Help for a noob sniper

[Rabwolves]

After attending my latest skirmish (at Ace Airsoft near Wolverhampton. If your wondering it's a top notch site btw) I had a bit of a revelation.

 

Using my M60 in the morning games, it was playing up and really annoying me. Nothing serious, just the box mag constantly knocking over to auto from continum, thus sucking battery as well as the annoying auto feed buzz. So coupled with it's weight and being a bit fiddly to undo and sort out (not to mention some nobs still shooting me when it's bloody obvious I'm fixing my gun) I was getting quite annoyed.

 

Anyway my mates mate's son (I didn't miss add an extra mate lol) who came with us offered his cheap sniper as a fix, probably just to top me moaning. As you can imagine I was a bit skeptical, having been a totally unsubtle M60 user to go sniper. Well what a revelation. I had so much fun and I even broke my record for number of kills in a game (seven! needless to say I'm crap at airsoft).

 

I've had such a smile on my face since. So I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction to the most comprehensive guide to airsoft sniping or even tips from from your own experiences. In particular I'd like to know the best rifles (money no object just time to save), mods, issues etc.

 

A lot to ask I know but any help is much appreciated.

 

[Monty]

Prepare to spend a lot on upgrades. Lol.

 

The best sniper platform you can go for is the Marui VSR, or any clone VSR.

 

If you don't like the look of them then the Well L96 is also a very good platform.

[ikarma70]

Try looking at the A&K Dragunov svd springer, this one uses AEG barrels and springs and once you replace the hop up and barrel... It really is very accurate and a really good buy and you get 60rnd mags which are metal.

 

I did those upgrades to my svd and I'm getting around 500fps with .20gr bb's.

 

You say money is no object.... Get a real sword svd or a g&g m14 veteran.

[BrightCandle]

A VSR clone and then parts, lots and lots of parts! Expect to spend the next year tweaking that puppy until its airseal would serve good duty on the international space station and shoots so consistently you could shoot down a mig with it. OK honestly its not that serious, while the guns as they come are underpowered and a not quite as accurate as ideal they are a decent place to start. The TM VSR is still a competitor and washing your heavy BBs and fixing basic airseal around the hop will work surprisingly well to get started. There are whole forums dedicated to sniper gun teching if you want to go that way or it might be worth ringing your favourite retailer and asking what they can build in terms of a custom sniper rifle.

[Airsoft_Mr B]

As above, a TM VSR-10 or JG BAR-10 would be a good start. The Well L96s are brilliant as you only need to upgrade a few things and the performance will be really good.

I've seen a lot of praise for the A&K Dragunov (once you've upgraded just the barrel and hop unit it performs brilliantly from what I've heard)

 

Finally the A&K M24 (I have one) comes with a lot of good internals OOTB. I still need to do a review / overview of it since a couple people asked and I'm the only one who has one on here AFAIK. Needs upgrading still and there are a few proprietary parts that aren't compatible with VSR bits. Also I can't get the cylinder heard off mine to upgrade or clean it but I think I just need to buy some different, proper needlenose pliers.

[Rabwolves]

Thanks chaps. I'll keep everyone posted I really do need a dum-dums guide to airsoft issues/upgrades lol

[Russe11]

Depending how you play, you might be better off with a very accurate AEG. A good M14 will be cheaper than a fully upgraded snipers and can get some great results. It will not be as good at range as a fully upgraded VSR but you should be able to get it to outperform most M4's.

 

I get very good results out of a £100 Sten gun. I have learned that it (for some unknown reason that defies the laws of physics) will outshoot most AEG's so I started hanging back and picking people off before they can hit me. Last weekend I was in a game where we had a small team attacking everyone else in a house (anyone who dies joins the attackers) and as we started, the guy in front of me said 'If only we had someone with a long gun, I bet we could shoot the guys by the doorway from here.' So I shot a 3 round burst into the doorway and 3 guys walked out

 

I am not going to suggest a Sten as a sniper, you can't mount a scope for a start. A good consistent AEG however can be used in a DMR role with great effect if you don't want to go fully into the money pit that sniping entails. In my experience of being shot by them, M14's tend to be the way to go for this (the Sten incidentally is internally similar to an M14). You just want an FPS just below 350 and a good hop up, possibly a tight bore barrel.

[Happy]

Airsoft Sniper Parts UK - best place for parts I've seen. Darren who runs it really knows his stuff:

 

http://www.airsoftsniperparts.com/apps/webstore/

 

Also has a "pre-owned" section where you can grab some decent pre-upgraded rifles.

