Impulse

I mean... I'd just get a Cyma one with a stock Love my Cyma spring shotgun

I'll add my two pence as a regular bush cosplayer. In short, if you're unsure and can't see a band just shoot them first. My local site makes you put them on your arm, however I've found it's really easy to mostly conceal the armband beneath all the ghillie flippyflappy bits on the arm and actually prefer it to putting it on my leg which isn't as easy to conceal and tends to be more visible with how I play as I go prone a lot. However the trade off is that I get friendly fired more than I get shot by the enemies, but as a ghillie who tries to keep my armband out of sight that is something I fully expect and encourage; if you're not sure on a ghillie's team, shoot first and ask later to be safe (unless it's super obvious they're on your team / they're actively waving or shouting at you and trying to get your attention). If they moan, maybe they shouldn't be using a ghillie as that's just part of it if they want to make their armband hard to see, which you want to do as a ghillie because bright blue or red or yellow doesn't blend in well with the UK woodland. In terms of wearing it on the ankle, if the site allows it then you should be allowed to do so, but my earlier point still applies; if you're unsure, shoot the ghillie first unless it's obvious they're on your team.

I'd also be looking forward to seeing how they handle chrono because it looks like they'll be doing it on .2s. If they do, there will be plenty of hot guns on the field as anyone running gas or HPA who sets 350fps on .2s will creep on heavier ammo; can confirm as someone who pretty much solely uses GBB(R)s and HPA systems.

Pretty sure if they start sniffing players they might get law suits filed against them...

Dremeled out the material and it still does the same. However, I think I identified where the issue was and have now fixed(?) it. I removed the small metal clip that goes over the hop up chamber, underneath the bolt cover as it was ever so slightly pushing down on the hop unit which meant the nozzle was rubbing against it if the magazine wasn't inserted in and applying that slight upward pressure to keep it aligned. It's satisficing and opens the hop unit up to the element somewhat (though not really as it's still covered by the bolt cover), but it means it doesn't jam up without any magazine in. Honestly don't know how else to solve the problem as I'm not sure I could shim the hop unit because of how the m14 is built.

I think the gameplay I'd be most looking forward to would be the pistols and shotguns game and would probably give the night game a very, very wide berth, but otherwise I gather it's mostly just an excuse to hang out with the boys (and girls) from your local airsoft site. I find AI500 to be the same, gameplay is a bit crap but the social experience is incredibly fun. That said, I won't be at this one and have actually never been in all of my 17 years airsofting. When I was in the UK when I started airsoft I was a teenager and my parents wouldn't want to go, then when I was old enough to go alone I was in Spain, then I was back in the UK but too busy / poor to make it and now the guys that I go airsofting with are staff at my local site and the NAF always seems to be on the same weekend as skirmish days at Worthing so we can't go. Fate itself is conspiring against me going to the NAF They do. "Please save your drinking for after you have finished playing for the day" is in the player pack, but you're correct, doesn't say anything about not playing while high as a kite.

Much nicer pic of the m21 as I realised I hadn't taken one since getting my new phone with a fancy camera. Going to be working on it this week to try and get the jamming issue resolved by taking a dremel to the gearbox shell. I really want it to work and be reliable since it's up there with my HPA VSR as my top performing gun. HPA VSR is my 2.3J sniper rifle, this is my 1.1J no MED sniper rifle. Usually covered in a rifle wrap in game because bush cosplay is important.

Uhhhhhhhh, Unreal Tournament 99 was the game and the flak cannon was my favourite gun. Rocket launcher did too much splash damage to myself, but the flak cannon was pure chaos.

I've got one of my friends lending me their dremel this week, so going to crack open the gearbox and clear out more material. Will hopefully sort out any alignment issues as I think that's what may be causing it since it's a very, very tight fit at the moment. Fingers crossed because I think that's the only weird thing about the entire build.

Only played half the day today due to gun issues, but it was a good one for the games I played. Someone put a massive box in front of one of the positions I like taking, so I've had to adapt and evolve, however now that position is now a headshot generator because the box is in the way of taking lower shots. I think I know who put it there and why they put it there and it's only made it worse 😅 Anyway, got some good sniping in with some nice long range shots through small gaps, however something has come loose in the VSR and I had a tiny air leak. My air lasted all morning, but after lunch I was at 500psi, which as I only fired about 60 shots is not working as intended. I'll get it sorted probably tonight as I have an idea what is wrong with it. I know it's a tiny leak because my bottle is a 10ci tiny tiny bottle and it still lasted through the morning, where the leaks I've had before would've drained the tank across the course of one game. Outside of that, ran the ruger converted AAP today as my sidearm and it was great. Warrior Assault Systems universal holster holds it better than the CTM holster and I got a good amount of people with it. new sniper belt kit setup worked wonders as well so I'm very happy with that too. Anyway, going to take the VSR apart now.

