Impulse

Preach. Sticking an m130 into a m4 with a drum mag isn't a DMR and a lot of battlesim/filmsim or milsim events will require real world DMR replicas, like an m14, SR-25, SVD or if it's 5.56x45mm something like a mk12 etc. I'm an immersion nerd though. I like things to look the part, which is why I love Vietnam filmsim so much (and will probably try another milsim at some point as long as I can play more of a civpop role) as it's my kind of gameplay combined with everything looking the part.

Usually shorter is only an option at 420mm, because most barrels aren't cut for m14 hop ups. However, the ZCI barrels have both regular and m14 hop unit cuts, so you could go with the 494mm and you won't have any issues. The outer barrel on the m14 hugs the inner barrel the whole way through, so I don't think you'd even have any issues with it being off-centre either. And it's not a stupid question. Even with me google searching these issues, I ended up buying a 509mm barrel from Umbrella Armory for a pretty penny to stick in my m14 back in the day, only to realise it didn't fit. It has been sitting in my parts drawers for years and I'm only now finally digging it out for my SR-25 build

It's 500mm. 550mm will fit, but it'll stick into the flash hider / suppressor if you use one a little. Outside of ZCI barrels, that are cut for m14 hop units as well, most 550mm barrels wouldn't work in an m14 anyway because the hop up unit is weird.

Lightweight loadouts are king. I went airsofting on Sunday and had no issues whatsoever, but I was running a very lightweight loadout. Trousers, t-shirt, belt kit, no rig as I was using my VSR but could've run a lightweight chest rig if I needed to, and a simple cobra hood instead of a full ghillie. Keeping at least your back uncovered by extra layers, backpacks or load-bearing kit really helps you to keep cool as it allows you to sweat, then that sweat to evaporate which is how your body cools itself. If you have too many layers, you sweat but then that sweat gets trapped in those layers and you don't cool off as effectively (don't cite me on this, I am no scientist but this is what I've found through experience). I wouldn't want to play CQB unless there was some sort of environmental control to keep the temperature down and to cycle the air as it's going to get really, really stuffy in there really, really quickly; woodland is far better when it's hot because the air doesn't get stale and stuffy like it would at an indoor venue, due to being outdoors. The most important thing, so important that I give it its own paragraph, is keeping hydrated. Your body uses water to keep your body temperature at healthy levels, so while dehydration is really bad, it's worse in the heat and can lead to heatstroke (which can be life-threatening faster than dehydration!). I think I went through about 6 or 7 litres of water on Sunday. Fortunately, it typically it doesn't get too bad in this country. When I did airsoft in the south of Spain, we'd have to finish by 2pm because it just starts getting dangerously hot (hottest day when I lived in Spain I think was about 45 degrees celcius)

I would say so. £25 isn't a huge investment for a stainless steel barrel

I'm actually in the process of ordering and building myself a SR-25 and @Davegolf persuaded me to try it on electric before throwing an HPA engine inside. Will second the SR-25 as a great option, since the v2.5 gearbox is literally designed for these types of long guns and the Cyma platinum SR-25 seems to come with a lot of what you'd want in it out of the box, plus a quick change spring for if you decide you want to run it at higher power (the gearbox is designed to take 460fps, it's just downgraded when imported into the UK by a simple spring swap). The thread I started is still fairly recent, and I will be documenting my journey on building it if you're interested. Doing the same thing you're looking at, so keeping it 1.1J for no MED, though I will also be experimenting with 1.64J as well, because experimentation is a great way to find hidden gems: Ignore the fact it says HPA edition, as I'm not going with this option yet. Testing the waters making it electric first and then I'll move to HPA if electric doesn't work for me.

