Here's a quick and easy hopper mod that works great with a carry handle or sight. I’m sure several of you have either thought of this or made similar mods but I thought it might be helpful to provide some instructions and pics from my recent attempt.

Here’s the general idea…mod a ball hauler tube as a low-profile A-5 hopper.

First cut up your tube similar to the picture below. You should make one or two spacer rings as needed. I have two spacers but I only ended up needing one. Make sure the attachment ring is long enough to be inside the hopper and past the rectangle opening on the cyclone.

I used tape to mark my cuts. With a dremel cut-off wheel it only takes a few seconds to slice and dice the tube.

I used sand paper to score the rings and then used super glue to add the inner spacer ring and the attachment ring. Before gluing the attachment ring make sure to size it up with the cyclone. It should fit fairly snug and go a few centimeters past the rectangle opening. I used a piece of scrap from the tube to make a stop similar to the stock hopper.

Once everything was dry I painted the clear tubing and lid. I buffed the plastic with sandpaper again before painting to allow the paint to hold. If you look closely you can see that I created a window along the back side by placing a piece of tape on the tube before painting. The window didn’t work too great with a dark tube but you should be able to see the paint level with a clear tube. Just don’t sand that area if you plan on using it as a window.

The last step was to wrap the lower portion with electrical tape 2-3 times until I got the desired fit. The new hopper holds 50 rounds and should be able to take a direct hit with no problems. A nice thing about this mod is you can make the hopper to a custom height to match your own setup.