Giving up on gbb pistols.

Year round pistols?
TM all the way - I run a pair of HK45s in CQB on green and red and they've never skipped a beat year round.
TM MK23 all year round outdoors on green/red depending on temp.

My Non TM's I've been lucky with:
Pair of CZSP01 shadows, run on red and they're spot on in all but the very coldest weather.
AW split slide Hi capa has been flawless all year on red gas.
WE Glock 18c. Perfect in all but the very coldest weather on red gas, provided I don't use auto.

Can't go wrong with TM tbh - aside from TM you need to pick carefully or just be really lucky with Monday guns...

 

 
Probably the only really decent WEs are the G series. Decent stock and more than decent with a Maple Leaf hop up unit and barrel.

Nothing really compares to TM though. I've heard it said that KJW are the equivalent of  metal Maruis, but I don't believe that for a moment.  I doubt they are that much better than WE.

The VFC FX45 is supposed to be very reliable though. Time will tell.

 
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Probably the only really decent WEs are the G series. Decent stock and more than decent with a Maple Leaf hop up unit and barrel.

Nothing really compares to TM though. I've heard it said that KJW are the equivalent of  metal Maruis, but I don't believe that for a moment.  I doubt they are that much better than WE.

The VFC FX45 is supposed to be very reliable though. Time will tell.
Had a lot of TM's, & a few kjw's (still got one), & while the TM's had the edge, got no complaints about kjw kit.......the one we I owned was a piece of shit in comparison.

 
Nothing really compares to TM though. I've heard it said that KJW are the equivalent of  metal Maruis, but I don't believe that for a moment.  I doubt they are that much better than WE.
The OEM for the CZSP01 Shadow is KJW afaik and as I said above, they're faultless in all but the coldest weather...

 
I second what @sonofsammo says about the CZ SP01 Shadow. I have one that I have run on GG without fault. I mainly run it on C02 now as I have a ready supply of C02 bulbs. It means I can run it all year round no matter what the weather is and it shoots consistently.

I also have a couple of TM Hi-Capas which as everyone says are faultless. As with most things in life, buy cheap buy twice. The majority of the time there is a reason why something is cheaper and with something as technical as a pistol or rifle that will be parts quality and consistency.

 
My VFC VP9 is a piece of shit that gas dumps in the cold.  Avoid VFC.  I will be using it purely for summer.  My TM PX9 is excellent as is my WE Makarov now I feed it black gas.

 
The KJW P226 is a bit naff imo, they do make some good RIFs but the P226 was (iirc) their first or second GBBP design - It's poor quality metal with a thick black finish which looks slightly off, and cooldown is a massive problem around the winter.

 
Thanks for all your honest input guys I really appreciate it as apposed to just getting slated on fb. I've been into airsoft now for nearly a year an I honestly thought that the pistols I brought were of good quality and would give me lasting performance.  I maintained them regularly and always used the best consumables available. Since posting I have sold all of my pistols and am looking to buy a nice 1. Now having spent the last week glued to reviews I have witled  my search down to just 3 guns that I like and get excellent reviews.  

1 tm 5.1 hi capa gold match

2 aw custom 5.1 hi capa race

3 jag precision jw3 sti 

I really like the tm it's in the middle of price range compared to others I just don't like the plastic slide but after some research I found a tarran tactical jw3 alloy upper slide from a guy called Mike cripps which will fit along with a few choice upgrades.

9ball Inner barrel

Maple hop and rubber

Gateway 125% recoil spring

Masterpeice Blowback housing 

180% nozzle spring

Guarder nozzle

9 ball mag nozzle seal

Short stroke kit

All these upgrades I have collaborated from a heap of different reviews so I'm not 100% it will all work in harmony. 

As I progress with it I shall probably get other bits.

I have £350 to play with so wondering which of the 3 would you guys go for. Now the winter is here I'm going to be doing more cqb and going to be using a pistol a lot more so Im  wanting something light which has a quick response but will hit like an AEG. 

