Rogerborg

What @Speedbird_666said. G&G Combat Machines have been around since forever ago, and while they offer very few features, all the parts work well together. Plastic, yes, but a really nice, light but strong plastic that feels decent in the hand. However, with the new prices on the G&Gs it's becoming harder to recommend them. Specnas, Double Eagles M9xx, and Lancer Tacticals offer way more features. The Edge 2.0 in particular offers good value for money over fitting an aftermarket Aster to just about any base gun. But then the Double Eagle Fire Control System has some (not all) of the same features for a fair bit less money. You'll be unlikely to regret a G&G CM16 purchase, but the answer is that there's no right answer, and whatever puts a smile on your face is the right gun for you.

It doesn't matter either way. There is no chance, absolutely none, that I'd pay more than sweetie money by F&F to some rando, despite him being ostensibly honest in the listing. Even if he does send out exactly what's promised, things can go wrong after that. And I don't get his objection. If you pay G&S, it'll either get to him, or it won't. If it does, what's the problem? If it doesn't, then he doesn't send the item. And I'm fine with paying the G&S fee - it protects me. Nope, avoid, it's just not worth the risk, or even a discussion.

[Foreboding music plays]

To expand on all the correctness above, there's no "licence" for purchase or ownership. The offence is committed by the seller, at the point of sale, and they need a case-by-case defence for each sale. The most common defence is airsoft site membership, which is recorded in the UKARA database (UKARA is really just a central list of site membership, the UKARA numbers are issued by sites). That would require your dad to play himself though, at least 3 times over a period of at least 8 weeks. Other schemes exist, and some retailers will accept other defences, both real and imaginary - it's entirely up to each seller what they'll accept, and private sellers might be less fussed. The good news is that if your responsible adult can get his hands on a RIF, then he's absolutely fine to do so - he's committing no offence by purchasing it, or by gifting it to you. But I would stress the important of being very careful what you do with it, both in public, and even in private: folk have had their doors put in by armed response when IFs (let alone RIFs) have been spotted through a window. Public possession of a RIF or an IF is an offence, and requires a case-by-case "reasonable excuse", i.e. being at or on the way to or from an airsoft event. Good on you for asking, that's an encouraging sign that you're likely to be responsible.

The stock piston is indeed plastic, but I'd already replaced the piston, spring guide with metal versions along with the spring as a "power up" kit. Ostensibly good for "500fps" (2.32J), I actually saw 3.3J out of it. Oops, that spring got cut down sharpish. What eventually went wasn't the stock 45-degree trigger sear as expected, but the spring guide stopper. It wallered out its hole and went wobbly. Now the spring guide kicks to one side when pulling the bolt, and the bolt locks back without going forward again. I've tried shimming out the stopper and might revisit it just as a project, but the core problem is the quality of monkey-metal on any cheap (and some expensive) airsoft toys. This is why you'd want to budget £100 (!) for a 90-degree trigger box on any VSR, plus the extra cost for a 90 degree piston. I mean, you can run it until it breaks, but I reckon they will all break one way or another. The Action Army AAC T11 is the cheapest sniper that I'm aware of that has a 90-degree trigger as standard that might hold up OK.

Wow, that's almost German levels of "because we can."

Wow, that's harsh, and sad that they were more concerned about appearances and attitudes rather than reality. See previous kvetching about folk point-blanking with DMR-energy pistols without an eyebrow being raised. Were they equally as bovvered about DMR players spamming at 1.5-1.8J as fast as they could finger-blast the trigger, I wonder? I actually completely agree with this, and would always suggest getting one usable AEG first, playing with that, then taking it from there. And there's no reason - other than marshals' opinions about appearances - that you couldn't run (e.g.) a light plastic CYMA and a bolt action rifle. Treat the AEG as the primary, and the bolt action as a bit of situational fun.

And yet people will keep buying them. It's the triumph of optimism over experience.

Oh, that's disappointing (except to TM owners). UK sellers to seem to reckon about that muzzle energy, while others sellers say 117m/s / 384fps on 0.2g. Neither is really ideal for the UK. Given how much that lovely walnut version already costs, it does make a reasonable argument for dropping more into it to make it all that it can be. Officially jealous.