Cyma m14 is great out of the box, so I'll agree on that. Change out the hop rubber and nub to a better one and you'll be hitting great ranges at 1J. I have one that I have left totally stock outside of a ZCI barrel, Maple Leaf macaron and omega nub and it shoots really nicely and outranges a lot of AEGs on the field. Anyone who says "you can't have a sniper rifle at 1.1J" has never played the role, and I'm going to nail my colours to the mast on that. Yes, I have my 2.3J BASRs, but I also have a VSR and two m14s (one electric, one HPA) set to 1.1J and all of them are "sniper rifles". I just played a whole game day yesterday with a VSR set to 1.1J and very much played like a sniper and it was very effective. Most of my shots were probably around 50m, but I did make one at 80m that made me smile, but that was all about judging trajectory and drop and dropping the shot onto the target. Playing the sniper role is more about stealth and concealment than anything and you want to be taking all of your shots where the other team have no idea where you are. Again while I was playing yesterday, I low-crawled all the way up on a rolling assault to get into each firing position to take my shots from concealment, only being spotted once but the guy couldn't hit me so it was okay. Just waited for him to be forced off by my team before moving again The classification of sniper rifle and DMR is merely used as a means to set the rules on power, giving higher power in exchange for lower fire rates (semi auto or bolt action vs full auto of regular AEGs) and an MED as a trade off, but that doesn't mean you can't play the "sniper" role without a higher power gun. Yes, you will get more range with a 2.3J bolt action rifle, however for the sniper role that isn't everything. If you want to fill the marksman role, which can be done with a DMR or a BASR, then yes, you need the higher power because the whole point of a marksman in airsoft is to help the regular AEGs by offering precision, long range fire and is typically a squad-based role in more serious events like milsims. As I've already said, the sniper role is more about stealth and fieldcraft than it is about long range shots, and the satisfaction of getting hits with a 1.1J BASR is just as good as with a 2.3J BASR, which is what sniping is all about from a shooting perspective in my opinion; it's not how many you hit, but how you hit them. Anyway, I'm going to stop now before I start ranting more. Love my 1.1J sniping I do

Take your time and leave everything in deliberate locations. When I did my first work on my m14, it took me three hours to take it apart, sort all the gearbox items and then put it all back together. It's not difficult, it's just long and needs a bit of getting used to. The good news is you don't need to take everything apart to get to the barrel and hop rubber; yes, it's still more involved than an m4, but getting to the barrel and hop up isn't difficult as all you do is remove the trigger guard, separate stock from receiver, remove bolt return spring, undo 6 screws around where the outer barrel meets the receiver and separate the two. You don't need to get tied up with all the springy bits on the side of the gearbox In terms of hop up rubber, I use a Maple Leaf 60 degree macaron in mine with an omega nub and it's really, really good. You'll need to trim down the hop up rubber a little because m14s are weird and use shorter rubbers that nobody makes by default, but that's easy to do and it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect. In terms of the stock, it's not amazing quality and mine is creaky too, however it hasn't given me any issues so it appears to be fine. My TM m14's stock was way nicer, but I guess that's what you get for paying over double the price For a full disassembly and reassembly, I use this video and just follow along if I ever have to get into the gearbox. It's detailed in all the right places.

I've only been once and it was their first game ever, so there were teething issues; haven't been recently so I can't say if they've sorted those problems, but the site itself is lovely and they had a really great foundation for sure.

