Airsoft Spring Comparison Chart

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There are many factors to take into consideration when comparing the final FPS (feet per second) results of airsoft upgrade springs.  Every component inside a mechbox will contribute to the final performance of any spring upgrade.

It’s virtually impossible to test every variation of spring, piston, nozzle, cylinder and barrel configuration for all the makes, models and types of AEGs on the market today. With that preface in mind, the following chart is designed to illustrate “approximate” target FPS of a few popular spring manufacturers.

Above
Chart illustrates target FPS and corresponding springs that will come close to or under the target FPS depending on the specific AEG.

Notes
Always consider upgrading your gears, bushings and mechbox case when adding higher performance springs to your AEG.  When upgrading to 450FPS or more it is advisable to add higher quality gears, torque motor/gears and reinforced mechbox cases. The added strain on the motor may also reduce the performance of the battery. So, before upgrading a M4 with a mini battery to 450FPS – it would be wise to look at large battery conversion/options.

Future tests
Our longer term goal is to build a library of very specific upgrades with detailed parts lists to test real world performance results.  For example, we’ll open a new G36C in stock configuration and get an average FPS and relative ROF (rate of fire) measurement.  We’ll then upgrade the spring and bushings, retest the average FPS/ROF and publish the results.  We believe this catalog of specific upgrades will be infinitely more useful than a generic guesstimate spring comparison chart…it’s just going to take a while to develop!

The old charts
In response to some questions about the new chart, I’ve made the previous version available as a PDF download. -6mm

Download the old airsoft spring comparison chart. (308kb/PDF)


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19 Comments


  1. Is it just me, or did this chart change suddenly from very helpful to somewhat vague?

    by Zach June 23rd, 2008

  2. re: Zach – Yes, it is somewhat vague. FPS is all relative. It depends on so many different variables, that putting up the spring chart we had before is almost useless unless you have the exact set-up the springs were tested on.

    We are attempting, with this article, to aggregate the most popular springs and put them into one place so someone can see a general idea of what they will do (untested). Going into the future, we hope to establish a formula for testing recently upgraded guns so people can see results that come from a very specific upgrade. Hence, being able to go out and replicate those results, being more accurate and useful to everyone.

    by MechMaster June 23rd, 2008

  3. you could have a drop menu type set up where you pick: gun, gears, spring, piston, piston head, cylinder, mechbox type, barrel length and battery. then using compiled data give you an estimate on fps and rof. maybe even range if you wanted to put the effort into it. o and probably type of hop in there to.

    by TacMasteR June 23rd, 2008

  4. If you’re thinking of something like a user database for their upgrades and combination, I don’t think it would work well. Not everyone has a chrono handy so the data set may use data that is bogus or inaccurate.

    This would be good if we can have a way of verification of data before adding it to a database.

    by SpikE June 23rd, 2008

  5. re: TacMasterR
    That would be just insane to test each possibility. It might be possible to calculate or something, but that just makes it very complicated

    re: MechMaster
    I understand that it is hard to get precise FPS measurements, but what was helpful in the last chart is it listed the springs in order of FPS. Some springs are definitely stronger than others, and that’s what I based my purchase (PDI 130%) on more than FPS. I’m not as sure as you guys are, having done this many times, but I would think that while these springs are all under 400, some are stronger and weaker than others, and that information would be helpful.

    by Zach June 24th, 2008

  6. re: Zach – You have a good point. We now have a link to the old charts, in PDF format, at the bottom of this article.

    by MechMaster June 24th, 2008

  7. re: SpikE – No, we are not going to do a user database for upgrades.

    by MechMaster June 24th, 2008

  8. re: TacMasteR – A system like the one you described would be great. It would just be near impossible to create.

    by MechMaster June 24th, 2008

  9. A systema M100 spring shoots at 400FPS? I thought an M120 was at about 390, I just ordered a Systema M85 spring for a CQC game and plan on using it in a stock JG M733, do you think it would go over 300FPS?

    by Cameron June 24th, 2008

  10. And sorry for 2 comments in a row, but the link to the old chart seems to not work anymore.

    by Cameron June 24th, 2008

  11. Just a suggestion, but i think it would be neat if you tested a gun from each company with some springs of choice and make a drop down menu from those guns. I would say echo 1, ics, tokyo marui, and classic army m4 vairants. This would be very helpful to me especially since i do have a echo 1.

    by Adam Stanfield July 2nd, 2008

  12. Cameron- I thought the same thing. I just bought a PDI 170%, aiming to DOWNGRADE my gun to 400 fps from 450 fps. This charts puts a 170% over 500!

    by Alexander Lee September 5th, 2008

  13. I posted incorrect information in my last post, sorry about that. I bought a PDI 190% spring, which this part would put over 500 fps.

    by Alexander Lee September 5th, 2008

  14. Again great website, but just a suggestion :
    Why not showing spring chart for velocities lower than 400 fps.
    In France (and in Europe too), a lot (most ?) of the teams limit AEG velocity to 350 fps.
    Thx

    by skaru October 7th, 2008

  15. Hi guys jus found your site recently has been a great source of info, but I have to agree with skaru I live in the UK and our aeg’s are limited to 350fps at most woodland sites and 330fps at many CQB sites so a chart for this range would be a great help thanx.

    by Andy January 25th, 2009

  16. I’m new to the PDI % term. Can you post a definition for this? Thanks guys!

    by Chris March 23rd, 2009

  17. Hi Chris!
    The PDI % term is in relation to the tokyo marui stock spring. The PDI 100% is the same power as a stock Marui Spring. The PDI 120% has 20% more power than the stock marui spring and so on.
    R7

    by R7 May 22nd, 2009

  18. [...] Anyway, that’s just a quick blurb on things to consider before dropping your hard earned cash on a spring.  In the meantime, here is something I found very helpful in choosing springs in the past.  Check out this spring guide chart [...]

    by Spring upgrades - Part 1 of ? - The Outfit June 6th, 2009

  19. Which/what spring is the best that will fit my two constraints?
    cash(i want a relatively cheep spring, and I want no more than 330 fps for a cqb m4.

    and i dont know if this is true, but does jg use a different spring?

    by josh December 5th, 2009