To upgrade or just buy a new gun?

[klein]

I have been airsofting for a couple of years with my son

Been using a Nuprol Defender for about a year, For a cheap gun it has always been reliable and shoots at around 300 fps

But I am finding I am being out ranged by a lot of other aegs (im using .28 bbs)

Should I put money into this gun to increase range or just buy another gun that can get more more range?

Advice please

 

[Asomodai]

I have been airsofting for a couple of years with my son

Been using a Nuprol Defender for about a year, For a cheap gun it has always been reliable and shoots at around 300 fps

But I am finding I am being out ranged by a lot of other aegs (im using .28 bbs)

Should I put money into this gun to increase range or just buy another gun that can get more more range?

Advice please

Heavier BBs don't really equate to longer range imo, just that it ignores foliage a bit more. 

There is nothing wrong with a Nuprol Defender, you are more likely to get longer range for cheaper upgrading the Nuprol. Get a new tightbore barrel, hop unit and get it flat hopped with new bucking. Decent Prometheus barrel will be under 50 quid, the rest will be under 40 quid. You should get a slight bump in FPS and a significant bump in hop affect and consistency. 

 

[sonofsammo]

Heavier BBs don't really equate to longer range imo, just that it ignores foliage a bit more. 

There is nothing wrong with a Nuprol Defender, you are more likely to get longer range for cheaper upgrading the Nuprol. Get a new tightbore barrel, hop unit and get it flat hopped with new rubber and bucking. Decent Prometheus barrel will be under 50 quid, the rest will be under 40 quid. You should get a slight bump in FPS and a significant bump in hop affect and consistency. 

@Asomodai I thought the defenders came with a tightbore as standard?



 

@klein I forgot to answer your question.
The answer to most airsoft questions, most definitely including this one is:

BUY A NEW GUN!

View attachment 38538

 

[Rogerborg]

I thought the defenders came with a tightbore as standard?

To Nuprol definitions of "tight", perhaps.

Range is energy + BB mass + sufficient backspin.  The BB doesn't know what gun it came out of.  If you can get it bang on the site limit, dial the hop up until it's just barely over-hopping your BB, then dial it down a whisker, it should shoot just as far as any other honest gun at that site using that mass of BB.

At that point if you're still being significantly out-shot then there's a chrono issue: either Joule creep on guns that are being chronoed with 0.2g, or different chrono rules for the owner's mates.

 

[Asomodai]

@Asomodai I thought the defenders came with a tightbore as standard?



 

@klein I forgot to answer your question.
The answer to most airsoft questions, most definitely including this one is:

BUY A NEW GUN!

View attachment 38538

Tightbore doesn't mean great. Could be a really nasty surface inside. A quality tightbore however is awesome. That along with a new hop unit and flat hopped bucking is extra range for little comparative money and you don't need to open the gearbox. 

 

[Prisce]

You don’t mention a budget, and reading a little to much into it, I think this is your only RIF(other than the M60). This being said I would suggest buying a new RIF.

Reasons being, a spare, or even one to learn to “upgrade” as the others says. Personal experience I have had nothing but bad luck with Nuprols range of guns, so I tend to always steer people away from them, that being said there have been far to many threads on here recently proving me otherwise. So I may have to adjust my view.

If I was you, if either get a top of the range RIF (TM, Krytac, Scorpion Evo etc)- if funds permit. As the difference between these and the nuprol are poles apart. 

If funds dont permit, you can’t go wrong with a G&G GC16 or similar, good guns, good price, good base to upgrade, and the pedigree to back it up.

 

[MisterG]

How regularly do you clean the barrel?  That can also make a deference especially with a tightbore.

Cheers

G

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Heavier BBs don't really equate to longer range imo, just that it ignores foliage a bit more. 

scientifically they do, for the hop set for a given "lift" distance and the same energy a heavier bb will always go further, the other benefits as you mention are less deviation due to foliage/wind meaning a greater effective range as well as actual range.

they also carry their kinetic energy better so generally you can expect a greater chance of folk feeling it too.

tbh i'd look into a nice inner barrel and a flathop or maple leaf, will help lift those .28's more consistently (accuracy being the same thing as effective range) it'd definately be worth making sure that you're as close to the limit as possible, yeah sure you can get decent range at lower fps at the end of the day energy is energy and it's one of the 3 main ingredients to bb range (being weight, spin and muzzle energy) and a bb that's just floating is going to have minimal impact meaning folk may genuinely not be feeling it.

if you do that and find you're still being outranged then as rogerborg points out there could be some creative game mechanics on the part of the guy that's shooting at you, it's perfectly possible for example to get a gas gun to chrono at 328fps on .2's, aka 1j then by simply dropping .3's in it'll jump to 1.2j (or the equivalent of 360fps on 0.2g).

