Effective range

[last_caress]

Hi dudes,

 

I've searched all the criteria I can think of, without any concrete answers.

 

Basically, as an AEG user interested in sniping (and having watched enemy at the gates again last night), I want to know how long the effective range is on airsoft sniper rifles. I don't care what models - let me know which guns will shoot further if you like.

 

Do they really utilise the scopes, or would you be just as good looking down the ironsights?

 

 

thanks, and sorry if this is elsewhere, I just can't find it.

[Matthais_31]

Hi mate,

 

I was out sniping yesterday, and I found I had an effective range of around 50m or so, my AICS was kicking out about 440fps and I was using 0.3g bbs. I found that anything over around 50m, and things like rifle tilt, wind, and just general twigs and such become an issue. Didnt stop me from trying though!

 

As for the use of a scope; its not really required as the ranges arnt massive. However, I find it helps with target aquisition and rapid aiming - its nice being able to look down a scope and know exactly where the shot is going to go. If you are to get a scope, I wouldnt recommend getting anything expensive or high powered. I tend to use mine almost exclusively on 3x. I wouldnt spend more than £50 on a scope; anything more than that is simply waited on an airsoft rifle in my opinion.

 

Hope that was of some help

 

Matthais_31

[last_caress]

great advice dude - cheers!

[wally squad]

Would like to add to this, and ask if (and I'm sure there is a comparison out there) anyone has put a decent aeg and sniper next to each other, both running at the same fps and compared them?

Does a sniper running the same power have anything but a sound advantage over an aeg

 

cheers

d

[Matthias]

Sure they have an advantage, Accuracy at range, like groupings, far better hopup assembly in general than an AEG, more reliable,

[bRydeR]

Basically, as an AEG user interested in sniping (and having watched enemy at the gates again last night), I want to know how long the effective range is on airsoft sniper rifles. I don't care what models - let me know which guns will shoot further if you like.

How far you shoot is a result of energy and weight so the type of weapon makes no difference. It is the accuracy and consistency of the weapon over that distance that will determine the *effective* range.

 

In theory an AEG assault rifle and sniper rifle of the same power will shoot just as far but their characteristics and the way they are used will tend to give most other guns a shorter effective range than a sniper rifle.

 

My Maruzen Type 96 boltie chrono'ed at around 370fps with .3gm BBs and had an effective range of around 50m.

My TM M4 was upgraded to around 310fps with .2 BBs and is probably effective up to about 30m before drop, wind or someone sneezing within earshot of the target throws the BBs off too far to be predictable.

 

Do they really utilise the scopes, or would you be just as good looking down the ironsights?

A scope can have some advantage nearer the extreme end of the range. The most effective snipers tend to play beyond or towards the limits of most other guns and exploit their range advantage; at these ranges a scope can be of some benefit, but by no means essential.

 

Would like to add to this, and ask if (and I'm sure there is a comparison out there) anyone has put a decent aeg and sniper next to each other, both running at the same fps and compared them?

Does a sniper running the same power have anything but a sound advantage over an aeg

 

In theory, an AEG and boltie with the same energy and ammunition will have the same effective range. In practice it's much more difficult (but not impossible) to get an AEG to shoot as accurately as a well setup boltie. Sniper rifles *tend* to be more accurate out of the box and upgrades are typically related to accuracy and range. I've honestly never fired an AEG which is accurate as my MZN Type 96 but I don't doubt with careful upgrading it'd be possible - they do afterall use the same ammunition, something which doesn't tend to be true in their real steel counterparts where the differences in range and accuracy are more accute.

 

In practice all responsible sites impose a restriction of around 1J, although some allow more powerful sniper rifles giving snipers something of a range advantage over others players (not unreasonably so imho). The issue you'll get in getting a fair comparison is that an AEG with the same power as a boltie will be to "hot" to be skirmishable, while a sniper rifle downgraded to the same power as a typical AEG won't be firing at anything close to what it's capable of.

[scithe]

i am using a g-spec upgraded to arount 2.25J. using siis .33g bb's, i can effectively and confidently engage targets out to 200ft with wind. without wind i can usually do the same out to 250ft, though there is some "bullet" drop at that range, however due to the consistency of spring powered sniper rifles (with use of good hopup, internals, and bb's of course) i can use the mills on my scope to aim for different ranges, and the bb will always land in the same place unless effected by wind or other such elements.

 

absolute maximum range obtainable by any airsoft gun is about 300ft (sometimes a bit more).

