New Player, What Guns to Get

[Aaronmaslen]

Hi, new member here.
My 15 year old son went to airport last weekend and is hooked on it.

We’re now looking at what guns to get, we would like a hand gun and assault rifle.

Not sure if battery or gas is better.

Bidget is roughly £200 for the pair ideally.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, even if some of the pros are selling off some gear.
We’re based in Reading.

Thanks in advance 

[Shamal]

Hi and welcome.

You will soon have plenty of answers from the guys on here,they are very knowledgeable.

Which airport did you go to?? 😉😉

Regards 

[Schnakey]

Hello and welcome! 

 

I can only think of No Russian...

[Shamal]

20 minutes ago, Schnakey said:

Hello and welcome! 

 

I can only think of No Russian...

Cod?

[EDcase]

Welcome Aaron and son.

 

Do a search here for 'best gun',  'choosing a gun' or 'what gun?'

You'll get loads of info.

 

But I can tell you that £200 will not be enough for all the gear for both of you.

Don't bother with pistols to start.

Rent for the first three games to get registered so you can get a Realistic Imitation Firearm  (RIF) without having it painted.

[Schnakey]

4 hours ago, Shamal said:

Cod?

Indeedy. 

[Rogerborg]

10 hours ago, Aaronmaslen said:

We’re now looking at what guns to get, we would like a hand gun and assault rifle.

Not sure if battery or gas is better.

Bidget is roughly £200 for the pair ideally.

 

Naysayers say nay, but I say it can be done.  Just barely.

 

Army Armament R17. https://bbguns4less.co.uk/products/army-armament-r17-gbb-v3-pistol-in-blue.html in two-tone blue, or https://bbguns4less.co.uk/products/army-armament-r17-b-gbb-v3-pistol-in-tan-and-black.html in awesome beige if you have a defence.  Put it in your basket, then wait 24 hours.  You'll get a 7% discount code, taking them down to £65.81 or £55.80 delivered, with one magazine and no gas.  Don't buy anything else from that site, unless you know exactly what you want and why you want it!

 

Then a CYMA M4 for £80 plus postage https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-cm-513-m4-ris-suppressed?pv=2610

 

Or an AK for £90 plus postage https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-cm520-ak47-tactical-w-solid-stock?pv=3197

 

(Or whatever other CYMA you fancy within your budget).

 

They come with a hi-cap mag and a basic battery and burn-your-house-down charger.

 

There's enough left over to buy two-toning, more magazines, gas, BBs and batteries (you'll want to go lipo ASAP, don't sink more money into nimh).

 

You can chisel a few £££ by looking at the likes of TaiwanGun or Gunfire, but you'll need to factor in postage, 2-tone, whether you can provide a defence, shipping time and getting them powered down under 350fps.

 

And of course you need to budget for eye and face protection, but I'm taking your £200 budget for two guns at face value.

 

These aren't the best guns out there, but they do actually work.  The BBs don't care how much you paid, and the people you hit with them won't know.

 

You can pay more for guns that feel nicer and have crisper triggers, better response, higher ROF and slightly better consistency and accuracy.  If you stick with airsoft, you might wish you'd waited a bit and paid more, rather than paying twice.  There is quite a big difference in the way a low and and a high end gun feel and respond when you pull the trigger.  However, if you hit your target, they won't know how long it took for the motor to spin up or whether the gearbox sounds like a bag of spanners.

 

You can get going and have fun within that budget, and I'd hate for you to be put off getting into airsoft because you think it needs a £500 investment up front.

 

And now back to our scheduled "u git wut u pay 4".

[EDcase]

Yeah, it can be done if you scrape the bottom of the barrel.

Then you'll end up trying to sell them all to get better ones but you'll lose lots of money because painted guns don't sell well.

So you'll end up paying more than you would have done if you'd done the 3 games and had more time to choose wisely... 😉

 

Renting for three games also gives you time to decide what kind of weapon you want to use, M4, AK, long, short etc.

 

You may find that a pistol is not needed straight away and the money can be used on a better rifle.

[Rogerborg]

 

Despite everything I've just said, I'm not recommending it as a course of action.  The moment you try something snappy like a Scorpion Evo, you're not going to want an unmodified cheap plastic CYMA.

 

So I agree, rent first, and if possible beg a go on a range of guns (don't lick them) and see whether you want to pay more for something nicer.

 

If you do cheap out rather than waiting (heck, I did) then I'd recommend not touching anything better quality until you have the money put aside to buy it.  If you then upgrade, well, you'll have the cheap starter guns available as backups or loaners.

