Sniper rifles and modifications

[Rabwolves]

As a newly converted sniper, I'm naturally looking to get my own rifle rather than borrowing my mates. The need for mods has been made very clear to me (although how many industries get away this essentialitiy out of the box?)

While I've been offered a very nice Druganov with some mods for sale, I am more inclined towards a l96, at least for looks wise. I was hoping if anyone can give me advice in regards of Airsoft sniper parts.com? I know little about mods and as someone who would find changing the oil in his car as stressful as disarming a nuke, I would need someone to fit them. Are they the best or are there better/cheaper?

I see they have two setups for a l96 the standard and advanced upgrade. As I said I know little of mods so can anyone give me advice? All I want is a sniper as good as possible so I know that if I miss it's just me being crap rather than the rifle.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

 

[Chock]

Are you intending to be a proper sniper, or more like a designated marksman in a squad? It seems to me with the ranges involved, going for a DMR would be a bit more practical for airsoft. Although if it is all that Ghillie suit malarkey which appeals to you, then go for it.

Technically, the DM role was what the SVD was typically used for in Soviet doctrine, but if you prefer something a bit more 'Western', then lots of people go for variations of the M16 Armalite to emulate the SPR (Special Purpose Rifle) in the DM role. The popular choice for making an SPR seems to be to modify the WE M16 A3 Gas Blowback, by sticking on a few fancy bits and pieces, since the WE M16 is a very good replication of a real M16 A3. If you prefer to go all Blighty however, you might want to try creating a H&K 417 or an L86 A2 LSR, both of which get used in the DM role in British units. ICS make a pretty decent L86, Umarex make a good, officially licensed H&K417.

If on the other hand, you are set on using the L96 and dressing up like a tree, then there are a few L96 airsoft rifles be had, most of which are straight up clones of the Tokyo Marui one, but for less money, which is just as well since that's the one that most of the spare upgrade bits are available for, and it would be silly to buy a Marui one, only to start throwing bits away when you could do that using a much cheaper base model.

​Take a look on this forum for all sorts of info on making dedicated airsoft sniper rifles better, including info on all the bits you can/should swap, and all those funky DIY mods such as swiss cheesing the piston (not always a good idea on every spring gun) which you can try:

http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com

If you can't find someone to be a designated spotter (as a real sniper would have), then you might want to get some stuff such as a spotting scope and an anemometer, so you can acquire targets quick and adjust for windage. You can get hand held anemometers for about 25 quid upwards, try here:

http://www.skyview.co.uk/acatalog/Handheld_Wind_Meters.html?gclid=CIegr52a-sACFRMatAodTC0AtQ

Decent cheap (and easily portable for when you relocate) spotting scope can be found here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zennox-High-Powered-Spotting-Scope-Black/dp/B00IHX6QNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411573604&sr=8-1&keywords=spotting+scope

Probably could do with an MP5K or similar small full auto weapon for when and if you get closed down, which you probably will. loads of them to be had for about a ton.

 

[Jolley]

i run an upgraded l96 and what i will say is if you upgrade one thing you will need to ugrade it all as a stock sniper wont really out range or even be more accurate then most aegs so you want a pdi hop chambe to allow an aeg barrel is the first thing you do as they are more available and you want a good barrel dosent need to be ridiculusly long like most people think just good quallity.

now power up is where it gets really messy. if you want more power all the stock bolt needs to go this means

new bolt

new cylinder

new piston

new trigger and sears

or else it will fail quite disastrously

want parts go to aspuk there is a link on this forum somewhere.

 

[Jolley]

the advanced will last longer is you have the correct parts as listed above and should get a better air seal. they aren't to hard to fit yourself.

 

[Russe11]

One option no-one ever discusses is the gas powered sniper. They are more expensive but perform better out of the box. One write up on the subject reckoned that a gas gun out of the box will shoot as well as a spring gun after modification and cost approximately the same. The downside is that if something goes wrong it is harder to fix on a gas gun. Also temperature will affect your fps.

 

[team flex]

so my mate recently went down the sniping route, and he has been talking about this. he got the vsr 10 from TM, then spent £70 on a new cylinder + another £70 for new trigger housing, now shoots 500 fps. Also had to buy bucking and casing or something for hop up, £30. Numerous other parts, £80 scope, scope mounts and rails etc. Next thing you know is hes looking at £600 pretty much. N.B he bought a lot more I didn't list, will have to ask him if you need the full list...

Very nice though

 

[Liam Porter]

One option no-one ever discusses is the gas powered sniper. They are more expensive but perform better out of the box. One write up on the subject reckoned that a gas gun out of the box will shoot as well as a spring gun after modification and cost approximately the same. The downside is that if something goes wrong it is harder to fix on a gas gun. Also temperature will affect your fps.

I completely disagree. Because of the way they work, gas snipers will lose a little FPS and a little power after each shot from the magazine, giving you inconsistencies, and sniping is all about consistency.

For a sniper to be effective, it has to be as consistent as possible, meaning if you're going the gas route, ideally, you'll want an HPA set up with a regulator to ensure each shot varies as little as possible.

You're better off going down the spring route, especially for beginners.

 

[Russe11]

I completely disagree. Because of the way they work, gas snipers will lose a little FPS and a little power after each shot from the magazine, giving you inconsistencies, and sniping is all about consistency.

For a sniper to be effective, it has to be as consistent as possible, meaning if you're going the gas route, ideally, you'll want an HPA set up with a regulator to ensure each shot varies as little as possible.

You're better off going down the spring route, especially for beginners.

The magazine on my SMLE for example is a massive piece of metal with a large surface area. It will therefore regain any heat fast after losing it when you shoot. By definition sniper rifles shoot slowly. Yes FPS will drop off on a gas gun if you go full auto, but we're talking sniper rifles. Only the last few shots will vary in pressure. As long as there is more gas in the magazine than can maintain a gaseous state at the temperature the gun is running at, it will maintain a given pressure by converting between gas and liquid, unless you shoot faster than it takes to regain equilibrium (again this should not apply to a sniper).

Also having studied the gas release valve in quite some detail since it blew up; the higher the pressure in the magazine, the harder it is to depress the release valve. This will help maintain a more constant fps over a range of gas pressure.

I would guess that a gas rifle will be capable of close to the performance of a spring rifle that has had a reasonable amount spent upgrading. I doubt that a gas rifle will outperform the best specced spring rifles.