 

and as for what advantages snipers offer over aeg's (spring ones at least, i cant vouch for gas ones) they are extremely reliable, easy to maintain, do not require a lot of maintanence to work (though its performance may suffer a bit without it. i actually tested my g-spec by not cleaning it for over a month of constant use and found that it still performed very well) they are consistent, they challenge the shooter to use skill in pulling off accurate shots without being seen, and they are all around very fun to shoot.

[Trasher]

I use a 3+ Joule VSR extensively... Maxmimum range is over 80 meters, effective range is about 70 meters, but 60m is more realistic. At 50 meters my rifle groups pretty consistently into a 8" circle. Usually I engage targets inside 50 meters. A good, clear 4-6x scope is a must.

 

My advice: if you want a sniper rifle just because of the range, buy something else.

[Matthais_31]

It wont let me edit my post....just to clarify, my rifle was doing 440fps with a 0.2g bb; but I was actually using 0.3g bbs in the field and having an effective range of 50. Just thought I would clear that up

 

Cheers

 

Matthais_31

[thewallhitme]

i dont think anyone here can shoot pt about 100 meters. a perfect set up would be hitting that as its max range however most of the time thats in ideal conditions. the wind, gravity, target movement, all makes firing at that range risky at best. seeing as how u can go up to 500 fps, your effective range can be whatever u want it to be up to a certain point (90-100m). its all about getting the correct setup for your rifle.

 

my advice though is this:

 

because this is airsoft, the rifles (AEG or bolt action) are only so consistant. dont ever compromise your consistancy and accuracy to get more range out of your gun. i guess what im getting at is dont push your rifle to hard. its all about the sweet spot.

if u do get into sniping u will find that having more range is a good advantage, but having 100% consistancy is a much better advantage, so when finding your max range, see where you can hit someon absolutely every time u fire, then see how far out u can take it until u start missing.

[Levett]

As long as you can hit someone everytime at 30m then your good to go.

[whogben]

I think of Effective Range as where I can hit someone with 90% chance before they could take cover. With an AEG reaching to 200 ft, that means I have as many rounds as they have time to take cover. With a bolt action, I have one. Given that it takes them around 1-2 seconds to get to a covered position perhaps, that means the AEG has 20-30 shots, while the BAR has 1 - so effective range on an equal FPS AEG and sniper rifle tends to be further for the AEG. This does not apply if you're very sparing on the AEG trigger and keep it in semi, etc - but if its reach your after and not the one-shot satisfaction, an AEG will do it for you.

 

For accuracy, I found my AUG with stock TM hop and DBC 6.01 had quite similar accuracy to my G-Spec with a PDI tightbore. I was running .36s in both with both doing around 550, and headshots (ignoring wind and foliage) were a sure thing out to about 150 feet. Torsos to around 200-230, and after that it was a crapshoot - the BBs would reach to maybe 270, but the AUG was significantly more effective because at that range I could fire a burst of 7-10 which would pretty much guarantee a kill, while the G-Spec was much harder.

 

I can say for sure that after the first BB leaves the gun on auto, every successive shot falls in a much (maybe 2x) wider spead.

 

That said, most fields I know won't allow a 550 AEG, while they will allow a 550 BAR - so at some point if you want more reach you'll have to switch to BAR.

 

For scopes - I like to have a scope with adjustable zoom. Most of the time I leave it on 3-4x, but there are times when you want to spot the color of someone's armband 300 yards away, and being able to dial it up is useful there. Also, when your target is behind cover, and you've got a nice stable shooting platform, turning it up to 9x can help you walk a BB through that 1-inch hole in his cover - he'll love that, I know I do

 

As for longest range stock sniper rifle - get a BAR-10 and do a few mods on it - tape the cylinder, cut down the airbrake and install a slight spacer - it'll cost you almost nothing, in the US the BAR-10 comes with a 3-9x40 scope for ~$160 and you'll have it doing 500 fps. It has excellent VSR-type hopup, and is really the best deal sniper rifle at the moment.

[greg]

Last,

 

You are right, this is a question that comes up again & again. Do a search & look around to find absolutely heaps of info & conflicting (often confusing) opinions. Every thing I'm putting here, has been covered before, by me & others.

 

In short:

 

I use a pair of upgraded (500fps)vsr's & 'take a punt' at any thing out to 90m. The results are very affected by the wind, size & movement of target.