 

The big thing I'd echo is that you don't need a pistol, particularly not in woodland.  If you're playing CQB, you can run nothing but a pistol, but outdoors a GBB is more about the tacticool factor rather than effectiveness.

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

£200 will get you a decent primary plus all the gubbins you need with it - Spare batteries, battery charger, extra mags, maybe a red dot sight and a bag to put it all in.

 

Ask Santa for a pistol.

[Skara]

I'm with the others.

Rent first, try various guns and don't be afraid to ask people at the field to let you hold their gats, explain them they you're both starting out, ask for advice too!

 

Also, try to play at different sites (say one woodland, one cqb and possibly one mixed) so you both get an idea of what's it like to be in different environments.

 

No point in buying an M16 if all you do is fast paced CQB, the same applies to buying just a pistol and then only play outdoors (not that these two scenarios are unfeasible, they're totally doable if you know what you're doing but, as with all things, you may want the right tool for the job).

 

Just please don't get sucked into the "wat am bset apgreids" endless pit that new players seem so keen on diving head first into.

Get the gun (once you've rented long enough to decide what you really want and most importantly NEED), play with it, learn its strengths and weaknesses.

[Adolf Hamster]

to echo @Rogerborg's excellent post a barebones setup like this: https://www.taiwangun.com/en/electric/cm-045a-340-fps-cyma?from=listing&campaign-id=19

 

would fit the bill quite nicely. an aksu especially with a decent lipo battery (maybe a basic mosfet like a gate nanoasr if you're good with a soldering iron but not strictly necessary) can be a vicious little bugger both indoors and outdoors

 

the single included hi-cap will be enough to get going and if you want to mix it up cyma's mid cap ak magazines are reasonably priced and very reliable with good ammo.

 

of course that's assuming you like ak's, as the others have said doing your time renting and getting setup with a UKARA means you'll be able to get a better feel for what you might be after, airsofters love showing off their gear so getting people's opinions and inspirations isn't going to be difficult.

 

8 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

The moment you try something snappy like a Scorpion Evo, you're not going to want an unmodified cheap plastic CYMA.

 

maybe not plastic recievers, but you'd be amazed the snappiness of a budget ak with a gutsy battery.

 

if it were me i'd try and find one of jg's recoil aksu's, remove the recoil mech, add a nanoasr and 11.1v and a cheap basic red dot, oh wait i've literally just described my own gun 

 

for sure if you're going to skip anything skip the pistol, they're fun but absolutely not necessary in the slightest and £50's worth of mags is worth a hell of a lot more than the same money on a handgun.

[Rogerborg]

13 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

you'd be amazed the snappiness of a budget ak with a gutsy battery

 

V3 trigger, brah.  Although I'm thinking very-CQB where milliseconds make a difference.  Bursts in woodland are fine.

[Skara]

The only pistol worth buying imo is a mk23.

It does not have the cool factor of blowback guns, but if I were to pick ONE true universal gun, I would definitely pick the mk23.

 

Stupid quiet, stupid gas efficient, runs in whatever temperature and weather you play, is dirt cheap and stupid easy to upgrade as you only need 3 (yes, three) parts which give you the ability to fling really heavy BBs at stupid distances while still being a sub 1J gun.

 

Now while we are on the subject of power output, in addition to my previous post:

Don't look for the highest energy output available, there is no practical difference between a 0.9J gun and a 1.13J one. According to physics you do get more range, but it's a matter of a metre at most. The downside (for your country) is that your fields all have different rules and limits, it makes no sense to me to get a gun that's right on the legal limit and then not being able to use it on say 3 out of 4 sites in your area.

[Adolf Hamster]

28 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

V3 trigger, brah.  Although I'm thinking very-CQB where milliseconds make a difference.  Bursts in woodland are fine.

 

ahh y'see the secret to the v3 trigger is to not use active brake mosfets.

 

and i'm not convinced the whole trigger response thing for cqb is remotely as important as skill, doesnt matter how fast the gun goes off if you can't point and fire with enough speed and precision.

[Rogerborg]

13 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

and i'm not convinced the whole trigger response thing for cqb is remotely as important as skill, doesnt matter how fast the gun goes off if you can't point and fire with enough speed and precision.

 

Given equal John Wickitude though, gas, spring or pre-cock will beat V2 which will beat V3 (on the same motor and gears).  With an MP5K or G36 in near point-blank CQB, I spend a lot of time with the trigger pre-tensioned.

