Impulse

I am indeed! The m24, that is! Sent you a DM

Haha, I assumed as much. @Colin Allen's range approximation sounds more accurate to me, however it's still absolutely phenomenal for a £25 pew. I get similar range with my Cyma tri-shot which cost me about £60 with extra shells and a molle shell holder from pre-Brexit Taiwangun and I'm constantly amazed at how that performs so well. Some springers are wank, but some really are hidden gems.

I might've believed you if you said 50-60m. Good to know we're talking in airsoft metres though ?

I can't say for sure because I've never worked on a VFC SR25 myself, but could it be that the sears aren't engaging properly?

Asking "what would you buy" is a very subjective question, but I'll answer in the spirit of it (my own answer would be "another KJW m700 because I'm a weirdo who loves gas bolt actions") To answer your question in the spirit that I think you want it answered, I'd go with a Silverback TAC-41 Lite Sport for about £200 and then a stronger spring (maybe a 120nm one? I don't know what would bring it closest to 2.3J) and one or two of the 110rd magazines. Spend the rest on a semi-decent scope like a Victoptics S6 LPVO and some Vector Optics 30mm rings for it. That's probably about £300 - £350 and will probably shoot pretty well, but it's far from perfect. If that isn't to your liking, I'd get a Novritsch SSG10. I think they're about £300 and they're adequate out of the box. Again, won't shoot as well as a properly tuned rifle, but it'll get the job done. Though I will also echo Mr @Tackle. Airsoft sniping is a very different way of playing and it's not always the most interesting and can be really frustrating at times. Often, bolt actions are bought and then people realise that it's really not for them after they get outgunned by AEGs, however that's not all the time. My first airsoft gun was a Well L96 (well, it was a Warrior L96, but they've rebranded since then) and it was awful, however about 19 years later and my collection of airsoft guns is mostly bolt actions and DMRs because I knew what I wanted. The thing I would add to what Tackle said above, is that while a well tuned bolt action at 2.3J will be able to hit 75m accurately, a well tuned 1.14J AEG can also hit 75m, just... not accurately and it'll require a bit of angled shooting (essentially shooting it above the target so the BBs drop down onto it). Sniping in airsoft is mostly about stealth and the precision shooting serves to assist the stealth; if you only have one shot, you want it to hit or they'll know there's a sniper somewhere shooting at them and may be able to deduce roughly where you are and then spray full auto on your position; they may not actually know you're there, but a hit is a hit and I've seen people get lucky by just spraying where they think a sniper is hiding.

The talk of m14s in the recent thread about DMRs made me get mine out. Replaced the ML macaron hop rubber and omega nub with a 4UAD friction pro hop rubber and the nub that comes with it and it solved the weird issue where sometimes it would jam the HPA engine open on either an empty mag or removing the mag and clearing the chamber. Seems to have solved it and will give it a run out next game day at DMR power (1.88J at my local site and will be putting .43s through it) to see how it's shooting with the new setup.

I'd love to use an m14 as a DMR and they're fantastically easy to convert to semi only (literally just disconnect the selector bar, it's a < 5 mins job), but the regular AEG gearbox air volume isn't enough for a 500mm inner barrel and the gearbox itself is fiendishly hard to work on, so if you wanted to use it at sites with different DMR limits it's going to be annoying. I think I'd only use an m14 as a DMR if it was either HPA (like my OD TM version, but I hate the line and tank so it doesn't get much use) or a WE GBBR version, but I don't want to spend £1500 on the setup as I've heard that you basically need to swap everything out internally to get them shooting well and reliably, and then there's the GBBR magazine tax on top of that ?

Gas DMRs are... not for everyone. You lose the consistency of an HPA or AEG setup (and consistency is really important for a DMR), but it's not unusable and is way more fun. My favourite DMR is built on an MWS platform and is really, really good. During good weather on propane, mine tends to chrono between 1.8 and 1.86J, so a variance of about 0.06J which is easily consistent enough for a DMR (and anyone who says it isn't just needs to learn to shoot). However, the downside is that I can't use it during the winter as the variance increases to a whopping 0.3J (tested it today in 3 celcius with heavy mists sapping any warmth from the magazines further, plus I left the magazines out all morning so they were very, very cold!), which isn't consistent enough as that starts affecting how well it hops the BBs. When it comes to AR-15 based DMRs, you can get away with a mk12 like I have at sites that require it to be a real DMR platform, as while it's technically an SPR, it's usually an exception to the "must be .308" rule for airsoft DMRs. In case it isn't obvious, my DMR is the top one ?