 

Both these guns achieve 8" groups @ 70m. On a still day I'm very confident of one shot kills at that range, as long as the target stays still, or moves in a predictable & constant way.

 

So, on a still day, 'effective range' for me is 70m..........................A lot effects & therefore reduces that: wind, target movement, foliage, rain, insects, twigs & gradient come to mind & there are stacks more.

 

 

Wogben makes some very valid points. Like for like, well set up aegs on single shot are not as accurate as bolt action springers. It's debatable why, but I find that this is down to their tendency to vary in fps from shot to shot. My vsr's tend to chrono within 1fps every shot. I've never seen an aeg that does that. Often they vary by about 10fps or more.

 

But,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,this is actually an advantage when full auto. Instead of the ba's 1 bb, which may be blown slightly off course, the full auto can rain them in (with an almost shotgun-like scatter effect) & you can even use the bb stream as a tracer & adjust aim whilst firing.

 

Example;

 

It's a fairly windy day & I shoot my 500fps vsr at a man size target 50m away. Should be easy, but the bb gets blown off & I miss by just 2 inches . I reload adjust for wind & fire again. This time the wind drops & I just miss again! Reload, adjust,,,,,,,,,,,,,,HIT . Great. Of course, this was a target & not a person, who may, by the second shot have realized he was under fire & buggered off. With a little skill & experience, observing how the wind was etc. I might have been able to make an 'adjusted' first shot & got the kill, but you get the picture.

 

Now I take aim (well high!) with my 328fps aeg, on full auto. This is about max range for this gun & on semi I'd be very luck to get a hit even on a still day. I can see that the first few bb's in the stream are being blown off & falling short. So, keeping my finger on the trigger, I adjust & bingo, several bb's bounce off the target. We call this 'hosing' & like it or not, it works.

 

Remembering that the 500fps semi will also have a min engagement distance (20-30m depending where you play), sniping with a semi ain't for every one.

 

Having pointed out the obvious limitations, it has to be said that, for me, nothing compares to the feeling of 45 kills with just 50 bb's. Or the one time that it all comes together & the bloke 90m away not only stands still long enough to be hit with the 3rd shot, but also feels it, recognizes it as a hit, & takes it!

 

Thats when a scope comes in handy, just to see the expression on his face

 

Talking of scopes (& for fear of repeating), my eyesight allows me to follow a bb out to about 50m. After that I need a scope. Tracing the path of the single bb is important for me. It allows hit confirmation. A lot of people don't recognize the single shot as a hit, especially at longer ranges. So instead of getting upset about 'suspected cheats', I just keep a personal tally. Also if you miss, you can see why & therefore adjust.

 

The downside of the scope is that you loose your 3d vision & this can be a problem. Plus, peripheral vision & because of magnification, range estimation are affected. I tend to only use magnifications between 3 & 5.

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Greg.

[charlieboy69]

 

I use my KJW m700 at .....i dunno wat fps actually...but with green gas and .3g blasters (the guns a bit shoddy tbh, but meh it cost $50 ) i can constitently hit a head size target 9/10 times at 30m.... it does the job. Also, its pretty painfull to be shot by.

 

 

[angelmaker]

I have hit a mansized target @ 300ft (100 yards) but that was after watching the bb and then elevating the rifle to compensate for the distance. Now could I do that in game probably not because the target would have to stand completely still lol. Now a straight shot with no dropage of the bb is around 200ft.

[azn1stknightsoul]

just today. longest confirmed kill:

 

320 feet. had a range finder. could no believe i made that shot.

[scithe]

wow, what was the guy doing? standing there with a big sign *HIT ME!* with a bulseye on it?!

 

please tell how you made that shot and what fps your rifle shot at, what bb's you used... all the good stuff. cause that is very impressive.

 

i have hit targets out to ~300+ft or so with wind, and on the first shot too, but never in a game. i would just shoot like a trash can, and i could never garantee a hit either.

[Marine47]

My advice: if you want a sniper rifle just because of the range, buy something else.

 

I second that advice.

 

 

Or make an AEG shoot at sniper FPS on semi-only. Lets face it, it takes a good 4-5 shots to get a kill at 200+ feet. I think of bolties as more of a stealth kind of thing..

[greg]

I second that advice.

 

 

Or make an AEG shoot at sniper FPS on semi-only. Lets face it, it takes a good 4-5 shots to get a kill at 200+ feet. I think of bolties as more of a stealth kind of thing..

 

This is a very important fact.