[ikarma70]

Airsoft Sniper Parts UK - best place for parts I've seen. Darren who runs it really knows his stuff:

 

http://www.airsoftsniperparts.com/apps/webstore/

 

Also has a "pre-owned" section where you can grab some decent pre-upgraded rifles.

I used Darren to buy my hop up upgrade and I found him to have excellent customer service!

[airsoftwarrior147]

I'm also got a sniper which is moderate, but for when I begin upgrading what parts do people recomend, I want it to be decent range and power, and also to reach out and hit people

[ikarma70]

Depends on the gun you buy, some need a few parts but some need more.

[airsoftwarrior147]

Mines a ash aw338 the spring version, and I didn't buy it soo...

[ikarma70]

Well the hop up and barrel is a good place assuming there isn't a tight bore barrel already fitted.

 

Do you know what fps the gun is doing?

[Rabwolves]

Purely on looks wise, I'm tempted mostly towards the l96 variants. So would everyone agree that WELL make the best and if so a particular model? WELL seem a popular SR which I find strange as I've never heard good things about them (bear in mind I've never heard anything a la sniper from them, do they specialise in them or something?). Also what upgrades do people recommend as essential ( if possible brands as well ) I know I'm a pain asking but the idea of upgrading is daunting as even changing my cars oil makes me sweat lol

[airsoftwarrior147]

Karma it's around 430

[ikarma70]

If one isn't already fitted, a tight bore barrel should increase the fps.

[airsoftwarrior147]

Ok I don't have any upgrades in if, first actuall full skirmish will be on Sunday hopefully ( first one with it) so I shall see how it performs. Just need to zero it properly

[Russe11]

Purely on looks wise, I'm tempted mostly towards the l96 variants. So would everyone agree that WELL make the best and if so a particular model? WELL seem a popular SR which I find strange as I've never heard good things about them (bear in mind I've never heard anything a la sniper from them, do they specialise in them or something?). Also what upgrades do people recommend as essential ( if possible brands as well ) I know I'm a pain asking but the idea of upgrading is daunting as even changing my cars oil makes me sweat lol

Generally what constitutes a good sniper rifle is based not upon how good the rifle is out of the box, but whether it is possible to upgrade them. The Well rifles have lots of after market parts available.

[Ian_Gere]

I'd say the first thing to realise is that sniping is a different way to play entirely; so much so that it's not far off the truth to say that although you are part of a team on the field, unless you have radio comms what you are doing is disconnected from everyone else. You say you scored 7 hits which beats your previous record... there have been days when i have had only 2 or 3 hits with my SVD and still considered it a good day. I'll not bother to list the upgrades because, at this stage, they will mean nothing to you, but suffice to say there are only a couple of insignificant parts which aren't upgraded - the range from it is fucking ridiculous compared to an AEG and accuracy wise I can hit a head sized target at 80m no problem. I've been sniping for a year now, although i haven't been able to skirmish for a few months due to ill health: I consider myself a novice, but I do know what I'm doing - I could bore the arse off you with the tales of my favourite shots... nonetheless I get bored, I'm still mainly a 'hit oriented' player, so i take an AEG with me so that I can get forward for a couple of games and shoot the shit out of people!

 

The problem is wind. It doesn't matter how much you spend. You could have a barrel made from titanium polished by CERN and a hop up designed by NASA and the wind would still affect your BB's trajectory more than all of your upgrades put together. Basically if you're in it for the number of hits, forget it. Airsoft sniping is about enjoying getting difficult shots, or making pivotal shots, and having your camouflage work well; more than half the time your best shots will be ignored by the target - they feel or hear the hit, glance around, can't see you, can't believe they could have been hit from the direction from which the shot came and just carry on - who knows whether they believe it must have been a ricochet from friendly fire, or not even a hit, like a twig or something fell on them from above, or whether they simply cheat, but that's the way it is. I've had a couple of almost unbelievable hits where I've also managed to put a second shot on target, at extreme range 95-100m-ish with adverse terrain and wind conditions and still the fuckers just carried on! And when you tell people about such hits, it's like the classic fishing story, "I'm telling yer it was this big!" People don't believe you, or assume you're exaggerating... but I know I made those shots and that's all that counts

 

But if that doesn't sound like something you can learn to love, considering how much money you need to spend to get a bolt action sniper rifle (BASR) to the minimum standard necessary to have a range and accuracy advantage* over even good quality well set up AEG's, then you're better off not bothering. The forums and FB pages are constantly stocked with a never ending supply of BASR's noobs have bought and given up on - it usually takes a few months for them to realise that supply and demand economics really does apply to the gun they bought for £160 and then spent another £100 on / there are plenty of them so they're worth 5/8ths of fuck all... but that is the place to look for a base gun to begin upgrading.

