mightyjebus

bought a knock off team Wendy lid and stretch cover from Aliexpress. Pretty decent quality.

I got the NVG's from Aliexpress and it was delivered for £566 which is about the price of a Tm NGRS. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006816652648.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.29.136c1802fL5pMX The price listed is £649 but when I went to buy them they knocked off £100 at checkout. Not sure if this is for everyone but I wasn't going to complain. I'll try to stick up a video showing the quality (once it gets dark!)

PVS-31 Digital NVG. Not as good as my Gen 3 PVS-14 but better than my Sionyx. Still needs a IR source for complete darkness but in low light they are very clear. Another nice touch is you can switch from green to Phos, B&W and a strange brownish colour. This is the Pro version so you can run off the external battery pack or run it on a single 14500 battery

laylax made this one: https://impulse101.jp/en/ris-ras-handguards/laylax-nitrovo-tokyo-marui-next-gen-ak-keymod-handguard-3585 and WII Tech make this one https://airsofteire.co.uk/products/wii-tech-b-30-lower-handguard-tokyo-marui-ak102-recoil-shock?shpxid=82cf6089-37dc-4857-ac32-e571aab00879

Yup. you are right and it's not a TM and most likely a Western Arms M9A1.

looks like a TM mag to me https://eagle6.co.uk/product/tokyo-marui-m9a1-spare-magazine-26rnd-black-for-m9a1-m92f-gbb-series easy way to tell is to look at the base of the magazine and it will probably say Tokyo Marui

TM Beretta M9A1 is worth about £60 and the KJ works Glock 19/23 is around the same.

for anyone looking for a TM G17 Gen 5, Airsoft eire have them in stock https://airsofteire.co.uk/collections/green-gas-pistols/products/alpha-acr36

side mounts are usually bolted or riveted to the side of the receiver and can be drilled off. Wire stocks on AK's came in 4 versions, Romanian, Polish, Egyptian and Hungarian and all 4 are different. The Romanian and Polish look very similar but the difference is that the polish version used a button for folding whereas the Romanian one used a lever. The Maadi is similar to the Hungarian version but instead of a T shaped butt stock, had a triangle shaped piece of metal. There is more nerdy detail I could go in to but that's a general rule. One other thing to consider is all wire side folders were built on AKM's and not milled receiver AK's. In airsoft you can find 3 of the 4 stocks as aftermarket parts (no one makes a Maadi) EDIT - I forgot to mention East German but these were just a copy of the Polish one

This one? https://www.ehobbyasia.com/products/g-p-storm-grip-with-heat-sink-end-plate-for-marui-g-p-m4-aeg

The Makarov isn't that quiet. It has quite a loud pop from the CO2. Quietest is the TM MK 23 with silencer attached. Used to run around Copehill at night and my giggling as I shot people was louder than the pistol. If you fancy branching into small form factor rifles instead of pistols, I reckon you could make a TM VSR 1 pretty quiet.

fun project. Picked up a worn PTS Masada AKM from Strykerles with a few known issues. Originally it looked like this: I stripped it completely down, removed all the old paint and replaced the micro switch in the gearbox which was goosed. Cerakoted the upper receiver with Magpul flat dark earth, put in a new front sight and replaced a few other bits. Turned out pretty good.

it might be a red herring. Have you tried a different chrono as the chrono you are using might not be the best for accurate FPS readings in full auto.

The STAR/ARES SLR? I have both and both have done thousands of BB's over the years without a glitch. I've even fitted the full auto selector to one and again it's been bombproof. The company has a bit of a bad rep but outside people looking for youtube likes they aren't that bad. No better or worse that the bulk of AEG's. I have the King Arms Para FAL and it's no better or worse than the Ares apart from you are unlikely to get an external part from King Arms if it falls off and you loose it as their support game is weak.