My Vsr G-spec Build

[leadly]

Hello everyone.

I've not long purchased my TM VSR G-Spec and after getting my scope set up I've been really enjoying putting holes in paper targets in the garden!

After having a chat with @Steveocee about sniping and having a gander at the spec of his VSR I've decided it's best I sink some pounds and pence into my rifle in order for me to actually enjoy sniping and not be sat in the iron sights of every rental AEG on the field!

I seem to be spending a lot of time researching parts and filling up shopping baskets for various online retailers at the moment. So thought I'd share what I intend to buy and get a few opinions before I say "f@*k it" and spend up!!

So, here we go:

Action Army VSR10 Trigger set including piston

Action Army VSR10 spring guide

M150 Spring

Stalker Pantera hop up arm and nub (currently out of stock)

Action army 6.03 (430mm) inner barrel

Mapleleaf Autobot Bucking 75 (pink) (also out of stock)

Action Army Teflon cylinder and head 

Additionals:

Teflon tape to cylinder head and bucking

Barrel spacers

All of that is sat in my basket with Skirnshop. The hop arm set and bucking are both out of stock. Skirnshop seem to be the only place that sells the Panthera arm so it'll just have to wait a bit. As for the bucking, I'm sure I saw one on Amazon last night.

Opting for the Panthera over a whole hop up unit as I'd like to keep the external adjustment.

Hopefully I've not forgotten anything and I've got all the right bits.

I've also just ordered a chtonograph as I'd like to replace parts in stages like I've seen in "The Ultimate VSR guide" on the  Airsoft sniper forum so I get an idea for myself of what part effects what.

Thanks for reading.

Rich

 

[leadly]

Ah realised this should have probably gone in the single action area. Apologies!

 

[Shaydee]

First post - but I lurk around quite a few forums and have been sniping at my local site for a while, currently rocking a fully PDI'd up VSR Gspec. Here's a bit of what I'd change -

Barrel spacers - Don't bother with the barrel spacers, you can make your own just by layering masking tape, I've had the same bits of tape in my VSR for the best part of 3-4 years now and alongside a properly drilled out outer barrel (to fit a 430mm on a gspec you'll have to open the hole a bit more) you'll suffer from no barrel wobble at all. With the money saved from those I'd go for a Maple Leaf crazy jet/PDI/Edgi barrel over the action army one, AA have some great parts but their barrels aren't really the best.

Hop rubber - Another thing to note is the hop rubber hardness, you can probably afford to drop to 60 degree (I've just replaced my 60 I've been using for the past year/two years with a 50 a few weeks ago). We're in colder climates here in the UK so don't have to have such a hard rubber. Also swap out the decepticon for a Maple Leaf MR, these are the newest bucking rocking a different patch and supposedly work tremendously with the panthera nub - I can't say first hand how well this works as I haven't been able to test yet (thanks to covid obviously) but ASF and the mk23 groups both agree the rubber is very good consistency/accuracy wise (I've also paired this with a panthera nub).

Hop unit - Any particular reason you want to keep the external adjustment? I get that it's easier in the heat of a skirmish to use that, but honestly once your hop is set with an actionarmy unit you won't need to change it until you disassemble for maintenance. With modification you can get the AA hop unit to have external adjustment anyway. It would work out cheaper to keep the TM unit though I will admit.

 

[leadly]

Thanks for the reply and now that you've mentioned it, I'm sure I read the same thing about the AA barrels somewhere. I'll have a look what I can find, just checked skirm shop and they don't have any maple leaf barrels in stock at the moment. Fire support do have some laylax ones in though.

With regards to the hop up, I've never actually tried Airsoft yet (I've played paintball often enough to assume I'll enjoy it) so wasn't sure how often I'd have to adjust the hop settings. So for me keeping it external made sense, allowing me to adjust on the fly rather than pissing about with Allen keys or installing a TDC.

Plenty more reading and YouTube reviews to look at now though.

Cheers

 

[Shaydee]

Laylax would do nicely, they do the Prometheus series of barrels and they're very good.
 

