BrightCandle

None of my friends have any interest in guns or Airsoft. So I just turned up to my local site with a booking and waver form signed. I had actually bought some camo trousers and shirt for the occasion and got my hiregun, mask and BBS. I played, I was awful, I fell in love with it. Now I have my chest rig and my mid caps and my multiple guns and run a lot more. Airsoft is making me a lot fitter and a lot poorer. The way to get started is simply look for a site, book a game and go play. After playing if you still love it then start asking in the safe zone about kit. Great way to get to talk and make some new friends and learn what works and what doesn't.

It really is crazy. You get an RC shop that sells better and cheaper batteries with all the types of connectors and cabling you might want while at the same time you have an airsoft shop listing 50 different types of piston head and yet it doesn't sell appropriate batteries or connectors or even chargers. I'll admit I just don't understand.

My We P228 lasts about 1.8 magazines or thereabouts, ie its not quite enough to go two rearms so I have to regas on every full rearm. Redwoflairsoft did a big comparison of P226's or maybe 1911 (saw it months ago) and gas efficiency and We didn't do great. I think IIRC KWA won it by some margin and was a little over 3 or 4 magazines (50 or even 60 shots) in all. But its not uncommon for them only to last around about 1.5-2 magazines from We from what I have seen. Do check to make sure your mags aren't leaking out of any of their valves, its also not uncommon for the mags to be leaking a little and you might have to tighten the magazine, the valves or add some silicon oil on the internal O rings. But I wouldn't expect 2 magazines off of one gas fill in my experience with my We pistol.

Whether you did that or not it might still fall apart on Sunday. Its an airsoft gun, there are a lot of stresses and strains in a very small space, a space designed around real rounds and not a gearbox so its still got every chance of breaking. I don't think you made that any more likely, but its still likely all the same!

Go ask the guys you bought it from, they can often get replacement parts direct from the manufacturer for the guns they sell in the next shipment for you.

I know its a cliche but its one I agree with, I think the first gun should be an M4. The reason is that its so easy to maintain and repair and upgrade and find attachments for and buy gear for etc. It just makes everything easier. I understand why people don't want to do it, we would rather be unique in our look, but its a practical thing because there are a lot of great M4s with high performance and next to zero faults. I had the exact same thoughts coming in wanting to get a different gun, and actually its my third gun that has become the project/kind of hard to upgrade gun. I don't think the bullpups and other less well sold guns are a good idea straight out. You asked for things meeting your criteria so I gave information on what I know, but I can't recommend any of that for a first airsoft gun.

Depends how its attached but the ones I have seen so far have the return spring on the outside of the gearbox and the catch on the piston inside as a sliding separate piece. So it shouldn't in theory impact the gearbox at all, it is specifically designed to not do so on purpose. But I haven't seen that gun and its gearbox spilled open so I can't be sure that is how its blow back is designed, but if its still working as it was when you got it then I wouldn't worry its likely not quite as badly designed as the manual might suggest.

That is an insane price for light, pressure switch, mount, rechargeable battery and charger. Like off the back of a lorry cheap.

They are good base guns but I too find the accuracy of my CM is a bit less than would be desired. My initial problem was with the hop being applied badly, that was just a reseat to fix. But on my T4-18 I have found that its the barrel and the airseal in the gun that both contribute to poor accuracy and hence range. So my recommend would be piston/piston head, cylinder head, o ring nozzle and inner barrel. This is purely about accuracy and consistency not ROF or trigger pull (better high torque motor).

