The GBBR Thread

[Airsoft-Ed]

As of the new year, I've now been a gas rifle user for a year, since I bought my WE L85 as a late Christmas present to myself last year. I think I got it on the 4th... So my ikkle baby is a year and 4 days old *wipes away a single tear*

Anyway though, I'm going to be filming a review of it over the next few days. I did an unboxing video when I got it, with my first impressions and a firing test, so this is going to be a follow up review, with all my experiences, good and bad, of having it for a year.

A helpful approach to reviewing I think, how sick do you all get of seeing people "review" a gun when they've only just opened the box and not even used it in a game? 'Cos it royally pisses me off. Reviews should include hands on experience and be done after enough time for any faults to manifest so they can be mentioned. I'd expect ANY gun to be flawless out of the box, 'cos if it came with issues, of course it's shit... What do these reviewers think they're achieving?

I digress...

As well as reviewing the gun after a year of living with it, I thought I'd also talk a little more generally about using GBBRs, since a lot of people seem to be put off by them, or look upon them badly for any number of reasons - gas inconsistency, weather dependent performance, poor mag capacity, running costs etc etc.

So I was wondering if anyone would appreciate there being a topic to discuss gas rifles for those who are curious about them, considering getting one, or have them and want help getting them up and running after a part failure or something.

Maybe we could call it the GBBR thread or something?

To start with though, I just wanted to ask if anyone had any questions I could cover in the review?
They can be about GBBRs in general, or more specific to the WE L85.

Also, we might as well include photos because it makes the thread a bit more appealing if there's an aspect of flashy, showing-offy-ness, right? So let's see what GBBRs our community has, to try and provoke some discussion about them.

Here's my L85:

[Esoterick]

I'm glad you posted this as I've been on the verge of buying a GHK AKS-74U for a while now.

 

Probably the main thing I am curious to know is how long it took you to get used to the significantly lower capacity? Also how many magazines do you run with in total and do you play at a mix of sites? I've spoken to a couple of people that say they only use their GBBRs in CQB games but never got a chance to quiz them more than that.

[TheGrover]

Is the accuracy of a gbbr different than an AEG?

 

With the absence of a gearbox, are supressors functional on gbbrs?

 

Are gbbs easy to customise (internally ofc) compared to aegs?

 

-BUZZWORD- maintenance

 

Are there any brands which produce gbbrs which are significantly better or worse than their aegs?

 

Comparison between green gas and propane

 

[/wishlist]

 

In all seriousness, i think my next weapon will be a gbb primary. Possibly an smg or perhaps an AR, depending on what i find, what i like (and what Ed mentions in his review).

[AirsoftTed]

Is there a work around for the whole cold weather "supposedly" (I've no experience with them) rendering GBBR's useless?

 

Are they significantly louder/more realistic sounding compared to an AEG?

 

Weight wise, do they compare to a metal AEG counterpart? Obviously magazines will weigh more but the rifle itself.

 

I'd like to transition over to a GBBR m4 at some point or even have one for summer to compliment my G&P but I can't see it being financially viable.

[Airsoft_Mr B]

Is the accuracy of a gbbr different than an AEG?

 

With the absence of a gearbox, are supressors functional on gbbrs?

 

Are gbbs easy to customise (internally ofc) compared to aegs?

 

-BUZZWORD- maintenance

 

Are there any brands which produce gbbrs which are significantly better or worse than their aegs?

 

Comparison between green gas and propane

 

[/wishlist]

 

In all seriousness, i think my next weapon will be a gbb primary. Possibly an smg or perhaps an AR, depending on what i find, what i like (and what Ed mentions in his review).

 

Performance should be around the same, but range and power would decrease over time obviously as gas runs out. They will use the same kind of hop up chambers / inner barrel and so on, except the propulsion / power method is different.

There are definitely brands with better AEGs than GBBRs, I guess G&G could be an example. Their GBBs are terrible although not exactly a real one because it's more like a gas powered AEG gearbox.

WE are pretty new to making AEGs too but can't comment myself on whether electric or gas is better.

