Impulse

All of my AEGs are in boxes since I moved to GBBRs; if I'm not using a bolt action, I'm using a GBBR. Never regretted the move myself as I love the realism and manual of arms. Then again, I am the type of player who puts weighted plates in their plate carrier because immersion (my weighted plates weigh roughly mid way between level III and IV UHMWPE plates at 2.1kg each) and then also sticks heavy GBBR mags into said carrier. I have 3x MWSs, 2x KWA mp9s, a TM AKM and a KWA mac11 and they're all fantastic. Moving to a GBBR you will be outgunned because a 300rd high cap in a full auto AEG is a lot more pew than a 35rd GBBR magazine that weighs a lot more and gets very inconsistent with too much fun switch, especially in winter. You will run out of ammo and have to reload mid firefight. People will push you while you're reloading. However, this is all part of the reason why I enjoy it so much. It's an added challenge, but it's that similar feeling as when I'm using a bolt action; every hit you get feels so much more fulfilling than with an AEG because of these limitations you're dealing with, and the recoil does feel fun and always makes me smile. Also, hitting a "switching to your pistol is faster than reloading" kill when you're being pushed during a rifle reload feels great and makes you feel like you're the main character of an action film. I am biased. Embrace GBBR.

Welcome back! Good that everything was working well when you got it out, as I know that not everyone is that lucky, especially reading some of these other posts... 😂

Definitely something to be said on this and it's why I run a symmetrical setup on my belt kit. It allows me to have both pistol mags and rifle mags in places that aren't too awkward to reach, as if they're too far back it is very awkward and the movement can easily give away your position And as has been said already, split rigs are also really useful, especially since it sounds like your playstyle is similar to mine. Those are the chest rigs I use with my MWSs, because it allows me to unclip the front and push it aside so I can still get low to the ground. I have the Condor Ronin chest rig and the hydro harness and it works really nicely.

I use just a belt kit for most of my setups, but I have a proper harness for it so it's like a webbing kit; it's the Warrior Assault Systems PLB belt with the molle harness. It's all molle (and it is ALL FILLED, Mr. @Tackle, because that is the law), but I can still carry everything I need on it. For me, this is 2x double pistol mag pouches, 2x double .308 mag pouches, two medium vertical utility pouches and a medium horizontal utility pouch, all arranged symmetrically for weight distribution, with a water bottle pouch (for HPA tank or gas bottle) and radio pouch on the back and my antenna, headset, PTT and HPA line if applicable all threaded through the back molle and shoulder straps. It lets me go prone, crawl around and get nice and low to the ground which is very useful for sniping, but I still have plenty of space for everything I need on it. The only guns I use a chest rig these days with is my MWSs, because while I can carry 6x MWS mags in those two double .308 mag pouches, plus 4 spare pistol mags in the two double pistol mag pouches, that much weight all on the belt kit around my waist is a bit rubbish and moves about more than I'd like.

I have plenty of AEGs! They're all in boxes because I don't like using them. Ideally, I'd use gas guns all year round, but gas powered bolt actions and DMRs don't have the consistency for it when it's really cold

I think you would need to get a 10.5" or a modular barrel. I don't think the 14" barrel has a section that can be unscrewed like you're saying. At least mine doesn't!