First game in 5 weeks and I've missed this. Took the m21 and my 1.1J spring VSR to the site, but they didn't have .32s in stock (or at least they didn't have any of the brands I like and I'm picky with my ammo) so I ended up running my spring VSR. Was a really great day, as there were lower numbers due to people getting scared of a bit of sunshine and warmth and there were very few ghillies for once, which felt great being one of them even though I was only using my Russian cobra hood because I didn't want to cook. Skill level was... pretty poor. I spent a lot of time being the front line with my bolt action rifle as I slowly crawled up along the flanks, because nobody was pushing all day so my stealthy slow-crawl was faster than the rest of my team. During one of the afternoon games, I did a slight naughty because our team was getting stomped horribly on a rolling assault where we were the attackers. We just weren't making any ground and I was the front line with my sniper rifle, so I continued slow crawling until I was fairly near their spawn. They could've easily avoided me by going through the foliage, they could've easily overwhelmed me by charging past (they had no idea where I was, but with a bolt action I can't hit that many of them if they just charge past), but they kept walking slowly down the path towards my kill-zone and I ended up spawn trapping a good portion of the enemy team for about 10 mins. Desperate times called for desperate measures and my team still didn't push, even with a bunch of the enemy team not able to reinforce the base we needed to take. When it was clear my team still wasn't pushing the objectives, a marshall asked me politely to move on and so I did and that's where I called it for the day. Was almost out of ammo in my VSR after keeping them pinned anyway, but if that wouldn't get my team to push, nothing would. That said, I got a lot of great shots, but more importantly I played with an MED in mind, despite not having one as I wanted to see if I could bring my 2.3J VSR along and still be effective. Next game day I will take the plunge and bring the 2.3J HPA VSR instead because there were many shots I could've done if I had it today, but there were no shots taken under 30m. I think I have the site knowledge and the skill to make it work, even though Worthing Airsoft is so overgrown right now, plus I found a bunch of new spots to play around. Used my p226 as my sidearm and every time I do I come away saying to myself I need to use this pistol more. It's by far my best performing GBB pistol, reaching out accurately to 50m and can still fairly reliably hit the 60m target, plus it cycles like a dream. Also, the magazines don't have those damned pins in the bottom, having a screw in the baseplate instead so they're so much easier to maintain and work on. Highlight of the day is definitely dropping a shot onto a player at about 80m with my 1.1J VSR. Fired one and there's no way it went anywhere near the guy, so I angled it slightly, took another shot and then a second or two later the guy put his hand up and looked over in my direction with a confused expression on his face. He didn't see me, but the shot felt amazing. 80m with a 1.1J bolt action is a nice shot whichever way you look at it, especially using grey BBs like I do so I had to adjust based on my estimate of the range and my knowledge of how my rifle works because I couldn't see the BBs themselves Already looking forward to next game day. Will bring my big boy VSR next time and try running it alongside an mp5k on a sling and my p226 to try and get used to it. If not, worst case if I want to run an SMG alongside a BASR/DMR I can always use the mp7 in a leg holster, but I'd like to run a pistol because I love my pistols

Welcome! Depending where you are in Sussex, there's Worthing Airsoft and the Boneyard too. Worthing Airsoft is, as you might've guessed, just outside Worthing, and the Boneyard is over Hailsham direction.

@Davegolf, you are really tempting me as I've seen a brushless motor in action and was impressed (my friend wanted to put one in his support gun but it took it up to silly ROF that would've been banned at our local site) and if the volume ratio is already there then I do like that idea, or at least trying an electric build and seeing how it is and if I like it, because I do dislike my line and tank. For the VSR it isn't as bad because I can get away with a tiny tank in a stock pouch that does me for 300 shots and is quick to pump up so it's not attached to me, but if I can do without the inconvenience I would. I don't see an electric build being too much money on top of the gun itself if I go Cyma as the platinum edition seems to come with a lot of stuff I want anyway, and the hop / barrel upgrades I'd be doing regardless. I can largely do all the tech work myself, even though I dislike working on gearboxes I can do it, but the questions I would have would be around mosfets and pre-cocking. I know the Cyma has a mosfet in it by default for that microswitch trigger and for detecting when the gearbox locks up, but I'm going to assume it wouldn't do pre-cocking and hope that it can lock the gun to semi electronically. I'm just thinking about it and surely pre-cocking puts more strain on the internals and I'm thinking with a warhead motor installed the cycle time for the gearbox would be minimal? I do value longevity, so if the difference that pre-cocking would make would be negligible for the sound profile then I'd rather take the longer life for my internals (because I hate working on gearboxes ). I'll probably send Patrol Base an email or give them a call on Monday and get them to tell me what the mosfet that comes in the SR-25 can do, but I'll take their words with a pinch of salt after they marketed the Evolution M40 as "VSR compatible" I don't plan on setting it to DMR power, because my local site is 1.64J with a 30m MED which is a bit pointless in my opinion (inb4 @Rogerborg comes in to tell me I'm wrong 🤣). The power out of the box is exactly where I'd want it, but with the other upgrades I'd be doing I may need to trim a coil or something, but that's not the end of the world and something I can test and remedy with my chrono and ammo of choice. I do like the idea of running it with a small SMG though and I own both a Cyma mp5k that I can sling (which is lovely considering it was £150) or an electric TM mp7 that fits nicely in a holster and still shoots to 45m, so if I can get along with running both the SR-25 and the mp5k at the same time, I may consider DMR power but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I also own a bunch of pistols that shoot better than most AEGs, so my secondary game is pretty strong 🤣 So, at the moment what I'm looking at is: Cyma SR-25 platinum edition plus a few spare midcaps. Warhead brushless motor (would I go 31k or 45k? I'm thinking 45k would be more snappy, but is it too much / will my gearbox explode / will it really make any difference outside of milliseconds?) Lonex helical bevel and pinion Sorbo for the cylinder head (would I want hard or soft for maximum shush?) 70 degree macaron and omega nub (that's just my preference) Stainless steel 6.03mm prommy (I know it comes with a 6.03 but I have a 509mm prommy sitting unused in my airsoft bits box) Deans connectors and some solder Really, the only pricey thing on there is the brushless motor at £170. Can try that for a spell and then decide later on if I want to HPA it, as I now know that on the HPA side it would just be a V2 engine with a different nozzle after chatting with the guys at High Pressure Airsoft about it. Who knows, might just keep it electric. Who knows, might even DMR it! Stranger things have happened (rarely though, these claims are pretty outlandish for me )

