Airsoft APS CAM870 Shell Loading Guide / Demonstration 

Great idea. Additionally, 18650 batteries might just work even better since they are longer

I apologize for the delay on those- I do intend to, but I've been busy lately with house work and unpacking from a move. One of my teammates is actively working on a flamethrower build tutorial right now, so that should be ready within the next couple of months. The exoskeleton needs a little more tinkering before I feel confident enough in the ergonomics to publish details, so that will be a little later.

Maybe umarex hds 68 i think

Only issue with 3d printed wads is those are gonna hurt like a MF if you take a hit with one.

@@souswodaem1 Why? First of all you'll need to print them off of a flexible plastic, PLA is too brittle, so nylon or ABS would do the job, which wouldn't be any different to what APS uses.

That's correct. There are three areas of modification to the flare gun: 1. The barrel was bored out with a Dremel to lengthen the chamber. 2. The firing mechanism was altered- an extension made of brass rod sticks out the bottom of the hammer and is pulled back by the trigger, forcing the hammer to pivot forward and fire the shell. So it's now a direct striker design, rather than a spring-loaded hammer. 3. The firing pin was ground off, bored through, and replaced with a rounded-off section of brass rod, so that it can clear the rim of the shell and trigger the valve. Each of these was the result of just having the flare gun in hand and seeing what needed modification. It was a pretty easy process; I wasted a bunch of time trying to get the original spring-loaded hammer mechanism to work, but ultimately it's just not suited to the design of the APS shells. Had I started with abandoning that concept, it would have taken under two hours in total.

3/4" is almost exactly 19mm. An 18mm will work too.

Yes, the Hwa San's been modified. If you remove a grub screw from the end of each barrel, then the entire inner barrel assembly comes right out. It can then chamber the Goblin shells without modification, but to get it to shoot APS shells I used barrel inserts and an extractor from Blobworks on Shapeways, and extended the firing pins myself. The holster is a replica of the one used in The Road Warrior, made by a prop maker on Etsy.

@@CatgutViolin Thanks for the quick reply! Last question: What would be your opinion on using perfectly size O-rings on the ends of the shotgun shells in place of the barrel inserts? (For the purpose of keeping the shells in place). I figure this would be acceptable assuming you remove the inner barrel assembly, which I intend to do.

@@JollyGeneral I'm a little confused as to what you intend for the O-rings to do- once the barrel inserts are removed, you're left with smoothbore barrels perfectly suited for the APS shells, which are held in place by their rims (more or less how a real shotgun works). I've used O-rings when I've had distinct chamber and barrel segments and needed a good seal, like on my Martini-Henry, but that definitely isn't needed here.

@@CatgutViolin Oh? I thought you said you needed the barrel inserts for it to shoot the APS shells. From what I understand about this double barrel: *Some* kind of modding is required to shoot anything other than the stock shells, because of the shell lip/barrel difference. (Except for Goblin shells, like you've said) because otherwise, they'd just fall through the barrel and slide around. My goal is to use an O-ring on the outside of the shell itself, up against the normal lip, to create a new lip that has just enough diameter to catch the barrel, and not fall through / slide around. I'd then purchase just the firing pins, or find a way to extend them myself like you. Mostly because of budget, because I can't really justify $20x2 for barrel inserts.

@@JollyGeneral Oh yes, that's my bad- the inserts for the APS shells are chamber sleeves, since the APS shells are a little narrower than the barrels. The rims will keep them in place, but without a sleeve they can slide around and misalign. I'm not sure if you could use O-rings for that purpose.

명월 he says amazon

It's an Orion flare pistol. In the US, they're sold at stores which carry outdoor sporting gear: www.walmart.com/ip/Orion-12-Gauge-Alerter-Basic-4/16326927

Sure. The shells are designed to fit paintballs, so anything 0.68-cal or compressible to that size will work.

Do you mean the Hwa San? For that I use a replica Mad Max leather holster from a shop on Etsy.

On APS' website they also have "X-Power" shells that seem to be more potent. You said this technique already raises the power of the "regular" shells, correct? So I would be best buying the normal ones lest I actually hurt someone.

Sure, you can load 8mm BBs (I believe four fit comfortably), or 0.68cal rubber slugs. I haven't tried the new high-power shells, but my thinking is that with those, you can use either gaseous CO2 or HPA and still get usable power, so that you don't need to use liquid CO2 like I demonstrate here. Liquid CO2 is powerful, but it's hard on the shell's seals, and isn't the most convenient thing compared to an HPA tank and fill station.

The long and short of it is that to feed, fire, and eject shells you need better quality materials and significantly more internal complexity than a cheap AEG. Virtually everything in a CAM870 is CNCed or cast aluminum, whereas for the most part a < $200 AEG is going to be primarily pot metal for the body construction and can get away with lots of plastic internals (eg piston and hop-up), along with economies of scale from copying decades-old Tokyo Marui designs. I used to own a Maruzen M1100 (another shell-ejecting shotgun), which wasn't a bad gun, but constantly had issues relating to its build quality- for example, the extractor degraded rapidly and would start stovepiping, and the latches used to control shell feeding would wear down and cause double feeds. The use of shells means there's a lot more metal-on-metal contact than you get in an AEG, where basically the only parts under stress are the gears and piston. A better comparison in terms of build quality would be G&P AEGs. They're not steel, but they're not pot metal either, and tend to go for around the same price as the CAM870s. If you just want a shell-ejecting shotgun, the PPS guns tend to be a bit cheaper.

The seal will break long before the threads disengage, so just unscrew until you can hear it venting CO2, let it vent fully, and then continue unscrewing. Alternatively, you can unscrew until the valve stem is no longer depressed, then press the fill adapter into a hard surface to discharge the pressure.

@@CatgutViolin Thanks! Can you leave it on?

@@twinturboshow CO2 is really rough on seals. You could, but it will likely develop a pinhole leak sooner or later and then slowly vent the tank.

Can anyone clarify how this thing works? Each shell is powered myself, ensued you've managed to get in the shell flies down the barrel and the spread of whatever shot obliterates pigeon, with spray starting somewhere between muzzle an target. Pcp, Hpa, release pressured gas throwing the shell towards the target with a much further range before the spread sprays the target, Is that correct?

140lb/300gsm watercolor paper. Think I mentioned it in the video.

It's a Bullpup Unlimited Remington 870 bullpup stock.

I got it on Amazon.