The initial setup is a bit longer due to having to remove the magazine and allen key the adjustment, certainly compared to your average AEG when you can just tap fire and adjust on the fly. Once it's dialed in I find I've never really needed to adjust it unless it's maintenance time or an issue shows up (latter has been pretty rare though). After a few shots you get a rough idea of where abouts your round will land and most of the adjustment after that is actual aim with the rifle itself. I've also seen/read that the exterior adjustment can sometimes tend to not apply pressure evenly also, but I don't have first hand experience with that too much.

I'll echo the sentiment of many airsofters though and reiterate that the playstyle isn't for everyone. It may be worth waiting and playing a game or two before you jump into a big sniper build, I guess you've already seen/read about that though and want to get into the internals straight away - I can see how tempting it is with lockdown to start tinkering!

 

[Skara]

A tdc imo is mandatory on bolt actions and should be the standard.

Bolt actions need all the consistency they can get and as of now there is nothing that gives the same consistent pressure as a tdc. If you think about it, most chambers have some kind leverage and particularly on VSRs the arm tends to apply uneven pressure (often to the right side, resulting in the famous VSR hooks). With a tdc this doesn't happen as it's literally a screw that applies pressure directly where the tensioner (and hop rubber patch) is.

Adjusting the hop on the fly can be useful in some situations (e.g. A particularly long shot) but the external lever can be knocked off unintentionally (I had it happen quite a few times when I had the vsr). 

Get a 60° rubber tops, you'll never wear it out as much as with an AEG and certainly helps during the colder months. Plus a softer rubber will require less pressure which in turn results in less stress to the hop components.

 

[Steveocee]

Longbow have just got the Snipetor TDC in stock. Looks pretty good but I'm extremely happy with my Panters arm and drilling my outer terrifies me.

The list of parts for a sniper is endless. It's a real learning journey.

 

[Skara]

drilling my outer terrifies me

As with all things, fuck ups happen because users tend to rush things.

 

[Shaydee]

Longbow have just got the Snipetor TDC in stock. Looks pretty good but I'm extremely happy with my Panters arm and drilling my outer terrifies me.

The list of parts for a sniper is endless. It's a real learning journey.

Yeah I went for a VSR AA chamber rather than a TDC mod, mainly due to laziness. Drilling is easy, like Skara said rushing is what messes it up, measure twice cut once and all that.

 

[leadly]

My chrono from firesupport arrived today!

So I got that set up while the kids had a nap.

1) 298.8

2) 298.7

3) 300

4) 297.3

5) 297.2

6) 299.4

7) 299.2

8. 297.6

9) 299

10) 296.6

So an average of 298.5

Pretty happy with both the gun and the chrono. Atleast I know I've got something decent to build on, which is the reason I went with TM in the first place.

That's the chrono I bought, got decent reviews and at £55 it seemed worth a punt!

View attachment 56960

 

[leadly]

The wife nipped out with the eldest today so I was left with a sleeping baby, a bag of cotton wool balls and a hollow vsr stock!

I was using a dB app to record the sound of the rifle before and after. It seemed widely inconsistent but the highest I could get the meter to go to before "stuffing" was 79 dB and after it was a mere 70 dB. So an improvement!

I think I'm about there with my choices for the build now. I very nearly bought it all last night but then turned the PC off and went to bed!

No real rush I suppose!

View attachment 57010

 

[Steveocee]

Of course there is a rush!  You nee those parts and then to get them fitted and then a t least a week of carressing it before lockdown ends and you go running out there to use it!

Can;t remember if I mentioned it in our convo but a 0.43g BB will be your absolute best friend if you are running a 430mm barrel. The dorks over on Sniper Forum did the numbers and proved it some how.

Also get a GOOD quality BB. I personally only use Geoffs Super Precision whether it's 0.43 in the VSR, 0.48 in the SRS, 0.28 for woodland AEG or 0.2 for indoor AEG. Always use good ammo.

 

[leadly]

Yeah, your right! I couldn't wait!

I've opted for the following:

Action Army VSR10 Trigger set including piston

Action Army VSR10 spring guide

M130 Spring - Originally M150. After lots of reading it seems some people get the M150 and find the fps too high and either change it out or cut it down. For the sake of another tenner later down the line I thought I'd give the M130 a chance.

