First sniper

[Airsoft-Ed]

I've been watching some sniper videos on youtube, there's this French guy called Vavann or something and his sniping videos are awesome, Sniper Elite is coming out soon and generally what interests me regarding guns is having to compensate for gravity and wind, firing from concealed locations from a distance and remaining undetected. There's a huge amount of satisfaction to be gained from hitting targets at range, I find.

I'm naturally very observant and even more patient, so I've always been ready for a sniper, now I'm taking action on it.

This thread is just to scout out any issues I might be unaware of.

I am fairly determined to buy the new Ares AW 338 spring rifle and I know Ares are crap etc etc but it's a sniper. Well are crap as well, everything has upgrade parts, the hard part comes from finding what's compatible with what. Right?

So the question really, is how hard can it be? ASPUK seem to be pretty epic at upgrading stuff, so surely upgrading anything is just a case of emailing them with the specs you're after and buying all the parts they tell you about?

Are there any really major issues people have had when trying to upgrade rifles? Any common problems?

What's the general idea of upgrading? Reinforcements to get to 500 fps, a trigger set that won't break and ensuring everything's as tight as possible to increase consistency? What parts are needed for the best set up? How are Laylax parts (for example) any better than cheaper alternatives? Surely they all do the same thing?

That said, I'm wondering why everyone rates the TM VSR series so highly, what is it about them that makes them so great? There are people with highly upgraded L96 variants, like the Maruzen or the Well that seem to be just as good as the TM series... What's all the fuss about?

Enlighten me, everyone!

Share your sniping experiences, I yearn to learn lol.

 

[TPI]

VSR`s are lighter that`s all i have observed

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I'm all about realism, I want the real weight and everything.

That's why the Ares seems so attractive to me, it's full metal, about 6 or 7kg and the mag is in the correct place, as well as it being the current issue British long range rifle, which goes with the rest of my British themed guns pretty well.

I had a go with an upgraded VSR the other day and it felt like a toy, but shot like an air rifle.

I want something that feels like the real deal in every conceivable way, but shoots like an air rifle.

 

[Liam Porter]

You could get the Well/Warrior L96 and then get the fluted barrel (or keep the stock, AWS barrel on it), and get a dummy magazine.

That way, it won't have to come from Red Wolf, the gun will be cheaper, it won't be ARES (although Well aren't that great either), it won't suffer feeding issues (which the ARES probably will, as the TM does). It also has a good weight to it (mine's over 6kg).

You also won't have to worry about upgrade compatibility, as ASPUK have upgrade parts for every area of the Well L96.

They also have for the VSR, but the ARES may not be 100% compatible with the parts.

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I know, part compatibility is one of the issues. I wasn't going to buy it until there was a UK distributor though, so buying from RedWolf isn't really a part of it. If I knew more about the dummy mags and the fluted barrel then I'd look into doing that, but first hand I don't know enough about it so I'm not sold on the idea yet, but it's certainly an option.

Assuming I go for that plan, how much would it cost to buy the rifle, the fluted barrel and the dummy mag? 'Cos the Ares will probably be about £250, if not more.

Is it ever the case that by upgrading something, you've made it so that you can't upgrade something else because the parts aren't compatible with the other upgrades, or something like that?

It'd be easier to explain if I knew more about what parts actually need upgrading, but I don't know enough about it yet so hopefully you just know roughly what I mean.

Edit: The Well is a clone of the Maruzen, right? Are they completely compatible? 'Cos I'd rather have the higher quality, better rifle. Can the fluted barrel and dummy mags be added to the Maruzen as well, also, does the stock fold?

 

[Liam Porter]

To be irritating, I'm answering your post in reverse order:

There's the folding stock version of the Well (MB-08 rather than MB-01).

Yeah the Well is a clone of the Maruzen, and they are compatible as far as I know.

The ASPUK upgrades are compatible with LayLax.

LayLax and PDI are almost compatible (I don't think you can mix and match cylinder components), but a LayLax bolt set will work with a PDI hop up and PDI sears.

The rifle is £140 on Action Hobbies (folding stock version), but that doesn't include scope, mounts or bi-pod. It's currently on offer.

The non-folding stock version is £180 on Action Hobbies (I think) comes with scope, mounts and bi-pod. But the bi-pod it comes with isn't the same as the real one. It's a small tri-rail adapter, with a RIS-mounted bi-pod.

The fluted barrel is £85 on Zero-One (but it's the short version, and I haven't seen the longer version anywhere in the UK). If you get the fluted barrel, you still won't have the funny lumpy bit on the end (whatever it's called), and the non-fluted barrel is the one used on the L96 AWS.

Not sure about a dummy mag, only seen one once. A quick Google search returned this: dummy mag. Which will cost the same as a G3 mag and any tools needed (unless you already have).

If you're waiting for a UK retailer for the ARES, then you may as well get that actually. By the time it's sold in the UK, there will be reviews and upgrade guides etc. for it.