If its got to be a bullpup then your list is kind of short: - S&T Professional (don't even bother with the explorer) Tar 21 or the Ares Tar 21. Ares has issues with its mag release, S&T is a mid price gun externals show the seams and internals are OK but not fantastic (got mine working now, gearbox jam was my fault). Comes in shorter version as well as full length (which is a 509mm barrel) - G&G F2000 - Decent as far as I know, but big and heavy and bulky for a bullpup. - Magpul PDR-C - doesn't do semi well due to it all being on the trigger, but definitely short and decent for CQB. - G&G L85A2 or the shorter version + a few different manufacturers - not heard too much good or bad on them really. Our resident youtuber likes SA80's in gas but I don't think he owns any AEGs. I don't really know of anything else that meets the criteria. Bare in mind all the bullpups have some amount of custom parts in them just due to their shape. By not being an M4 they are not as upgradeable. The S&T tar 21 for example uses Type 2 gears, cylinder, piston, nozzle, a short type motor which are all standard enough. But its got a shorter spring which means your clipping anything you put into it, you might need to shave off a bit on the cylinders as well and the main problem is a custom plastic hop unit that no one makes a replacement for. The gearbox is a totally custom shape and its a pain in the backside to get out, its just horrible to take this gun apart, I am dreading it. I suspect you will find the same list in a lot of these other bullpups when you get into the guts of their internals, you need to find some strip downs of the others and check what is inside them. In essence if its not an M4 its not as upgradeable. You have to choose between upgrade ability and the format I am afraid, if upgrades and super high quality is your thing then an M4 is the right gun for you even if its not ideal length (a CQB or CQC model can be pretty short all be it compromising to 293mm inner barrel) , if on the other hand you can compromise a few upgrade parts then you can get on with one of the bullpups and get a 400mm+ inner barrel. I suspect the upgrades on a short upgrade inner barrel will have better accuracy and consistency than the partial upgrades on a bullpup.

I heard about this about 2 years ago from BAE Systems, at the time they thought it would be usable on its own. Evidentally it turns out the liquid itself couldn't be improved enough to stop bullets, but as a combination with Kevlar for a thinner and light vest it looks like it could be pretty effective. We might even see some Airsofters wearing it if gets light enough.

My only concern with this gun was that the semi and full auto is just on the trigger. If you pull it back too far it goes full auto. Great for some circumstances but terrible for the sites I play at where you are required to drop to semi in certain areas. I haven't seen a break down of the internals, but most of these bullpups have custom parts in them (TAR, F2000 etc) so there is a limit to the upgrades..

A lipo might help a little bit just for the extra current getting the motor moving faster. But if it doesn't you might want to try a motor that is faster or a even a hairline trigger. Basically we need to get it to the point where your trigger pull matches the guns time to fully cycle the gearbox, if you can't change your firing behaviour then you need to speed that gearbox up so it completes faster to compensate.

I doubt it does any more than visual and sound just like on the T4-18 I have. But the assumption is that people want to continue to have it remain working. I certainly don't think the cylinder is so bad it needs replacing in these G&G's, it seems solid and smooth enough. I guess the one time you might want to replace the cylinder is if you want a bore out one, but I can't see that being necessary here.

The AR-005 as far as I can tell is an EBB. So the bolt sliding back is not just entirely fake, its linked to the gearbox (I don't know if its pneumatic or directly, I am going to suspect directly like the TAR 21 from Ares). If its not sliding back then its either stuck in the gearbox or on the shell of the gun some how. If the gun is still throwing air out the barrel then whatever is broken on the bolt isn't related to the firing issue. What I suspect has happened is your friend has put the hop up on too high and the BB's are getting stuck and not firing out. Now the barrel is likely jammed and you need to get your cleaning/unjamming rod and clear it out. Then you need to take the bolt back by hand if possible and turn off all the hop that has been applied. If none of that is the issue then its repair/return time depending on how responsible you want to be for the darn thing.

The Raider is rear wired into the crane stock? I thought it was but I could be wrong depends on the exact model possibly. So rather than a normal battery it would take one of the split ones. My T4-18 has a crane stock and it fits the 2600mah 7.4V lipo Vapex batteries so I suspect it will fit http://www.componentshop.co.uk/7-4v-2600mah-25c-continuous-discharge-cranestock-lipo-battery.html as well. You can go for a smaller cheaper one if you like but those big batteries last more or less a whole day. The basic really safe rule is 1 mah = 1 shot but most guns are much more efficient than that and its more like 800 mah = 1000 shots. I just go with 1 mah = 1 shot because its simple and easy and leaves plenty of room for counting errors here or there and allows you to work out when to change the battery off of basic magazine counts. A Lipo 7.4 V at peak delivers 8.5V A LiFe 9.9 V is at peak going to deliver 3.6V x 3 = 10.8V A Lipo 11.1 V at peak delivers 12.75V So the Life 9.9 basically splits the difference between the two lipos, its more than a 9.6 nimh however because of that peak voltage after charge. Lipos and life batteries are always listed on their nominal battery which is what you get for about 50% of its discharge. The life batteries have less energy density than a lipo, so they tend to be a little less shots for the same weight and space but its only about 14% less, they are still better in that regard than nimh (which honestly no one should buy they are rubbish).

