Cocking Effort VSR10

[Reef]

My son really likes his totally standard VSR10 but wants more range. I’ve got quotes for upgrading and am more than happy to pay. 
As he’s only 12 I have a real worry about his ability to cock the gun. Guys we’ve spoken to at games have been more than happy to let my son try cocking their sniper rifles. To be honest they have all been a struggle but most are running 2+ joule. Even today he tried a gun with a 130 spring and it was hard.

What I don’t want to do is spend 300+ upgrading a gun he can’t use or then putting in such a weak spring that it’s pointless having the upgraded parts.

I guess what I’m asking is, could I put a slightly more powerful spring in the stock VSR10 for now until he’s a bit older and stronger? If so, how far would you go?

One of the things he really likes about the VSR10 is it being almost silent, he’s learning his fieldcraft and getting a real sneaky bugger ?

 

[Impulse]

Don't go for power upgrades if you want more range. Power upgrades are the really expensive bit and if you're keeping it spring (which is advisable because HPA is an entirely new kettle of fish) then cocking it at 2.3J is always going to be difficult, especially for a 12 year old. There are certain things you can do to mitigate it, such as using a 13mm spring like the Rapax 2J spring, getting a good quality teflon cylinder and getting as close to perfection as you can when it comes to air seal to allow you to run a lighter spring, but at the end of the day your son will need to be able to pull that spring back to tension. Power will affect range, but not by too much; the biggest impact power will have is making it easier to hop heavier BBs, but until you're looking at going the 2.3J route you can hop .32s perfectly easily on the stock power by simply focusing on upgrading the hop up. There's also no point trying to go for like... 1.4J or something because you'll be saddled with an MED for unnoticeable gains. In my experimentation, I only found a noticeable increase in effective range once I started pushing past 1.8J; obviously these are just my experiences and other people are welcome to scream at me that I'm wrong, but I have high standards for what "effective range" is and I've been doing this for a while; I'll never mince words or over-estimate ranges.

Hop up is where you get the lion's share of your range and accuracy anyway and it's way cheaper than doing power upgrades, so I'd definitely start there. The Action Army hop chamber is great and the stock VSR one is a bit wank, so that's a key part to swap out. Then that can be paired with a Flamingo bucking or Maple Leaf autobot bucking, plus something like a Maple Leaf omega nub and that'll be most of the impact. If you want, while you're in there you could put something like a Laylax 6.03 barrel in there, as the tighter bore will help push the power up a little bit. Tightbore barrels don't tend to affect accuracy, as much as people may say they do, but they do affect power because there's less space around the BB for air to escape. I recommend the Laylax ones because I've had one in one of my VSR builds for... uhhhh... longer than your son has been alive and it's still working perfectly ?. For the hop chamber, bucking of your choice, concave nub of your choosing and a tightbore barrel you're probably only looking at about £120ish and the difference will be a whole lot more noticeable than dropping £300+ upgrading the power (because doing a good build you can easily spend that on power upgrades alone).

With the stock power in a TM VSR (about 0.8J ish?), you can probably hit 50m fairly consistently just by focusing on hop up and barrel upgrades. Plus, no MED so you can shoot people point blank and watch them get salty about it which is always amusing. Also, lighter springs tend to be quieter than heavy ones as there isn't quite such a forceful thud. When he's older I'd definitely look at the power upgrades and putting something like a WASP piston in the cylinder to help make it even quieter, but for now I'd just focus on the hop up instead. Especially since those damn TM cylinders are a real pain to get apart (I just bought a Laylax teflon cylinder instead when I did mine because I'm not drilling the stock cylinder!)

 

[StoveCap]

Apart from changing anything, the first and most obvious thing is to properly lube and clean the gun. A clean cylinder glides smoother and doesn't break like a gritty disgusting cylinder.

Lube with PTFE as an ingredient is the current recommendation for airsoft moving parts use.

To be honest, Just a spit ball - but I do own an SSG10, and compared to my SRS, the action is incredibly easy. In terms of range and (I think) power, it is incredibly similar. Im not saying buy an SSG10, but since the platforms are so incredibly similar (If not the same) then I'd look into what parts Novritsch uses to get his rifle's pull so light.

Other than that, I can just +1 what Impulse is saying.

 

[Reef]

@Impulse That’s great news and great advice, thank you. I’ll order the parts you recommend, minus the barrel for now and see how he gets on.

I’ve never stripped a rifle before but watched a few videos and it doesn’t look too hard.

thanks again.

Dave

 

[gavinkempsell]

it doesn’t look too hard.

Oh, dear... you may regret saying that.

watch a ton of YT video's first, work in a clean are where screws/washers etc might not go missing & expect springs to spring long distances in a heart beat.

 

[Rogerborg]

Quiet, over AEG power levels, no cocking issues?  Lightweight as well, right?

How about going down the Mk23 route?

Buy (e.g.) a mid-range ASG, feed it the heaviest BBs it will hop and see what power and consistency you get with and without the silencer / barrel extension, then start tinkering.  There's no end of uPgRaDeS that you can do to them.

Or skip to the end and buy an SSX303 carbine.

One thing, if he's using something hotter than an AEG, then he should be carrying a sidearm as well anyway. The Mk23 is very popular for that purpose, so you could get it, run it without the extension as a secondary for close quarters (although it will shoot as far as most long guns) and then think about upping the power and using it as his primary.  I mean, technically he could run a high power Mk23 primary, with a sub 1.2J VSR as his close-quarters secondary.  

 

[The_Lord_Poncho]

Seconded on the SSX303 option- mine doesn't do a bad job of emulating a sniper. Albeit I bought it during winter, and found out to my costs that even with red gas, I could only get something approaching consistency on the first  4 or 5 rounds from each mag (until i bought an airtac HPA adaptor for it). But during the warmer months, it would probably be spot on stock, or with a tridos hop arm added. They seem to go on sale with a fair discount every now and then.

 

[Reef]

We had a look at a Mk23, nice pistol but huge in his little hands.

The last few games my son has been going with a friend, him with the VSR and his friend with a AEG. They play at being a sniper team, one shooter, one spotter. I’m not sure how effective they are but they’re having fun creeping around so that’s fine with me. ?

I’ve got the parts for the VSR and will give it a go this weekend (after Tankfest) wish me luck!

 

[Speedy Sloth]

We had a look at a Mk23, nice pistol but huge in his little hands.

The last few games my son has been going with a friend, him with the VSR and his friend with a AEG. They play at being a sniper team, one shooter, one spotter. I’m not sure how effective they are but they’re having fun creeping around so that’s fine with me. ?

I’ve got the parts for the VSR and will give it a go this weekend (after Tankfest) wish me luck!

On a side note Mr hewes restoration of the fv4005 has been fun to watch, wish I could have gone tankfest this year.

 

[Reef]

On a side note Mr hewes restoration of the fv4005 has been fun to watch, wish I could have gone tankfest this year.

Met Mr Hewes today and spent 20min’s talking to him. He’s honestly a top bloke and exactly like he is on film. The FV4005 is an impressive bit of kit.

As for the VSR, fitted the parts yesterday afternoon, was more fiddly than hard to do. The rifle works but yet to test it outside of the garden so don’t know if it’s made a difference. 

View attachment 132512

Thanks for all the advice?

 

[Reef]

Argh, this upgrading thing is a slippery slope. I wish one of you would have warned me!

So with the AA hop up, the adjustment is done with a Alan key through the magazine port. This is not ideal so I've been looking at a TDC unit.

Anyone use one, what are they like and where did you get it from?

 

[gavinkempsell]

A bit late to the game but... don't do it.