Oh, sure, that's why I run an MP5K with ~700 rounds rather than a pistol, and use that as much as the sniper. But I've seen other snipers and DMR players on site without a functional secondary, and without the marshals being that fussed. I'm just bearing in mind that OP is on a budget, and I wouldn't want to put him off by raising the minimum cost of playing. Would that be a Mk23 with a barrel extension shooting at 1.4J or more? Got to be a strong contender for the most abused "lol it's just a pistol mate, it doesn't need a MED" gun out there. Maybe. But having a secondary on my hip isn't actually what stops me from shooting the Tac-41 inside its MED. I'd certainly encourage snipers to carry a decent secondary, but would stress that the important thing is to respect your MED and be prepared to fall back or just surrender if cornered. The other option is as suggested in the referenced "wut sniper?" thread above: power a cheap bolt action down to < 1.14J and use it without a MED. Easier to pull, less stress on the components, and it'll still give you a feel for the play style. I'm pondering that for my currently non-functional MB-03 and even using it in very-CQB for a Hard Mode giggle.

True in principle. In practice, is there a minimum required standard of functionality? For most players, most of the time, a pistol is largely a prop and you'd be as well hanging a springer off your hip in woodland. Or... OP has a broken plastic "AEP", and if he dropped that in a holster, are they going to know? And is it really an issue, as long as you respect your MED, fall back, or in extremis just call yourself out? Prompted by using my MP5K on Sunday, taking a hit on that, shouting "gun hit", then switching to my Tac-41. At that point, I didn't have a (usable) secondary. Problem? 🤔

That's rather concerning. Do you have a multimeter that you can use to test the battery voltages, across each cell (using the balance connector) and across the whole battery (at the Deans / Tamiya connector)? As to using 11.1V, go for it. Everything in airsoft guns is consumable. If you're not getting overspin and double-taps on semi, enjoy the win. You'll be getting more arcing across the trigger contacts, but that's a £5 part. Adding a cheap diode to the motor can (it seems) help it survive. I've put them on mine for ritual purposes.

Sorry, no idea, it doesn't seem to be a gun that people tinker much with. Given the cost and the unknowns, I'd be very hesitant to put extra stress on the components, and would focus on the hop and barrel - again, unknowns. Actually, I'm seeing it quoted at 117m/s with 0.2g, or 1.36J, which at most sites is going to get it treated as a sniper with a MED, for little if any extra range over a well sorted 1.14J gun. I'd be tempted to drop it down to under 1.14J, to de-stress it and lose the MED. I'd do that with a chrono to hand, using the intended weight of BBs, and (depending on how long it take to disassemble and reassemble) by cutting one coil and re-flattening, then repeat as necessary.

I lolled, but there is a real consideration that comprehending a foreign language (or even English like the Baby Jesus spoke if you're a heathen) is a front-brain activity and can fall apart when the adrenaline is flowing. The gold standard of marshalling that I've seen was at the old Depot site where the marshals didn't tend to yell, they took people away from the action and had a few moments of silence first before explaining things calmly and slowly. Not universally, there were a few angry gingers, but the ones with a soul had clearly picked up on the correct technique from the excellent head marshal, and again I'll opine that time-served bouncers are a perfect fit.

Eh. Any metal gearboxed CYMAs will last just fine, they're tough internally. It's the externals that don't feel so great. You can play with a cheap AEG, and anything that's currently in stock at Patrol Base will work. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft-assault-rifles-all?*inst=y Just be aware that the plastic on the CYMA M4s in particular is very toyish, although the BBs won't care. The Lancer Tacticals offer a lot of features for the money, and I think they've sorted their quality control issues. Sniping is definitely a case of try-before-committing, and you can either go really cheap to try, buy a VSR compatible platform with a plan to upgrade, or budget £300+ out of the box. We covered the alternatives in a recent thread.

And semi-auto trigger response. When paired with a motor that can use the extra volts (and current from a higher capacity x C battery) the difference can be startling. It will increase trigger contact arcing, and you might experience double-shots on semi where the motor keeps running after you release the trigger. That's what an active brake / pre-cock mosfet can help with. As Adolf said, if that's what you're using it for, you'll want a programmable one. The Perun AB++ is a pretty good value (by airsoft standards) mosfet that provides a decent amount of programmable features. If you want to splash out even more, the Perun Hybrids or Gate Aster (or the older Titan) optical mosfets completely replace the trigger contacts and can allow for real hair-trigger wankergun builds. If you're only interested in trigger protection, then the very cheapest mosfets will do that, and given that trigger contacts cost £5 there's little point in spending more than you have to. Bear in mind that adding any trick electronics will introduce another point of potential failure. I'd always recommend having one dumb, unmeddled-with backup AEG before upgrading / "upgrading" your main one.

