Impulse

Someone with a camera that doesn't suck took a picture today. Yes, the tacticool rail system is pointless because I not only don't mount anything on it, but I also cover it in rifle ghillie, but style > substance! Was my first day using it with the new HPA setup and oooooooooh boy was it stupidly good.

I think I just had the best weekend of airsoft I've had in literally a decade. Started with an airsoft car-boot sale, where I picked up a TM 4.3 Hicapa for £50, lots of socialising and chatting to everyone. Then we played some 5v5 and 4v4 games, because the player numbers were super low on the Saturday, which were really fun (and really challenging as a sneaky sniper, since the enemy team gets suspicious when they can't see the 4th or 5th player. It's a lot easier to keep track of things when there are only 5 enemies). Camped over night, which involved some great fireside chats with some of the other guys who were camping over, until 2:30am in the otherwise pitch black. Maybe I should've gone to bed earlier, but I have no regrets and I'd do it again. Then had a full day of fantastic games where I managed to sneak behind the enemy team in the morning games and was picking them all off from behind, finding out my friend was pretty much parallel to me on the other side of the area, shooting them from the front and this getting us some rather colourful, frustrated cries about how snipers are unfair. However, after lunch I was removed from my team and put in a small 6 person group of 2 scientists and 4 guards where the objective for both teams was to retrieve the scientists' briefcases and we were told by the marshalls to "make them work for it"... 3 hours into holding them all off and only 10 minutes remaining for the day, we decided to give a suitcase to each team so that there could actually be a winner to the games. Working as a cohesive unit is the real overpowered way of playing airsoft, as we simply set ourselves up in concealed positions (most of us were experienced sneaky-beakies and/or bush wookiees) with overlapping fields of fire, moving when we had to but always keeping each other's positions in mind when we did. I lost track of how many people I hit, but it was a LOT. Outnumbered, outgunned, but not outdone! So what did I learn? Apart from the normal reinforcement of "you can stealth in short sleeves and a cheap £25 leafy hood thing from Russia", I learned that my new HPA m21 setup is bonkers. Easily accurate to 60m and still pretty accurate to 65m on 1.1J, so no MED and full auto if I really want, though I did change my full auto to 3 round burst. It's also incredibly quiet, not quite as quiet as my VSR, but I think it's quieter than my mk23. It has definitely cemented itself in as my primary gun for the late spring through autumn while the site is pretty overgrown. We'll see if it can dethrone the VSR in the winter through early spring when the sight lines are longer, but it's so liberating being able to shoot people within 30m and having semi-auto ROF instead of bolt action, but also retaining that long range option. I'm going to have tree-trunk arms by next summer if I use this gun on the regular now. It weighs an absolute tonne compared to the VSR!

Wolverine Hydra Gen2. Was going to get the P*, but decided on the Wolverine because it was more affordable and does everything I need it to do. Plus, the Wolverine Bolt in my VSR hasn't done me wrong.

It's finally done and I test fired it a few times to see how quiet it was. I still can't believe just how silent it is! It blows my mind and I think it may be quieter than my VSR, but I'll have to test them side-by-side this weekend to confirm that. I'm so happy so far and looking forward to obsessively tuning it this weekend and I'm hoping to be hitting out to 60m accurately. Targeting 1.14J on .32s with maximum effective range and maximum air efficiency. And yes, that's a long line coming out of the stock, as I will put the tank in the stock pouch, though I do have a line and larger tank that I can use if I need. I think this might be my magnum opus airsoft sniper rifle build. The worst part about this is the quality of my camera, because my phone is about 5 years old

This is basically airsoft sniping in a nutshell and is why I've transitioned to a 1J m21 build, especially since I play at a thick woodland site that gets pretty overgrown in the summer. That's not just your experience, I probably get more mk23 kills than VSR kills these days 🤣

Yeah, we totally would have stayed if we didn't have to be at Worthing for the Sunday. It's a bit of a bummer, but it's how the skirmish days fall unfortunately. I'm looking forward to harassing the US as a VC sniper, as that's usually how I enjoy playing at skirmish days too. I think I'll always be an OpFor player at any of these sorts of events, as it just feels more fun to me. I'm on Cartel side for AI500 too

That's the one. The Devil's Pit, Luton. I'll be VC with my "stolen" VSR (Remington 700) and 1911, going up with two guys I get a lift with to Worthing who do a lot of Vietnam stuff (they're both big into their Russian kit). We will only be up for the Saturday though, as the Sunday is a Worthing game day and one of the guys in our trio is staff, so he has to be there.

