Looking for my first side arm
- Thread starter Jon199102
- Start date
Tokyo Marui. you'll struggle to get anything new £130 but there are a few in the sales page going for sub £100 with spare mags HK45 is a very good pistol. for pure functionality MK23 NBB clone can be bought new for about £50/£60 not as much fun as a GBB but it can out range a lot of full size AEGs and is very quiet.
Adolf Hamster
Supporters
- Feb 1, 2018
- 7,087
- 2,338
what's the use case here, are we talking a 90% holster filler that'll get the occasional couple of shots in cqb or a serious backup expected to perform to the full in the depths of a northern winter?
if it's the former, then it expands your options, WE stuff is generally *alright* for that kind of work and you can get some good range/accuracy out of them, but they will let you down in the cold.
if it's the latter then either an NBB or a TM is going to be the order of the day, plastic slides may not feel the greatest but they do make the gun run better when conditions are against it.
i'd stay away from co2, just a pain in the ass to work with compared to just making sure you keep your gas topped up.
if it's the former, then it expands your options, WE stuff is generally *alright* for that kind of work and you can get some good range/accuracy out of them, but they will let you down in the cold.
if it's the latter then either an NBB or a TM is going to be the order of the day, plastic slides may not feel the greatest but they do make the gun run better when conditions are against it.
i'd stay away from co2, just a pain in the ass to work with compared to just making sure you keep your gas topped up.
E21A
AF-UK patch owner
- Jan 1, 2018
- 1,827
- 447
Funny how I’ve found the exact opposite, green gas mags have been fucking worse than useless for me.
Adolf Hamster
Supporters
- Feb 1, 2018
- 7,087
- 2,338
it's a strange one all right, pretty much every time i hear the sound of gas escaping in the safe zone it's almost always a co2 mag.
gg aint perfect, but it's a damn sight easier just keeping them gassed constantly.
E21A
AF-UK patch owner
- Jan 1, 2018
- 1,827
- 447
To be fair I service my mags regularly and always put a fresh bulb in them with oil if they going to be stored more than a week without use.
I find co2 just works, even in the cold. ??
Horses for courses I suppose
Cyberlawyer
Members
- Jan 1, 2020
- 340
- 79
Personally If it’s a secondary I’d get a WE Glock. The WE G17 is a steal at £99 and is a pretty good performer. In the colder months you can use red gas to keep things pretty snappy. Biggest performance boost to be had is a maple leaf hop rubber which is less than £10 (although the stock one is ok, it’s just a bit hard and a ML is better).
Also for not much more than the price of a Marui and an extra mag you can get 2 WE G17s which will get you two mags, but also means if you drop your sidearm in a puddle, you can just stick the dirty gun in your gun bag to clean later and swap to a clean pistol.
This is actually quite a big long term cost saving as cycling a pistol with grit in it (even after your best efforts to clean it in the safe zone) will dramatically shorten a GBB’s life.
if it’s for use as a primary then I’d suggest a Marui hi-Capa as a base and you can then throw money at it forever to get the perfect gun for you as there is so much after market support. It’s not my thing personally (I much prefer the ergonomics on a Glock), but the Hi Capa is so popular for good reason.
Also for not much more than the price of a Marui and an extra mag you can get 2 WE G17s which will get you two mags, but also means if you drop your sidearm in a puddle, you can just stick the dirty gun in your gun bag to clean later and swap to a clean pistol.
This is actually quite a big long term cost saving as cycling a pistol with grit in it (even after your best efforts to clean it in the safe zone) will dramatically shorten a GBB’s life.
if it’s for use as a primary then I’d suggest a Marui hi-Capa as a base and you can then throw money at it forever to get the perfect gun for you as there is so much after market support. It’s not my thing personally (I much prefer the ergonomics on a Glock), but the Hi Capa is so popular for good reason.
G
Guest
Guest
Whatever you do, don’t buy anything Raven or Nuprol.