Earliest pic I have. I think this is a few years in, 2 or 3 I think, being sneaky sniper at a weekend event in Spain in 2008 before Spain even had sites; used to just be a bunch of guys turning up at an abandoned urbanisation to play airsoft. This was probably one of the first ever weekend airsoft events on the Costa Del Sol! As "the Brit" I had to be rocking the DPM to represent . Loadout overall was: Warrior L96, totally unupgraded and flinging .25 heavyweight BBs! (pretty sure they became Well, and .25s really were heavyweight back then!) Bell 1911 (it's a lovely pistol and I still have it. Doesn't shoot well, but looks and feels amazing!) DIY safety glasses worn over my prescription glasses (I have no idea if they were rated high enough, but I still have two eyes!) Warrior Assault Systems chest rig. Much older model that isn't made any more, but spoiler alert: it still works great and I still use it! Dingo drop leg holster in OD Blackhawk knee pads Army surplus boots Bunch of scrim net around the rifle And most up to date photo I really have that shows my loadout is from AI500 last year (the one where we got hit by a storm and they had to call it early on the Saturday!). Loadout here (with disposable income!) is: TM m21 SWS HPA setup (Wolverine Hydra Gen2) with all the upgrades TM mk23 upgraded with all the upgrades Heroshark mesh goggles with prescription inserts Stich Profi "Chimera" hood Sprinter Custom Ghillie multi-season haloscreen rifle wrap Bulle(?) MARPAT shirt and trousers Not sure on the brand of boots Warrior Assault Systems pathfinder chest rig and gunfighter belt kit Honestly, not much has changed in terms of how I play outside of me just being a lot better at it now. I still play sneaky sniper, though with a disposable income I've been able to get myself far better gear. Main difference is that I'm nowhere near as fit as I was back then and at the moment I'm carrying too many extra pounds. Gym, couch to 5k, cycling instead of getting the bus around town and BJJ and MMA classes are all helping me get back to the level of fitness I had in picture #1 when I was in multiple sports teams at school (rugby and swimming up until I moved to Spain, then just swimming in Spain) rather than me being a fatass in pic #2

Warrior L96 (now known as a Well L96) about 17 years ago. Yes, my first gun was a bolt action! Do I still have it? Hell no. Sold it when I was in Spain to finance a Cyma m14. Oldest gun I still have is probably my Bell 1911. Bought it in Spain about 13/14 years ago and it does NOT like the UK climate. It shoots, but with the heavy slide and tiny mags it's not great unless it's at least 20 celcius, though really it needs 25+.

I know we're talking about quiet, but since the thread title is "ideal sniper sidearm" I feel obliged to bring up the other side of the argument of "loud and proud". Yes the TM mk23 is, in my opinion, the best quiet sidearm, but the only time we use our sidearm when sniping is either on the move or if somebody gets too close and even then you're likely not taking out 2+ people if they're close to you with a mk23. So I introduce to you the other side of the debate and say that a compact SMG like an mp7 or mp5k or p90 would also serve as a good sidearm for a sniper. Nowhere near as silent, but if you're moving and don't want to give away your position, trust in your stealth and go to ground. If you're moving and you want to engage, you'll have a much better chance of winning that engagement against 2+ people (though the mk23 is better against 1 person by themselves for sure). Similarly, if they're within your MED and they don't know where you are, you can go to ground and wait for them to pass, or if they do know where you are again you're far more likely to win that engagement with an SMG than a mk23. Basically, a mk23 is a great pistol and I have one and would highly recommend one as a sniper sidearm if you want to go quiet. It's by far my best stealth sidearm and I used it essentially as a primary weapon with a Cyma spring tri-shot as my "secondary" at a private game at the UCAP tunnels; was hilarious people having no idea where they were getting shot from and it went well with my costume as a cyberpunk/noir corporate operative silently taking people out. Even managed to knife kill the juggernaut (knife kills were the only way to temporarily remove the juggernaut and his scary full auto LMG from game). However, it's awful at any kind of quick shooting because the trigger pull is long and squishy thanks to it being a NBB. I also have an mp7 that I carry in a thigh holster, an mp5k I carry on a sling, and more GBBs than I can shake a stick at because I love pistols and I would say they ALL have their uses as sniper sidearms (even if GBB pistols have their main selling point as "they're fun and cool to shoot") Anyway, feel free to also ignore me as your son says he wants something quiet. I'm just highlighting other considerations for sniper secondaries as someone who has been doing it for 17 years or so.