Just got home after one of the special themed story games at Worthing Airsoft and it was pretty great; it was fully booked so it was very busy! Weather was at least not windy, but it was foggy and very cold, and that mist absolutely sapped any warmth all day. I decided to use my SRS today, with my hi-capa as a sidearm and it was fine. It was lucky I didn't have to use my pistol much because the hi-capa, even with the specifically designed super lightweight winter upper it was really struggling on propane as the magazines were just little icicles all day. The SRS performed really well though, however the 70 degree hop rubber had some minor issues with the cold temperatures; however it wasn't too bad and still shot well enough. In the morning we headed out and had no idea what each other's objectives were. We knew some areas were not able to be shot in or shoot out of, but we didn't know what those areas were for or what the other team needed to do. I headed up to one of the bases to get eyes on and we found out that the other team had to get into one of the buildings with a silver case, grab a gold bar and put it in the case, and then take it to another base. We managed to get them to drop the silver case and then I pushed up to a barricade ahead of it and stayed there all morning. They didn't manage to retrieve it all morning and so we absolutely smashed them. I had two rentals just behind me and I got them to cover the angle I couldn't cover, so we managed to hold there all morning. I think I got over 100 kills in the morning as I was constantly taking people out and got back for lunch with 2 BBs left out of the 150 I went out with, most of my shots being hits as well. It's been a long time since I've had a game like this. Hit taking was also really good, and the only real ones where I wasn't sure about them were either rentals, or a guy who did take it, but he dropped since the shot was right on his forehead and rattled him, then didn't call back in when he got mediced, so that was just a misunderstanding; the rest were just rentals occasionally being rentals, but most of the rentals were pretty good on their hit taking too. Afternoon I went out a bit late because I had to test some stuff (lightweight VSR I build out of spares is now set up and shot amazingly, and the MWSs managed to cycle through magazines with relatively consistent power even though the magazines were basically frozen!), but I went out again to find the other team pushed up quite far up. I managed to get into a good concealed position and picked a few people off, but eventually they got all their gold bars and pulled back, so I pushed up. I managed to get into another really good spot, but eventually ran out of ammo trying to keep what felt like the entire yellow team pinned at a pair of bunkers (kept seeing people I hit get dragged behind them to get mediced). In the last 5 minutes I ran out of ammo in the SRS, so I just tucked in with the hi-capa to stop them counter-pushing, but then the game ended. All in all it was a really good day. The mist I think really helped the gameplay as people were more willing to play aggressively so it didn't get bogged down as people cowering behind barricades. People moved, people pushed objectives and that allowed me to properly play the sniper role, relaying information on enemy movements and positions and picking enemies off, or denying areas of ingress. It was a really fun day, but... can it be March/April already? ?

I mount my mk23 on a mid-ride platform and being 6'5" this allows it to not dig into the dirt. However if I was much shorter, it would dig into the mud whenever I take a knee. I don't run anything heavier than .32s in mine though because when using it alongside a bolt action or DMR it's mostly used for MED shooting, so 30m or less, and getting whacked by a .48 up close really sucks and I am a firm believer that we should consider the experiences of other players in our choices. It's nice being able to hit out to 45 - 50m accurately for a bit of flexibility (which .32s will do), but if I'm shooting at 50m or more... well, that's what the bolt action or DMR is very good at. And the Nov gen 3 mags are really good. I bought 5 of them for my mk23 and they're all amazing (I like having 5 pistol mags because MED means I use my pistols a lot); the screw in the baseplate for maintenance is so much better than the pin design that most pistol mags tend to have, and mine have all been gas tight since day one, even with me using propane through them. All I swapped was the gas routers for the Nineball purple ones I had in my other mags, but the feed lips work really well with my TM mk23 And this is a really nice idea. Might try putting something similar together with one of my spare thigh panels as while the holster I have works great with the mp9, mp7 and mac11 (magazines in the pistol grip) it doesn't work for the mp5k so that is relegated to shoulder rig if I want to use it.

Oh I'm guilty as well, but the only gun (out of literally dozens I've tinkered with) I've made worse by my tinkering also happened to be my most expensive build in my MTW, and I'm still salty about that being the one that decided to buck the trend; I've sent it off to get essentially factory reset and will be a lot more careful this time around. However I will agree. For what most people want their guns to do and how well most guns perform out of the box nowadays, there isn't much need to upgrade anyway. Only reason I tweaked my MWS setups was because one is a DMR and the others I wanted to use .32s as that's my go-to 1.1J weight (and owning 3 MWSs I'm pretty good on tweaking them...), but out of the box on .28s they perform pretty well and shouldn't run hot unless you put gas in them that will cause the parts to shatter anyway.

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.