little grub screw on the underside of the receiver (3). Don’t lose it, it’s very small. Then twist the barrel off. It has a stupidly long thread for some reason.

With the trigger removed, you can slide the bolt out. In fact, if you did the trigger before the barrel, it’s probably already dropped out. Sorry. So now we have just the receiver.

Unscrew the rear most screw on the rail, which holds the back section in place. (I don’t know if it has a name). You should now see both rings. Take them out.

You’ll notice one has a cut in it. This is the one for the rear (nearest your face). Pop the new orange one in.

Stunning. At this point, reassemble this back section with no name and check your bolt fits in – mine needed a little fine sandpaper to get it to fit in. DO NOT SAND HUGE LAYERS OFF. If it’s too loose, your bolt will rattle around. And you don’t get the smooth pull. And this was a pointless exercise.

The front ring is far more exciting.

It just pushes in. If you look back at the first picture in this article, you can see the end nearest the camera is slightly thicker. This bit goes at the back, nearest your face again. The idea of a longer one is to create a sleeve rather than a ring, to guide the bolt straight into the hop unit. It’s simple, but brilliant and a good little upgrade for your gun. And I like it/the fact that it’s orange.

Do use a bit of silicone gun grease (thick stuff, not oil) just to add some lubrication on your cylinder, and reassemble the gun. Then you’re all sorted.

1. You have a VSR.

2. It’s now a bit better.

Link to guide rings, click here