Ok, it wasn't enough. I sorted the AEG m21 build today with helical gears shimmed correctly. Now, I will say that it's amazing how much duller the sound signature is and nobody's going to hear this at 30m, however it's just not enough for a rifle I will likely be setting to 1.1J most of the time and taking closer range engagements. I'll get the AEG SR-25 build done, because I've bought the stuff, however I am now starting the process of saving for a Wolverine Inferno Gen2 plus SR-25 nozzle, though this will not be immediate as it's a pretty pricey piece of kit. I'm going to HPA it because while I was impressed at how great the quietness is, it's just... not enough. My HPA m21 and VSR builds have spoiled me. I'm just glad I didn't shell out TOO much, though probably about £100 total of parts will end up a wasted purchase 😢

Entirely possible. This was my first real attempt at freestyle shimming (I say that because the Guarder tune up kit for the m14 comes with instructions on how many shims to put where, so that was easy shimming) so I could've done it poorly. I just couldn't believe how noisy it was! Was supposed to quieten the gearbox, not make it assault my ears

Being totally honest, I can't tell. Tried looking down with a torch shining up into the hop unit but can't make it out at the bottom of the barrel. It would make the most sense though, as when I spoke to High Pressure Airsoft they were a bit confused but said that misalignment would be their best guess. If that's the case, I'll probably end up sending it to High Pressure Airsoft because I just don't have the tools to sort it out.

Time for another update. Had another go at it last night because my pinion tool arrived and I figured that I could do it now that I could swap out the pinion gear on the motor. Removing the pinion and replacing it with the helical pinion was fairly painless, which could be part of the reason for this renewed confidence. But was it false confidence? At first, everything was going okay. Took the SR-25 apart and got to cleaning out the snot that Cyma lube their gearboxes with. Cleaned it all out, followed a guide on how to shim a gearbox properly and eventually got to a point where my gears were turning nice and easy. Things were going well! I then put it all back together, ensuring to put everything back together properly and even making sure the fire selector was put together correctly this time! Then came the monster pain point. The damned motor. No matter what I tried I just couldn't get the motor into the pistol grip. I wrestled with it for literally hours before calling it at almost 1am and going to bed. This morning I tried again and managed to get it in there, but as soon as I test fired... It cycled. Once. I think the mosfet was like "this battery is low so I'm not working" as the gearbox didn't lock up and it reset just fine after the trigger pull. However, it was LOUD and SLOW. Oh my god was it loud. I must've done something wrong because it shouldn't have been that loud or that slow; the sluggishness could be because of a low battery as the battery I tested was storage charged, but still it was incredibly loud. Louder than my stock AEG m14. So plan is, as it was before, to give this over to my local tech to sort out. I've had it up to here with this build and unless something dramatically changes I am seriously looking at just getting a Wolverine Inferno and a special SR-25 nozzle. If I do that it won't be for a hot minute because it'll set me back £400 by itself and I don't want to spend that much at the moment. Parts for my AEG m14 will be arriving today, so I will do that this evening. I am more familiar with the v7 gearbox and I've rebuilt them before, so I'm confident I can do that one properly with a very similar build to this. If it doesn't impress me, the draw to get a Wolverine Inferno for this build will only increase. 😐

I don't typically wear my plate carrier, but I'm an immersion nerd who will silently LARP my way through a skirmish day and for the role I play a chest rig is preferable even in the real world. The whole idea of the recce role is to not get into firefights, as well as climbing up, down, left and right of all manner of weird terrain which you definitely do not want to be doing in body armour. I'll put my plate carrier as part of my CQB loadout for sure and I put weighted plates in it to mimic real body armour weight because I'm a massive nerd as I already stated; doing a role where you're expecting firefights you definitely want body armour! That being said, I find it hard to wear a plate carrier because I'm big and tall and they can look comically small on me. The placement of the plate is supposed to cover your vital organs, but I feel like mine are always poking out the sides That and there are quite a few, um... rotund(?) individuals who play airsoft and plate carriers look even more comical on that body type. I mean, if you want to wear it, wear it, all power to you, but I think it looks silly and will definitely be aiming for the flabby bit underneath or spilling out of the sides with whichever flavour of sniper rifle I am using on the day 😇