Unfortunately, mouse fart is what I want. Yes, I go HPA for performance because being able to dictate how much air gets pushed out means I don't have to faff around with cylinder-to-barrel ratio, but the main draw to HPA for me is the mouse fart quietness and it's why the only HPA guns I have are sniper rifles. The high ROF speedyboi HPA builds make me sick That said I am considering doing this, at least at first since HPA engines seem few and far between for v2.5 gearboxes (and out of stock everywhere). It won't be perfect, but as you say you can make a pretty quiet AEG, especially if it's only on semi, since full auto is what gives away your position far more than the occasional shot on semi. Yeah, this is what I thought too. Unless you get custom parts, the weird nozzle causes issues on the V2 style SR-25s if you drop in a HPA engine for a V2 gearbox. Fortunately, I wasn't a huge fan of the two V2 SR-25s on the list (Ares and G&G). Whereas the A&K, G&P, Classic Army and Cyma ones all seem to be clones of the same design, which I -think- was the G&P originally.

Hello everyone! Yes, this is a "wat am best gnu?" thread, but I would love to get some opinions and feedback on the research I have already done into this matter. In essence, my m21 build, while I love it, is really annoying me with a jamming issue that doesn't happen all the time and doesn't appear to have any fix (I've tried about half a dozen different fixes and none have stuck) and whenever it does happen it's not the nicest RIF to take apart to extract the jammed BB, so I am going to be in the market for another HPA "DMR" setup. Why do I put DMR in quotations? Because I'm keeping it 1.1J and making it as consistent as possible so it's basically just going to be a sniper rifle with no MED for use at sites where sight lines are limited, like my local site during the summer and the Gunman Eversley sites during their sniper ban time of year. So that gets me onto the meat and potatoes of the topic. I'm looking at an SR-25 as the base to build on, as I like the AR15 platform but want to keep it 7.62x51mm since I have plans for a recce rifle type build for my MWS in the future which will be the same concept, but loud, gassy and recoil-y and in 5.56x45mm. This one I want to keep quiet and stealthy and 7.62x51mm. Looking through the SR-25 replicas, it seems I have a few options: - Cyma - JG - A&K - ARES 🤢 - Classic Army - G&P (out of production?) What I'm looking for are good externals and a solid gearbox shell. Gearbox internals, motor, barrel, hop rubber etc are all getting scooped out anyway so I don't particularly care about that. I think they all have somewhat decent externals, but are there any I should watch out for? I think I like the Cyma the most, just because I've owned Cyma guns before and they've always been amazing and it seems pretty easy to get hold of with extra magazines, but I've heard great things about the A&K, though that seems to be out of stock everywhere and the G&P which seems to be the holy grail of SR-25s I just can't find anywhere. Another point for the Cyma is that if I went with it I could leave it as an AEG until I can get a HPA engine for it (they seem to be out of stock in a lot of places), and just do my accuracy upgrades since the platinum edition looks like it performs pretty decently out of the box and has nothing I'd want to change about the gearbox. Inb4 everyone comes in like "the Cyma one is craptastic, don't get it!" My concern over internals is mostly down to gearboxes, since some appear to be V2, some V2.5, and the compatibility of HPA engines with said gearboxes. Plus, it looks like I'd have to move out of my comfort zone if I went with one of the (many) V2.5 gearbox ones, since Wolverine don't appear to do an engine for the SR-25 so I'd be looking elsewhere (both of my current HPA setups are Wolverine). What HPA engines are out there that are compatible with a V2.5 gearbox? I've found the Polarstar Kythera, but that's about it and I've heard the purely mechanical HPA engines can be less consistent / noisier than battery operated ones (at least that seems to be true with all the VSR systems (mancraft vs bolt m vs bolt)). I'll be fixing it to semi-auto anyway, so that limitation of the Kythera isn't an issue, but I'd rather get some opinions or user experiences before shelling out on something as expensive as a HPA engine. TL:DR Wat am best SR-25? Wat am best HPA engine for a V2.5 gearbox?