Ok, so today was both good and awful for me at the same time, so it was a weird one and I am conflicted. Went to Worthing for their Christmas game and the gameplay was great and it was all really good fun with people running around in silly dress up and the games worked really well and were very enjoyable. The awful part was my own kit and some struggles I had, but even that was a good thing because it was an experiment, so it was definitely a conflicted day for me. I decided to try the MTW again after sorting the suppressor foam and also trying it without a suppressor and it was still hopping inconsistently all over the place and I'm mega pissed off with it and I'm just sending it to super5ives to sort out because I've had enough. I tried removing the SI nozzle to put the stock one back in and it tore the o-ring; while I could replace it myself, I've spent months on this gun and I'm pissed off with it as I've never been able to use it at a game day. Still got all the original parts so depending on what they need to do with it, it might be covered under warranty (they told me as much when I explained the issues to them), but we'll see on that front. Fuck that gun. It's my most expensive gun and it's pissing me off royally. Going to get it reverted back to stock setup, then I will probably barrel and hop rubber it and that's it. No fancy hop units, no fancy nozzles, no nothing. Got a PDI 6.08 (where the hop window has been widened) that I'll throw in there and a 4uad bucking and nub that I'll put in the stock MTW hop unit. I tech all my non-AEG guns and this is the first one where I can put my hands up and say "I made it worse" and I'll own that, but it doesn't mean I'm not pissed off with it for being the one gun that decided to buck the trend of all my other guns that I've teched being phenomenal 🤬 Anyway, MTW rant aside, I also left my regulator at home, but fortunately I borrowed my friend's so I could try using my lovely m700 with the HPA tapped mags. In short, it wasn't worth it. It was a massive faff all day trying to reload, I hated the line and got it kinked and caught a few times, and I couldn't get too close to the ground because the magazine and line poking out the bottom were too tall. It shot beautifully for the most part, but the general manipulation of it around those tapped mags was awful. Going to put the fill valves back in (I only tapped 2 mags out of my 6, but will revert them this week) and wait until it warms up a bit and just run it on propane again; it's better like that anyway, I just wanted to try using it in the winter and it was not worth it. Also I had an "I wish I had a GBB pistol" moment today while using my mk23 because none of my team were pushing on a flank and we were getting constantly shot in the side, but I was holding the area where they were going to come out and as soon as they did I lit one up with the mk23, but there was a bit of "nah you didn't hit me" after I put an entire mag into him and watched at least 6 of the BBs bounce off his black hoodie that just made him scoot behind the cover a bit more after each one. Frustrated by this, I then pushed up to try and get him and got a lovely burst of full auto at about 10m at about 20rps, so next game day it's back to the hi-capa because I think I would've hit him even more with that and maybe he would've taken it, and if not it's far easier to push players with a GBB than a squishy-squooshy mk23 trigger. I think this is how I'll rotate them; if I have a moment with the hi-capa where I wish I had the mk23, the next game day I will use the mk23 until I have a moment where I wished I had the hi-capa, then I'll swap back to the hi-capa. So next game day will be a hi-capa game day for sure. As for the games today, they were pretty good. They were all festive-themed, with the morning having one guy dressed up as a present (he had a cardboard box around him) and both teams were fighting over him and had to take him to different bases to win. I think the games flowed well, were good festive fun and we were blessed with the weather as there was very little wind and no rain, though it was overcast all day. There was definitely some questionable hit taking from a few individuals, but we're talking maybe... 3 or 4 people that I came across all day. Again the marshalls were largely on it, so that's always nice! In the morning, I had one guy not taking his hits while I was sniping him in the open, then a marshall came and stood behind me to watch my shots and magically the next shot I sent that way sent the player to respawn, and the one after that sent his friend back too. Funny that once a marshall in bright orange was watching, the players sheepishly put their hands up and went back to respawn 😂 So in short, games were great, weather was great, MTW I want to throw against a tree, and I learned that I hated HPA tapped m700 mags. Next game day is one of the special ones, so I'm really looking forward to that one. Will bring my co2 VSR to that because I know that works well and I don't want to spend that game day faffing in the safe zone!

That's a good way to look at it. The long mags tend to be a bit better than the short mags, and the gun is definitely at its best running on gas as opposed to co2 or HPA. I use propane in mine as well, as I've moved to it since I use so many gas guns now (m700s and MWSs make up... 6 of my guns, all of which are among my favourites!)

With the stock 640mm inner barrel and black gas and .48s... Yeah, they do biiiig numbers. Sounds like a similar setup to the King Arms bolt, which is what I have in mine, though the King Arms one is pretty tight so good luck adjusting it with a thumb and not taking the bolt apart and using a screwdriver. EDIT: This also made me think, it's similar to HPA today, except back in the day we (almost) never had any issues with m700 snipers abusing rules and there were no tournament locks... At least I never had any issues with guys using them at the sites I played at in the UK or Spain

Tanaka bolt actions used to have a very easy way to adjust the power (I believe it is a grub screw in the bolt), but then there was a ban on it in Japan. Pre-ban rifles have that super easy adjustable bolt, while post-ban ones are a bit more involved to adjust the power, but it's still possible.

