WA & G&P WOC = Dying breed?

[Inq Eisenhorn]

I must admit a certain desire for the KWA Magpul LM4, well it's the only one for sale in the UK, but might take a look at KJW....will always love the WA system, but talking as a collector now.

[TheFull9]

There's a definite culture gap between the ever growing group of anti-snobs (who are just as bad and more numerous than normal snobs) and anybody who ever worked hard in their early years to land a job that pays well.

 

I read a good post on zero-in the other day (shock horror) talking about how many people get aggressive these days when they see any 'softer who dares buy any equipment that isn't the bear minimum necessary at the cheapest price absolutely possible.  As if this hobby isn't about each individual extracting as much fun as they can in the ways they feel most appropriate to themselves.

 

This in turn leads to a lot of irate posts to any news thread where a gun is announced that costs more than a CYMA AK.  Because those are generally perfectly fine, so why would anybody, ever dream of buying anything that cost more than one of those???  They must be mental.

 

When you then look at GBBRs, the WE line is going to be the most popular based on that mentality combined with the fact that most folks in this climate quite understandably don't have a ton of expendable income, they've got food and heating and kids to pay for first.  Also, from a personal perspective; a WOC with steel internals would cost £500-600+ here, the KWA is more robust internally (and at least equal on resilience externally IMO) for a substantially lower price.  The market for players who can afford Viper/Ino is not enormous.

[L2E]

The market for players who can afford Viper/Ino is not enormous.

 

Correct.  But I have gone through all other platforms (except KJW) and didn't like each for various reasons.  If I could do it all again, I would have bought a Viper right away saving at least a few hundred dollars in the process.

[BaBaBooey]

Forgive me for being slow, and the answer may be common knowledge, but is the WA system and in particular the tie in with G&P in decline? UK shops only seem to sell WE products, with the very odd smattering of KWA here and there, but practically no retailer stocks the WA system. Even Asian retailers have the products listed as either "out of stock" or "discontinued"!......so what the hell is going on? and what will this mean for after markets parts and spares.

 

If my worst fears come to pass, I guess the system will live on in the guise of the Vipertech products, and the various VFC offerings through Umarex (they'll bleed that cash cow dry), but what a shame if G&P WOC is out of the game (IMHO).

The original WA system has probably reached end-of-life...WA hasn't produced any of the original version in quite some time now. If I recall correctly, v1.0 was released with all its flaws in April of 2008. For a toy, I would say 5 years is a decent amount of time. I have no plans on abandoning my WA even though I use my LM4...there are certain modifications that I personally can not do to the LM4 that I can on the WA.

 

As for after market parts, G&P parts might be around for a while since they seem to be able to produce each of their products in large quantities.

[Brigg]

I dont see any reason to hate the WE open chamber system really. Like any other system it has some faults, but Ive never experienced any significant issues with them. And Ive worked on many GBBR M4s at this point.

 

Hell, I just decided to go back to the WE system after my KWA stopped working on auto and KWA just sorta shrugged their shoulders. I'll keep it around for whenever the issue is figured out, but I just built myself a real nice M16a2 from a WE M16a4 and a RS A2 upper receiver.

 

The only issue that I evere had with WE rifles, that I can recall, is that the loading nozzles break sometimes. thats annoying, but cheap to fix. And with a little bit of work the bolt catch can be made to work permanently as well.

[L2E]

I dont see any reason to hate the WE open chamber system really. Like any other system it has some faults, but Ive never experienced any significant issues with them. And Ive worked on many GBBR M4s at this point.

 

Hell, I just decided to go back to the WE system after my KWA stopped working on auto and KWA just sorta shrugged their shoulders. I'll keep it around for whenever the issue is figured out, but I just built myself a real nice M16a2 from a WE M16a4 and a RS A2 upper receiver.

 

The only issue that I evere had with WE rifles, that I can recall, is that the loading nozzles break sometimes. thats annoying, but cheap to fix. And with a little bit of work the bolt catch can be made to work permanently as well.

 

GBBR's are really a funny breed.  One person has no problems and another has a or some problems.  It all comes down to quality control of the replicas.  I'm glad I found one that was reliable for me as I really didn't want to go back to AEG's...ever!

[Danke]

WE mad a lot of naff pistols at the start of their career. There is a lot of brand hate by way of that; someone who swore they're never buy another WE product after a bad taste.

 

The truth about WE GBBRs is that they don't break more often that the others and when they do parts are easy to get.

 

They are not as "nice" as the WAs out there but they are also a lot lot lot less expensive for the package. So if you wanted a skirmishing rifle that you could paint and kick about you'd likely pick one of theirs.

 

The new kid on the block is the KWA which has it's own +/- issues. It's not a perfect platform nor is it fit for a skip.

 

That drives what's on the shelves at a retailer. If the shop owner sees 3 year old Brand B stuff gathering dust while the Brand A stuff flies out the door they will follow the money.

[hwagan]

GBBR's;

 

Some have pro's.

Some have con's.

Some have both.
 

They're more fun than AEG's.

 

I like hats.

[Danke]

GBBR's;

 

Some have pro's.

Some have con's.

Some have both.

 

They're more fun than AEG's.

 

I like hats.

GBBR- bang bang -- Giggle

 

AEG-- merrrzip  merrzip -- meh

[Inq Eisenhorn]

How this came to be about WE rifles, I'm not sure....but I'll go with the flow. In my opinion, WE are as nice, aesthetically as G&P, more so if you consider you can't get a bb M14 EBR, or SCAR, or G36 from G&P!!

 

I also can't see how G&P justify their price difference over WE rifles! Viper and Ink yes, but G&P? No.

 

In general, gbb's should be cheaper than AEG's, ultimately less goes into them.

[Danke]

Well it's not specifically about any particular brand you can't have a talk about the end of the dinosaurs without bringing up the pesky mammals that came next.

 

If it wasn't WE it would be KWA. Who knows, KWA may start to push out all the other brands next; consumers vote with their wallets. 

[RacingManiac]

I am sorta an early adopter for WA GBBR(granted its not a WOC or standard WA anymore), and I am still using mine. Its more of a pain in that swtiching system is like switching DSLR system that you have to change mag and everything. And running with Prowin mag and the way I've built my last one its been relatively painless, and now with the Viper Tech hop-up it looks like this one is a keeper as far as feeding and functioning goes...

 

No arguing though they are f-ing money pit...