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Right, bit of a beginner question but what brand of M4 would people recommend? I've been playing for about 2 years, I have several guns but surprisingly, no M4 😂 I'm not looking for a budget beginner rifle, I'd like something with high quality components and a good performance level. Any recommendations?

I've not had time to skirmish in a couple of years now, so I'm clearing out most of my collection: £175 - A&K Dragunov SVD with AirsoftProCZ internals, cocking handle & madbull tightbore - with side mount sight rail + 3 magazines, I have a tan double mag pouch I can include. £300 - Umarex M27 with 3-9x40 scope, stubby foregrip, QD sling mounts, 1 point sling, 2 x 1300mAh batteries and canted iron sights with original hard case. £75 - WE M&P "Big Bird" CO2 pistol with three magazines and original hard case. £150 - King Arms M4 with magpul stock & handguard, stubby foregrip and NCStar reflex sight - it is over power and needs a new spring, sight needs a new battery - original box (says transparent, it isn't). £70 - Generic benelli M4 clone, tri-shot springer shotgun with single point sling and a bag of 16 x 30 round (10 shot) shells. I have a tan shotgun loop pouch I can include, it holds many, many shells. £15 - Tokyo Marui Socom MK23 magazine only - new, unopened. And a massive pile of kit, open to offers: 2 x Black Hawk, black single point STORM slings. 1 x Black Hawk, OD drop leg molle platform. 2 x Black Hawk, black belt paddles. 1 x Black Hawk, black belt mount. 1 x Black Hawk, black molle serpa platform. 1 x Black Hawk, coyote tan molle serpa platform. 1 x Black Hawk, coyote tan level 3 drop leg harness with glock 17 serpa and two magazine pouches. 1 x Black Hawk, black serpa rotational ring and belt mount. 1 x Black Hawk, black stealth weapons catch. 1 x Generic pistol lanyard (coiled). 2 x Black Hawk, black short speed clips. 2 x Black Hawk, olive drab long speed clips. 2 x Black mesh mouth guards. 1 x Tan mesh mouth guard. 1 x Replica FAST helmet, coyote tan (basically unused). 1 x Smith Optics Turbo Fan LoPro - This is used, the foam on the inside is going and could do with being replaced - comes with bag and spare ignitor lens. 2 x Normal speedloader (happy to throw in with any of the rifle sales). 1 x Fake IR illuminator speedloader (per the above). 9 x Metal low cap STANAG M4 magazines - I've had these since forever, so they're battered and scratched but they work fine. 10 x Polymer STANAG M4 midcap magazines (not PMAGS) - These are much newer, so only a few scratches. 1 x DYNATEX blank firing grenade, comes with adaptor for use with primers (no blanks or primers supplied) - never used. 1 x High Speed Gear, multicam battle belt with cobra rigger belt and 4 point harness. 1 x Warrior Assault Systems, multicam single M4 pouch (holds 2). 1 x Warrior Assault Systems, multicam double M4 pouch (holds 2 x 2). 1 x Blue Forge Gear, single multicam M4 pouch (holds 2). 2 x British Tactical, single M4 pouch (holds 2). 1 x FAB Defense, black magazine well grip (doesn't fit the MK27 or the King Arms M4 - FYI!!!) 1 x Flecktarn chest rig, (2 x utility, 3 x double magazine pouch). PM with any offers or requests for images! I'm based in Macclesfield if anyone wants to entertain collecting.

Working on a Photoshop mock-up of a new WE M4 build. Based on the WE M4 Raptor GBBR. I think the rail is really cool and like the piston system up front. The front end is a little too long to make this a "real" PDW build but it's not really what I am going for. But it is borderline unbalanced (looking) with the long front end. Rail is 11.5" and outer barrel (stock) is 12.5". Looking for input on the overall build and suggestions on iron sights, hand stop, and alternate 9"-10.5" front rail. I wanted a 10" DYTAC Geissele replica SMR MK5 rail as an alternative setup but seems those are not available anymore No HK416 suggestions please! I had a 10.5" WE HK416 rifle and I don't like the system due to its proprietary design features. Parts list: Base gun: WE M4 Raptor GBBR Red dot sight: ACM Docter red-dot sight replica with quick-release riser (not pictured) Iron sights: Suggestions please Charging handle: PTSxRainer Arms Raptor ambi, black (not pictured) Outer barrel: Angry Gun 300 Blackout multi-lenght Muzzle brake: PTSxGriffin Armament M4SD (CCW) Hand stop: Suggestions please Hop up housing: Angry Gun, aluminum Hop up rubber: Maple Leaf, Decepticon, 60DG, Yellow Inner barrel: Poseidon Air Cushion, 245mm TM/WE VSR Bolt release: Angry Gun, diamond pattern, black Magazine release: Angry Gun Troy replica, ambi, black Magazine release button: Angry Gun, diamond pattern, black Selector lever: Angry Gun, ambi, diamond pattern, black Trigger guard: Angry Gun, black Pistol grip: WE HK416C/888C GBBR Stock: Angry Gun compact/collapsible stock, black Magazine: WE MSK, black

Saw this in ehobby.... http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/eac-custo...l#.WIqyW_l96Uk want to try upgrading mine using those parts they used. anyone has experience on this? can you show your gun here, to give me some idea? Thx.

