One RIF to rule them all...

[Seth_Erebor]

We have Spring, Electric, Gas and HPA, but what universal features make the ultimate Airsoft rifle?

What have you seen that is uncommon or unique?

Perhaps something from the early days. 

You might as well start by saying what category you’re talking about, AR, LMG, etc. 

 

[Rogerborg]

what universal features

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Robust, effective iron sights.

No windage or elevation real steel frippery, just something that sits instantly and naturally in your eye line when you bring the gun up and gives a clear picture of who you're going to play-murder.

The best that I've experienced so far are on my JG G36.

 

[Guest]

Semi-auto only Gen3 Vector gbb, carbine I guess you’d call it.

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[Wo1f]

Greatest starter airsoft gun: JG g36c. Larger than an mp5 but larger than an m4a1. Has a battery compartment that will hold a 7.4 lipo large enough to last multiple days. It’s cheap at £90-110 and has a bomb proof, no thrills gearbox. Newer versions has an adjustable spring guide to give an FPS adjustment of about 20 FPS, which is handy when most places want between 328-350. Stock folds for storage or moving through tight spaces. A £15 hop rubber upgrade has the gun running as well as much more expensive guns.

greatest AEG: Tm recoil 416/m4. Nice externals and the best out of the box performance from an AEG. Power level low enough to use anywhere without issue and a hop chamber that allows consistent accuracy. Recoil and bolt lock features for added realism, or the option of high cap mags if you don’t mind loosing the bolt lock. If you have the money and only ever wanted one AEG, this is the one.

Best airsoft gun regardless of type or price: TM mws (m4 gbb). Most accurate, non bolt action airsoft gun out of the box. Range exceeds Tm recoils out of the box. Very well finished, Cerakoted externals. Highly gas efficient and will run all year round. Much more kick than any electric blow back rifle. Cheap hop mods and heavy BB’s turn the rifle into a super long range, super accurate counter sniper. 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

feature wise one thing that has disappeared but was there at the start is a catch to de-tension the spring in an aeg, quite useful.

otherwise the one gun i keep coming back to is my m4, because it's just such a good shooter both ergonomically and in terms of accuracy, it's one of those guns that just feels right in the hands and when you have a good one that works it's the kind of gun you forget you're using.

i'd say the featureset for the ultimate rifle is good ergonomics, good parts availability (something you'll soon discover if you stray off the beaten track too far) and a customisable platform, the standard m4 pattern can give you anything from a firehawk esque cqb king to full blown dmr spec.

in terms of airsoft performance then setting aside price the king has to be the polarstar for the level of consistency and customisation it offers and being the only platform that can give a silent accurate semi auto and at the flick of a switch turn into a high rof support gun

 

[Skara]

Best engine ever made: HPA. Can do everything at the flick of a switch, from low powered, high rate of fire gun for cqb to high powered DM/Sniper rifle LMG, regardless of the platform. Requires zero maintenance compared to the other existing systems.

As far as platforms go, I would say ARs, nowadays you can find so many different components it's hard not to tailor the gun on your body/style requirements. They also (can) come with ambi controls, so lefties can stop whining

Sights: the ultimate sighting device in airsoft is so technologically advanced very few people have it, yet only a handful of lucky few can properly use one. It's called "iron sights".

No need for batteries, easy to adjust, 100% fine for woodland or cqb, viable for sniping, no ghosting, no parallax correction, no need to spend tens or hundreds on it, no need for ugly looking glass protectors

My personal "ultimate" gun would be a 10.5" or longer AR, powered by HPA, with a good set of irons like my DD replica ones! Basically my Amoebas if they weren't such a pita to HPA

 

[emilianoksa]

As far as performance of aegs is concerned, if you can afford one,  a TM.

If not, I am coming to the conclusion that for most people the Combat Machine is as much as they will ever need. Cheap, reliable, light and nice to look at. Or ,as Wolf says,  a JG G36c with a couple of cheap upgrades. I have fancied the G&G version for some time but I doubt that at nearly £240, it is two and a half times better than the JG.

I bought my LCTs mainly for their build and looks. I could have bought a TM for what I paid for the two of them, but I will never regret it. Performance isn't everything where toys are concerned. Appearance is sometimes more important.