Very different experience to me. I'm still using the same chest rig that I bought 14 years ago and it's still showing no signs of wear outside the elastic bands used to keep straps in check (which isn't a necessary part of the kit anyway...)

I have the Maple Leaf hop unit in my 1911 and it's great. Assuming the hop unit is good, I always get a Maple Leaf rubber (typically autobot, 60 or 70 degree as I don't like 50) and a Hadron H-plate, then usually get a Maple Leaf Crazy Jet barrel or a Nineball 6.03 tightbore because I like stainless steel barrels. The only difference is I get the Maple Leaf I-key instead of the H-plate if I'm using the Maple Leaf hop unit like in my 1911 as it works better with the Maple Leaf hop arm and how it's designed/shaped. These setups, usually give me a pistol that will range most AEGs while keeping below the 1.1J limit for pistols, which is very helpful as a sneaky-beaky bush monster as I sometimes feel like I'm running pistol primary, sniper rifle secondary. With this I'll typically run .32s in all my pistols with this setup, because I believe any heavier in a pistol is a dick move. Yes, I'm looking at you guys with your mk23s loaded with .48s...

Thing that stands out to me outside of that is get deans connectors fitted to it and the 7.4v batteries and you should be good to go, as the steps you've taken are pretty much what I would have done too. I like low/midcaps myself, so I'd get magazines, but a single TM highcap and a bag of BBs is perfectly skirmishable (and probably more practical than carrying several midcaps). Otherwise it looks pretty good! I imagine it'll shoot nicely on that.

Buy yourself a chrono. One of the most underrated pieces of kit for an airsofter to own is their own chrono so they can test things like this at home, especially for HPA users and people who tech their own guns. As you don't have one, what I'd say is set it to about 60psi and take it to the range early on the day, before chronos are set up. Get the hop dialled in, then once it's dialled in and shooting well, take it to chrono and see where it's shooting at. If it's super below 1.1J, adjust the reg a little, but if it's close to a joule I'd say leave it until you have your own chrono and can take as much time as you want fine tuning the reg and FCU, which you will want to do as you'll want to set the dwell and the psi properly to make it as consistent as possible. If you want to fine tune it, you could ask the staff if you can borrow a chrono and sit the first game out, but I wouldn't pester the staff before the games as they'll have their hands full chronoing everyone else. I have my own chrono so I usually take my chrono up to the range, get my m21 set for 1.1J on the money, adjust my scope, make sure the hop is right etc, then I go to chrono for the site once I've done all my own setup with my own chrono.

You replace the stock flash hider with the one that comes with the QD suppressor, then the QD suppressor slips over it when you push the base of the suppressor upwards. It's weird to explain, but really simple and obvious when you get it. In terms of good ones, I'd recommend AGAINST the 5KU ones. I bought one of their KAC style QD suppressors and while they come foam-filled and will probably be great on an AEG, they wobble too much on a GBBR and you end up clipping the end of the suppressor on some of your shots. I had one on my TM MWS and it was really disappointing as I loved how it looked.

@heroshark does some pretty great eye protection if you can get along with mesh. You get far more visibility with his stuff than normal mesh and I've got a pair with prescription inserts that I keep for when it's a really foggy day and my Revision Sawflys start fogging (which in itself is fairly rare...) Speaking of which, Revision Sawflys are really good. A bit pricey, but quality eye protection is worth every penny spent. I'm also looking to get myself a set of their Desert Locust goggles with prescription inserts and the inbuilt fan to try and combat fogging for a fully covered CQB loadout that I want to put together at some point. They are super expensive, but as I said, quality eye protection is always worth it.

