A guide for DMR/AEG gun and upgrade purchase?

[Softy]

Hi,

I would guess the "what gun and upgrades should I buy" question has been asked oh so many times on this forum and many others.

So I was hoping if there was a guide for someone to purchase a gun and then a recommended list of upgrades. I would really love a "here is your shopping basket" kinda thing that I can research and look in to. 

I am defo a n00b and have only been a few times, and I was thinking of starting out sniping. I even repeatedly read how many people do this then discover it's a mistake and still wanted to do it (my thinking was: just get a good pistol for CQC).... but I am now exploring the idea of a DMR/AEG with good range so I can use it in more scenarios. 

So I am hoping someone can guide me toward what guns make a good platform, and guides on what upgrades can be achieved on this platform. I don't really have a budget, but would love to keep it under £400 if that's realistic. I am more than happy to buy S/H.

I am aware of the law surrounding the Airsoft guns and I still need my UKARA but I am both confident I could show that I have a genuine reason for use (photos of me playing and bank statements of my purchases from UK sites) in addition I have friends who could look after any gun I buy until I get a UKARA. 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

start with an assault gun, then worry about dmr conversions later.

depending on what you like something like a full length m16 could sit right either as an assault gun or a dmr, although barrel length isn't really a factor so you can make a shorter barreled gun shoot well enough with the right tweaks. if you do want to go down the path of upgrading the ar platform does offer the greatest range of aftermarket parts, but don't think that means you can't do well with (insert not an ar-15 derivative here) it just takes a bit more creativity.

in terms of upgrades first things first- get the gun, leave it stock (except maybe a barrel clean), play with it a few times and then start thinking about tweaks to address specific deficiencies of the gun as it sits.

it's far too easy a mistake to make to get a gun, chuck a bunch of premium parts in it without knowing what you're doing, and completely ruining it. and especially if it's your only gat i can assure you having game days cut short because your latest tinkering doesn't work right or completely breaks your gun is something that gets real old real fast.

the only out of the box recommendation for an "upgrade" is to feed it good ammo, it'll eliminate one variable from your list of things to do and a stock gun on something like geoff's .32's can be very effective.

i would advise doing things properly and getting your ukara set up first, it's going to be hard to do with the current climate so sadly patience is going to be required, i wouldn't worry airsoft isn't going anywhere.

 

[bully78]

I can highly recommend the Cyma 098 platinum its their pre-upgraded version of a SR25, out of the box its pretty damm good I got mine from taiwangun for less than £180 which was a steal seeing as its £269 at patrolbase,

came firing 460fps out the box and can fire full auto so needed a little work but only took me 30min to sort.

The advise Adolf gives above is spot on learn your gun before you try and put upgrades in  

 

[Softy]

@Adolf Hamster

That does make sense - I basically wanted an outing with a nice gun well tuned - but I'm probably naive to think I can just do that with a shopping list!

The style of play I enjoy the most at the moment is sneaking in around the edges/woods and picking off defence during a team attack. This was my Sniper/DMR thinking. Although I expect this has a lot to do with experienced players getting the best of me in more close quarter combat!

I am eyeing up this on the Classifieds: https://airsoft-forums.uk/classifieds/item/9038-scorpion-evo-carbine-package/

As I have read it is a great OOB gun, and its a super package saving me some inevitable purchases - the gun is stock as well - although already getting up there toward my budget without any 'upgrades'! At the ,oment though I still don't feel like i have a great handle on the various types of guns.

The UKARA is really tough for me as I have a very busy life and only get to go sometimes, so the one game a month for 3 months thing is quite a tough ask. I'm obviously not planning any games any time soon because of the ongoing lockdown but contemplating getting a gun set up.

@bully78

Thanks - I'll look into that!

 

[Impulse]

Wait until you can get your UKARA sorted first. It's not worth trying to take shortcuts, especially since we can't play airsoft at the moment anyway!

Having just finished my own AEG sniper project, where admittedly I went premium on literally everything and spent a hell of a lot, I figure I should have some insights to making your own DMR.

As @Adolf Hamster said above, get an assault gun and worry about DMR conversions afterwards, especially when it comes to the power options. You'd be surprised at the range you will get with a normal AEG firing at 1.1J if you simply stick a flat hop in it and use .3s or .32s. These days, power isn't nearly as important as it was 10 years ago, and in my opinion the only real benefit of more power is being able to use heavier ammunition a bit more effectively.

I'm not an expert on budget guns, as the only one I own is a cyma m14 and I wouldn't recommend you go for an m14 without at least some knowledge of how internals work, because they're a pain to disassemble when you do finally get around to upgrading the power, and their barrels are cut differently and their hop rubbers are shorter. Go for an AR-15 platform, like an m16 or sr-25, and stick a flat hop in it (you don't even need to modify the flat hop yourself. Just get a prometheus flat bucking or a modify baton flat bucking). Ideally stick a hard hop rubber in it because heavier BBs are great and you shouldn't overhop a .3 or .32 with a hard flat rubber.

It'll probably cost you under £200 for that all in and you'll probably be out-shooting a lot of people at your site, not to mention you won't have that annoying DMR minimum engagement distance. Toy around with that for a while, then upgrade the power if you feel you need it (and feel confident gauging MEDs. I recently ranted about how a lot of new snipers these days have no idea how to judge distance and shoot too close)

 

[Adolf Hamster]

@Adolf Hamster

That does make sense - I basically wanted an outing with a nice gun well tuned - but I'm probably naive to think I can just do that with a shopping list!

The style of play I enjoy the most at the moment is sneaking in around the edges/woods and picking off defence during a team attack. This was my Sniper/DMR thinking. Although I expect this has a lot to do with experienced players getting the best of me in more close quarter combat!

I am eyeing up this on the Classifieds: https://airsoft-forums.uk/classifieds/item/9038-scorpion-evo-carbine-package/

As I have read it is a great OOB gun, and its a super package saving me some inevitable purchases - the gun is stock as well - although already getting up there toward my budget without any 'upgrades'! At the ,oment though I still don't feel like i have a great handle on the various types of guns.

The UKARA is really tough for me as I have a very busy life and only get to go sometimes, so the one game a month for 3 months thing is quite a tough ask. I'm obviously not planning any games any time soon because of the ongoing lockdown but contemplating getting a gun set up.

@bully78

Thanks - I'll look into that!

the scorpion is a great platform stock, although the hop unit isn't very amenable to tweaking so you'll have to replace it or accept that the performance you get is what you get (although granted said performance is perfectly passable)

it's not aesthetically the ideal dmr platform, but if you don't care about "muh immersion" it's perfectly capable.

if you're doing a lot of sneaky stuff i'd suggest looking into getting a standard assault gun (eg the scorpion) and running a Mk23 for sneaky shenanigans where silence can be as important as out and out range (not that a well setup mk23 is lacking there either)

at least that way you'll still be equipped for some standard combat if it comes to it.

 

[PopRocket123]

As others have said hold off buying a bunch of new parts straight away. Tinkering isn't necessarily a bad thing though as long as you do enough research and have the right tools before you try anything. Most of the difference in performance actually comes from a we'll set up gun rather than shiny "upgrade" parts. Things like the dental floss mod, setting motor height and angle of engagement, shimming and getting a good airseal will massively improve your performance and consistency and once you've got yourself some grease, shims and o rings they're basically free. As Adolf said I'd recommend starting this once you have a backup primary though as if you try something and it doesn't work you're boned if that's your only gun