New here and wondering what you think as my first choice

[x-iStealBears]

I am completely new to airsoft, I have a interest in guns in general; I always have, but I finally now decided to do something about it. I am not UKARA or anything as there are no decent skirmish places near me that I know of yet, so I am still yet to look for one.

 

I have always adored snipers, and the idea of being a sniper, but that bit would never happen as I won't join the Army.

 

So I looked around, and have decided, for my first Airsoft Gun, I am aiming to get a L96. I am hoping to get this within the next 2 and half months.

 

Anyone know any pros/cons of this airsoft gun?

[Airsoft-Ed]

First of all, welcome to the forums, there'll be loads of people here willing to help you out with all questions and queries, but for now I'll just deal with what you've asked here.

 

There are numerous different L96 variants within airsoft made by different companies, there isn't just one made by Accuracy International like in real life.

 

There's the Well or Warrior L96, there's the Tokyo Marui (more commonly referred to as TM), there's the Maruzen, the Tanaka and I'm sure there's bound to be more.

 

The next thing to consider is that all snipers need a lot of upgrades to be worth having, out of the box they'll be quite rubbish guns, usually running at under 400fps with quite bad accuracy and internal parts, making them inconsistent shooters.

Bad consistency means you can't effectively hit a target, as every shot will react differently.

To combat this you'll need a lot of upgrades, which will cost you around £500, give or take a few quids, if you don't buy upgrades then you'll have armed yourself with a single shot, bolt action rifle with less power and range than most automatic assault rifle airsoft guns, making your role as a sniper pointless and impossible as most people will be able to shoot further, faster and more accurately.

 

Also, you'll want to be shooting around 500 fps to be able to effectively out range people and when you're running at that fps there tend to be rules on how far away people have to be before you can shoot them, for my site it's 20m, if someone is closer, there's nothing you can do about them.

 

So you'll need another gun as well, upping costs even more.

 

Lastly, almost everyone on here will tell you that getting a sniper as a first gun is a bad idea, as above they're expensive if you want them to be good, most people can't afford to put that much into a hobbie they've never been involved in before and if you buy the rifle as it is and it's the only gun you have, you'll have a sh*t time, because everyone's gun will be better than yours by quite a long way, which will just put you down, make you hate the sport and then you'll find you've wasted about £200 on a load of kit you don't want anymore.

 

From experience looking around forums and airsoft Facebook pages etc etc. Two tone sniper rifles are THE MOST common type of gun selling on the second hand market.

 

In short. Buy an AEG first, (that's an automatic/airsoft electric gun,) you'll have more fire power, more usability out of the box, often you'll be able to cope perfectly fine with no upgrades whatsoever and you can get a good set of kit for around £200. Much cheaper than sniping, much more accessible to all players and most importantly it's more fun.

 

Look at hiring guns from your nearest site for a bit until you get your UKARA, it's so so so pointless to buy a gun in stupid colours just because you're too lazy to go airsofting 3 times. It really annoys me, use the three visits to make sure you're committed to the hobby before you buy anything.

 

Once you've been airsofting a few times, got your UKARA sorted out, perused the forums more over the next year or so and you know more about the hobby, that's when I'd recommend you to comfortably look into buying a sniper and you'll have the benefits of all our accumulated knowledge, as well as more money available to splash out on a rifle worth getting.

 

The worst thing you can do in this sport is rush into things, if experienced players tell you something, you're probably best off trusting their judgement as any horror stories they tell you are probably their own.

 

Just my 2 pence.

[rjmcgough]

I thought it would be worth saying that some sites will not let you go above 350fps (ish) until you train at a "sniper school" at their site.

 

Stops you putting someone in hospital

[Airsoft-Ed]

Wow, that's a way and a half to put people off. I've never heard of that before.

[d_loydy00007]

Sniper School??? are you having a laugh???

 

I have an L96 and my biggest problem is people not taking there hits. A single hit on your target normally just gets them to look around and see where it is coming from rather than taking the hit. As a result you tend to aim at a somewhat more painful or fleshy area and then the abuse/argueing starts. On standard skirmish days I just go AEG all the way.

[x-iStealBears]

Never heard of this sniper school, I think I will look into it though.

 

I have been looking at the Warrior V3 L96 with 3-9x20 Scope and Bi-Pod; the FPS on this is roughly 450 with around a range of 80m. Then I was going to, after a little save or few weeks later, buy the Cylinder, Trigger and Piston set upgrade. I have heard it improves the FPS up to around 500 - 550, Range to about 120m and makes it more reliable and better with targeting.

 

I would happily go play 3 matches and get UKARA Registered, but I wasn't sure if it's play them, and get it easily, or do you have to continuously play after to be able to keep it? I would happily play after, as it'd be a hobby. Just getting all the gear for the 3 matches would be a pain and all, so I would happily just have it and get stuff I need and then was going to do the 3 matches and UKARA around September time.

[rjmcgough]

lol , to prove i have not just went insane: http://www.s8airsoft.com/wp-content/upload...010Rulebook.rtf

 

look at fps limits bit

 

Might not have been clear enough on first post. What I meant was that some sites have a "sniper school" to teach you about engagement distances and the like at their site. I didn't mean there was a place you could go and learn how to be a sniper lol.

[Marvin]

I thought it would be worth saying that some sites will not let you go above 350fps (ish) until you train at a "sniper school" at their site.

 

Stops you putting someone in hospital

 

Same with a fair number of sites down here too, I know of a couple who also do a "sniper proficiency test" before they allow >350fps weapons to be used.

[M_P]

Ive heard about them before and think the sniper school is a good idea, stops people from doing things they shouldn't. The amount of times I've been hit within an med is ridiculus.

 

But seriously, unless you have a good £450+ you're going to end up wasting time. To get a sniper rifle to a good level you need a lot of money and time- as a beginner you're much better off getting an aeg.

 

Also, a stock warrior won't hit 80m, despite what people think, that's a bloody long way.120m? Fully upgraded high quality rifles won't do that very easily so I wouldn't expect anything like that. People always assume distances are a lot closer than they really are.

Fully upgraded, you'll be looking around ~90m but accurately to maybe 80 on a good day.

 

But seriously, a lot of people start out as a sniper. 99% of people hate it, its nothing like what you see on movies or anything, start with an m4 or something- you'll have a lot more fun.