 

One site I visit is 328 for full auto & 400 for semi.

 

Their isn't much in it, & unfortunately most of the players need a good hosing before they know they are hit. A single shot just grabs their attention!

 

Often full auto more than compensates for a few extra fps.

 

But I still prefer the feeling of the 'one shot' thing.

 

I even do the pump action shot gun cqb thing for the same thrill. Mind you, I love a bit of full auto hi-cap madness.

 

It's all about preference. Personally I like the verity.

 

 

Greg.

 

 

[Trasher]

I use a pair of upgraded (500fps)vsr's & 'take a punt' at any thing out to 90m.

I think 90m is a little optimistic.

I tested three fully upgraded 550-615fps VSRs and no .29 or .36s made that far.

I'm pretty sure about that, since I stood downrange and laser ranged the shooters.

80 meters is more realistic, IMO.

[scithe]

I think 90m is a little optimistic.

I tested three fully upgraded 550-615fps VSRs and no .29 or .36s made that far.

I'm pretty sure about that, since I stood downrange and laser ranged the shooters.

80 meters is more realistic, IMO.

 

well ya, but did you try lob-shooting? cause i can hit out to 250ft with a 500fps vsr with no overhopping and only have to aim about 4 mills up. at 270ft it begins to have a harder time, but it can still get there. of course the chances of hitting something in a skirmish at that range is a bit hard to do, but ittl get there.

 

anyway, while i agree that trying to take out targets at 90m is not the best move, i dont understand how you found a 550+fps vsr incapable of hitting out to that range unless you are talking about shooting with a flat trajectory.

[Trasher]

I can hit guys standing still - off game - at 78 meters from 2-3 shots. But as for maximum range, no shots got over the 82-84 meter mark (aiming slightly above the target's head) with any of the 3 rifles. I stood downrange as target and lased the points of impact.

 

We do not aim for the sky, lob-and-pray, nor shoot 5-6 rounds to get a long range hit.

 

The only airsoft rifle I ever saw shooting flat up to 80 meters and going over 90 meters or 300ft was my Asahi M60.

 

 

[charlieboy69]

I can hit guys standing still - off game - at 78 meters from 2-3 shots. But as for maximum range, no shots got over the 82-84 meter mark (aiming slightly above the target's head) with any of the 3 rifles. I stood downrange as target and lased the points of impact.

 

We do not aim for the sky, lob-and-pray, nor shoot 5-6 rounds to get a long range hit.

 

The only airsoft rifle I ever saw shooting flat up to 80 meters and going over 90 meters or 300ft was my Asahi M60.

 

 

 

thats insane....an......an m60???? wow......80metres......scary

[sirrith]

Classic airsoft with LRB = 300ft

 

[azn1stknightsoul]

wow, what was the guy doing? standing there with a big sign *HIT ME!* with a bulseye on it?!

 

please tell how you made that shot and what fps your rifle shot at, what bb's you used... all the good stuff. cause that is very impressive.

 

i have hit targets out to ~300+ft or so with wind, and on the first shot too, but never in a game. i would just shoot like a trash can, and i could never garantee a hit either.

 

used my maruzen aps2 with a 170 spring, stock barrel, teflon cylinder, precision piston head, pss2 piston. bbs were straight .43's

 

i saw a group of 7. during this game, it was really hot, so i had taken off my acu blouse while at the staging area. so i was wearing a fairly bright white and orange t shirt, standing straight up. 6 of the team members were hiding in the bush, taking me as a threat. the guy was standing off to the right of the bush, thinking that there was no way that i could hit him. he at first danced around a bit while i was aiming, then stood still. i think he was making a point to his teammates that i was not a threat in any way, even if he was standing still. i honestly thought that i wasnt a threat either.

 

long story short, i decided to take a shot either way. fired it with the cross hairs right on the very top of his head. waited for a moment where there was no wind. watched the flight of the bb as it flew and slightly dropped, then hit him smack in the middle of the chest. quickly zoomed in using my scope to see his face.

 

his teammates never left that bush. the rest of my team flanked them while they stayed there, transfixed by the "white sniper" as i later heard at the staging area.

 

i was very proud that day.

 

APS2: 300 dollars

 

Upgrades: 300 dollars

 

3-12x42mm Nikon Scope: 300 dollars

 

Straight .43 Graphite Coated: 24 dollars a bag

 

Hitting a guy from 320 feet away and being able to watch both his and his teammates' reactions: Priceless...