Mapleleaf Autobot Bucking 60 - Originally 75 

Action Army Hop Up Unit - Couldn't find a suitable arm and it seems like the best choice overall. i will install a TDC when I find one that's a bit more aesthetically pleasing than the ones I've seen so far. Haven't had much of a look though.

Action Army Teflon cylinder and head 

You'll notice no inner barrel yet. Mainly because Defcon didn't stock the 430mm I originally wanted and because I'm unsure which length to go with. I'm happy to try my stock length first and then if I'm not happy with it, change it out.

But going with what @Steveocee , ill more than likely go the 430mm route.

 

[Steveocee]

You'll notice no inner barrel yet. Mainly because Defcon didn't stock the 430mm I originally wanted and because I'm unsure which length to go with. I'm happy to try my stock length first and then if I'm not happy with it, change it out.

But going with what @Steveocee , ill more than likely go the 430mm route.

There is no accuracy difference, a shorter inner will mean your suppressor can do "a bit" more to suppress the expelled air for you. Running a 430mm barrel with 0.43's is a great match for piston/barrel/volume/ammo weight ratio so you end up with less piston noise and get a slight bit of suppressor usage due to the extended inner. There is no wrong answer.

Good choice on the AA hop unit, I have a feeling that you will find as per above, you set it and forget it. I cannot think of a time where I have altered my hop in game, usually a bit of hold over is all is needed rather than tweaking a hopup.

Agree on all choices, spring wise an M130 may be a touch too light, bolt pull will be easy but you may fall a bit short on range as the M130 at best will be putting out maybe 430fps? 

I did run an AA M150 for a while and with a 303mm inner barrel I was about 495fps from a cold start. Puts you in very edgey territory on a site that is strict on chrono.

Potentially an M140 from a different brand would be an option?? I think the AA stuff is 7mm/11mm ID/OD which is a shame as a Rapax 2J would have been perfect (although it's 9mm/13mm).

 

[leadly]

Spring wise, I'll see what it makes and go from there. I'm only shooting in the garden at the moment so regardless of attainable range, I've still only got about 60ft to play with!

I keep on hearing good things about the Maple Leaf crazy jet barrels, so might give one of those a whirl.

 

[Steveocee]

I keep on hearing good things about the Maple Leaf crazy jet barrels, so might give one of those a whirl.

They are very much a "go to" on the Sniper Forum but I honestly don't see the appeal. Ultimately you want a "good" internal surface polished well that is highly consistent. Crazy jet are coated brass.

In my eyes a sniper is like a scalpel to what an AEG is a butchers knife. So you want that scalpel as precise as possible. I just don't see Maple Leaf having the stringent manufacturing or QC of people like EdGi or PDI to do this.

 

[Skara]

I believe it comes down to the muzzle end of the barrel with its porting.

In theory it creates a cushion of air to reduce external influence when the BB leaves the barrel, but it requires an overvolumed gun to do its thing (it's the main reason it's so popular with GBBs as they're overvolumed by default).

I'd say it's a more affordable option than EdGi and PDI. I also heard some QC issues about the latter with their latest batches... or was it Prometheus? ?

 

[Steveocee]

My issue with the crazy jet (I'm not a hater, I have 2 in my GBBP's) is that there is no way of measuring how far this cushion can actually travel and have an impact on the BB.

If it's a few feet than you're just buying a brass barrel so really a tight AA would be worth a pop as they are comparable and also a very popular choice. I haven't used one though so I can't say it isn't the magic source which turns you into an aimbot.

(Cost is also not a thing, we're running around with plastic toys worth hundreds, we all lost our sense of value a long time ago)

 

[leadly]

I have a question with regards to grease and lubricants etc.

What should I be putting on each new part when I install them? What should go where and what shouldn't?

 

[Shaydee]

Personally I use white lithium grease on the outside of the spring and on the spring guide (metal on metal), then some silicone around the o rings on the piston head. I put a bit of lithium grease on the outside of the cylinder as well to help smoothen out the bolting action. On any rubber seals/orings make sure you just use silicone as other oils/greases can have additives/chemicals that'll react with the rubber and can weaken it.