I'll second this. I've had mine for 2 years now and all I've done (recently) is swap out the hop rubber, nub and barrel (because I like stainless steel barrels for longevity and I love Maple Leaf rubbers). Left the gearbox well alone and I'm feeding .28s through it to outrange most other people's AEGs, despite only shooting at 0.8J. And that's coming from a person who spends hundreds perfecting their gun builds before starting on a new one. I enjoy techning and tuning my guns, but that NGRS I just... haven't needed to or felt like it's worth doing. It shoots so well anyway and is incredibly reliable as my backup rifle now that I've moved almost completely into the scout sniper / reconnaissance roll.

Take your time and get what you really want. I suggested the VSR because it's what I have a lot of experience with, but you can do L96 builds, SRS builds, heck even m24 builds if you look hard enough and are feeling adventurous. Then there's semi-auto builds like SVDs, m14s, SR-25s etc; most people call them DMRs, but the only real difference between DMR and sniper is the style of play. You can be a DMR with a bolt action rifle, similar to how you can be a sniper with a 1J SVD. Everyone sees me as a "sniper" even when I'm running my m21 build at 1.1J, because of how I play and that it's tuned pretty well so it still has pretty nice range. A sniper rifle, whatever platform you choose, can be a pretty big investment if you really like it and decide it's the avenue you want to go down, and you don't want to look at your rifle and go "ew, I don't really want to use that, but I will because it performs well..." I would not recommend HPA as a first build. HPA is something that you need to make the conscious decision to go into, especially if you're installing it yourself as opposed to just buying a pre-built HPA gun like an MTW. It usually involves drilling holes in things and dremeling parts off the inside of your gun to get everything to fit nicely, or at least I'm 2 for 2 on that, since my VSR and m21 both required some DIY modification to the internals to get it together. HPA is a learning curve, but once you understand it it's a lot simpler than gearboxes. I've converted one of my VSRs and one of my m14s to HPA and they're the two main guns I bring to every skirmish day or event (my m21 is my main gun, with the VSR as a backup). The benefits of it for a sniper particularly (we don't need the ROF bulls**t that those zoomer speedsofters want) are that it's really, really quiet, it's really, really consistent and you can fine tune the power to exactly where you want it. Also, an aspect that people really underestimate for sniping, it makes the bolt pull absolutely effortless on a BASR. The number of times I've counter-sniped someone because I've seen their arm move to pull their spring bolt back, while they've had no idea where I am because my movement is a lot less and a lot more deliberate... It's a large number. Being able to pull the bolt back with a short finger movement that you can do nice and slowly makes you a lot less likely to be spotted than having to use your whole arm to pull back a spring bolt. The downside is that you either have to run a tank, which takes some getting used to and may also take a while to get right for you, as different people use different methods to carry their tank around. For example, I run a tiny 10ci tank in a stock pouch which makes it look impossible to shoulder (it's not on the right, but is on the left, but I can't aim on the left through a scope anyway because I can't close my right eye without closing my left), but most people run a tank in a belt pouch or small backpack with a line connecting it to the gun. Or you run a CO2 adapter in either a stock pouch or in the stock itself and run it on CO2 bulbs, but it's not quite as consistent and will start dropping the power as you reach the end of the CO2 bulb. Oh, it also costs an arm and a leg. I think my VSR cost me about £450 all in for the Wolverine Bolt, regulator, CO2 adapter and cylinder (and that's on top of the rifle and other upgrades outside the cylinder), and my m21 cost me around £400 for just the HPA engine. Then a tank, line and regulator is going to set you back another £100+, depending on which one you get. Then if you're running anything but the small 10/13ci tanks you probably need a scuba tank and fill adapter valve thingy, which will be another like £250 - 300... Yeah, it's pricey. Thankfully, I only use small tanks so I bought a hand pump for £50 for mine and just pump it manually. Takes about 15 mins for my 10ci, which means a normal 48ci tank (what most people run) would likely take me about 75 mins of pumping. No thanks! A well tuned spring rifle will sting just as much as an HPA rifle (assuming the HPA player isn't being a dirty cheatsydoodler and upping their PSI or dwell settings after chrono). It's usually because the person is using heavy BBs that it stings a lot. A well tuned spring rifle will also be about as consistent as an HPA setup too, but it's harder to tune to perfection since you are at the mercy of the spring god and all springs are not created equal. A well tuned spring rifle can also be tuned to be really quiet, but I don't think it can be as quiet as an HPA rifle because no moving parts in the latter. However, a spring rifle will never run out of power and doesn't need you to carry a tank. Like most things in airsoft, horses for courses and all that jazz. EDIT: Oh look, I wrote a small essay again. I should approach a university with my PhD thesis on airsoft sniping at this point 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Maple Leaf do a stock for the VSR with stock adjustment, though I believe they're around £150 for just the stock. Also, at some point, they'll be bringing out a new, super lightweight stock for the VSR, but Novritsch has exclusivity on it for the moment for his SSG10A3. Who knows how much it'll retail for when it does release though. I think the SRS vs VSR debate really just comes down to preference on how it looks. I think the VSR is the better platform, in terms of parts availability and shot to shot consistency, but the SRS is shorter and more agile, and easier to make it very quiet from what I've heard, though I just went HPA with my VSR and solved that problem that way! Also this, but... well, I'm not a fan of DMRs at all. I don't believe that the extra 0.5J is worth a 30m MED, since you won't gain that much more effective range. Some people love playing with DMRs though, so again I think it's personal preference.

