Impulse

These stock shortages are great, honestly. It means I can easier resist the temptation to buy stuff before I've responsibly paid off debts from a rough part of my 20s, because lord knows there's stuff I want to buy... *gazes wistfully at google doc list of things I want to get*

Potentially unpopular opinion, but have you considered HPA? V2 gearbox-based HPA engines are pretty common. As long as you get used to the tank and line, or come up with a way to mount a small tank to the rifle, the performance really can't be beaten in my opinion. Yes, it's expensive to build. Yes, you have to carry a tank, but the stupidly good consistency as well as the silence are just too good to pass up. Also, you can tune it to the exact power you need. I've done the conversion to one of my VSRs and will be converting one of my m14s once I clear my debts because I'm a complete HPA convert at this point. Outside of that, I'll echo the maple leaf rubber suggestions. I've got a ML macaron in my m14 and I can't fault it; it's otherwise a stock Cyma m14 shooting at 1J, but most people think it's some sort of 1.6J DMR with an MED because of how far it reaches out to and all I've done is shove a stainless steel prometheus barrel and a maple leaf macaron rubber in it.

It's a feature, not a problem. Got to love airsoft manufacturers' dedication to immersion!

Some sort of assault rifle is generally advisable as a starting gun for the same reasons they're used by the majority of soldiers in the real world: they're a jack of all trades weapon that does everything sort of well but doesn't particularly excel at anything. However, I don't think getting an m4 as a starter gun is necessary and AKs, SCARs, g36s, L85s etc. are plentiful and just as good in airsoft. I'm always an advocate of getting the gun you like aesthetically; find one you like and then find a manufacturer who makes it well; I'm a big fan of Cyma, as they do a large selection of guns and they're generally fantastic out of the box, especially for the price. I've had an AK, mp5 and 2 m14s from Cyma and every single one of them have been great guns. On that though, also think about how you like to play, so I'd generally advise renting for 3 games to get your UKARA before buying. Renting will allow you to experiment with different ways of playing and then make a more informed decision when you purchase. Want to play high speed and aggressive? Maybe an SMG like an mp5 or p90 is for you. Unlike in real-steel shooting, barrel length and calibre don't really matter; a stubby mp5 will perform just as well as an m4 or AK.

It still amazes me. At the moment I've ditched the ghillie and most of the summer I show up in a short sleeved OD t-shirt and m81 trousers, yet it's still relatively easy to sneak behind the enemy team or get into firing positions undetected by just staying low and moving slowly. Also, it's fantastic practice as when winter rolls around and I put the ghillie back on, I become super-invisible, because I'm used to having to do the same in a t-shirt 😇 For this reason, I always advise people to play the role and practice these stealth aspects of gameplay before shelling out on a ghillie; you come out way better at using the ghillie suit than anyone who just bought it and then relies on it as a crutch rather than a tool to merely supplement their already solid foundation in concealment.

I can't speak for all bush wookiees, but myself and none of the ones I interact with at my local site mind that too much. It's a bit of a joke, actually, since we usually get shot by our own team more than the enemy. It's frustrating when it happens, but we accept it's part of the job and will usually just hide from our own team as well 🤣

Personally, I don't want people putting tape all over my guns, thank you very much. However, the "if it looks like a sniper, then you have an MED" is utter tripe. Lots of people like running 1J bolties, especially those who are also into WW2 airsoft. Also, there are people who like running "DMRs" at 1J so as to avoid the MED. My m21 is very sniper-y (no, it's not an m14!), but I'll run it at 1.1J to avoid the 30m MED because I prefer the flexibility over the extra 0.5J and the tiny range increase that affords, so if someone told me "nah, you have an MED anyway" I'd probably tell them to piss off. Politely.

1J bolties can be very fun, but it makes it even more about stealth and less about marksmanship. You can still get a very decent range with 1.1J, and it's a lot quieter than an AEG.