 
Personally, I'd buy the TM, & maybe the 9 ball mag seals, & that's it, use it & maybe over time assess & drip feed any upgrades ONLY if they become necessary.

Throw it all in at once & you may end up with an unusable tangle of parts that will be difficult to sort out.

 
Adding the metal slide to the TM may start giving you some of the problems that you had with your previous pistols. Plastic slides perform well in the winter on green gas (maybe red if really really cold). You have to decide whether you want to have a snappy pistol with a plastic slide or a sluggish one. Personally I'd say, buy the TM Hi-Capa, leave it stock over the winter and as it warms up consider upgrading it.

 
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Adding the metal slide to the TM may start giving you some of the problems that you had with your previous pistols. Plastic slides perform well in the winter on green gas (maybe red if really really cold). You have to decide whether you want to have snappy pistol with a plastic slide or a sluggish one. Personally I'd say, buy the TM Hi-Capa, leave it stock over the winter and as it warms up consider upgrading it.


This sounds wise to me. I'm sure everyone will ignore it and replace the recoil spring, short stroke it, find c02 magazines and complain that TM is shit. 

 
Thanks guys really appreciate it. I was looking at the upgrades as next summer a local group is going to be setting up a free shoot comp site so maybe I'm getting a  little ahead of myself.  So I will take your info on board and stick with it stock through the winter or until something breaks and upgrade closer to the summer. Cheers.  I shall keep you all posted of how the gun performs over the coming months. 

 
Thanks for all your honest input guys I really appreciate it as apposed to just getting slated on fb. I've been into airsoft now for nearly a year an I honestly thought that the pistols I brought were of good quality and would give me lasting performance.  I maintained them regularly and always used the best consumables available. Since posting I have sold all of my pistols and am looking to buy a nice 1. Now having spent the last week glued to reviews I have witled  my search down to just 3 guns that I like and get excellent reviews.  

1 tm 5.1 hi capa gold match

2 aw custom 5.1 hi capa race

3 jag precision jw3 sti 

I really like the tm it's in the middle of price range compared to others I just don't like the plastic slide but after some research I found a tarran tactical jw3 alloy upper slide from a guy called Mike cripps which will fit along with a few choice upgrades.

9ball Inner barrel

Maple hop and rubber

Gateway 125% recoil spring

Masterpeice Blowback housing 

180% nozzle spring

Guarder nozzle

9 ball mag nozzle seal

Short stroke kit

All these upgrades I have collaborated from a heap of different reviews so I'm not 100% it will all work in harmony. 

As I progress with it I shall probably get other bits.

I have £350 to play with so wondering which of the 3 would you guys go for. Now the winter is here I'm going to be doing more cqb and going to be using a pistol a lot more so Im  wanting something light which has a quick response but will hit like an AEG. 




The problem with upgrading a TM is very similar to upgrading recoil shocks AEGS. Its a fine balance and stock are tuned to be good. To get "Brilliant" You have to replace everything and hope it all marries up 100%. Gas pistol upgrade parts need to work in exact harmony with each other. One part out of whack can destroy another part.

You were going to give up on Gas pistols before because you bought terrible ones, we have recommended you get a TM because it just works out of the box, and now you want to upgrade it to make it LESS reliable?

If you have 350, buy two TM pistols and leave them alone

With the spare cash buy an Army Armament Hi Cappa or 1911. Those are 95% TM compatible and come with metal slides stock. Upgrade that to your hearts content and don't touch the TM's. 

 
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The problem with upgrading a TM is very similar to upgrading recoil shocks AEGS. Its a fine balance and stock are tuned to be good. To get "Brilliant" You have to replace everything and hope it all marries up 100%. Gas pistol upgrade parts need to work in exact harmony with each other. One part out of whack can destroy another part.

You were going to give up on Gas pistols before because you bought terrible ones, we have recommended you get a TM because it just works out of the box, and now you want to upgrade it to make it LESS reliable?