In terms of which manufacturers make the best GBBRs IMO it would be GHK, Tokyo Marui and KWA.

 

Green Gas vs Propane.

They're the same. Green Gas is Propane + silicone oil!

If you're using a GBBR as your primary you will definitely want to consider propane since it's a lot cheaper, but you'll need to remember to add a few drops of silicone oil every so often (not sure how many magazines exactly, dependant on the gun)

[Mack]

Is the accuracy of a gbbr different than an AEG? I thought my WE Scar Shot like a laser and it was completely bog standard

 

With the absence of a gearbox, are supressors functional on gbbrs? Cant say, never tried

 

Are gbbs easy to customise (internally ofc) compared to aegs? Pretty Easy, Easier than an AEG I think. Pretty daunting at first but plenty of guides around

 

-BUZZWORD- maintenance,

 

Are there any brands which produce gbbrs which are significantly better or worse than their aegs? Cant say, only ever owned a WE Scar GBB

 

Comparison between green gas and propane, Propane is Green gas without the added silicon

 

[/wishlist]

 

In all seriousness, i think my next weapon will be a gbb primary. Possibly an smg or perhaps an AR, depending on what i find, what i like (and what Ed mentions in his review).

[jcheeseright]

 

Performance should be around the same, but range and power would decrease over time obviously as gas runs out. They will use the same kind of hop up chambers / inner barrel and so on, except the propulsion / power method is different.

There are definitely brands with better AEGs than GBBRs, I guess G&G could be an example. Their GBBs are terrible although not exactly a real one because it's more like a gas powered AEG gearbox.

WE are pretty new to making AEGs too but can't comment myself on whether electric or gas is better.

In terms of which manufacturers make the best GBBRs IMO it would be GHK, Tokyo Marui and KWA.

 

Green Gas vs Propane.

They're the same. Green Gas is Propane + silicone oil!

If you're using a GBBR as your primary you will definitely want to consider propane since it's a lot cheaper, but you'll need to remember to add a few drops of silicone oil every so often (not sure how many magazines exactly, dependant on the gun)

 

Having used and maintained a few gas guns for knocking on 2 years I'd say about 80% of that is complete rubbish.

 

Sorry, not sorry.

[Airsoft_Mr B]

Is there a work around for the whole cold weather "supposedly" (I've no experience with them) rendering GBBR's useless?

 

Are they significantly louder/more realistic sounding compared to an AEG?

 

Weight wise, do they compare to a metal AEG counterpart? Obviously magazines will weigh more but the rifle itself.

 

I'd like to transition over to a GBBR m4 at some point or even have one for summer to compliment my G&P but I can't see it being financially viable.

 

1) Keeping them in pockets - I've also heard people have used handwarmers and stuck them in pouches with their mags, but they're yet another (if small) expense to consider for a disposable / consumable item.

I would say polymer magazines are more reliable although I can't think of any polymer GBBR mags aside from the G5. There's also GBB PMAGs but IIRC they are not so reliable for some reason from what I've heard myself.

I suppose they would still function decently and perform okay to a certain extent. I know my Glock will get through a couple of mags or even up to 2 and a half but this is just after it's taken out of it's case. I'd say it could still manage a full mag in the cold at a skirmish so a rifle would too. Sorry I can't give a better answer but I hope it helps a bit.

 

2) I'd say they are, depends on which one though because as with pistols some models sound different. For example the TM 5-7 I've heard is really loud. Also a KX3 / KFH replica will work more effectively than on an AEG to change the sound even more (I've used one on my Glock) To answer one of the previous questions the same applies for suppressors, assuming of course you do actually buy a somewhat functional one (with foam or baffles) as opposed to a pure mock one which are hollow inside.

 

I'll stop replying since I don't even have a GBBR :\ Don't want to cause more confusion instead

[Airsoft_Mr B]

 

Having used and maintained a few gas guns for knocking on 2 years I'd say about 80% of that is complete rubbish.

 

Sorry, not sorry.

Fair enough

Which bit specifically or you mean it was all wrong?