Oooooooooooooooh, a pre-ban m700 that has already been shortened (this is a good thing because stock they come with a 640mm inner barrel which joule creeps to hell!). Shame about the paint job, but a pre-ban is still a pre-ban! I've found that my m700s tend to like around 15 celcius or higher when using gas. As you get closer to 10 celcius the consistency of the gas really takes a hit, and lower than 10 celcius and it becomes unusable. The two ways around this are either co2 mags (they have issues where the power drops as you deplete the co2 bulb, but it's nowhere near as bad as the drop you get on regular gas when it's cold), or HPA tapping a few mags and embracing the hose pipe. Wherever you take it, I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoy mine! (it also feels unique as not many people run gas bolt actions. At my local site, it's just me and my friend who use them) Even though my co2 VSR has been performing amazingly well recently (and doesn't have the same co2 issues as the m700 would because it has a regulator), I have taken drastic measures because I just... prefer my m700s, how they feel and work and I want to use them, even if it's only as a backup gun during winter because my MTW is preferable. I have accepted the forbidden hose pipe because the fittings were cheap and I had magazines that I wasn't otherwise using... Will test on Sunday to see if it's okay or if I hate the air line as I tend to do, but they are air tight with no leakage. If you were going to HPA tap a magazine, do it with a long one (Action Army or King Arms) because if you want to HPA tap a short one you have to drill and thread them. The long ones you just replace the fill valve.

That definitely dampens the mood on it, but... I still kinda want one. And it's really good. I sometimes use it for my mp7 and I have no complaints about it.

It basically comes down to what you want it to do and in my opinion it comes down to three categories: stealth, loud and proud, and lightweight generalist. If you want stealth, the mk23 is unrivaled. It's a NBB gas pistol which means that it's incredibly quiet with a suppressor, and they can be tuned to hit ranges well past your MED with the aftermarket parts available. However, if you need to shoot them fast, they have a really squishy trigger which has an awful trigger pull on double action, and the force required to pull the trigger will usually shift your barrel ever so slightly and cause you to miss a lot of shots if shooting it fast. If you want a bit of firepower and going the loud and proud route, a compact SMG or SBR is great. Lots of people have recommended the Cyma mp5k and I can wholeheartedly agree with them; I have one and while it's a bit heavy, they can shoot phenomenally well. I'm also looking at my boneyard JG skorpion AEP and thinking about getting it fixed up and tuned to be a nasty lightweight BB hose for Vietnam games; make the GIs think twice about charging this sniper! Otherwise I'd stick with the TM HK45 for a lighter weight alternative to the compact SMG. GBB pistols are great as generalist sniper sidearms as they're very small and easy to carry, and you can still put a good amount of rounds down at anyone who gets within your MED. I frequently use my TM hi-capa when sniping. You could also look at getting a Glock 18 or AAP-01 for a full-auto GBB pistol, but they tend to need durability upgrades if you want to use them full-auto a lot, as well as more efficient parts because it chews through a lot of gas and loses all consistency. Or you could look at a Cyma AEP, but they don't shoot over ~0.5J due to the limitations in design (they're so small and have a tiny gearbox); basically, full-auto on a GBB pistol isn't too practical, and AEPs lack punch to where you need to put a few BBs into people for them to notice them; a 0.2 or 0.25 BB at 0.5J doesn't make much impact. Personally, I tend to only use the compact SMG at larger or special events like AI500 or Vietnam filmsim games. At regular skirmish days, I don't tend to need the extra firepower and it's a lot of added weight, so I typically bring either a mk23 if I want to be sneaky or my hi-capa if I want a bit more punch.

I'm not familiar with the internals, but I'm assuming they take unbridged GBB barrels? If so, the Stalker barrels are really good and do all manner of lengths, but they're also pretty pricey.