The ARES will be better quality, the Well exterior's pretty poor to be honest, which is one reason I'm thinking of getting a different sniper.

From answering backwards, I typed most of that for nothing, as you would be better off with the ARES..

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I think I'll at least wait until there's more information on the Ares then.

Since everyone claims the mag position causes jamming problems, does anyone know why? I can't even begin to imagine how on earth the feeding mechanism works, I imagine it must have an insanely long loading ramp or something that takes it up to the front of the air cilinder.

How do the jams happen though? How do you unjam it?

Where is the evidence to back up all the claims that the system jams? I'm quite surprised that TM have come out with something that seems to be flawed.

 

[Liam Porter]

I have no idea how it jams, not sure on how it works.

I can't see it being particularly good/efficient though.

I know the BBs come out the front of the magazine rather than the top, which makes me think they then follow a tube to the hop up infront of the cylinder.

I think this seem rather silly, as the tube must be at least 10 BBs long, and once the last one's out the mag, there will be nothing to push the rest in the tube to the hop to be shot.

Anyone care to post an image or explain how the TM L96 feeds?

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I've been googling it and can't find anything about it, gonna have to ask someone who's either owned or worked on one.

I'd not thought about the BBs staying in the tube and pushing the ones ahead into the gun. Doesn't that mean that you'd always have about 10 shots in the gun that you can't fire unless you bolt it upside down? Either that or you'll drop as much ammo as you've fired every time you reload.

I don't really see how that would cause jams though, it actually seems like a pretty good idea (assuming there's a retention piece for the ammo in the tube). Minus the safety issues of the gun actually having ammo in it and the fact that you'd have to fire off ten rounds to change the weight of your ammo, which could be annoying when you're trying to set the gun up.

 

[dazz]

The VSR series are very lightweight and feel like toys. To get the to feel more realistic in weight you should fill the stock, I use old cotton t shirts! Also adding a bipod adds to the weight too.

The vsr us highly rated due to being having the best accuracy at long range. This is because the have the best hop up design on the market and now ASPUK will be stocking new hop levers these rifles are gonna be epic.

That said they suffer dreaded slam fire issues due the 45 degree trigger and piston engagement angle so a zero trigger is ideal for vsr.

If your going to go for L96/ AW338 design these are great but have shite hop units. Without question you should swap hop unit and barrel straight away. PDI or ASPUK seem to be best.

Then it's just a matter of upgrading the cylinders internals and trigger sears.

The L96 series do suffer from weak cylinders so it's advisable to upgrade this too.

For sniping u should use 0.3g bbs or heavier. The L96 based rifles tend to work best on 0.3 or 0.36g whereas vsr you can use 0.4g bbs.

 

[Finius]

The VSR series are very lightweight and feel like toys. To get the to feel more realistic in weight you should fill the stock, I use old cotton t shirts! Also adding a bipod adds to the weight too.

Way back when I had a VSR, I filled mine with pennies

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

The VSR series are very lightweight and feel like toys. To get the to feel more realistic in weight you should fill the stock, I use old cotton t shirts! Also adding a bipod adds to the weight too.
The vsr us highly rated due to being having the best accuracy at long range. This is because the have the best hop up design on the market and now ASPUK will be stocking new hop levers these rifles are gonna be epic.

That said they suffer dreaded slam fire issues due the 45 degree trigger and piston engagement angle so a zero trigger is ideal for vsr.

If your going to go for L96/ AW338 design these are great but have shite hop units. Without question you should swap hop unit and barrel straight away. PDI or ASPUK seem to be best.

Then it's just a matter of upgrading the cylinders internals and trigger sears.

The L96 series do suffer from weak cylinders so it's advisable to upgrade this too.

For sniping u should use 0.3g bbs or heavier. The L96 based rifles tend to work best on 0.3 or 0.36g whereas vsr you can use 0.4g bbs.

Cheers Daz, I'd never thought of packing out the stock, that's a pretty good idea.

However, I still think the Ares is a million times prettier and it's a replica of a British rifle, so, y'know, simple choice lol.

It's also supposedly VSR compatible at very least with regard to hop and barrel parts. So assuming the rest of it is still fully upgradable, it ought to be able to match the VSR accuracy if once it's upgraded the general difference is in the hop.

 

[M_P]

Way back when I had a VSR, I filled mine with pennies

I read that last word sooo wrongly.

Sounds like your best bet, Ed, is just to wait for someone to buy the Ares and see whats in it.

Or maybe get a second hand upgraded vsr, then when you can get an ares, drop the upgrades into that?

 

[Airsoft-Ed]

I've still not seen 100% confirmation that the Ares is fully VSR compatible, at the moment I'm working on the assumption that it's just the barrel and hop parts that are the same, but that shouldn't cause too many problems, there'll still be compatible parts, it'll just be a case of waiting for someone else to find out what they are.