• Hi Guest. Welcome to the new forums. All of your posts and personal messages have been migrated. Attachments (i.e. images) and The (Old) Classifieds have been wiped.

    The old forums will be available for a couple of weeks should you wish to grab old images or classifieds listings content. Go Here

    If you have any issues please post about them in the Forum Feedback thread: Go Here

Is the "Specna Arms SA-C25 - CORE PDW AEG" a good choice?

ModernTimes

Members
Joined
Nov 24, 2021
Messages
33
Reaction score
12
https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/specna-arms-sa-c25-pdw

I am looking to buy my first rifle and after reading countless articles I came to the conclusion that a lot of the good guns are currently out of stock. I want a CYMA gun as I have read that they pack a punch and are generally very good weapons out of the box but I have no idea when they will be back in stock.

That being said, is the gun I have chosen good? or is it not good and would you recommend something better or more powerful for the same price range? £100+ is fine I am just looking for a very good solid starter rifle that shoots very fast and long ranged.

 
Yeah that's a good choice.  I've just been through the same journey as you, ending up buying a Double Eagle M906c... you could search for my threads, if you're a masochist ?

I'm actually keeping an eye out on the Black Friday sales as I would like to pick up a bargain backup gun. Your choice did catch my eye again yesterday, but it's still at full price.  Very nice gun though and was in the running when I was originally looking.

Now the interesting thing is Patrolbase actually have the M906 marked as a Black Friday deal at £120/130 which would be an absolute steal.  (and it would piss me off somewhat as I paid £40 more)

It's still at 'OOS' but why lower the price when it's been like that for a few weeks?

Are they going to reveal some stock on the day?  Worth keeping an eye out for that!

 
It would be fine, although please be aware that it's plastic bodied.  A nice plastic, but that money gets you into the metal bodied EDGE range.  Oh... but they're out of stock.

Hmm, I see what you mean.  Out of stock, out of stock, out of stock, all the way down.

And I don't really rate the X-ASR mosftet in the CORE/EDGE range. It's there just for trigger contact protection, and is fine with the stock motors, but gets sketchy if you fit a higher draw aftermarket motor.  Given that, there's no particular reason to buy the higher priced CORE guns over the cheaper SA-C06 / SA-C08, as they're all plastic, and have the same decent rotary hop and QC spring system.  Or if you want compact and a mosfet, the SA-C12 will do the same job as the C25 for less.

The good news is that looking at what PatrolBase actually have in stock today in terms of M4 AEGs under £200, I would say that any of them will be fine, except I'd avoid the Nuprols like the plague, and Evolution Airsoft are still an unknown quantity.  Lancer Tacticals went through a ropey phase, but so did Specna, and they both seem OK at the moment.

I wouldn't over-think it, because at the moment if you snooze, you lose - the Double Eagles appear to be totally out of stock now.

 
Watch the Sweary Man (c)(tm) dissect each manufacturer here:
 




Skip the first 3 minutes.

It's long and there are lots of Naughty Words.  But as a tech he'll give you an idea of how good each company's products are.
(He likes Cyma and Double Eagle at the cheaper end, but there are some other manufacturers I know sod-all about that he rates too, and they might actually be in stock)
 

 
If you have the strength of character it would be best to wait for new stock to come in.  It should be before the end of the year so 5 weeks max. 

 
Is that an assumption, or do you know of any shipments on the way?

Anything coming in will have to get past the literal highway robbers on the M25 first, and given how fast everything is selling out, it'll still be a case of buying whatever's available before someone else does.

 
It would be fine, although please be aware that it's plastic bodied.  A nice plastic, but that money gets you into the metal bodied EDGE range.  Oh... but they're out of stock.

Hmm, I see what you mean.  Out of stock, out of stock, out of stock, all the way down.

And I don't really rate the X-ASR mosftet in the CORE/EDGE range. It's there just for trigger contact protection, and is fine with the stock motors, but gets sketchy if you fit a higher draw aftermarket motor.  Given that, there's no particular reason to buy the higher priced CORE guns over the cheaper SA-C06 / SA-C08, as they're all plastic, and have the same decent rotary hop and QC spring system.  Or if you want compact and a mosfet, the SA-C12 will do the same job as the C25 for less.

The good news is that looking at what PatrolBase actually have in stock today in terms of M4 AEGs under £200, I would say that any of them will be fine, except I'd avoid the Nuprols like the plague, and Evolution Airsoft are still an unknown quantity.  Lancer Tacticals went through a ropey phase, but so did Specna, and they both seem OK at the moment.

