Help choosing a platform.

[10-32]

Im looking for a spring-powered weapon that will shoot around 500 FPS accurately and consistently. My understanding thus far is that I should go with a VSR10 or an L96, but everyone seems to disagree with the upgrade parts used. Some people swear by a certain brand of parts, while others tell you to avoid them all together. I would probably prefer an L96, however if upgrades for a VSR are cheaper or easier, I would just as soon go with that. Does anyone have any recommendations?

[Sallinen]

VSR-10 is better as a upgrade platform. If you want the easier way, get PDI cylinder kit, V-trigger version 2 and the 9B hop up(that is my opinion for the rubber, someone may disagree) and fine tune the system from there. Dont bother changing the hop up chamber, it aint getting any better from the stock TM. And seriously, get Tokyo Marui, ACM guns arent as well in spec with the upgrade parts.

[10-32]

Thanks for the reply!
Yeah, Ive been airsofting since like 2002 and I dont trust any of these new Chinese companies.

Anyone else have any thoughts on what this gentleman just said?

[Beeingmyself]

PDI inner barrel and some real nice BBs around 0.36-0.4gr than you are good to go and have some decent kills

[Dagonet]

Do a ton of research.

 

From reading through the Vsr thread on here (yep all 200+ pages)  and the old snipers perch.

 

Whatever upgrade brand you go for,  stick with that in the cylinder/piston/sears department.  Barrels are between PDI or Laylax/prommy and are fine.

 

Trying to pick and mix say a PDI sear set and another brands piston, with another cylinder is where issue of tolerance and fit crop up.  This would appear to be the root cause of problems, and internetz whinging about brand X is rubbish because it dosen't work with Brand Z

Go all PDI internals,  or all Laylax internals and things will be fine. (or whatever brand you wish to go for)

 

The TM L96  (you never said about L96 brand) has the correct magazine placement to a real one,  this has a more fiddly loading system than a VSR.

 

I think it's safe to state that nearly all upgrade parts are based on fitting a TM,  clones of a TM are just that, a lower quality copy,  then theres clones of clones,  so even more out of tolerance,  not that airsoft guns are really high tolerance in the first place.

 

Quite a few on here have had good runs with the Well L96.

The TM VSR platform is the easiest to get parts for,  and there is a huge amount of information on upgrading and setting up,  lightweight and reliable and fairly simple inside.

[10-32]

That was incredibly helpful, thank you.

 

 

[Lightbulb]

First thing I would echo the above: research, research, research.

 

 

If I were to build a 'fully upgraded' VSR today I would go:

 

JG Bar 10 -  as you are going to scrap 70% of the internal parts and you can get them so much cheaper than a vsr. I have no problem with the externals on mine. The only different is really the hop chamber - the tm version clicks as you adjust it rather than a smooth action - which is nice, but not work £50. I think a well shimmed - or top down centre modded - jg chamber will work just as well.

 

m170 spring - I think and m190 will be overkill - you don't really want fps you want long accurate range. m170 will be easier to cock and give enough fps. 450 to 480ish I guess? You do need to try and fix all of the air leaks though.

 

Zero trigger. Again makes it easier to cock and also greatly increases durability. Action Army make a clone for around £100 to £120. Bargain. If this sounds like a lot keep in mind its a clone of a £220+ laylax version, and replaces around £180 of separate parts. May need a little filling to fit (spring guide too wide) but nothing hard. You can get separate sears, pistons, etc if you are on a really tight budget but I would do it properly.

 

The zero trigger comes with a piston so basically all you need then is a spring guide - get one with a bearing. I have laylax but I notice action army make one with a bearing now.

 

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Hop rubber comes next. Now barrels split opinion. Conventional wisdom says get barrel as your very first upgrade. However some people have had success polishing their stock barrel:

A guide here (a good forum too):

 

http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com/showthread.php?t=1466http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com/showthread.php?t=1466

 

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Teflon cylinders - very expensive for something which make it slightly easier to cock. Not worth it - especially not at first I would say.

 

Cylinder head -  Laylax cylinder heads may not fit the JG cylinders (didn't fit mine). I think you can live without this as well.

 

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Hop chambers - I would stick to the stock chamber. They are very good. Top down centre mod perhaps.

 

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When I get somewhere I can test my rifle and rebuild it I will look into r hops as people are reporting excellent results.

 

 

Basically I think you can build a very decent rifle for around £250 to 300. If you get some of the bits second hand maybe even a bit less. That's a very good deal if you ask me. Some people used to say you need to spend £500 on a 'decent' sniper rifle. I think that's no longer the case.

[Dagonet]

Also check out here,  www.airsoftsniperparts.com  known as "ASPUK" they have a retailers subsection on here on the home/main forum page,  scroll down to the retailers section and they are there.

 

The website has some very good information on trouble shooting, set up and parts.  Also they do a little guide on how you don't have to replace everything,  but what basic things are good to start with when stock parts fail/wear out.

 

[mimesis]

Another endorsement for PDI, and I strongly recommend ordering from these people, their distributor: http://www.x-fire.org/e.index.htm  You'll see everything that they make, and everything that's available.  The instructions for ordering make it sound more fiddly than it actually is.