Around a year ago, I bought a second hand, run down KJW KP-08 with the hopes of fixing it. The four CO2 magazines that came with it had leaky valves, but most other things seemed to be in ok-ish working order. I put the gun and mags in a box and stored them for later. Once I now finally got around to replacing the valves and testing the magazines, I was faced with a new problem.
The old, original slide stop was so worn down that it would not stay put in the gun when shooting, and eventually decided to attempt evacuation at the most inopportune moment. The result (as best I can deduce and reconstruct the events) was that the slide slamming backwards hit the stop, and broke it in two.
At first I thought of just getting an original replacement part, but I've had my fill of pot metal parts lately, and decided to shop around a bit. That's when I came across this KF Airsoft steel slide stop for the Hi-Capa. I thought it brilliant, as I would not have to worry about it breaking again. Once it arrived, though, I was pleasantly surprised even further.
In addition to the stronger-than-original build material, the take-down pin is not a single piece, but a sleeved structure. What this allows is for the weight and force of the slide to rest on the sleeve, leaving the actual slide stop lever to rotate freely inside. In other words, you can have the take-down pin as tight as you want without it affecting how the stop itself functions. This is simply brilliant. I don't know who originally designed this, but it's damn marvelous!
As with all things airsoft, though, some modification was necessary.
As seen in the above image, there's a metal nub protruding from the inside of the stop, which would hit the feed lips and the side of the magazine, preventing proper seating and functioning. So, what else was there to do but break out the file set and get to work?
I filed down a bit, tested the fit and worked until nothing pushed against the magazine.
As a result, I ended up taking down the protruding nub entirely and shaving the backside of the retaining tab as well in order to secure proper fit.
I reassembled the gun and had a test fire. I'm now getting a very positive lock with this part. It's better, in fact, than the original one, and it cost just a few coins more than an OEM part!
It's (sadly) not everyday that you come across airsoft parts that surprise you this way. I'm pretty stoked this one did! If you have any similar experiences, please do share them below!
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