Introduction: Basic Gas Blow Back Airsoft Pistol Maintenance: FIeld Stripping and Lubricating.

By www.youtube.com/bedbugg2
About: I like mountain biking, its my main sport and i own 2 bikes so anything to do with bikes interests me, i also used to make K'nex guns but have since retired...to making instructables about games and other thin…

If you own a gas blow back airsoft pistol, you should be lubricating it at least every 3000 shots you fire to maintain the guns accuracy and prolong the life of your gun, this instructable will show you how to properly field strip your gun, as well as show you how to lubricate your gun, bear in mind that this is only a basic guide and does not cover cleaning, repairs etc, i may include that in a future instructable if i get enough interest. The gun that i will be using for this instructable will the an LS M9 gas blow back pistol that fires at about 300 FPS, this will be the second time that i have lubricated this gun, so it should last me a fair while to come.
The field stripping and lubrication of your gun may vary to this guide so you may have to familiarize yourself with the way your gun strips (levers, buttons, slide release etc) but if you own an M9 then this should be practically the same for you as most strip in the same way, so enough chat and lets get on with the instructable!
NOTE: This gun used to be clear, so if you get the same one as me it wont look like this...you should only alter the appearance of an airsoft gun if you are a registered airsofter depending on your countries airsoft policies.

Step 1: What You Need.

Very simply, all you need is your gun, and a small tube of silicone oil. DO NOT use anything other than silicone oil as this is what keeps your O rings in good condition, any other oil would degrade your O rings and make your gun function badly, so if you don't have any silicone oil, it would be worth going into any hardware store and getting some. NOTE: It does not need to be airsoft specific, you can get silicone oil for household or automotive use for much cheaper than airsoft silicone oil, so i recommend getting hold of some of that type of silicone oil rather than the airsoft specific stuff, does the same job, much cheaper.

Step 2: Safety.

Now that you have all the equipment ready to oil your gun, you now need to make sure that the gun is safe to work with, this is the most important step as you don't want to be pulling BB's out of your face, first remove the magazine by pressing the magazine release button, just below the trigger guard on my gun, and then set the magazine aside then pick up your gun and while holding it in your hand pull the slide back and check that there are no BB's in the chamber, if everything is clear then you are ready to move on to the next step!

Step 3: Removing the Slide.

The next step is to find your slide dis-assembly, the slide dis-assembly lever on my M9 was on the left side and the slide dis-assembly lever button was on the right side, slide dis-assembly buttons and levers vary from gun to gun so i have included a pic to show you where the slide release my be on your gun.
To take the slide off the M9 you need to press the button on the RIGHT side while turning the lever on the Left side so it points downwards, and then carefully pull the slide off the gun by sliding it forwards along the rails and off of the gun, after you have done this you are ready to start stripping the slide (hehe).

Step 4: Stripping the Slide.

This step can be one of the most risky as you may pop out a part that you don't know where to put back, on my M9 it was easy because the only removable parts were the parts that you needed to remove, but it may be different on your gun, so be careful and always re fur back to your manual if you are unsure where a part goes back.
To start stripping the slide, you need to push the recoil spring forward so it compresses while keeping the barrel assembly back, there is a pin from the recoil spring keeping it into the barrel assembly so slide it out and then rotate the spring 180 degrees so the pin is on the bottom side, then pull the recoil spring out of the spring block, you can leave the recoil spring in one piece at this time.
The next step to stripping the slide is to pop out the spring block, this will make removing the barrel assembly much much easier, trust me!, but be careful because there is a small black piece of plastic that attaches to the spring block that if has come away from the spring block replace, after you have done this you can start removing the barrel.
To remove the barrel assembly you need to pinch the metal block and slide it out backwards, and when you come to the wider part of the slide, pull it up and out of the slide.
Now you should have all of the necessary parts out of the slide and ready for oiling! move on to the next step...

Step 5: Lubricating the Slide and Parts.

Now that you have the slide totally dis-assembled, you need to oil the parts, starting with the slide itself with the blow back mechanism still installed (we don't need to take this out for the basic oiling) you need to put oil on the parts that are shown in the picture, you only have to use a couple of drips of oil as you don't want your gun to be swimming in it!
After you have completed oiling the slide and parts you can put it back together, reversing the steps and then put it aside ready to put back on the received when that has been oiled.

Step 6: Oiling the Receiver.

The next step is to oil the rest of the gun, or the receiver, this is one of the most crucial areas to oil as it has the rails that the slide moves on, the hammer and the trigger mechanism, so still only using a few drips of oil, run the oil along the rails of the receiver, and also about 1 or 2 drops of oil on the hammer mechanism and trigger mechanism.

Step 7: Re-assembling the Gun.

To re-assemble the gun, simply put the back of the slide to the front rails of the receiver and slide it backwards, again, if you encounter any resistance DO NOT force it, instead back it off a bit and then slide it back, slide the slide all the way back far enough until you can push the magazine release up to hold the slide back, once the slide is held back, move the slide dis-assembly lever to the locked position (facing backwards) and then release the slide, gas up your mag and you are ready to shoot! If you aren't familiar with stripping your weapons, then practice, because it is OK to make mistakes now, but not on the battlefield! so get to know your guns, and practice to field strip quickly.

Step 8: Final Words...

I shouldn't have to stress that airsoft can be a dangerous sport if safety precautions are not carried out, the least that you should wear when using any type of airsoft gun is a quality pair of goggles, so with that out of the way, have fun and happy airsofting, if you have any questions about airsoft or anything, ask away! i will be happy to help.