First off, welcome to the forums For that budget you should be able to get something decent (and I don't care if people say "no, you must drop £800+ into a boltie to make it good" because they're objectively wrong ). Patrolbase has both the JG BAR10 (https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/jing-gong-bar-10) and the Cyma cm.701b in stock at the moment (https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-cm-701b-vsr-bar-10), both of which are based on the TM VSR platform, which has been a really strong platform for over a decade, so there's an absolute plethora of parts. The JG comes in at £120 and the Cyma at £130, so that'll leave you with room for upgrades. For immediate upgrades to put into it, I'd look at the Action Army hop unit, a 70 degree silicone Maple Leaf Autobot bucking and a Maple Leaf Omega nub. This'll put you up to just under £200 and the rifle will perform decently well. Some sort of cheap scope if you don't already have one will be useful too; you can get plenty of decent ones for around £50. Then I'd pick up two spare mags (£10 each) and call it a day for now. You can stash the mags in a pistol mag pouch, or even just in your pockets. A tightbore barrel would be the next thing I'd get, which'd put it up to about £320ish (depending how much you spend on the scope), but this isn't really a necessity as the stock barrel will do the job well enough. My choice for barrel is Laylax because I'm old school, but I know people love the Maple Leaf Crazy Jets too. Then power upgrades cost a lot and don't make a huge difference from the stock 420fps/1.7ish joules power, so I'd just use it until you decide you want to invest more, or until the internal parts break. The other thing I'd ask is, do you have a sidearm? Having a pistol is pretty essential when you're running a BASR, since you'll have an MED to deal with, and BASRs aren't the greatest platform for putting down any weight of fire in case you get caught out while moving. If not, I'd actually get a pistol first and run it alongside your AEG. Make a conscious effort to use it, since with an AEG you rarely actually need a pistol, but it'll help you get used to the movements and shooting it, which will help when you transition to using a BASR. For sidearms, I'll always recommend TM pistols, because they're fantastic and work all year round, though they do come with a ~£150 price tag. Good thing is, you don't need to do anything to them; they shoot fantastically well out of the box. Yes, you can run a BASR and an AEG (like your Specna carbine), but unless you practice doing it, it's awkward and clunky. I just realised I've written quite a lot, so I'll leave it there before I ramble even more. I love sniping in airsoft and could go on about it for hours 🤣

For the money and best all-rounder, I'd say any of the TM NGRS 416s. I've got the Delta variant and it's a fantastic gun; it's my better fallback gun now, since I almost exclusively play sniper now, but it's reliable and performs really well all year round. Plus you can get that realism aspect if you want, as it will stop firing when the mags are empty and you need to hit the bolt release when you reload from empty, plus the mags can be set to 30rd capacity for the added realism.

Skirmish days will tend towards just that, simple skirmish games. A lot of people go to skirmish days for that brainless video game-esque experience of "hold this area" or "capture that objective". Yes, I call it "brainless", but that's a good thing. Silly skirmish fun is a great time at the end of the day, especially if you have friends at the site and can laugh about the stupid stuff that happens. Sounds like the spawn ideas were awful though and I dislike both teams having the same spawn points. My local site has been trying this idea and a few of us are feeding back that it doesn't work well as it promotes two negative play types: first, it allows you to just walk in the open, get hit, then walk to a spawn point behind the enemy, removing any impact from the stealthy players who would normally spend huge portions of the game simply moving low and slow to avoid detection to get on the flank. Secondly, even if you tell people not to spawn camp, it happens. If you respawn, then 5 mins later a wave of enemies respawn from the same place, you're going to engage them. I've seen my local site has started doing longer games once a month, tending a little more towards the filmsim side, and it has been well received, but I think doing it every week would dissuade a lot of people from attending the site regularly, as sometimes you just want to go to the woods and shoot each other with toy guns without thinking too hard. Variety is the spice of life, and if all I did was narrative filmsim every week, I think I'd get tired of it. If you find skirmish tedious, maybe you should look at attending milsim events, or film/battlesim, or even period airsoft. They're a very different experience to skirmish days; it's not an experience that I'm that keen on (milsim, that is...), but it's another way to experience the airsoft hobby. I attended my first milsim a few months ago and I'm going to my first Vietnam game in a month or so. As I said earlier, variety is the spice of life.