I wouldn't over-think it, because at the moment if you snooze, you lose - the Double Eagles appear to be totally out of stock now.


I appreciate the heads up. Thanks for the tips! I'll be on the lookout for an EDGE one. I really wanted to pick up a CMYA rifle but literally can't find one anywhere. It's really annoying.

If you have the strength of character it would be best to wait for new stock to come in.  It should be before the end of the year so 5 weeks max. 


Yeah I will probably end up doing that. I'll see if I can find out when restocks happen exactly time and date and camp a CYMA or a Speca Arms EDGE series rifle. Thanks for the reply! :)

On 24/11/2021 at 10:14, RostokMcSpoons said:

Watch the Sweary Man (c)(tm) dissect each manufacturer here:
 



Thanks! Appreciate it! There's so many brands to choose from it gets a bit confusing. I'll definitely give it a watch.

 
Re the Negative Airsoft video... someone helpfully put the times in for each segment in the top pinned comment, so you can jump straight to each manufacturer

 
Last edited by a moderator:
For anyone following the topic. I have decided to settle for either the gun I initially chose (Specna Arms SA-C25 CORE) but slightly leaning more towards the G&G Armament Combat Machine CM16

Both guns have really great reviews and seem like great starter rifles, only thing I slightly do not like about the CORE series rifle is that it's a PDW which would mean I'd need to buy more parts to make it into a standard carbine. Thank you to everyone who replied and helped! :)

I will still however be on active lookout for a CYMA M4 as that is the rifle I really want. It's just sold out everywhere for now.

What about this:

https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/double-eagle-m916g-utr556?pv=17877

Lots of us have a Double Eagle from this range and early indications are that they are great value.


I appreciate the suggestion but I don't like the look of this gun too much. I think the stock is a weird shape and the barrel looks overly futuristic with it's mesh/netting type design. It does seem like a really good gun though.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Then why not the sa-c08? https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/specna-arms-sa-c08-core-tm-carbine-aeg?pv=17821

It has everything you'll need from a first gun.


Agreed, I don't see much reason to pay C25 prices.  They're both polymer, I'm unclear if the C25 is significantly better.  The only actual feature difference is the X-ASR mosfet, but that does nothing except trigger contact protection, and mine balks at aftermarket motors.  Both are fine for length, anything more than that is just willy-waggling for airsoft use.

And don't worry about the quoted FPS figures, those will be using Specna's stock M90 spring.  Fine for CQB, just about enough for woodland. Drop in an M100 through the quick-change system and you're good to go.

The G&G, hmm. It's a lot more than I'd want to pay for one, given how feature-poor it is.  The sight may be functional, or a gimmick.  That said, G&Gs do tend to shoot very nicely, and that's what actually matters, not the feature list.  You probably won't regret it.

 
And I believe the combat machines still use a geared hop up, compared to the specna's rotary hop up, which is just a better design. 

Its a small thing, but if you want to do something simple like change a hop rubber, you will be thankful for the rotary hop unit. 

 
And I believe the combat machines still use a geared hop up, compared to the specna's rotary hop up, which is just a better design. 


It is, the Specna is very similar to the ZCI hop and works well.  I'm amazed that anyone is still making geared hops at this point.

That said, every time I have a go with Ex-Workmate Eddy's basic G&G CM16, I'm reminded just how good it is, even totally stock and completely neglected.  I guess G&G keep making them that way because they work just fine.

 
Get the C-25!

You're getting more bang for buck than any G&G you'll ever come across and, let's be fair, it's much better to have a polymer body than a pot metal one!

 
I'll elaborate more:

Having a realistic feeling gun is great, but in terms of actual performance on the field, the body being polymer or metal doesn't make any difference.

Thing is, we are mostly lumping around our guns all day and slowly drain our energy.

The weight of the thing will determine at what point in time you'll start to hate your life :P

I'd rather have an all polymer gun that is light and manoeuvrable than something realistic looking but that will tire out my arms quickly.

with that being said, Specna (along with Evolution, Dboys and Saigo Defense) offers more than G&G despite having a lower price point:

proper steel bushings, decent brass barrel, QC gearbox and rotary hop unit, whereas G&G insists on brass bushings, pressed tinfoil barrels and those stupid geared hop units that a) are more expensive to make and b) they are flawed in design because they tend to unwind themselves. And they out screws on the wrong side of the gearbox -.-

you pay for the brand (and a fancy polymer body with the 2.0 series) but get outdated internals.

I know you can replace those parts on a G&G buy why pay more and replace parts when you can spend less and have them on board already?

 
Back
Top