I know there is already a review on this gun here already but i didn't want to just hijack someone elses thread. I hope that that is alright otherwise could the mods please merge the two together if that is appropriate. Okay this is the newish KWA RM4 ERG - not the catchiest of names i grant you but still, there we go. Still not available in the UK through UK retailers but it has been around for a while in the Far East and the US for a while now. Given that though, there is very little in the way of reviews out there for it say in comparison to its competiton the TM recoil series. This is a collabaration between PTS and KWA and features magpul furniture and metal body. To the best of my knowledge it is the only product that has survived Magpul's departure from the airsoft marketplace. This is therir version of TM's recoil shock line of AEG's and very nice it is too. I haven't fired a TM one but i have owned several GBBR's and the kick on this is far superior. The sound is also better than a standard AEG and is somewhere inbetween a GBBR and AEG. Like the TM recoil series; it isn't quite a training weapon but it aint far off in terms of function as it feeds every last round, locks back when empty and in a bonus no TW offers - it kicks! the gun comes in the usual PTS branded packaging which is nice and sturdy and yp to the job of protecting the RIF in transit. I ordered mine from ehobbyasia along with two boxes of the PMAG's for it. Total price including shipping and customs charges was around the £400 which is pretty good i think. and here with the extra mags The gun is absolutely solid and feels like it has some weight to it. the quoted weight is 3.5Kgs and its believable. For such a small gun it feels like it's made from DU! As I said there is nary a rattle or squeak from the gun and it is well made and finished too. It is front wired with mini tamiya connectors in the MOE handguard. It is a tight squeeze but i manage to fit a 7.4v 2600mah 25c split pack lipo in there and it gives a reasonable rate of fire - nothing earth shattering but for me that's fine as I'm not about the insane RoF's some hanker after. The mags are proprietary PMAGs and can be switched from 30 to 60 rounds by taking the base plate off, pushing the inner down from the top and pushing a little switch across. It's a nice touch but i will probably leave it on 60rnds to be honest. I like the fact they have the fake feed lips on the top like a real PMAG. its purely asthetic but a nice touch. Also on the top you can see the little lever at the back of the mag that activates the bolt stop. The follower also is unique and quite long and worryingly thin when extended. It is this way to allow the mag to feed every last BB. Quite nice when you've only got 30-60 to begin with! I'm worried it might snap off with rough handling but i have been assured they are quite resilient. The great benefit of this system over the TM recoil gins is its ability to take standard AR mags without any modification. Admittedly you lose the bolt stop and stop fire features if you do this but at least if you're out of ammo in a fight a mate can chuck you a STANAG and you're back in the game. I haven't chronoed this yet but have heard they are around the 350ish mark which is ideal as it will be used almost exclusively in woodland games. I will field it for the first time in Jan and will add to this then with an after action report. Overall though thus far I'm really happy with it. In fact - I need to go and have a play with it now! so scoring out of 10 I'll go so far as to say 8.5/10 and thats only because i haven't actually used it in anger yet!! I'm sure it will nudge up a bit after that! If it does perform as it shoud then i could be quite tempted to sell my other AEG's and buy a couple more of these especially if they release it with a standard Colt style metal body - to make an M4A1 and an M4 CQBR too. I just need to find a small enough lipo to fit in a RIS unit so i don't have to have a battery box and external wires. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

FirstSpear Pockets and the 6/12 System Following the initial inceptions of PALS load-bearing rigs and MOLLE pouches, the designs being produced did not see a great deal of innovation for a long period of time. The same materials, construction methods and attachment systems remained fairly standardised for a significant number of years. While this was good for the end-user in the sense that they would always know exactly what they were getting, it created a rather stagnant environment in that particular industry. 1000D rigs and pouches are extremely robust when built to a high standard, but by comparison to the new wave of tactical soft-goods that have been surfacing over the last 2 years or so, they entail a lot of weight. Weight which just isn't necessary if modern materials are applied in the proper places. As an example, Blue Force Gear have entirely replaced the standard nylon webbing attachment straps on their pouch line with their new Helium Whisper backings/straps. They have also since that point licensed the technology to both Tactical Tailor and Mayflower R&C. Two of the best known and highly regarded manufacturers of tactical gear in the US. It is my personal belief that for the vast majority of airsoft players who are using their gear on an infrequent basis and for short periods of time, that this new generation of lighter, slicker load bearing