There’s a lot that goes into making your airsoft gun shoot well and accurately. One of these integral parts is the hop-up. Find out all you need to know about how important this little component is.
And if you find yourself in need of a hop-up chamber upgrade, head over to our range of airsoft gun replacement parts.
What is a Hop-Up?
Hop-up, or high-operation power, units are essential devices in airsoft guns that ensure you can make accurate shots at a good range. You can get several different kinds of hop-up, but in their most basic form, they are made up of a hop-up chamber and rubber bucking.
This bucking is what puts backspin on your BBs as they leave the gun’s barrel. And it’s this backspin that means BBs will remain in the air for longer, maintaining a more stable trajectory.
Why Do Airsoft Guns Need A Hop-Up?
Without a hop-up and the effect provided by backspin, gravity would start to work on your BB as soon as it exited the barrel. However, putting backspin on the BB provides a lifting effect, ensuring your shot evades gravity for slightly longer, allowing you to make more accurate shots from further away.
How Do Hop-Ups Work?
This ‘lifting’ is caused by something called the Magnus Effect. Put (relatively) simply, this results in differing surface speeds on the top and bottom of the BB. The top spins in the same direction as the airflow, decreasing the level of friction, while the bottom of the BB spins against the airflow and attracts more friction, so will therefore have less airspeed than the top.
The faster-moving air from the top of a projectile will transfer to the area of low pressure behind it more quickly than the slower-moving air below – this creates the lifting effect that keeps ammo in the air and effectively maintains their flight path.
This is often demonstrated by dropping a ball from a great height when a backspin has been applied. Instead of simply falling to the ground, the ball is pushed forward, boosted by the topspin, so it doesn’t experience the same effects of gravity as quickly.
- A BB is fired from the gun's barrel after the hop-up unit has applied backspin.
- The relationship between the speed of the top of the BB and the airflow means faster-moving air is pushed behind the BB.
- This creates a lifting effect, causing BBs to travel further more consistently.
What Does Adjusting the Hop-Up Do?
Like with many elements of your airsoft gun, you can make adjustments to fine-tune the performance of your hop-up. Making changes here will alter how much backspin is applied to your BBs.
You may choose to increase or decrease the amount of backspin provided, depending on your needs. The backspin intensity will directly affect your gun’s range, and, therefore accuracy.
How to Adjust Your Hop-Up
Adjusting your hop-up is pretty simple – you just have to turn an external screw on your gun, easily dialling it to more or less backspin. You may need to play around with this setting to find what works best for your shooting. Too little backspin and your shots may end up falling short, whereas too much backspin and you’ll end up with shots higher than you expected.
You can also manually change your hop-up unit, using a hop-up rubber that’s made from a material that creates more friction. If you’re thinking about upgrading your airsoft gun, take a look at our range of hop chambers. Many of the parts here require some skill to fit, so we would recommend talking to a technician if you haven't done it before.
When you’re fine-tuning your hop-up, make sure you take a couple of test shots to keep checking how your changes are affecting the final result. Your BB’s trajectory should go up slightly when leaving the barrel and maintain a straight path for the majority of the shot before dropping very slightly before hitting the target – essentially giving you a straight line.
An in-depth knowledge about how hop-ups work isn’t necessarily essential for beginner airsoft players, but it always helps to know more about the factors that can affect your shooting!
To find out more about increasing your gun’s range and accuracy, head over to our guide.