The blowback does indeed mean gearbox shell upgrades and cylinder upgrades aren't possible. They probably don't matter much to your goals however.

When you put the gun through chronograph you could also ask for a rate of fire test as well, it can do both. But when it comes to doing your own tech work on guns personally I avoided getting a chronograph of my own for as long as possible, and found out its an essential tool. So this is your first purchase, its about £70 and it'll allow you to test the speed and rate of fire in your own home. You'll probably also need something to shoot at to catch the BBs to stop them going through the walls as that would be bad. The chrono is so important because it tells you how close you are to your current goals without having to go to a site or specialist range to get it tested. FPS is all in the pneumatic part of the gun, that is the spring, the cylinder, cylinder head, piston, piston head, nozzle and hop chamber. FPS can be raised moderate amounts by improving the air seal and this will also improve consistency and hence its the first thing to do. It really depends where air is leaking from so you have to take the gun apart and push on the piston/cylinder combination yourself to feel where the air leaks are initially coming from. More often than not its the piston head, cylinder head and nozzle but sometimes the hop chambers don't fit too tightly and in others the cylinders just aren't that well made (although these can be hard to replace in some guns, not yours but many others have custom cylinders due to EBB and such). Rate of fire is mostly about the electrical parts of the gun. Increased battery voltage increases the motor speed which increase the rate the gears spin. So to increase rate of fire you can just get a higher voltage battery. You can also get a faster spinning motor. The high voltage 11.1 lipo's will increase rate of fire quite a bit ( about 50%) but the one problem they introduce is arching on the trigger contact which will wear it out. Arcing requires the fitting of a mosfet so unless your confident in doing that I would try to get more at a lower voltage. All that extra speed gets dumped into the gears so depending on how fast you want to go you may very well need a new high speed gear set as well. You can also get gear sets that fire twice per revolution and then you really get into a lot of complexity like short stroking and other stuff. In essence the quick easy route to a bit more ROF without a lot of work is a faster motor. Typically a G&G GR15 will clock in around 12-14 rounds per second out of the box and they tend to target 328 fps / 100m/s / 1J. With a new faster motor (£50 max) you can raise that to more like 16-20 with very little work and its low enough that you don't get into the sort of serious problems you will have with very high speeds. Getting a double O ring cylinder head that fits well, a better piston head or even just a new O ring for it and a nozzle with an O ring will likely raise your FPS 10-20 on their own (my experience of the combat machines and top techs is there is quite a lot of air leak in these parts but yours might be different) and none of these cost much to replace. So my advice is start with that chrono, work out where you are currently and then take the gun apart and check that air seal. Then work out what parts you need to buy to fix the air seal and along with it talk to the shop about motors. I personally don't know which motor you would want to buy because I am not into the high ROF thing. But once you have fixed the seal (or determined its perfect which it might be, probably not!) then you know how far you are away from the goals generally and you know what to target next. Ultimately if FPS is still too low and the seal is perfect then you can go about replacing the spring. Replacing the spring is definitely the easiest way to get FPS but adding more power into a leaky system isn't a good idea for accuracy and I tend to think the point of having that extra FPS is to also have a gun that shoots further, and that is a lot about the hop up, barrel and consistency of the pneumatic system.