When it comes to parts, I typically tried to shop local before Brexit anyway, because something-something-support-local-businesses-and-uk-economy. I typically ask my two local shops if they can get the parts and if they can't I usually look for UK retailers anyway, going through a list of retailers I trust in preferential order because I'd rather give my business to those who have done right by me in the past. Outside of that, I typically go to HK/Taiwan for hard to find parts and have never had any issues with ordering from them. EU retailers that ship to the UK and don't have the £140 cap, I also have had no issues from. Bought some stuff from the Nov, for example, kept it below £135 and watched it sail through customs with no issues. Though it must be said, I don't think I'd import RIFs after seeing some of the horror stories from people importing RIFs. Fortunately, I don't generally need to do this because local shops are quite good at getting hold of stuff. Never really bought from Europe before Brexit apart from getting cheap RIFs and stuff from Taiwangun, but since I don't really need anything new this is no longer an issue. Plus, not having access to those stupidly cheap prices is helping me avoid the temptation of new things

As someone who works on m14s (which have different barrel cuts and shorter hop rubbers), this is par for the course in my opinion. Cutting hop rubbers is easy and it doesn't have to be 100% perfect; a bit of a jagged edge isn't going to make any difference. I still get flawless airseal in my m14s and I've simply used some multi-tool scissors to cut it down to size. Plus, as has been said, hop rubbers are pretty affordable.

GENTLEMEN... IT BEGINS! *evil laughter*

Since my martial arts school reopened at the start of the month, I've also started going to the gym. I've gone from barely any exercise, to 3 gym sessions and 2 martial arts classes every week, with airsoft every two weeks. I feel a lot better for it all, getting stronger, fitter and all around healthier. Had to take half of this week off though, since I fell off my bicycle when it refused to mount the curb and my knee was hurting from the fall so I didn't want to risk it. Seems better now, so back to the gym on Monday! Working US-friendly hours helps, because the gym is pretty empty around 9pm, which is when I'm down there.

When I first started, this is actually how it was. Chrono was just to self-check and there was a level of trust. However, that was also when an absolutely packed game day at my local site was 30 people. I agree, especially with the social media and content culture of today, that you should do it thoroughly. Owning a chrono myself, I can say it's super easy to change the weight on the fly and takes seconds. The issue is that people could rock up and say "oh, I'm using .32s" when they're actually using .48s, but this is a risk that has to be taken, as if we all chrono'd on one weight, then people who do actually use heavier ammo would be over, like me and my .48s. I don't think there's a way to completely get rid of people cheating chrono outside of nobody owning their own guns or silly levels of regulation, which I'm pretty sure none of us want. Airsoft is, at the end of the day, a game of honour.

TM m14 is a fantastic base for DMR-ing. To lock it to semi, you can do what I did when I accidentally broke mine. The fire selector mechanism can be snapped, then rotated out of place. Boom, locked to semi. If you later decide you want full auto, simply rotate the fire selector back into place (and secure with electrical tape if you want, though this isn't necessary). The downside is that the gearbox is hell to work on, since you have to take literally everything apart since a bunch of mechanisms are located outside the gearbox shell, bolted onto the side. If you want something similar, go with a Cyma SVD or SR25 instead. Much easier to work with and still makes sense as a DMR. However, I'd say "anything that has an HPA engine compatible with it" for DMRing. Because I'm a filthy HPA convert.

For me, it's all about the hiding. The adrenaline, heart-pounding moments when the enemy are all around you but have no idea you're there and you're just thinking "got to keep absolutely still and wait for them to pass." Yes, I could suddenly pop up with the mk23 and take out 2 or 3 of them, but waiting for them to move on and taking them all out is priceless.

Joules. Hands down, no contest. I'm pretty sure I could chrono my HPA guns on .2s, then watch the joule creep as I use the proper weights I like. I imagine my VSR would probably be closer to 3J if I chronoed to 500fps on .2s and then swapped out to .48s that it needs to perform to its best. I might try this and chrono at some point, just to see what the results would be. At the end of the day, the energy is what impacts and hurts. FPS by itself is meaningless.

I'm not telling you to buy new kit but... EVERYONE needs a shotgun to have some shotfun

You just get more of the same type of guns. I have 2 VSRs and 2 m14s, and I want 2, maybe 3, more m14s (so I'll have faux wood Vietnam, m21 SWS, socom, EBR and DMR). Collection is a valid part of the hobby too. Also, I don't see NVGs on that list. Save up for a £10k set of Gen3s