Best is definitely the Wolverine Bolt for my VSR. It got me into HPA sniping and it really changed the game on how well my VSR performs. Absolutely amazing piece of kit! Worst is probably... any of the random sale items I bought thinking "that's a good price and I might use it in the future" and then never used and relegated to my kit bag. Fortunately it's not that much, but it doesn't change the fact that they were awful purchases.

Have you heard the word of the LPVO? (Low Power Variable Optic) I love LPVOs on my "regular" rifles. You can use it like a red dot, setting it to 1x and looking down the rifle with both eyes open, but having that flexibility to go up to 4x, 6x or even 8x is great for those long range shots and also reconnaissance stuff. I only use red dots on my SMGs. All my rifles have some sort of variable zoom optic.

So what you're saying is, that as someone who loves all things gas and HPA, I should avoid Anzio. I think I'm picking up what you guys are putting down there. Seriously stupid though. The whole point you sometimes run lighter BBs in gas guns is because they creep like mad. My m700 only has a 500mm barrel, not the stock 630mm one, and on 144a it will shoot a .3 at about 1.1J and a .48 at about 1.6J. Pretty sure my MWS would be hot if I put anything heavier than a .32 in it too.

Depends on your local site, in my opinion. For me, DMRs are useless at Worthing, as 1.6J with a 30m MED just isn't worth it; even if you want to play marksman you're better off with a bolt action since 2.3J will get you significant range increases and the MED is the same at 30m (and it's incredibly thick with foliage 6 months of the year, making snipers useless too). Different sites tend to have different rules for DMRs and I've written basically a thesis on it in another thread on this forum somewhere since I used my m21 setup to experiment with different powers (HPA is useful like that), but TL:DR is this: 1.48J - totally useless. Stay at 1.1J for no MED. I saw no noticeable difference in effective range. 1.64J - mostly useless. Maybe consider if your local site is fairly open and your MED is only 20m. Even then I only really saw a difference of about 5m effective range over 1.1J. 1.88J - enough to be useful. Probably wouldn't consider with a 30m MED as I have a bolt action with a 30m MED at 2.3J and an effortless bolt pull so I can shoot it fairly fast (still might though) but would go for it with a 20m MED easy. Saw enough of a boost in effective range to make it worthwhile. As a result of Worthing's DMR rules being craptastic, I've long since been honing the idea of a 1.1J "semi-auto sniper" build myself; the goal was to get the most range, consistency and silence while having no MED by keeping to 1.1J. I managed around 65m effective range (at least 9/10 shots hitting a man-sized target) and I find it to be more than enough for most engagements, though Worthing is not a very sniper rifle friendly site even in winter (but it's way better than the woodland CQB of summer). I am a big advocate of the 1.1J DMR/Sniper build and think they're underestimated in the airsoft community for just how savage they can be. Plus people moaning "that's a bit close for a sniper/DMR" is always amusing. Now that I've rambled enough, I'll actually get to my recommendation. Pick up your DMR rifle of choice, whether it's a Cyma m14 (they're nice...), SR-25 or something else. Then don't touch the gearbox, leave it at 1J and pick up a new hop rubber (I like 70 degree maple leaf macarons for AEG style rubbers), hop up nub and if you've got the cash a new inner barrel. Then simply play like a DMR as @Tackle suggested and see if you like the play style and get a feel for how much an MED might inconvenience you; remain mindful of your shots and the distances you're typically shooting at and experiment. Maybe play a game where you shoot only at targets over 20/30m, depending on the DMR MED at your site, then play the next game with no such limitation and see which you prefer. However, I will refute his point that they're 100% compatible and say they're about 95% compatible. There are tiny tolerances that are different, though you'll only encounter them if you work extensively on it. For example, TM magazines will fit in a Cyma m14, but they're really, REALLY picky about how you put them in and if you don't put them in right they'll fall out, while Cyma magazines in a TM will need to be forced in a little. Also, a Cyma stock won't fit on a TM gearbox and upper receiver. How do I know? Because I have both a Cyma and TM m14 and have discovered these while working on them