Personally, I'd have no issues with these power limits, especially the DMR one as I think most DMR limits in the UK are useless, but 500fps and a 20m MED would probably make me play DMR with my m14 instead of keeping it as a "normal" rifle power. Unfortunately, however, I think people would get stroppy if we had these over in the UK, as people already get stroppy about getting hit with our current rules.

If you like the ar15 look, also take a look at the Cyma m4s. While I can't personally vouch for them, I've heard they're pretty great too.

What guns do you like from an aesthetic perspective? You're more likely to use an AEG you like the look of than one you look at with disdain and most people find themselves using AEGs that might not be the best mechanically, but the wielder just loves how they look. For example, me with m14s. They're heavy, cumbersome and shoot no better than an m4, but I love them nonetheless. However, my recommendation would be a Cyma mp5. I've recently picked up an mp5k for £140 and it's a fantastic little piece of kit. Just pick which mp5 you like best and run with it; they're really great and fantastic guns for CQB as they're small.

I know some places use higher power limits than the UK, like I think a lot of places in the US use 1.5J for AEGs and 2.8J for snipers and DMRs, but I think the power limits in the UK are just fine and totally fit for purpose. When I was in Spain it was like a mix; 350fps on .2s for AEGs and 600fps on .2s for bolties, though this was over 10 years ago when there was very little organisation, so things may be different now (official airsoft sites didn't exist back then. We just showed up to abandoned urbanisations, of which there are LOADS on the south coast, and played BB wars)

All of the experienced bush wookiees at my local site are opting for 1J guns instead. The other two are using Wolverine MTWs and I'm putting a Polarstar F2 in my m14 once I've cleared my debts; with hop ups the way they are these days, 2.3J just isn't as worth it as it used to be. Also, not all bush wookiees go for headshots. And not all people who go for headshots are bush wookiees. Dicks come in all shapes and sizes (hurhurhur)

Yeah, not my thing but I prefer the stubby mid caps so I'm probably the last person to be advising on this. If you want high capacity on an mp5k, I'd advise using the high cap double mag (560 BBs, but hard to carry multiple) or just multiple high caps (200 BBs each, but you can easily carry multiple).

My game yesterday was amazing. Very warm and very sweaty, but we played in an area of the site we never play in, allowing me to use a pathway that only a tiny handful of players (mostly marshalls) know about to plink away at the enemy team with my silent HPA VSR setup and have them scratching their heads wondering where the hell they got shot from / how the hell did someone get behind them in a chokepoint-y game. Arms and legs are covered in scratches bcause I had to fight through thorns to use it as it's super overgrown, but worth it. Also, I ditched the ghillie a few months ago due to temperatures / humidity / general sweat and eye-pro fogging, but I went one further and only wore a short sleeved OD t-shirt and BDU trousers while sniping and I still had people almost trip over me and be super surprised after I shoot them. Superior fieldcraft trumps a ghillie suit every day of the week and it's good to get the practice without it. Plus it feels even better when you go unnoticed while knowing you're not wearing the best camo. Maybe I'll try it next in a loud hawaiian shirt... I also ache all over today, which means it was a good day!