If you have 350, buy two TM pistols and leave them alone

With the spare cash buy an Army Armament Hi Cappa or 1911. Those are 95% TM compatible and come with metal slides stock. Upgrade that to your hearts content and don't touch the TM's. 
I was looking into the upgrades for next summer to have a crack at some competition shooting.  I found a guy called Mike cripps who works on upgrading a lot of tm for people who shoot competition.  For now I will keep it stock. 

 
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I was looking into the upgrades for next summer to have a crack at some competition shooting.  I found a guy called Mike cripps who works on upgrading a lot of tm for people who shoot competition.  For now I will keep it stock. 
I've only heard of him by reputation, but if I was going to get a hi-capa, I'd get one from him. His upgraded pistols are supposed to be legendary.
If you've got the dosh, a pistol from him would be dreamy ? 

 
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I was looking into the upgrades for next summer to have a crack at some competition shooting.  I found a guy called Mike cripps who works on upgrading a lot of tm for people who shoot competition.  For now I will keep it stock. 


I've only heard of him by reputation, but if I was going to get a hi-capa, I'd get one from him. His upgraded pistols are supposed to be legendary.
If you've got the dosh, a pistol from him would be dreamy ? 


His custom jobs are probably the price of 3 stock TM pistols. http://www.eliteshootingcentre.co.uk/Gas Guns/Gas Custom Pistols/Gas Custom Pistols.htm

Get a stock TM hi-capa. 

Save the rest of your money play with your stock TM on suitable gas then if you find it doesn't do the job i.e you see someone else out performing you speak with Mike for what you want it to do better and he can advise you what to get. If you keep breaking the same part more than once then consider replacing that part with a better part but again it's sometimes better to break a cheap part 10 times than upgrade that one part and it breaks an expensive part instead. 

If you really want a tricked out one then buy a custom job from Mike he really seems to know his stuff. He has recommended stock TM parts to me 3 times when I've asked him about doing work on my hi-capa. 

 
I had a stock Hi Capa 5.1 and was not confident about fitting custom parts and getting the balance of different items right. So I spoke to Mike Cripps on the phone, asked for advice,  and then sent the gun to him. He sold me that parts I wanted and fitted them for me at no extra cost. He then sent the customised gun back with all the parts left over from the original. My Hi Capa now has a lovely Airsoft Materpiece slide on it and some upgraded internals, and can run on Guarder Power Up black gas.

I plan to get another one and try fitting parts myself over time.. Then I will put left over parts from the two guns together with some spares I will have to buy, to make a stock gun, and probably use that most of the time.

And put my customised Hi Capas on display stands and probably just look at them a lot.?

 
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I really like the tm it's in the middle of price range compared to others I just don't like the plastic slide but after some research I found a tarran tactical jw3 alloy upper slide from a guy called Mike cripps which will fit along with a few choice upgrades.

9ball Inner barrel

Maple hop and rubber

Gateway 125% recoil spring

Masterpeice Blowback housing 

180% nozzle spring

Guarder nozzle

9 ball mag nozzle seal

Short stroke kit


I'm in work and have only skimmed this thread so if this has been stated already please excuse me.

If it isn't broke don't fix it.

TM pistols are fantastic. In my opinion which is backed by first hand and anecdotal experience; if you go down the road of 'upgrading' a TM pistol, you'll end up with something worse than what came out of the box.

My friends and I joke that TM guns contain invisible Japanese pixies which make them work. When you open the gun they escape.

 
I'm in work and have only skimmed this thread so if this has been stated already please excuse me.

If it isn't broke don't fix it.

TM pistols are fantastic. In my opinion which is backed by first hand and anecdotal experience; if you go down the road of 'upgrading' a TM pistol, you'll end up with something worse than what came out of the box.

My friends and I joke that TM guns contain invisible Japanese pixies which make them work. When you open the gun they escape.


I've heard the pixy dust thing said too. 

Just leave it alone. 

Though have you handled a hi cappa? I really like 1911s, but hi cappas have a wider grip, and I don't like it. 

 
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