equipment is the way forward. Financial constraints will of course be a deciding factor in a hobby much more than they are in the real world. However, if a load bearing rig or pouch is designed to just last a single 4-6 month deployment rather than multiple deployments, that same item should still last a considerable length of time for the average airsofter. Granted this will vary quite substantially based on the individual's play style, the types of skirmish field they attend and various other factors. But I still feel for that the majority of players this lighter pattern of gear will provide a length and quality of service more than adequate to justify the cost. Bearing this in mind I've been purchasing quite a few items from the FirstSpear, Blue force Gear and Tactical Tailor lines of newer, lighter equipment over the last 12 months or so to see how they hold up within the airsoft arena. My personal findings have been extremely positive and it would appear FirstSpear did not entirely hate the video reviews of some of their products which I posted to YouTube. They recently got in touch and sent over a small selection of their pockets which use the new 6/12 attachment system for video review. These can be seen below by anybody who wants to get a better view of the products than picture alone provide. Those videos are deliberately generic and not directed at the airsoft market specifically, so here's a bit more information and imagery relevant to this forum. General Information A few points on construction that apply to all of the following items (where applicable with specific regards materials): Entirely Berry compliant/US Made Mil-Spec throughout All multicam items are directly from Crye Precision 500D Cordura Extensive use of grosgrain ribbon in place of webbing where appropriate ITW Nexus Polymer and metal hardware YKK Zips with paracord loops and polymer termination locks All hook and loop direct from Velcro (including both standard product and the 6/12 materials) Jacquard webbing is the new standard on all products, printed webbing has been phased out Thread - Bonded nylon, A-A-59826 Type 2 Elastic - MIL-W-5664D, Type 2, Class 1 Drainage Grommets - Variant of MIL-G-16491, Type 1, Class 3 with an enamel finish Available with either FirstSpear's 6/12 attachment system or 6/9 which is 100% backwards compatible with PALS rigs I'll be the very first to admit I don't have a clue what most of those numbers mean towards the end, but I got an e-mail from Ronnie Fowlkes who is the Director Of Business Development at FS and he kindly provided the tech specs, so I'm just passing on all of the information I have. Sufficed to say, it's awesome *suitcase*. M4 Magazine, Speed Reload, Single http://www.first-spear.com/product.php?productid=17598&cat=259&page=1 Not just for M4/M16/AR pattern weapons of course, that's just FirstSpear's nomenclature. Pictured holding a Lancer Systems L5 Lancer 30 round magazine, which doesn't fully seat in to the pocket on account of the external geometry of this particular magazine. So if you've got the King Arms replicas, take note. But rest assured your mags will still be retained securely even without the bungee. I also tried out a PTS TMAG (identical shape to the M-Version PMAG), PTS EMAG and a KWA LM4 magazine. Pictured with the bungee hooked on, but tested without. Removing the bungee retention is a 10 second job and entirely reversible. My findings have been that there's absolutely no reason to keep it on, the real beauty of this pocket is the fact it will securely retain basically any 5.56x45mm 30 round style magazine while allowing for instant, unhindered access when required by the user. Regardless of whether you're using super light plastic midcaps for your AEG or LM4 GBBR magazines (which are the heaviest STANAGs/PMAGs out there to my knowledge). The bungee really does nothing but diminish this quality, though if you really are uber-worried about losing magazines then feel free to keep using it. The pull tab itself consists of a strip of webbing encased in the same Trelleborg material that BFG use to make their Helium Whisper backings, which adds a significant amount of grip texture vs. the nylon fabrics most manufacturers employ in this area. There's also a trough of loop inside the pocket. This allows for velcro retention of the magazines, if that's something you want to use on top of the security provided provided by the polymer insert. An insert which (surprisingly) seems to add almost no weight at all to the pocket, which is impressive indeed. If you're looking for that ideal pouch to mount on your hip for that go-to speed reload mag, this is the one you want. M4 Double http://www.first-spear.com/product.php?productid=17600&cat=259&page=1 This basic design is one that most people are going to be familiar with, almost every manufacturer of PALS pouches makes it. That said, there are a few key factors which make the FirstSpear iteration stand out from the crowd. First off is the weight, or lack thereof vs. the same pouch made to the 1000D pattern with webbing straps/press stud attachment; there is a very noticeable difference. Second is the use of webbing for the lids rather than multiple layers of cordura. Webbing is a highly resilient material, a fact that is going to come in handy if you put one of these pouches in the standard place on your carrier and go crawling along the ground. Third is the space inside and the elastic