What sniper for a beginner?

[kerby91]

Howdy all

 

yes originally i wanted a well L96, but now im unsure

 

so whats the best sniper rifle for a beginner?

 

Ive found several knock off VSR-10s but im not sure i like the aesthetics of them, i really like the bulky looks of the L96's

[Happy]

An adequate rifle to start with, just double check that there isn't a restrictor installed in it as this drops the fps. Some rifles have them installed and others don't. If there is one then removing it will get you around 450 fps with the stock internals. As for the gun it's okay, but like any sniper rifle it needs tweaking a bit to get better consistancy with shots. This all depends on the model of course, but all of them are very similar internally.

 

Upgrades are plentiful for it, but be sure to check compatability before buying anything. Daz at ASPUK could help you with this. Here is a list of parts he stocks for this (and similar) rifles:

http://www.airsoftsniperparts.com/apps/webstore/products/category/639220?page=1

 

Only issue I had with my old L96 was the sheer size of it - a very long rifle. I ended up replacing it with a shorter VSR G-spec since it was more maneuverable yet just as accurate.

[Samurai]

In my opinion: big, heavy, shoots quite inaccurate and will slam fire after a few games with it. There are much better snipers out there. If you want to upgrade (means quite a lot of money) then Bar-10 or well's fully vsr-10 compatible one. I think that's mb-03 but not 100% sure about it. Or A&K M24. This comes with steel trigger set and metal piston so you only really need to upgrade the hopup and barrel later.

 

If you can afford a Marui vsr-10 then use it as it is for a while. If you get the bar-10 then get steel sears (like SHS) and use it for a while like that. If you still into sniping, then upgrade.

[kerby91]

Ok so ill be buying an A&K svd...i know they're a pig to cock so any help on how to make it easier?

[Sitting Duck]

cocking handle at sniper forums

 

http://www.airsoftsniperparts.com/apps/webstore/products/show/3440383

[RR01]

And if you want to upgrade it, you can get everything you need from here if ASPUK is OOS:

 

http://airsoftpro.cz/eshop/index.php?cPath=93_204&osCsid=d6022784d5e8c212edbdecaac7a1c8ee

[Chock]

Actually it's not so much that A&K SVDs are a pig to cock, but more of a surprise when you first try it, since you are not expecting it to be that tough. So when most people try it for the first time, they don't get their arm and hand muscles ready for that much resistance and probably don't hold in a way which would assist in cocking either, so their first reaction is 'Christ almighty!' and I that experience creates a lasting impression. Once you know what to expect, you tend to be able to do cock the thing easily enough. However, it is worth knowing that they do tend to ease up a bit after a few goes at cocking them anyway. Some decent lube on them (since they are pretty much dry upon delivery) will also help.

 

The extended cocking lever which you can get is helpful in winter when your hands are cold, and is cheap enough to have anyway, but once you get used to cocking it, it's okay with the regular handle. It is actually possible to get a full gas blowback conversion kit for the A&K SVD, which would make it more like the real thing (since the real SVD is semi automatic), and would mean you'd only have to cock the first shot, but it isn't a cheap option and requires a bit of DIY, but it will make it a more usable weapon.

 

Note too that they are a heavy son of a bitch, and really long as well, so you will need a very decent sling. Also bear in mind that you'll need at least another fifty notes to get the best out of it, since you'll be paying about that for a replica PSO-1 sight, also note that the PSO-1 replicas are a bitch to fit on the A&K's rail, I had to use a rubber mallet to get mine on there. The mag is pretty low capacity as well, so you're probably going to need a spare few, the mag capacity varies on A&K SVDs, some older ones have a smallish mag capacity, the newer ones can hold more ammo.

 

It's a good cheapish sniper rifle and it looks great, but figure on spending another ton or so to get it up to speed with other snipers, since adding a sight and some tweaks is going to cost about that much. You can use it with the iron sights, but it's not a classic SVD without a PSO-1 on it.

[jcheeseright]

Ok so ill be buying an A&K svd...i know they're a pig to cock so any help on how to make it easier?

 

[kerby91]

Hahaha the dumbells made me laugh.

 

Ill be using the iron sights for awhile at first, once I've bought it I wont be able to afford sod all else haha. I'll buy a decent sling as my first purchase, then the extended cocking lever (had already spotted that one thanks lads, bloody good buy I think).

 

As for a sight, ill probably throw a cheapo sight on it at first, using the 20mm rail adaptor off ebay haha, I'm a tight arse really.