[Airsoft-Ed]

I'm loving how this has turned out, really picked up right off the bat, it's great!

Might simplify my L85 review and think about doing a second video covering the more general GBBR questions, might as well get a bit more mileage out of the topic with video view counts and such, especially since most people won't have the attention span for a video the length it would take to cover all these interesting questions in an acceptable level of detail as well as a specific rifle review. I really hate skimping out on the finer points for the sake of keeping stuff concise.

Anyway though, I'll try to give an answer for everything people have said so far:

Getting used to the lower capacity:
Personally this was never an issue for me, prior to buying my WE L85, I had an ICS one which I would run with real cap mags anyway. I actually decided to take the plunge with the WE because I figured I treated the ICS one as if it were realistic, handicapping myself with the ammo count in the process, so I might as well ditch it and go gas so the handicap was less of a choice and the rifle was more realistic in general. If that makes sense?

I don't think it's really about getting used to it though. If you know you have less, you just use less ammo, it's not really a case of adjusting, it just happens. It's like when I use high caps, I go ape shit. I don't use barely any ammo just because I'm used to 30 rounders, if I know I've got loads, I'll use loads. If I know I've got hardly anything, I'll use hardly anything lol.

How many mags do I use?
I have 10, but I only actually bought 6 - One came with the gun, and I bought 5 with it.
I then gained 10 more by trading all my old AEG spares for WE parts and related items because I had no need for the AEG bits anymore. 16 is too many. My rig can carry them, but as I said above, when you know you've not got a lot of ammo, you just don't use it. I've gone entire games with 1 mag before and done work. I actually sold 6 of the mags off because I didn't feel they were needed, I'll carry 10 into each game but I barely ever use more than half, even if the games go on for 40 minutes or more. I think I'd manage with 4, which is actually what I'm thinking of doing once I get a GBB M4, so I can run a much lower profile rig with it.
But yeah, I've played entire games on 1 mag before, check out this video from the first game I ever played - No reload but I think I got about 8 kills, played proper aggressive too.

What kind of sites do I play at?
I am generally more of a CQB player, I find that gas guns can get by in more open settings, but they're not ideal... In a lot of woodland sites there are a lot of engagements that get started due to speculation; by this I mean, you'll see a dude through a bush and go for it.
If you do this with a gas rifle, you don't really have the ammo to risk it. 'Cos if you don't get through with 30 shots, chances are the enemy's going to have 400 or so, and they are going to get through at some point. The range and accuracy issues aren't so much a problem as the ammo ones in woodland sites.

In CQB it's all quick snappy peak wars where you have cover good enough for reloads to not hugely disadvantage you, and your trigger response will aid you a lot. I would definitely say gas rifles are better suited, or perhaps more fun to use in CQB, but they can still be used in woodland you'd just have to approach it with more of a stealthy, sniper-type mindset than that of a blasé run and gunner.

Accuracy compared to AEGs:
As I touched on above, it's not really something that can be talked about, it's a bit like asking what the accuracy of an AEG M4 is compared to a different brand of AEG M4.
Think of it like this: The accuracy is more or less the same. The difference is that if you miss and have to fire more, the more it takes you to hit, the more in the shit you are, because you'll have to reload sooner.
With an AEG, you care less about missing because chances are, 20 shots isn't a lot of ammo to you, so you can happily spam away until you hear "HIT!" your mags weigh next to nothing and can hold several times the quantity of ammo as a gas rifle user's mags.
With a gas gun, using 30 round mags, more than 7 shots going down range for one target feels like too much, if I can't dispatch a target in 7 shots and they're a significant threat from the position they're in, it's time to get out of their way, or move in for a better angle.

Do suppressors work?
Nope. As with AEGs, the noise generated by the gun doesn't come from the muzzle, in AEGs it's the whir of the motor and the gears combined with the piston slapping home once it hits the cylinder head. With a gas rifle it comes from the big metal bolt smashing itself into your recoil spring, and then smashing itself into the face of your hop unit. That shit is loud. Only thing suppressors can work wonders for is HPA rifles, non-blowbacks, or if you build them right, spring snipers.