 

[Skara]

feature wise one thing that has disappeared but was there at the start is a catch to de-tension the spring in an aeg, quite useful

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Useful feature, but a liability on most guns.

ICS M4s had the forward assist pushing on the anti reversal latch, de-tensioning the spring.. Cool but extremely fragile, in the 5 years I had mine, I think I replaced the whole component 10 times, normal use (once at the end of each game day)..

Nowadays most guns come with FCUs that lock the piston (and the spring ofc) in the "relax" position after each cycle, so there's no need for a spring de-tensioning function as the gun already does it for you

 

[PopRocket123]

My G&P SR-16 custom built with a Gate Titan and SHS and ZCI internals and an r-hopped 300mm barrel. Shooting 340 on .20s it slings .28s out far enough to scare snipers and shoots better than a lot of people's "DMRs" while still being short enough to not be a hindrance in CQB. Plus with the titans precocking and 13:1 gears it cycles so fast it almost sounds like hpa.

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[Skara]

My G&P SR-16 custom built with a Gate Titan and SHS and ZCI internals and an r-hopped 300mm barrel. Shooting 340 on .20s it slings .28s out far enough to scare snipers and shoots better than a lot of people's "DMRs" while still being short enough to not be a hindrance in CQB. Plus with the titans precocking and 13:1 gears it cycles so fast it almost sounds like hap.

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Going a tad OT here, how do you like the pre cocking? How do you "deactivate" it at the end of the day, if you ever do it at all?

Gun is gorgeous btw, a tad short for my liking but still looks cool!

 

[PopRocket123]

Going a tad OT here, how do you like the pre cocking? How do you "deactivate" it at the end of the day, if you ever do it at all?

Gun is gorgeous btw, a tad short for my liking but still looks cool!

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Thanks after the amount of time and money that thing has eaten it always feels good to get some validation lol. After getting precocking for that I dont think I could ever go back it's just so snappy. The titan let's you turn precocking on or off so you just pull the trigger on semi then flip it to safe with the trigger pulled and wait for the beep. Then just cycle it a couple of times at it resets itself. I didn't like the length either when I was building it but it's all the barrel you need for airsoft and it's grown on me.

 

[Slamz]

My G&P SR-16 custom built with a Gate Titan and SHS and ZCI internals and an r-hopped 300mm barrel. Shooting 340 on .20s it slings .28s out far enough to scare snipers and shoots better than a lot of people's "DMRs" while still being short enough to not be a hindrance in CQB. Plus with the titans precocking and 13:1 gears it cycles so fast it almost sounds like hap.

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Looks awesome and sounds perfect for the job. If you don't mind me asking, could you send me a list of the internals you've used? Looking to build something similar and unfortunately my upgrade knowledge is lacking! No worries if not though, just if you get time.

 

[PopRocket123]

Looks awesome and sounds perfect for the job. If you don't mind me asking, could you send me a list of the internals you've used? Looking to build something similar and unfortunately my upgrade knowledge is lacking! No worries if not though, just if you get time.

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Oh bloody hell now you're testing me. Hang on I'll rack my brains

 

[Sniper780]

Real sword type 56 series of AEGs one of best and currently the only, airsoft AK/AK variant that can claim to be the most realistic and dimensionally accurate to the real steel Type 56 because they redesigned the gearbox to fit real steel receivers.

Externally it full steel everything that is steel on a real Type 56 AK is steel on the AEG even the small parts such as bolt cover latch and the trigger just to name a few, which some manufacturers are quite happy to leave as cast alloy even on their advertised as 'all steel' guns and completed by being finished with a deep blued finish not painted a horrid matt black , and real wood ( unless you have a type 56-2 and variants then its polymer instead of wood) 

Combined with some of the best if not the best internal for an AEG AK out of the box no real need to do any internal work and I found it to keep up with any other airsoft weapons I have encountered. Its an AEG so it works pretty much all year-round along with no gimmicks in my opinions like electric blowback (ebb) or pneumatic blow or simulated last round bolt hold open just to name a few.     

It simple and rugged just like a real one, just look at these vids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SeTyfqfruQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxsnfFB-lo0 

To be honest, in my opinion, all the current airsoft replicas made by Real Sword are at the top of there respective categories.