 

I cant make my mind up on this rifle though as everyone seems to think it needs a fair bit of wedge thrown at it to make it decent...something I'm not exactly happy bout

[Sitting Duck]

depends where you take up your position but think bipod on this long mofo would be a wise investment

(along with gym membership - kidding, cocking handle can help especially with gloves on etc....)

[kerby91]

Looking at the Czech website they do the co2 kit where you still have to cock it every shot but its easier (and quieter I'm hoping) therefore allowing faster shots and more kills (maybe haha).

[RR01]

A bipod will help if you intend doing a lot of prone sniping, but it does add quite a bit of weight to the front end. Personally, I'd go either for the under-gas block rail adapter or the bipod type that clips into the receiver to bring the extra weight of a bipod back a bit. But then I haven't fitted one to mine, as all the wrappings on the front end make it difficult to access the front end anyway to add, or deploy, a bipod.

 

As for any airsoft sniper rifle, there isn't anything OOTB that is really good, apart from TM products, which are way too expensive and low powered, or a Real Sword SVD, which is also VERY expensive. Almost everything else needs money spent on it to make it a good, accurate (as much as any airsoft gun can be), skirmishable weapon, from hop units and trigger mechanisms to inner barrels. That said the A&K SVD does take AEG springs and inner barrels, so you are not limited to the sniper specific upgrades that most other sniper type rifles require.

 

I quite like mine, but as someone said previously, it is long and gets heavy during a long game, so a sling is a necessity. However, I had an L96 a few years back and that felt really heavy after an hour or so. If you want something light, go for a clone of the M700 sniper rifle, as they are nowhere near as long or heavy, but will still need a lot spent on them to bring them up to scratch.

 

And as for the CO2 kit, yes it does make it a lot lighter to cock, but the downside is that it's a pig to have to change between the different parts when out skirmishing and it can be quite a process to find a spring strength that will give you a site legal FPS when using it. I have put together a totally separate CO2 kit for mine, where I replace all the bolt section with the CO2 specific parts, but getting the FPS to just below 500 is proving quite tricky at the moment, as the strong spring with the kit pushes out anywhere from 550 - 600 FPS on a new bulb and the weaker spring struggles to get over 350. More work needed.

[Chock]

I cant make my mind up on this rifle though as everyone seems to think it needs a fair bit of wedge thrown at it to make it decent...something I'm not exactly happy bout

 

Don't get me wrong, the A&K SVD is good as it comes, in fact it is truly excellent value for a fully metal weapon, and it looks the dog's bollox, even in two tone (I think I paid 137 quid for mine or something close to that, which was originally a green/black two tone until I sprayed the furniture black). It shoots really hard without any upgrades at all, mine does about about 480 fps with the stock internals, hardly surprising when you feel the cocking lever hauling that thing back lol, and you can tell it is decent when you look inside the thing, as it is all beautifully shiny blue anodised precision-machined alloy etc, so it is fairly accurate even as it comes.

 

But the reason you will need to upgrade it if you are serious about sniping, is because you want mega-consistency in your shots and every bit of accuracy you can muster, since you are firing slow and you want one shot, one kill. You'll also want the trigger to be relatively light and the sear and other bits of the trigger mechanism to be decent hard metal, so that each trigger pull is the same, and wear is to a minimum. Not every upgrade and tweak will cost you money, some of it is just inexpensive DIY (there are several forums dedicated to souping up the A&K SVD), but if you really wanna reach out and touch people with it (and you will if you are serious about sniping), then you will find yourself unable to resist all the bits you can get for it which improve performance. And there are a lot of them, not all are expensive, but airsoft snipers get obsessive about all that shiny stuff, and I daresay you will too. But you will be impressed when you pull it out of the box it arrives in, it is a very imposing looking bit of kit.

[Lozart]

I cant make my mind up on this rifle though as everyone seems to think it needs a fair bit of wedge thrown at it to make it decent...something I'm not exactly happy bout

You're buying Montys old one aren't you? Pretty sure he's already upgraded it a bit anyway...

[ikarma70]

I upgraded my A&K svd with a ASPUK hop unit, a 6.02 650mm barrel and I removed the bolt return spring(to stop the nozzle from smashing the bb.

 

As said before the gun uses AEG springs so it's cheaper to upgrade and you can use co2 after fitting the co2 kit plus it uses 60 round mags so you won't need to reload in a game.

 

All in all a very good sniper at a good price!