First thing I will say is that it's not the ghillie suit that makes the sniper hard to deal with, it's the player's fieldcraft. If the ghillie sniper can't do their role pretty much as effectively without the ghillie, then they need to take it off and practice their camo and concealment until they can do their job and have players almost tripping over without using the ghillie (if more people did this, they'd find they'd be waaaaaay more effective with the ghillie. It's like training with weighted clothing in DBZ ). Am I a jerk for thinking so? Maybe, but I also won't fault these players for playing how they want; that's what the hobby is all about, after all. I think the most important thing to say is prey upon their weaknesses. What I've found observing most bush wookiees in a counter sniper role is that they either move way too much or way too little. If they move too much, you see them and then it's just a case of suppressing them and advancing on their position to flush them out. If they move too little, you'll quickly be able to work out where they are and do the same, maybe with the help of smoke grenades or tag rounds. Also, if they're using a spring rifle, there's still usually a decent amount of noise unless they've really tuned it super well (which is rare), and also their bolt pull will be long, so look for that movement too. I would say to use their MED and slow ROF against them by moving and engaging their position with suppressive fire, but I've seen a lot of experienced bush wookiees moving away from bolties and toward 1J HPA setups as they still get the silence, but they get rid of the weaknesses of the bolt action platform. Personally, once I've cleared my debts, I'm shoving a Polarstar F2 into one of my m14s and relegating the VSR to a backup gun. As a bush wookiee myself, I'll say the following for the majority of bush wookiees you'll be up against, in addition to the movement point above (most have already been said, but I figured I'd post up my views anyway): Don't go to where your mate just got hit. The number of times I get multiple people because I hit someone and their friend either moves over to try and medic them immediately, or they move to take the cover their friend previously was. If they got hit behind that cover, it means someone has a line on it. Move. Move. MOVE! Seriously, it's hard to hit shots on running targets and I'll usually just follow the target until they either move out of my line of sight, or they stop. This is harder if there are other players with AEGs around as they'll full auto your path and hit you, but if the sniper is being silly and being the hollywood "lone wolf" then if you keep moving you just won't get hit. BBs are about as consistent as a WE pistol in winter and the shot will go wide if there's a breeze or a leaf in the way, and trying to lead shots is difficult even in the best conditions (not impossible, but it makes the shot a lot harder). Play the objective. Usually, snipers won't be holding the objective directly if it's like a base defense or something, because as a sniper you want to be where the enemy won't think you are. If there is a sniper in the base, then you know where they are and you just suppress them until you get close enough to hit them, which these days isn't much since hop ups are so good now that AEGs are shooting closer and closer to bolties. If the sniper isn't in the base and he hits you, don't go back to where you were attacking that time and instead push the objective from the other side. If the sniper is covering an objective like a flip can, think about where you got hit from and move to flank them instead. It's super hard to shoot someone behind you covertly when you're lying prone with a boltie, so you either have to let the flanking players pass (and probably take out a lot of your team) or you try and shoot them all super fast, which if there's more than one person you probably won't have much success. If you know where the sniper is and they're not smart enough to have relocated, move around the position or fire and move to keep them suppressed as you close the gap. Most hides are awful when it comes to line of sight, because you need a bunch of stuff in the way for concealment. Usually, the sniper will only have one line that they're watching, so approach from their blind spot, or fire and move (quickly) to flush them out. It's hard to repel an attacking fire team with a boltie if they know where you are and are suppressing your position. However, there are a few things that ghillie snipers will do to counter this. Some will carry a small AEG around with them, some will strike the right balance between moving too much or too little, some will run 1J HPA platforms for both silence and no MED. However, nobody is invincible without cheating. When dealing with a sniper, think about their limitations and the limitations of their current position and exploit what weaknesses you can.

I learned that a lot of "foam filled" suppressors will only have foam near the start and the end. Fortunately I've got some pipe insulation to shove into them, but 2 of my supposedly "foam filled" suppressors only have a baffle at the start and one at the end.

Ouch. Not -too- pricey, I hope. I wear my cheapo smartwatch, but it's always under my glove; fortunately my fingerless cover it nicely.

I'll agree there. Unless you're using a boltie or a GBBR / 30rd magazines in your AEG, you generally won't use a pistol. I tend to keep my m4 mags set for 30rds in my recoil, but most of the time I use a boltie, so my pistols get a LOT of use. One of my best moments in airsoft was dropping the 416 and pulling out the p226 mid-reload and shooting at a pair of guys pushing on my position while I was reloading. It was pretty thrilling and an experience you just don't get with hi-caps. If I had a £10 springer or an AEP in that situation, I probably would've been hit and it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable. However, if I used even mid-caps, I probably wouldn't have been put in that situation at all.

