Shaydee

Shouldn't have done any lasting damage. I'd remove it for now as it could stretch a bit but I kinda doubt that though. MK23 you'll want a decent rubber, barrel, a H-arm (I think this is the latest thing from Hadron as opposed to the I/H keys) and a TDC to be shooting lasers. If you're on the old facebook join the MK23 owners group, wealth of info on there!

Ahh fair, nice to see someone doing their own research. Like you say there's enough people spouting that they can hit a man size target at 300 feet with an out of the box G&G raider Airsoft metres and all. My barrel is fine at the distances I engage at so personally no need to change for me! Really we should bin chronoing on 0.2s for any springer/HPA gun and chrono on the bb weights people are using (AEGs are pretty hard to overvolume from what I remember reading). But getting everyone to switch around to that will take a bloody long time. There's nothing else like it, at least for me, than creeping through the woods and getting that first shot hit and seeing others confused at where the hell it came from. This is the main thing, the amount of people I've seen around the net trying to tech and get their FPS right without a chrono is mad. It'll take a bit of time to get that hop dialed just right and get everything perfect, but man is it worth it. Looks good! Just make sure you give it a clean before you fit it to get rid of any factory/storage gunk Eagle6 are decent, like @Davegolf said they can be expensive some times so shop around. If they're the only ones with the barrel about though and you're hankering I know what I'd be doing🤣

Any info on the shorter barrel accuracy stuff? I can't say I've ever seen any testing done showing them being more accurate - genuinely interested if you've got anything to hand. True on the second part, a majority of sites still chrono on .2s and would be happy to label the gun safe to play, however if you're being truthful you'd be firing over the recommended energy limits. Also if I recall correctly UK law states 2.5 joules as the max for semi auto, anything over is classed as a firearm (airgun or otherwise, I forget the specifics).

It'll be easier to fit the 303 as you won't need to drill the end of the outer barrel, I've never seen barrel length negatively affect accuracy (at least anything that's decent quality or not horrifically under volumed). No qualms about my 430mm anyways and that has been hitting kneecaps at ~50m pretty consistently, ideal for me as people forget they leave them sticking out when behind cover! 😄 Deffo chrono with your ammo like @Skara said - just to make sure you're not joule creeping over the limit. You can see you're already getting an extra 0.2J by using the 0.40s on what I guess is the stock barrel, obviously not a massive amount at the moment but can take you above the legal level. Worst case you can always lop some coils off the spring after you've let it bed in a little (leave it compressed overnight, etc) Good choice on the geoffs and the action army unit btw, they'll serve you well when lockdown is over

Ahh nice one, will bookmark that as I'll inevitably get another barrel or two down the line. Cheers!

PDI and Edgi will be the best barrel, crazy jet best price/performance. The 6.05 430mm PDI I've been using for the past 3/4 years has been fantastic to be honest and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend one - I run one in my MK23 clone as well with good results. You used to be able to get PDI products straight from Japan through x-fire at a good price but I can't find their English language site any more, think I read on airsoft sniper forum that it had been removed? Not sure. In the general scheme of things TM stock barrels are pretty good, better than most other stock barrels by a long shot. That'll definitely hold you over until you can find something else. @leadly like @Steveocee said, you'll likely be setting and forgetting your hop unit. The AA chamber basically works like a TDC with the way the adjustment screw and arm work together, so unless you're completely set on adjusting it from the outside you won't need to TDC mod it.

Personally I use white lithium grease on the outside of the spring and on the spring guide (metal on metal), then some silicone around the o rings on the piston head. I put a bit of lithium grease on the outside of the cylinder as well to help smoothen out the bolting action. On any rubber seals/orings make sure you just use silicone as other oils/greases can have additives/chemicals that'll react with the rubber and can weaken it.

Yeah I went for a VSR AA chamber rather than a TDC mod, mainly due to laziness. Drilling is easy, like Skara said rushing is what messes it up, measure twice cut once and all that.

Laylax would do nicely, they do the Prometheus series of barrels and they're very good. The initial setup is a bit longer due to having to remove the magazine and allen key the adjustment, certainly compared to your average AEG when you can just tap fire and adjust on the fly. Once it's dialed in I find I've never really needed to adjust it unless it's maintenance time or an issue shows up (latter has been pretty rare though). After a few shots you get a rough idea of where abouts your round will land and most of the adjustment after that is actual aim with the rifle itself. I've also seen/read that the exterior adjustment can sometimes tend to not apply pressure evenly also, but I don't have first hand experience with that too much. I'll echo the sentiment of many airsofters though and reiterate that the playstyle isn't for everyone. It may be worth waiting and playing a game or two before you jump into a big sniper build, I guess you've already seen/read about that though and want to get into the internals straight away - I can see how tempting it is with lockdown to start tinkering!

First post - but I lurk around quite a few forums and have been sniping at my local site for a while, currently rocking a fully PDI'd up VSR Gspec. Here's a bit of what I'd change - Barrel spacers - Don't bother with the barrel spacers, you can make your own just by layering masking tape, I've had the same bits of tape in my VSR for the best part of 3-4 years now and alongside a properly drilled out outer barrel (to fit a 430mm on a gspec you'll have to open the hole a bit more) you'll suffer from no barrel wobble at all. With the money saved from those I'd go for a Maple Leaf crazy jet/PDI/Edgi barrel over the action army one, AA have some great parts but their barrels aren't really the best. Hop rubber - Another thing to note is the hop rubber hardness, you can probably afford to drop to 60 degree (I've just replaced my 60 I've been using for the past year/two years with a 50 a few weeks ago). We're in colder climates here in the UK so don't have to have such a hard rubber. Also swap out the decepticon for a Maple Leaf MR, these are the newest bucking rocking a different patch and supposedly work tremendously with the panthera nub - I can't say first hand how well this works as I haven't been able to test yet (thanks to covid obviously) but ASF and the mk23 groups both agree the rubber is very good consistency/accuracy wise (I've also paired this with a panthera nub). Hop unit - Any particular reason you want to keep the external adjustment? I get that it's easier in the heat of a skirmish to use that, but honestly once your hop is set with an actionarmy unit you won't need to change it until you disassemble for maintenance. With modification you can get the AA hop unit to have external adjustment anyway. It would work out cheaper to keep the TM unit though I will admit.