 

Still usable, and I do want something Krinky, but I'm really not a fan of V3 triggers for semi-auto spamming or quick reaction CQB.  Probably not an issue for OP though, they do work just fine for most purposes.

[Adolf Hamster]

2 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Given equal John Wickitude though, gas, spring or pre-cock will beat V2 which will beat V3 (on the same motor and gears).  With an MP5K or G36 in near point-blank CQB, I spend a lot of time with the trigger pre-tensioned.

 

Still usable, and I do want something Krinky, but I'm really not a fan of V3 triggers for semi-auto spamming or quick reaction CQB.  Probably not an issue for OP though, they do work just fine for most purposes.

 

 

I feel like i need to lend my jg to a speedsofter to test this now.....

[Rogerborg]

20 minutes ago, Adolf Hamster said:

I feel like i need to lend my jg to a speedsofter to test this now.....

 

You'd get it back with a scuba tank attached and covered with Nazi catgirl stickers.

[Adolf Hamster]

12 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

You'd get it back with a scuba tank attached and covered with Nazi catgirl stickers.

 

good point, maybe not the wisest plan....

[Rogerborg]

Workmate Alex did manage to lock my JG G36C up multiple times by semi-auto spamming it.

 

You know what you should never do to quickly clear a lock?  Shove a long Allan key up the nozzle and push hard on the piston to allow the motor to pull it the rest of the way.  Even though it works, and you might not strip your piston rack, definitely don't do it.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

7 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

Workmate Alex did manage to lock my JG G36C up multiple times by semi-auto spamming it.

 

You know what you should never do to quickly clear a lock?  Shove a long Allan key up the nozzle and push hard on the piston to allow the motor to pull it the rest of the way.  Even though it works, and you might not strip your piston rack, definitely don't do it.

 

 

A v3 lockup you just give it a blast in auto and that solves it.

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Adolf Hamster said:

A v3 lockup you just give it a blast in auto and that solves it.

 

Narp, this is locked up with the piston almost fully back.  The motor doesn't have enough starting torque to pull it that last little bit, and will happily pop the fuse if you try. It might be a peculiarity of this specific example (airsoft, eh?) but it's happened a couple of times. I can see why: DC motors have an issue with starting under load when the rotor and magnets are lined up.  It's not specific to V3 triggers, but it feels like it's a contributing issue given the sloppiness of the contact point, and the observation of Workmate Alex trying to trigger spam and audibly stopping half way through cycles.

 

It's not over-shimmed. I've just rewired it to 16 awg to give it more of a chance.

[ziCk_]

At this price point I would say only second hand if you want both and still have an option of selling them once kid gets bored. That being said you can snatch second hand ARP9 and a drum mag for 200 - eliminates need for any other equipment (sidearms are cool but it’s flavour rather than useful accessory) like battle belt and mag pouches. You could easily leave £200 in necessary clothing alone before you spend a dime on guns. 
 

ARP9 is great, super light (the lightest RiF money can buy and is all the rage these days - these are great out of the box and will run for a while before needing maintenance (electronics is prone to fail but it won’t happen immediately and fix is not expensive). Also ARP9 has one of the best if not the best drum mags out there. Compact, easy to wind, last absolute eternity on single wind.

 

Otherwise I would recommend CYMA AKs - these are great bang for your buck. Avoid CM.028 series and go for CM.040 (AKS-74 full size AK with folding triangle stock) or CM.045A (short AKS-74U with wooden handguard) - avoid CM.045C though, it has completely dogshit handguard that makes replica insanely front heavy, a few questionable length RIS mounts aren’t worth the hassle and there are better handguard stocks be had on AliExpress for couple packs of cigarettes. CM.048 with wood furniture might be tempting but while it is full sized AK I recommend checking out in person how long and unwieldy these things are. Any of these will probably outlive your son’s interest in Airsoft to begin with. 

 

CYMA has great AKs but I would recommend avoid their M4s.

 

For pistol every now and then a second hand ASG CZ P-09 with a bunch of mags shows up for 60-70 pounds. It’s a very good sidearm but as with all gas guns, magazines are on the expensive side (20-30quid for a new mag depending on a gun).

 

keep in mind you will still spend additional money on necessities like couple of batteries, charger, spare magazines (hence why I love ARP9’s drum so much - 50 quid and done), BBS, gas, eye and face protection. Airsoft is not a cheap hobby to get into but you can cash out at any point. Two-tone don’t have nearly the resale value though (but second hand wise makes it cheap to get into).

[Rogerborg]

4 hours ago, ziCk_ said:

CYMA has great AKs but I would recommend avoid their M4s.

 

I feel personally attacked.