Also, if you work on an m14, you're pretty much diving in at hardmode, so then doing any work on other AEGs will be a piece of cake

I won't go into my opinions on DMRs (TL:DR: I think it's pointless. 1.1J is enough. However, I also know some people love DMRs, so play your way first and foremost), but if you're looking at a platform to upgrade to one, I'd just say go with what you like the look of. For example, I love m14s and I have two of them, despite them being an absolute ball-ache to work on, despite me probably being able to get similar results with an AR-15 based rifle and their easy V2 gearboxes. If you like the rifle, you're more likely to use it, even if it's not the most optimal, and that comes down to personal preference. I love my US weapons, for example, but one of the guys I get a lift with to my local airsoft site loves Russian kit which I think it mostly hideous outside of a simple AKM or AK47 If you plan on doing any milsim, filmsim or period airsoft, I'd advise going with something that is a DMR in the real-steel shooting world, as some a lot of these events will require it and even in a skirmish setting, some sites will be miffed / not let you use an ARP9 with a drum mag that is locked to semi at 1.6J (and I don't blame them. Not entirely).

Yeah, the low FPS with no real way of bringing it up significantly hurts their viability; you really need to use .2s in them which are horrendously inconsistent (the lightest BBs I use are .25s in my Cyma spring tri-shot which has no hop up). Also, as @remus says, they're incredibly slow to shoot, compared to a GBB that generally will have a snappy response unless it's got a metal slide and it's winter and you're running lower powered gas in them (that's a lot of conditions). I run TM GBBs with their plastic slides and they're snappy all year round, I just use green gas in the winter and 144a in the summer and they're perfect. Also, there are NBB pistols like the mk23 that are also incredibly reliable all year round. They're also snappier, quieter and they shoot harder than AEPs. If you want something reliable as a secondary, a NBB gas pistol, short spring shotty or some sort of small SMG that is still an AEG like a P90 or mp5k are your best bets. I don't think AEPs will ever eclipse those options.

No, simply put. There's a whole bunch of reasons why, but I think their awful performance by comparison is probably the biggest one.

Have you heard the word of the Mk23? The one true sidearm? Mine works in all weather and has never given me issues, plus you can upgrade them to shoot better than most people's AEGs and they're silent. The TM one is a bit pricey (but worth it because it'll perform well out of the box and you don't need to modify the suppressor), but if you are on a budget, the ASG one retails for around £60 or something, then you can spend the rest on an extra mag and a new hop rubber + hadron H-arm. £100 pistol that will shoot stupidly well. Also, if you're able to carry something slightly bigger, I'm going to echo what @Rogerborg said; mp5k is a great secondary. I'm partial to running either my mp5k or my super awesome amazing stockless spring shotty as secondaries. Both are totally stock Cyma, both are super reliable and both perform as well as I'd expect. The spring shotty cost me around £60 all in (with 9 total shells and a small molle attachment to hold 5 of them) from TG before they had their shipping woes, but it only goes to 30 - 40m, which is plenty for the ranges you use a shotgun for. It's also one of the most fun RIFs I own and everyone always loves it when I bring out the shotty, even though it's absolutely not the optimal gun for woodland airsoft! The mp5k cost me around £140 from Patrolbase and it reaches out to 40 - 50m; I currently have it mounted on a cheapo single point bungee sling that I can quickly clip/unclip it from and carry a few stubby mid-caps in pistol mag pouches. Both of these are in addition to carrying my primary (so usually my 416 with the shotgun and my VSR with the mp5k) as well as a sidearm on my belt. Carrying 3 guns isn't that hard if two of them are small. And before anyone comes in here and says "my spring shotty and mp5k shoots to 100m easy" both of those ranges I gave above are effective range, hitting a man-sized target 9/10 times without having to angle the gun like a mortar and measured in actual, metric system metres, not airsoft metres!