Balls. I mean "ball hex Allen key"

Mmm, Equality Act 2010 has no mention of language, and I don't think it's unreasonable to require participants to understand and be able to follow simple instructions in English. Elbonian: [Full-autos at a building.] Marshall, shouting: "No full auto at buildings." Elbonian: [Looks around. Pauses. Full-autos at the building.] Marshall, shouting: "Hey! Is that a building?" Elbonian: [Looks around. Nods. Pauses. Full-autos at the building.] Marshall, shouting: "Stop shooting full auto at buildings!" Elbonian: [Looks around. Nods. Long pause.] ... [Full-autos at the building] Armchair quarterbacking here, but good marshalling at that point would be to lead that person out of play and have an actual back-and-forth conversation with them about what the problem is. Just yelling the same thing over and over and expecting different results is futile beyond a certain point.

If that doesn't sort it then what you absolutely must never do is to shove a long T-handled Allen key or similar tool up the nozzle and shove the piston back until it releases, because it will make Reddit cry when it doesn't actually wreck your gun.

Meh at Area-66. Nice weather and generally fair and good natured, but it only takes 5%. In this case a couple of God Mode rentals, and Elbonians unable or unwilling to comprehend or follow simple instructions even after repeated reminders. None of this was dealt with because of sadly typical marshalling: generalised shouting and threats about what will happen next game are fooling nobody when marshals are studiously ignoring players standing right next to them saying "I'm just going to shoot that marshal until he moves" or "I'm not taking that hit until he takes his." Why put on the hi-vis if you're not interested in doing the job? Then we got some poorly thought-out games, and parts of the site were out of play because of reasons, making it a pretty linear grind with long walks back to fixed respawns and the usual reluctance to get hit (or call hits...) that promotes. Still a few smiles, but it was more about making our own fun.

(Spoiler: you can't)

If that's actually a "factory standard" CYMA then it's likely to be over 1.3J and a Section 5 hazard. Cheeky sods, wanting another £35 to make it UK legal (Statute legal, let alone site legal).

Passenger seats in cars should have seatbelts and airbags. The steering wheel should have a big rusty spike sticking out of it.

QFT. A new VSR 90 degree trigger box cost £100 just by itself. I thought I could get away with the stock Well box for a while, but the stopper wallered out really quickly with a 2.3J spring, as well as the trigger mechanism itself getting very shonky. While I'm generally a fan of buying cheap and twice, it's seems like a poor route to take with snipers. I did seriously consider the AAC T11 as a base for building a decent sniper, but went another way... All perfectly sensible, as are the base gun suggestions. But that's £100-£120 or so for those parts, then another £100 for a 90 degree trigger box, and now you're looking at SSG-10 money, shading towards Tac-41, plus the time and fiddling to put it all together. Meanwhile, I changed the Tac-41 spring (in minutes), dialled the hop in, and just played without any issues, literally laughing out loud at how well it performed. I like tinkering with guns, but it's getting tougher to recommend upgrading snipers given that you'll end up replacing very nearly everything internally chasing that last few metres of range or cm of accuracy, and likely end up paying as much or more as buying one of the viable out-of-the-box options now. What I don't want to do is to put @Dec7 off trying sniping by bumping the "must haves" price up. You can start off with something cheap to see if you enjoy the play style, and consider that a DE M52 costs half the price of a VSR 90 degree trigger box alone. Given my bad experience with the MB-03 trigger box, I'd stick with recommending. A £50 M52 and consider it as completely disposable, just for the experience. JG BAR-10 or CYMA CM.701 (the CYMA is £10 more but claims close to 2.3J out of the box, making it a wash) for the cheapest fully VSR compatible upgrade bases. Action Army T11 because of that trigger box (but you really will have to upgrade the spring and ideally the guide as it's startlingly low powered as stock) (What I really want to say is "Skip all that, go straight to Tac-41" but at £380 to field it, you have to be sure that it's something that you'll enjoy using) I'd consider both suppressors and bipods as completely unnecessary for any of the above, and just adding weight. I'll occasionally throw a bipod on because, well, I have a bipod, but it generally comes off again by lunchtime.

I'd have lost my wager because I tested at 0.95J hopping 0.28g before, and I'm down to a disappointing[*] 0.8J now. The trigger response and ROF doesn't feel hugely better either from removing 2 teeth. [Sad womp-womp sounds] Although I suspect it was an error to swap the already well stretched and greased piston ring for a "better" one, and introduce another variable. I'm not completely happy with the air seal, and it was pretty variable for a while. Well, I'll chuck more silicone up the nozzle, run it as a sniper secondary for a bit then replace all the things again and see how well the plastic rack stood up to it. [*] For everyone except Tokyo Marui true believers.