I agree with @Cyberlawyer , get a simple, robust WE, preferably G17 or 19/19X, as they are reliable and well built for the price
I agree with @Cyberlawyer , get a simple, robust WE, preferably G17 or 19/19X, as they are reliable and well built for the price
you sure thats not the bulb running out. i run a couple of co2 pistols and a tm green gas sig. with my co2 mags, when the bulb is emptied it tends to vent after the last shot. i assume its because it didnt have the pressure to fully cycle and so vents the remainder? either way, slap in a new one and all is good
i get 3 mags (45bbs) out of my kwc luger and about the same out of my kjw g17 (60 odd bbs)
- Oct 7, 2017
- 6,302
- 5,944
Agree, in the price front, the WE Glocks are apparently excellent, or spend a bit more & get the only pistol you'll ever need, the TM hi-capa.
Technically buying the TM would actually be very cost effective, think of the money you'll save on all the other pistols you'll buy, only to eventually say fuckit & buy the TM ?
Technically buying the TM would actually be very cost effective, think of the money you'll save on all the other pistols you'll buy, only to eventually say fuckit & buy the TM ?
E21A
AF-UK patch owner
- Jan 1, 2018
- 1,827
- 447
TM, WE, APS and some non branded eBay/China stuff (All glock mags). All have been pretty useless despite being stored and maintained properly.
Adolf Hamster
Supporters
- Feb 1, 2018
- 7,087
- 2,338
nope, almost exclusively putting in a new bulb only for it to vent it's contents.
when they work they definitely perform, but it's the preface to that sentence that seems to be the tricky part.
Cyberlawyer
Members
- Jan 1, 2020
- 340
- 79
The WE19x is an excellent pistol and my preferred skirmish side arm. The slightly shorter barrel doesn’t perceptibly impact range or accuracy but speeds up weapon transition times (shorter barrel is quicker to draw).
The only reason it isn’t my first choice for this recommendation is its slightly more expensive so my “man maths” justification for buying 2 doesn’t work as well. Also the whole transition time thing isn’t really an issue for skirmishing unless you are into hardcore CQB and is more a personal bias based on doing practical shooting (even when a table is available I prefer to holster my pistol if allowed).
If it’s a primary weapon or target pistol then the Hi Capa is hard to say anything bad about (even though I don’t like them personally).
As a secondary at some point it will get dropped (holster failure, fumble in transition etc, at some point it just will happen) and then there is real value in just switching to a clean unused gun for the rest of the day.
Even if I was running some tricked out super upgraded pistol when I was running a pistol as primary, I’d still revert to a WE Glock when using a pistol as a secondary.
Rogerborg
Supporters
- Aug 22, 2017
- 9,187
- 6,050
If it turns out that's the answer, then I'd note that the Army Armament R17 does actually work, and can be delivered into your sweaty mitts for just £55.80 from ... [looks around guiltily] bbguns4less.co.uk, if you put it in your basket then wait 24 hours for the "secret" 7% discount code.
E21A
AF-UK patch owner
- Jan 1, 2018
- 1,827
- 447
To be fair I service my mags regularly and always put a fresh bulb in them with oil if they going to be stored more than a week without use.
I find co2 just works, even in the cold. ??
Horses for courses I suppose
I agree. Standard Green gas guns never seemed to work for me (leaking, venting, running out of gas early, not working at all in the cold) but then I got a Co2 KWC 1911 and it just worked no matter the weather and I always get a good 3-5 mags worth out of each Co2 bulb. Also hit allot harder (but not nearly as hard as people complain about with Co2) and had a really satisfying blowback action.
Only reason I would opt more for green gas is because allot of sites stupidly ban Co2 including my local site which makes it difficult, but performance wise it’s been awesome for me.
Last edited by a moderator:
Adolf Hamster
Supporters
- Feb 1, 2018
- 7,087
- 2,338
see i have one of those kwc's and it's easily the most unreliable gun i've ever owned
Similar threads