Are GBBRs easy to customise internally?
I would say yes, they're entirely mechanical, so once you understand how they work, it's clear and easy to understand what you can alter and what effect it will have.

That said, there's less you can really do. In an AEG you can change the power, fit barrels and hop - Same with a GBBR... But, that's pretty much as far as GBBRs go, at least as long as your draw direct comparisons to AEGs.

Gas rifle internals can't really be changed for more efficient/faster/smoother operation, well, they can... But you can't just buy the parts to make it so. So keeping it a bit more basic for the sake of this conversation: They just either work, or they don't work. So you can upgrade them for longevity, or leave them alone.
You can tune them, but it's more of a DIY type of affair than just a case of buying a pre-made part and fitting it. That's where the understanding how they work part comes into it, you'll get more done with custom mods the better you understand the mechanism and how to alter it. You can make the bolt stroke shorter for higher rate of fire, or change the strength of the buffer spring for better gas efficiency for example.

Maintenance:
I think maintenance is a term that gets thrown about way too often in a negative way and it's really massively over exaggerated. If my rifle is working smoothly, I won't touch it.

If it starts acting up, I'll open it up, check over the parts I think are to blame, and then I'll do what I can to make them work better. It's literally the same as an AEG... If something breaks, replace it. Boom. Gas guns are a lot easier to diagnose issues with and repair due to their mechanical nature, it's clear as day what the issue is because the way the gun fails to behave is basically a big neon sign saying "X part has failed!" in AEGs half the task can be guessing what's wrong before you open it up, one problem could be caused by several things. In a gas gun it's all a lot more clear cut, and taking them apart is a million times faster and easier too, so replacing any broken parts rarely takes more than 5 minutes unless it's to do with the trigger, which are more fiddly...

I run my rifles dry, no lube on the moving parts, because it just attracts dust and grit and shit to stick itself all over them, since it's a lot easier for it to get in when there's a huge hole opening in the side of your gun every time you fire.

In a year I have opened my L85 maybe 1 time to "maintain" it, which involved wiping a load of grit out from the inside after I'd played down and dirty in the woods and the whole of the inside of the receiver got caked in a fine layer of "wood dirt" as I call it.

Aside from that it gets opened every time I get it out in order for me to set the NPAS and fiddle with the hop setting a bit.

Brands to look at/avoid:
This is a little more awkward to talk about with regard to GBBRs as it is with AEGs. As I said above, a lot of the things you can do to gas rifles just involve altering the quality of the parts so that they last longer, upping the reliability of the gun.
This generally means that you have cheap gas rifles with poor quality parts, and expensive ones with high quality parts.
Performance of both will be more or less the same, but the price difference could be anything between £200 for an AGM M4 using very very cheap parts based on the Western Arms system, £300 for a WE using WE's own parts, £400 for a GHK or £600+ for some of the upper end WA based G&P or Inokatsu rifles.
What it comes down to is understanding that if you buy cheap, do you have the knowledge and the resources to keep the gun running? Because parts will fail, and you will have to replace them or repair them.
If you buy expensive then you have less to worry about because the parts will be made of tougher materials and last much longer.
I personally really rate WE, they're on the cheaper end of the spectrum because they don't use very good materials and they have poor quality control... Buuutttt, finding parts and magazines for them is very, very easy, and they don't cost a lot compared to other brands either.
So I get my WE M4 for £300 and for £100 I can completely replace every single internal part in one go, or as each part wears out, I can replace it/upgrade it for a stronger material.
Who knows? You might get lucky and have the stock parts last you several years, or you might have to replace a load of stuff after your very first skirmish, it's a gamble... But even in the worst case scenario, replacing everything inside the whole gun will still cost you less than buying the next best thing on the market, so I think it's worth the gamble for that.