 

[Iceni]

You have to be realistic with upgrades.

If you can do the work yourself then it opens up a whole world of cheap upgrades that suit a budget gun. If you can't upgrade yourself then they become a money sink.


For someone who is gearbox savy and can do the work themselves.

Prices from AK2M4.

Mosfet basic xcoretech xet304u style - the nuprol uses a microswitch and a basic fet will keep it working for longer. £7.50 + some wire.
Sort out the airseal.
Add an oring airseal nozzle (£4.50)
Grease and shim the gearbox.
New piston o-ring £0.25
Main spring upgrade £5.

Total spend on gearbox £17.25.

Getting a tech to do the above is going to run you at about 2 hours labour + parts + the basic fee. Well over £50 IMO.


For the barrel and hop.

ZCI plastic rotary hop unit £8.50
Laylax prometheus purple bucking and nub £10
ZCI 6.02 inner barrel £20

Total spend £38.50. You should be able to build and install all of these parts yourself. I'd build it as a complete inner barrel kit and leave the original intact.

Getting a tech involved will run you almost to the £100 mark. Doing it yourself £55. So there is a big difference in the upgrades a savy person can do compared to one that needs the tech.

In terms of added value there actually is a little. So a £130 gun second hand without upgrades in good condition will trade at about £75-80, With the upgrades done asking £100-110 would be reasonable provided it shoots well and looks clean.

The question you have to ask yourself is if you can't do the work yourself where do you draw the line. You could price it for a fast sale £60-70, Save the £100 and have £170 that can be added to to move  into the midrange gun section... It's not that much more to add to get into all steel AK territory with LCT or into some of the nicer G&G and specna arms models.


https://gunfire.com/en/products/sa-b15-keymod-14-carbine-replica-1152205883.html


Or you keep it as a working spare, get a new gun, and loan out the nuprol to friends so they get a cheap introduction to airsoft, doing no upgrades at all to it.

I linked to a specna arms on gunfire for a reason. Spend €225 and you get free postage. They will install a basic mosfet for free when you buy a gun and mosfet together, they will downgrade to 350fps for free. So you don't have the initial tech costs to get the gun right from the off, It'll just take a little longer to be delivered.



 

 

[AK47frizzle]

Thing is, a new gun won't necessarily have better range; it's the internals that matter and they are mostly replaceable.

Which means every gun can shoot the same so it is just a matter of aesthetics.

Do you want a new style of weapon or are you happy with your defender?

If you are then it is just a matter of upgrading the parts that affect range: hop up and barrel.

To save you time, i'd recommend a prowin chamber, maple leaf 50 degree green bucking and a high quality 6.03 - 6.05 barrel.

 

[heroshark]

The way I see it is all aegs are pretty much the same unless your looking at all the training weapon (bolt lock) type aeg options. If you want a really nice performing gun you will often find you can improve on most models by modding or replacing parts. What I would personally consider is do I have a back up aeg?

Yes- Upgrade the better one to start with a plan to do the backup also in time.

No- Buy another gun. Something that takes the same mags and excellent external build. Internal you obviously want something serviceable and at least equal to the back up but all that can be improved upon. Obviously externals can be replaced too but getting something solid from the start is easier

Or option 3 sod off standard aegs and go training weapon type aeg ,gas ,or  (just saying it to be fully rounded) HPA 

 

[callumbagshaw]

The other guys have covered the main points here.

The only other thing I can say in the defense of getting a new gun over upgrading is rate of fire.

If you'd like more rounds per second (RPS), you could put a MOSFET and a new motor in your current setup, maybe wire it to deans instead of a Tamiya connection.... But then there's increased pressure on your other parts such as gear set, piston etc etc.... When I wanted better ROF from my G&G raider I thought about upgrading and then just decided to go with a Krytac as those things are all built in and I didn't have to worry about it. In hindsight that wasn't a great decision either though, as the gears stripped themselves a few months in and I had to put a new set in!

In short, probably upgrade - and if you have the time, learn to do it yourself - the knowledge is worth having.