Rogerborg

Oh, sure, I had a Well MB-03 which I upgraded to be half decent, including some DIY shimming and a TDC hop. But the bolt pull went janky, and the uPgRaDeD steel sear chewed up the aluminium piston, and the stopper wallered out the trigger box, and... You can go down the uPgRaDe path, it's still viable. It's just that I feel that you're always chasing the next bit of performance that you imagine might be there, when there are now some viable options that only need a spring swap to get them tuned for your field (and it's a very easy swap indeed on a TAC-41).

Wait, what? I've been doing it wrong for years, I've been co-operating with the other team!

Sorry to hear that. How's the chargeback going?

How much extra feats-percent will I get, mister?

Uh... what are you saving them for?

Relatable, and a cautionary tale.

The SSG10 is VSR-10 based, but with a unique trigger box. It's a case of "why don't all triggers work like this?" Silverback have gone their own way. I went for the TAC-41 because it has a TDC dial hop, larger magazines, quick-change spring, and I slightly prefer the ergonomics. However, the SSG10 really does make a good argument for itself if you prefer VSRs.

I'd say quite the opposite. Having gone down the "upgrade" route on a VSR-ish base, I'd say that you'll end up paying more for a usable, reliable gun than if you just buy (e.g.) a Novritsch SSG10, or Silverback TAC-41. Sure, you can play with the VSR at various stages of "upgrade", but you'll always be wearing out sears and stoppers, hitting the limit of your hop, and chasing a smoother bolt pull. It's fun to do, but ultimately neither cheaper nor faster than just buying something that's genuinely usable out of the box.

A creak on the stairs at 3am is what turns a pacificist into a sudden and passionate advocate for the most unreasonable amount of force possible.

Oh, we're pretty experienced with these threads here, and know that there's always another side to the story.

I don't personally have a problem with supergluing wiring. It's better than having it coming loose, and a little acetone will dissolve it easily enough.

The battery only effects the trigger response and rate of fire, not the energy. Good job for talking in terms of BB weight and Joules. FPS and 0.2g BBs is 20th century thinking. I prefer 0.28g BBs for woodland AEG use. Are you intending to take the gearbox apart? If not, then I agree with an M100 spring, the Maple Leaf rubber (I'd go 60 degrees for UK use, Skara lives on the surface of Mercury) and a Maple Leaf or XT Omega nub. ZCI barrels are decent for the price, although I agree with just cleaning the stock barrel first and seeing how you get on (with the Maple Leaf rubber and nub). If you want to dive inside, then I'd test the air seal before throwing parts at it. Stretching the piston ring over the cylinder and applying some gentle heat can seal it right up. I'd be wary about throwing everything at it, as some upgrades are sidegrades or downgrades, and if you replace multiple things at once you can never be sure which part made the gun better (or worse).

Then might it be fairer to say that it's claimed that they're different, but apparent that they're not? For one thing, if I were selling two guns like that, I'd mention the alternative gun in each advert to increase my chance of finding an interested buyer.

If you want to feel that you've maximised reliability in your overpriced fragile toy that will fail in 9 other ways anyway if you actually play with it, use bushings. If you want to feel that you've achieved that last 0.1% of performance in your overpriced fragile toy that you'll never objectively measure, use bearings.

<but-why.gif> It's amazing how responsive companies become once you initiate a chargeback via PayPal /your bank / card issuer.

Yup, they're all equally meaningless, in so much as they profess to waive your rights to redress for injury due to negligence.

Depending which document you read, replicas / imitations are prohibited. Low powered air weapons are the closest to airsoft, but... then there's that. Maaaybe. But if Royal Mail counters have taken the money, you've got an implicit contract with them. Whether a court will enforce it is another question. The other option is to just use whatever courier you fancy, as "sporting goods", with any level of cover you want, and solidly packaged. If they lose it, well, how can they demonstrate what was in the package? For all that people believe and claim that businesses have access to special terms that permit sending of RIFs / airguns / airsoft guns, I've yet to see any evidence of it.

Well, hello and welcome. If you want a game that you can live inside, Red Dead Redemption 2 holds up well.

Excellent! And an understandable mistake. I mean, it's a screw, why wouldn't you wind it in all the way?

You'll be sharply reducing your potential market. Mmm. It is hugely frustrating that the story changes depending which which policy of Parcel Farce or Royal Fail you read, or who you speak to. What I would suggest is that you should describe the item as a "low powered air weapon", not an imitation / replica firearm; and that if you manage to pay at a Royal Fail counter for increased cover the you've formed a contract with them that you should be able to claim against if push really comes to shove.

Not at all? That's... very unusual. Is it (observably) applying hop? Do your local sites test using 0.2g? If they're operating in the 21st century, I'd highly encourage thinking in terms of Joules, using the weight of BB that you intent to use, and ideally with the hop dialled in to lift it.

Well, I'm going to agree with you more than you agree with me. I think they're solid performers that tend to work really well out of the box, and have great quality plastic. A decent dial hop is better than a sloppy rotary. If you can find one that's competitively priced, they're still worth a look, it was just shocking when the price went rocketing up while (e.g.) Jing Gong and CYMA stayed down, and Specna and Lancer Tactical started adding rotary hops, QC springs, mosfets and such. I hope they come back down in price again.

Perfectly solid choices. The G&G Raiders have long been regarded as decent guns, although the price crept up while other brands added features. However, what actually matters isn't whether a gun has a rotary or dial hop, but how well it works, and the G&Gs tend to work very well indeed right out of the box. They do indeed feel great in the hand as well. One thing, the Specna will come with two springs: an M120 which is too spicy for UK use, and an M90 which will be fine (although perhaps a little lower than might be ideal for woodland). A decent shop will have fitted the M90 rather than sending you home with a hot gun. If Santa checks the box, he should find another spring in there, and a packet which (if I remember correctly) is marked M90. If the packet hasn't been opened, then the M90 is in the packet and the M120 is in the gun, and needs swapped out. If the packet is opened, that suggest the M90 is already in the gun.

100% you need optic protection. I've had a sight and two camera lenses shot out, before I figured out that BBs like to home in on any small, round, fragile pieces of glass.