Bit of a premium, but I've always found Warrior Assault Systems kit fits me well, and I'm 6'5, big built and like to lift heavy metal objects in my spare time. They also do kit in multicam if that's what you're looking for: https://www.uktactical.com/warrior-assault-systems/multicam/elite-ops

Basically, yeah, what @Enid_Puceflangesaid. I've got a mk23 with a crazy jet barrel, Hadron triple TDC, Hadron H-arm and a Maple Leaf Autobot hop rubber. It's incredibly quiet and reaches out accurately (hits the target at least 9/10 times) to about 60m on .32s, which is better than most people's AEGs I'd also second getting the TM though. They're far nicer than the ASG one, but you do pay that premium price tag. I own an STTI mk23 as well and it's just not as nice to use as my TM mk23.

Honestly, whatever you want. I tend towards woodland MARPAT and US m81 woodland because something-something muh freedom, but any decent woodland pattern will blend in well enough. Hell, because it's a warm and sunny time of year, I've simply been going to my local site in a black t-shirt, OD trousers and a Stich Profi cobra hood (lightweight Russian leafy hood thing) and I still get people walking right past me despite not wearing any proper camo outside of the hood that only covers my head and shoulders. If I wanted to get the "best" camo, it'd either be Pencott Greenzone for the more expensive set, or more likely I'd just get a set of woodland DPM from my local army surplus shop for the budget option. Both will work really well in UK woodland terrain, however the difference is miniscule between the two and also the difference is miniscule outside of most other woodland patterns. What keeps you hidden is staying still, not silhouetting yourself and when you do have to move, doing so very slowly and deliberately. I will, however, echo that multicam / MTP blends in awfully in UK terrain. Even all black blends in better as long as you keep to shadowed areas (speaking from experience as a VC player at Vietnam games)

Can confirm. All I've swapped out in my Cyma m14 is a ZCI barrel, Maple Leaf macaron and omega nub. Puts .32s out to about 60m with 7/10 accuracy and hits 50m every time at about 1J. Not bad for a £190 gun, though it only cost me about £120 because I got the m14 from Taiwangun before it became harder to buy from them. Do I plan on putting another £190ish into it to make it snappier and quieter? Yes, as well as some Guarder steel internals that have been lying around for about 2 years from when I tried DMRing my TM m14 and hating it. Got a better grasp on what will make it do what I want it to do, and I am now so used to v7 gearboxes that I find them easier than others. As a note, I typically prefer 1.1J builds over the 1.64J and 30m MED limit of my local site's rules, as for a 30m MED I'll just use one of my many, many bolties at 2.3J

I'm at my wits' end with this issue. The gun works amazingly well up until I take the mag out and have to clear it when it has a tendency to jam up. The first shot gives a disheartening click as something doesn't quite work properly and if the trigger is pulled again it jams the HPA engine open, allowing a bunch of air to leak out until I disconnect the line. I had a look today and there's a BB rolling around in the hop unit from what I can see after that first disheartening click shot and when it jams open I can't see the nozzle jammed inside the hop unit so it's not the hop rubber stopping it from returning back as it's an open bolt system. I've tried the following and none have worked: - Using a higher psi. I typically set it to 60psi so I can run it at 1.1J so I thought that maybe it was too low, even though Wolverine say 60psi is fine. Tested it at 80psi to make sure and still getting the same issue. - Attaching a strip of a drinks can around the bottom at the back of the hop unit as there's a small gap that I thought BBs were falling through. Didn't fix it. - Removing the metal thing that clips over the top of the hop unit underneath the bolt and dust cover. This partially worked, but it still did it from time to time and also potentially exposed the hop unit to the elements were I to do it in game I was just wondering if anyone else here has built a HPA m14 and had the same issue as me, and if so how the hell did you solve it? I love the gun otherwise, but this one thing really ruins the whole thing.

I did it, but I was practicing for when I got my MWS and that only has 35rd magazines. For the most part it's an impractical way of playing, but I do prefer it. Then again, I like playing the scout sniper role, so it suits me fine; I don't get into firefights even when using a normal rifle. Ambush, then fade away is my typical method of play, so running around with 30rd magazines isn't that big of a deal for me. However, as has been said by @Druid799, you will just be outgunned in any firefight you enter into if you're using low/real caps. Really it's down to personal preference. Mechanically it sucks, but if you prefer it then you prefer it.