None air soft player - good next pistol recomendations

[JohnGWalker]

I know this gets asked frequently but I am looking for advice for my next purchase.

Some background, a couple of years ago I bought a cheap BB pistol for taking pot shots at targets in the back garden. Thinking that if it was rubbish so what. I bought something that looks like the Tokyo Marui Glock 26 but is probably a cheap clone.

However, it turned out that this pistol is surprisingly good. So good in fact that when we get visitors we go through targets at a rate of knots as we try to outdo each other.

But over the last few uses it is nori only showing its age, power is down (it doesn't always puncture the paper now) and accuracy seems to be slipping. As this gun cost less than £10 spending time to work out why seems to be pointless. So what to get next.

Firstly let me say that I have a 14 year old son who loves shooting the pistol and a 34 year old wife who fees the same but I always have to cock it for her as she isn't strong enough.

I have seen the CYMA Glock and Desert Eagle (love the eagle but I think I would be the only one able to fire it due to it's weight) and the WE-Tech XDM 3.8 Compact GBB Which looks lovely but being gas make me wonder how much the running costs would be (and the frustration of having to regard every 2 mags)

So, as lovely as all the big guns are, they aren't practical for someone who likes target shooting in a 10m garden. So what advice do you have?

 

[Monty]

Why not get an air rifle / air pistol? The 'Tanfoglio' 1911's are very nice, as are Dan Wesson revolvers. Cheaper to use too.

 

[JohnGWalker]

As much as I like the idea (and the custom gold looks beautiful) my wife has this thing about a powerful gun putting pellets through the fence and that might be dangerous (telling her to aim better doesn't seem to carry much weight) so I am limited to BB, at least for now.

 

[Sacarathe]

As much as I like the idea (and the custom gold looks beautiful) my wife has this thing about a powerful gun putting pellets through the fence and that might be dangerous (telling her to aim better doesn't seem to carry much weight) so I am limited to BB, at least for now.

Plastic BBs are dangerous too... You should use eye protection even in the garden, do you?

 

[JohnGWalker]

Yes, and use I pellet catcher as well

 

[Sacarathe]

Yes, and use I pellet catcher as well

Good job.

 

[Twice19]

TM Hi Capa.

Job done.

Considering the kid is using it, I recon a 4.3 as it is slightly smaller. But there's a dozen or so Hi Capa variants.

Just make sure you have a read of the stickies to brush up on VCRA and two-tones etc. You will have to get your new 2-Toned.

It's the go-to-piece for a lot of airsofters, and well worth it.

Reliable as anything and had plenty of upgrade potential if you really want to go that way.

Although GBB do tend to cost more in the long run (buying gas etc) you'll find them a lot more fun than a cheap springer.

 

[TheFull9]

Marui do make springers, so if you want absolute minimum running costs, that's the way to go.

I'd rather doubt they're stocked in this country, but worth looking maybe. The issue is spring guns are almost always (TM is the only exception I know of) bargain basement price so finding one of a reasonable quality won't be terribly easy.

 

[JohnGWalker]

Now that got me looking. I found a couple of TM sprinters but the reviews weren't great. However they pointed to this - https://www.airsoftworld.net/m1911a2-airsoft-spring-pistol-full-metal.html

But I am guessing if my wife struggles to cock my current gun then this would be completely impossible and it doesn't give any upgrade potential so possibly not right.

So, the current advice seems to lean towards getting gas rather than AEP. Is there any reason for this? How long would a cylinder of gas last? (So I can get an idea of running cost). If you assume that 200 shots at the target is about average for an afternoon plinking am I looking at buying a new gas cylindar every session or a couple of times a year? I've not found any stats one way or another except that most guns seem to be able to do 2-3 mags per charge.

 

[TheFull9]

If low running cost is priority and you don't need or want much power, then yeah AEP makes sense. If you did go gas you'd want something like a TM that's all plastic, then you can buy cans of Colemans propane and an Airsoft Innovations adapter for them. Those cans are massive and cost about the same as gas cans that contain half the quantity sold by airsoft shops.