Single point slings have the gun hang quite low and vertically. To wander around with the gun you have to hold it with one hand across the body. Most of the weight is held by the sling but its still a bit of a pain to walk with. The advantage is that you can shoulder the rifle in either shoulder easily with a one point sling. One points also tend to be quite good for quick transitions to pistols, you just drop the gun and grab the pistol and depending on which way you put it on it will drop away from the pistol and not get in the way. The two point slings have the gun sit across you, carry all of the weight and you don't have to hold it to walk around. You can also sling the weapon across your back if you want. With the right length you can actually use the sling as a contact point to steady your aim. However its not usually very easy to shoulder transition with a two point sling and dropping the gun to move to pistol often has the rifle sit in the way although it depends how you wear it. Three point slings combine both worlds. You can have it either in a 1 point sling or a 2 point sling configuration. The main disadvantage is all the extra material you are carrying around and they don't fit all guns well. You also end up with a strip of material going down the side of the gun, which may interfere with the controls. I personally use a 1 point sling. I bought it for CQB where there isn't much walking between combat points so the transitions mattered more, both to the other shoulder and to the pistol. However I have been playing woodland over the summer and the 1 point sling has been irritating me. There is a lot more walking with the gun down on a big site and the one point sling does still take the strain off the arms but its not the most comfortable way to do things. I am probably going to get a three point sling for the HK416 and a 2 point for the tar 21 where currently I use a 1 point.

The challenge is trying these types of boots on. That really is the ideal thing to do but of course there aren't all that many places that sell military boots where most peoples live. Its what I recommend you do but its not something I did to buy mine although I know I should have. I actually looked for lots of people reviewing the comfort of boots and went for ones that a lot of people were happy with (a set of Viper Special ops boots). I don't think they hold up well in the woodland, because the suede is not good with mud but they are really comfortable and reasonably light. I think ordering boots online is a pretty risky business, you could very well get a set that wont fit well, so order from somewhere with a try on and return policy so you can go through some different models or sizes just incase the first ones don't fit you.

I didn't have any luck using goggles with glasses or inserts. I found the mesh goggles didn't go over glasses comfortably at all well either. In the end I gave up with glasses and went with contacts, I don't like them but its the only thing that fits and doesn't add major fogging.

I finally found a picture of how it goes in, definitely not obvious. Not entirely sure how to make it do that but at least I know how its meant to go.

The EBB on G&G M4's is basically there for noise and visuals. The bolt is shown moving back when fired and it makes a clang noise when it does it. Doesn't sound very realistic in my gun, too tinny, although increasing the volume as it does is a good realism aspect. There are blow back systems for AEGs that are more realistic with some recoil without having to go for the limitations of a GBB like the new bolt M4's that have reviewed very well.

Just play with it first and try out some other peoples guns to see if theirs is more accurate/longer ranged before you consider any upgrades. Its only if its genuine deficient should you consider upgrading things and you need to know what its doing well and what its doing badly to work out which parts to focus on. The G&G gearset is pretty good and it'll cope with 11.1V lipo, but the trigger contact will wear out due to the arcing from that battery, I would also recommend dropping to a 7.4V lipo to increase the life of the gun and then you wont really need a mosfet and hence can avoid doing that sort of upgrade too soon. If my G&G guns are anything to go by they do need work on the cylinder/piston/nozzle for airseal and the hop can be improved with g/r hop. But I wouldn't even consider it until you know its necessary, because if the gun is already working well there is no point messing with it.

I took my S&T Tar 21 professional apart after it jammed and on the rebuild putting it all back together after clearing the issue I can't work out how the trigger spring goes back in. Does anyone have the gun and can provide a picture or a description of how to put the trigger back together? My issue is I can't work out how the L shaped spring pushes back against the trigger to give it that hard force feeling its meant to have. If you have the gun (S&T tar 21 explorer should be the same and the Ares might very well be the same as well) you should in theory be able to just remove the top and see into the area with a few screws, its below the external barrel, presumably if you have the S&T and done any maintainence at all you have dealt with it as it not easy to remove the trigger from the connector bar to the gearbox. I really really really need some help, I have spent hours trying to work it out and its just not obvious. When I took it apart I looked at it and thought "hmm its under pressure and its easy to come apart" but now going back to it to rebuild I just don't remember how it works. Edit - Added the three pictures below. I have fitted the metal safety plate, the 2 screws that go with it, the trigger is roughly in place (its attached to the gearbox), all of which I am certain are correct, its the spring I can't seem to work out how to get in there to push on the trigger right. The Spring The internal area it goes looking from the top into the gun Side view of the trigger area showing where a metal pin goes into (all the way through the gun to the other side)