Green vs Propane?
As James said, they're the same thing. Green gas is propane with added lubricant. The lubricant is there to keep your seals in check, if they stay moist then they keep working. With propane you have to add the silicone yourself by adding a few drops to the propane canister every 10 or so magazines.
I usually drop about 6 drops in at the start of the day and then just leave it until the next game day, never had any issues with any of my mags. Keep a little gas in them for storage and you're golden.

The major difference between the two gasses, is price. Propane gets used because it is significantly cheaper. Coleman's propane canisters have somewhere between 2/3 times the amount of gas in them as your standard 750ml green gas can, but they cost the same amount.
1 Coleman's canister lasts me about 1.3 game days and costs me £9 a go. Green gas costs around £10 a bottle, but I'd need at least 3/4 to last the same length of time.

How are they in cold weather?
Less good than warm weather, to put it simply...
Gas expands less the colder it gets, and the act of it expanding cools it down. What this means is that the more you shoot, the colder the parts get, so the colder the gas gets, so the less it expands, so the weaker your shots are.
So the more/faster you shoot, the faster/more noticeably cool down will affect your gun.

But, if you have a large amount of gas, then the gun can make up for a degree of cool down by simply using more gas per shot.
Cool down effects start being noticed when it gets too cold for the amount of gas you have surplus to requirements isn't enough to make up for the loss of efficiency being created by the cold.

Let's say your M4 can fire 60 shots - so 2 mags worth of ammo - on one fill of gas when it's 25 degrees C. When it gets to, say, 0 degrees C your shot count will go down because the gas will be colder so it won't expand as much.
The second ammo fill you can usually get through on one gas fill now acts as surplus gas, instead of being able to get 60 shots off total, it helps you fire fewer more consistently. So you might get 40 shots off from one fill instead of 60, and they'll still be as effective as they would be in the warmer weather, you just get less of them.

Obviously the colder it gets, the fewer shots you get, until it gets too cold to get off a full mag's worth, which is around the point most people give up on gas rifles and rely on AEGs for the colder months.

You can get around cool down to an extent by using gasses with a higher pressure, CO2 for example is a much higher pressure gas. Don't quote me but I think the pressure of CO2 at 0 degrees C is comparable to the pressure of Propane at 20C, so CO2 in winter acts like Propane in summer. Obviously it takes a new set of expensive, CO2 compatible mags to take advantage of this work around though, and CO2 mags are generally pretty unreliable because the higher pressure puts more strain on the seals.

To some extent you can just fire slower, or less often with your standard gas of choice, as the less you fire, the less you cool the gas down by, but it only goes so far and it depends on the gun... Rifles with smaller lighter bolts, or larger magazines will succumb to cool down slower because it'll take less of the gas they have available to cycle the action.

Once you get the gun and use it for a year you'll get accustomed to how it behaves in certain weather and temperatures and you just have to learn to know when to either not go to the game, or take a back up AEG with you. It's just the way it is, unfortunately.

Are they louder/more realistic than AEGs?
Yes. Definitely louder, if you watch some of my videos then with my L85's bolt being right next to my ear, and thus, my camera, the level of noise it makes on firing quite often maxes out the mic on my camera, so the video will go silent for anything up to a minute in some cases whilst the camera adjusts to the noise level and readjusts.

The noise can help you scare people in some cases, but it also scares you in others. There have been times when I could've opened up on a large bunch of guys with an AEG, but my GBBR is so loud that I'd held off to avoid drawing too much undue attention to myself.

Their operation is significantly more realistic. They're basically the same as real guns in operation apart from the propellant is stored in the mag instead of a casing, so they don't kick out casings.

With AEGs you can just put a mag in and shoot, with GBBRs you have to cock the hammer otherwise it won't shoot, you have to rack the bolt otherwise it won't pick up a round and nothing will come out, the bolt locks on the last shot as per gas pistols.
They're basically the same as gas pistols, same level of realism, same amount of weapon control manipulation. But bigger and louder and thus, more awesome.

How does the weight compare to reality/AEGs?
Pretty much the same as asking how AEG weights compare to the real thing. Airsoft guns in general tend to be fairly close in weight to their real world counter parts.
Gas guns tend to go one further and also replicate the balance of the weight. Gearboxes are heavier than trigger sets and bolts combined, but gas rifle mags more than make up for that loss of weight from lighter functioning parts, so they're more or less comparable in weight.