retention. Unlike a lot of so-called double pouches you can actually get two magazines in here without entering in to a pitched battle, but if you tuck in the lids you've instantly got shingles and a good level of retention is maintained on a single magazine. The tabs on the lids along with the shaping of them makes access to ammo with the lids secured an easy matter when you really need more rounds right this instant. Also worth reiterating is that the jacquard webbing shown on my pocket is the way that FS now make these pockets, despite the image shown on their website. Pistol Magazine Pocket, Speed Reload, Double http://www.first-spear.com/product.php?productid=17623&cat=260&page=1 The version I have here for review is constructed to fit M9 and P226 magazines. Despite the similarities in size, Glock magazines will not fit this pouch (tested with RS & KWA G17 mags). So you'll need to be sure to buy the pocket that fits to your specific handgun. The following types are available: 1911 M9/226 G17/19, M&P 9mm, USP-9, P2000 & P30 G22/23 G21 Compared to a BFG Pistol TenSpeed or pistol TACO, there isn't a lot of versatility, it has to be said. However, if you're primarily just running one type of pistol, then the functionality is certainly there in spades. Essentially what you have is a miniaturised version of the Speed Reload M4. So the polymer insert is present inside as the primary retainer and you've also got the option of bungee and velcro retention on top of that if you so choose. That said, my recommendation is to get rid of the bungee and forget about velcro, because the retention on my TM P226E2 magazines simply using the basic pocket was excellent. I'd almost say they were perhaps held a little too tightly to facilitate optimal reload speed, but that might be partially be a case of wear-in. Either way, I'd rather have to put a bit more effort in to grabbing my magazines than have them fall out on to concrete and break/fall out in to the dirt and get lost in the woods. Overall, provided you're able to work with the specificity of the design, the pure simplicity of it really shines through. Smooth and extremely easy to insert and draw from, no bungee to adjust or move out of the way, no lids to slow you down. Some of those areas being points which the Tenspeed and TACO fall down on. General Purpose Pocket, Medium http://www.first-spear.com/product.php?productid=17655&cat=265&page=2 For all those spare batteries, tools, cyalumes, gloves, scrim nets/dead rags, pens, maps, phones, wallets, snack bars, widgets, stuff and things. There are many, many utility/general pouches on the market and they come in every shape, size and style imaginable. What they don't generally do which this one does, is sit extremely flat when empty (or minimally filled) while still allowing a lot of room for expansion when needed. Basically the same way the thigh/cargo pockets on your combat cut trousers sit flat normally and expand when necessary. Just the right height to place on a standard PC cummerbund or on most chest rigs. The zip is robust, relatively quiet and doesn't have nearly as much of that annoying tendency to go in to an awkward shape which means you have to end up using your spare hand to put some tension on the pouch to straighten out the teeth. The redundant closure using a G-Hook on a strip of webbing is unusual, also surprising given that they're trying to save weight. But the pocket is still extremely light overall and it does help with the zip issue, as well as keeping the actual opening of the pocket more consistent, rather than having the whole thing drop right open and spill your gear when you've got items held in the elastic retainers on the far side from your body. The elastic is sewn to provide 3 medium sized stowage spaces near the body, with 4 small spaces on the far side. This really does help in terms of preventing battle rattle, as well as making it significantly quicker and easier to withdraw small, thin items. Since they're presented to you in an easy to grab vertical alignment as soon as you open the pocket, rather than gradually slipping to a position of lying down in the bottom amongst everything else. In Conclusion Unfortunately as with so many other things in life, the more you improve something the harder it is to make significant performance gains and even small positive increments become expensive. It is my opinion that at this time FirstSpear's products are at the pinnacle of PALS pocket design, especially with regards materials usage. Innovation and quality come at a cost and these items are certainly not cheap, indeed they're probably not value for money as far as a hobby is concerned in quite a few respects. But if you've already loaded yourself out with conventional 1000D pattern kit and you're looking to take the next step towards lighter, more functional, lower drag equipment, this is the way forward. All the conventional colours are available throughout the entire FS line of pockets as well 6/12 and standard PALS compatible attachment. Everything is very thoroughly planned out with an attention to detail which is meticulous when really examined, yet not obvious upon initial inspection. Whether the prices are justifiable to you as an individual is of course highly subjective. But you can rest assured when you do buy a FirstSpear product you're investing in quality and innovative gear which will function incredibly well for you in the field.