Plastic pile of tripe? How dare you say that about the L85! ='[ It's not even that plastic. Bloody thing weighs a ton. The only SLR I can think of is made by King Arms, my mate had one and for the price, it is woefully awful, you'd probably be just as well off with a springer.
But seriously, any gun that's of skirmishable quality is going to cost you upwards of £100 and the only spring rifles you ought to bother getting for a skirmish are very high quality, upgraded (or upgradable), high-power spring sniper rifles. I've no idea who recommended you get a springer, but that's the last thing I'd recommend.
Your best bet for a gun to enjoy yourself with and to start with, is some sort of ICS Sportsline, a G&G plastic bodied something or other, or a CYMA AK. All are around the £150 mark and very good guns, even for experienced players. If you want something metal, with a bit more of a realistic feel and weight, then just go for the metal versions of the plastic sportsline guns, they'll be about £100 more, metal, but otherwise exactly the same.
Buying a cheap springer will be a bad move, even for back garden use they're not that great, unless your garden is 10m or less long, the rate of fire and range will be a hugh let down in a skirmish and you'll be outgunned by most people's side arms.
Best advice I can give though? Hire a gun a few times to make sure you're certain of the sport you're buying into, 'cos if you buy a gun, play a few times and decide it's not for you, then that's a pretty expensive mistake you've just made. Also, on a side note, don't buy a sniper as a first gun. They need about £500 worth of upgrades in them and out of the box aren't even worth having. So it's not worth it unless you've got a sh*t ton of money and the experience to upgrade it, which at this stage, I doubt you have lol.
P.S. BC Rich = Awesome. Don't sell it.
And wait till I have more money to pop on a decent rifle and just rent a rifle for now 