[dapprman]

Here's some of my thoughts - as another GBBR owner/wielder/fan.

 

I clean mine after every day of play - really just a habit I've developed, but it will help in the long run. TBH it's simple and quick, plus it's not like having to service the motor on an AEG every so often or replacing a worn out piston. GBBRs are easy to work on - which is a good thing if you're me.

 

Gas wise - I use propane during the day, but between games replace it with green gas or maintenance green gas so the seals remain lubed. When sorting you don;t need to keep the mags full gas wise.

 

Mag quantity - I have 6 for my GHK G5. I did contemplate getting another two, but rarely finish the 5th except with long heavy play. Th exception is warm up type games in the open - one of the sites I play effective have 4 back to back games, so I use an AEG for those.

 

One thing people who are moving to GBBRs need to be aware of is, unlike with an AEG, changing barrel length will change the power. The longer the gas can expand in the barrel the more power you get - so reduce the barrel size and you'll get a drop in FPS. Increasing mine by 4" (using the GHK G5 carbine kit) increased my fps by ~25-30 with 0.20g pellets. There is a limit to the increase - if the barrel is long enough for the released gas to completely expand then the pellet will reach maximum velocity before exiting the barrel - not sure how long ti would need to be though, I suspect far too long to be usable.

 

@Airsoft-Ed - When you do your review I'd suggest covering basic maintenance - i.e. how to get the bolt carrier out and what the bits are - as that can differ from GBBR to GBBR.

 

edit - oh and forgot to add - while cold weather can reduce the effectiveness of a GBBR, come summer they can run hot ...

[Josh95]

What would you say, is the best GBB AK47 on the market, that isnt silly money

[dapprman]

What would you say, is the best GBB AK47 on the market, that isnt silly money

Probably cause a lot of debate, but if new I'd go for a GHK - I believe their early ones could be a little iffy, but they've built up a great reputation since then.

[AirsoftTed]

Cheers for the answers Ed and Mr B.

 

One more whilst I remember - Who is a good retailer for GBBRs? I know a lot of places stock them, but is there a place with better prices/customer service/variety for people to look at ? I remember you (Ed) having a bad customer service experience with the place you bought your l85 from I believe.

[M_P]

Cheers for the answers Ed and Mr B.

 

One more whilst I remember - Who is a good retailer for GBBRs? I know a lot of places stock them, but is there a place with better prices/customer service/variety for people to look at ? I remember you (Ed) having a bad customer service experience with the place you bought your l85 from I believe.

I use milspec but Ed doesn't after having issues with the guy who runs it. Assuming Eds story is true (and he has no reason to lie, and I think we all agree he's a good guy) then I think his reason not to use milspec is fair game.

 

I'd recommend them as I've not personally had issues.

[Airsoft-Ed]

I don't not recommend them, they have decent stock and they are a gas specialist, he just acted like a total dick to me personally and I'm not going to forgive him for it unless he does first and starts selling to me again.

 

Milspec Solutions and Tactical Quartermaster are probably the best places for gas gun stuff.

 

Mark at TQM is great, he's sourced me a handful of parts and he's very good at quoting accurate shipping times and prices.

 

One thing to be aware of is that when buying parts for GBBRs there is more often than not a waiting time involved whilst the shop orders it in for you, as there isn't high enough demand on a regular enough basis for it to be cost effective for shops to hold stock in parts they can't easily move.

[AirsoftTed]

TQM is about a 45 minute drive from me so that's great, I've driven past there on my way back from skirmishing and had no idea they sold RIF's. Thanks again Ed!

[EvilMonkee]

As far as AKs go - GHK is the only choice really, the standard WE offering isn't upto much OOTB and requires upgrading. For roughly the same price a GHK will run beautifully out of the box. Best gun I ever bought

[Airsoft-Ed]

TQM is about a 45 minute drive from me so that's great, I've driven past there on my way back from skirmishing and had no idea they sold RIF's. Thanks again Ed!