 

Also bear in mind, when negotiating a buy or when it comes to giving up and selling, for people who are really into it, upgrade parts have no more value than stock parts in a 2nd hand gun, because unless the provenance can be verified so the degree of wear'n'tear known for sure, ie they are buying a mate's gun, the serious sniper will expect to swap those parts for new or known used bits anyway.

 

 

*And if you cannot field a BASR which has a range and accuracy advantage then what is the point? Unless you prefer to make the game much more difficult for yourself of course. But if not you're better off with an AEG, which at least has volume of fire on its side and which you can fire while running with a reasonable chance that 1 out of your 10 shots will be on target and the rest may very well suppress the enemy allowing you to reach cover closer to a target whose very good AEG outranges yours by a few meters...

[NickM]

My recommendation would be to have a look at the Airsoft Sniper Forum, the guys on there have upgraded everything imaginable and tested most of it to within an inch of its life! You will find the guys there can advise on everything from Gun choice, upgrades (not all are expensive! some are free just take a little work on your part) to ghillies and tactics.

 

Its damn good fun if you can get around the fact that you will take far fewer shots than anyone on the field, but enjoy the learning curve.

[airsoftwarrior147]

I use my 417 in the snipers role anyway, so starting reasonably still not moving much, digging in to one position in order to hold that side of the field (which I actually do quite well- no defeats and no one could find me considering I had a black jacket on in a wood)

[Mr Monkey Nuts]

So .... camping?

[airsoftwarrior147]

?

[team flex]

Well, my mate is in the same kind of position, has had his gun for less than a week, and has so far spent 600 quid plus, with more to come. It's not cheap, however he's looking at twice the range of an aeg and awesome accuracy, or so he says

[Ian_Gere]

So .... camping?

?

Yeah camping... I hear a lot of people complaining about 'camping'.

 

A person assesses the field and based on tactical considerations and terrain chooses a position to defend. By luck, experience, or a combination of the two, s/he has selected their position well: it is difficult to attack because there is little cover approaching it, or what cover there is does not give a clear shot at our protagonist; it is difficult to hit them with a bang because hard cover protects our protagonist from the only directions a throw is possible; it may also be possible for our protagonist to move unseen from one part of their position to another, so they can pop up and fire from somewhere other than where last seen; crucially the position cannot simply be ignored - the opposition must get rid of our protagonist in order to proceed with their objective.

 

The only way to defeat such a position is well coordinated team work - several people must provide suppressing fire so that our protagonist has no choice but to make use of their cover, while another one, maybe two, run in to shoot at close quarters... "well coordinated" being the operative term. Suppressing fire doesn't mean a load of shots in the general direction of the enemy, nor does it mean the most common interpretation (in my experience) a few shots at the position and then wait to see if the target pops up. "Well coordinated" doesn't include running out of ammo and needing to change mags while johnny-on-the-spot is relying on that fire, nor does it mean that because one or two people are firing at the position you can leave off an wait to see what happens, or, of those outcomes I've seen with my own eyes, my personal favourite, use the opportunity afforded by the initial attempts at suppressing fire to bugger off and try to advance somewhere else on the field...

 

Of course most people at a skirmish day do not belong to a team and even those who have arrived with mates have no command structure. Which is fair enough - if we wanted to take orders, many of us would have joined the military. But a curious phenomenon which I've seen play out several times is a group of players huddled in cover as close as they can get forward talking about how they can't get any further because of so-and-so here and so-and-so there, and what can we do? Then someone attempts to put a plan into action requiring the players to act in coordination...

 

But some of the people who were, minutes before, asking what can they do, who did not themselves have a plan, or voice any objection to the plan put forward by the ad hoc leader, just did not play their part. Later in the safe zone I've overheard such people saying things like "who the fuck does he think he is, telling me what to do?" Now fair enough, I can be a bit abrasive when I'm feeling frustrated, so if it was just plans that I've put forward and seen fail in part or wholly because others did not do their bit, then I could put it down to poor leadership skills on my part (although to be fair to me, this is not true of me in any other area of life and, as i say, whilst i can be abrasive, I am not dismissive or unapproachable), but as a sniper apart from the group i've seen it happen with other people's plans also.

 

So yeah, being very good at defence irritates attackers who cannot beat you. Hence the petulant yelp, "Camping!"