I don't know if they have RIFs in-house, as on the website it says you'll have to contact them for info regarding pretty much all of them so they can order one in for you.

 

But they're still very good on customer satisfaction, I've been using them for all the things Milspec do since Iain banished me like a douche because he jumped to conclusions about a misunderstanding and blocked me from contacting him about it to explain my side.

 

He also told the ex-chair of UKAPU to literally "Fuck off" over the phone because he rang from a mobile with a bad line... So it sounds like the guy has temper issues or something.

[M_P]

If this is a general gbbr thread, are we good to put up pictures of our own?

[Airsoft-Ed]

If this is a general gbbr thread, are we good to put up pictures of our own?

Yeah, that's what I was trying to promote with my last paragraph in the OP.

[M_P]

Yeah, that's what I was trying to promote with my last paragraph in the OP.

Come on, you should all know by now that I'm pretty retarded.

[Airsoft-Ed]

True dat

[dapprman]

A lot of places are now starting to sell GHK, though how much they know to be able to assist/support is a different matter. Proairsoftsupplies are selling them and possibly other GBBRs - Jez from there is a long term GBBR user - only GBBR stuff I've bought in this country though has been from Milspec (bought my G5 in HK and brought it back with me, extra mags from Samoon).

 

On Milspec Solutions - I've heard similar tales from else where - I agree it does sound like Iain has some anger management issues.

[cavninja]

Thank you Ed! for starting this thread! Nirvana!!!

I've been involved in airsoft for less than a year and the whole reason I got involved was because of a GBBR and the level of realism it had. I happened to be looking at a two tone WE H&K 416 in my local store, the owner let me handle it and I couldn't believe how realistic it was! Weight, feel, action and operation, even stripping it down, complete with dummy non functioning gas parts!

I was hooked! I bought my first GBB, a HFC Glock 17, very plastic, but actually very reliable and still used as a back up gun today. A friend shipped me from the states a WE 416, complete with trades! and its awesome!

True, in the summer its hot! in the winter, it needs some lovin'! But when it works, i'm in the CQB zone, with a laser and my tracer unit, the screams and shrieks coming from the opposition followed by "HIT"!!! are awesome!!!

I've never used and AEG, or a Hi Cap or even a Mid Cap, using my GBB is so similar to using the real deal when i was in the Army, i carry 6 mags, 180 rounds, I rarely get through therm all, and if I do, a mid sized speed loader will allow me a full re-bomb, (just like carrying bandoliers). For longer games I carry more ammo and gas in a small days sack. I'm cautious and as accurate as I can be with my fire and my ammo. Blazing away with a 400 round mag was not why I got in to airsoft. Nothing against AEGs and those hwo use them, some of the guns look awesome and the accuracy and reliability is , but when it fires and makes a noise like and asmatic ant coughing up a fur ball, it just kills it for me, sorry.

I'm still learning, as this is my first winter and I'm still experimenting with gas and various mods, but I'm learning all the time and its pretty basic, even for me! I've done hop rubber changes, inner barrel changes and even had a go at shortening the inner barrel! (that went from being a disaster to working pretty good!). I even fitted my NPAS! (Thank you Youtube!!)

I've recently got my son in to airsoft and GBBs and got him a TM MP7, which he loves and I've also got myself a WE L85, it needs some work on it and I've not had a chance to get it up and running, but looking forward to getting it in the field! So any tips on the L85 much appreciated Ed, (yes, I'm a regular on your channel!)

I skirmished and the Sandpit in Kent last summer and saw a father and son team with a pair of stock GHK G5s and they were superb, for range, accuracy and reliability! Personally, I wasn't keen on the polymer feel of the gun, but I'm seriously looking at the GHK M4 as my next project. Though I think it'll set me back a bob or two.

Below is my baby and my side arm, a TM Sig P226 with full Guarder metal kit and springs, below that, the collection!!! So far......

VIVE LA GAS!!!!!