Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

[Hovis]

Hi all.

New to Airsoft - been to one game day and it was absolutely amazing fun. Plan on going back monthly and getting all my registrations in order by Christmas.

I wanted to ask a few questions to clear some things up - I understand there will be no 'right' answer as its personal preference, but all I am looking for is advice.

Does a higher FPS mean a longer range? Lots of people say its not the important thing when it comes to choosing a gun, yet it seems to be the main selling point in most reviews you read or watch online?

What can be upgraded in a gun to make it better once you choose one? The out of the box spec is important to me, but I realise that little bits and bobs can be added and upgraded so how easy is this?

What makes a gun accurate? Don't have a clue about this one... So any help would be appreciated.

Hop up adjustable? See this on a lot of sites with some guns, what does it mean?

Cheers for any help/advice in advance.

Hovis

[ElCarl]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

Does a higher FPS mean a longer range? Lots of people say its not the important thing when it comes to choosing a gun, yet it seems to be the main selling point in most reviews you read or watch online?

It can make a difference, but only really in large variations. 328 to 350 won't make much difference, but 328 to 500 will (If the hop/other stuff can handle it)


What can be upgraded in a gun to make it better once you choose one? The out of the box spec is important to me, but I realise that little bits and bobs can be added and upgraded so how easy is this?

So so very much. I suggest you look at the technical forum for an idea of what you can do.


What makes a gun accurate? Don't have a clue about this one... So any help would be appreciated.

A combination of the consistency of the hop chamber and the barrel; a high-quality barrel, properly supported, will probably make the biggest difference when it comes to accuracy. The hop-up chamber/rubber/nub will make the most difference in range.


Hop up adjustable? See this on a lot of sites with some guns, what does it mean?

It means that the hop up is not fixed, but adjustable. The hop-up is the bit which applies backspin to the BB so that it can fly straight for longer.


Cheers for any help/advice in advance.

Hovis

Hope I could be of help.

[Sparticus515]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

A higher fps would give a longer range, but just because you have 350 fps doesn't necessarily mean you have the longest range, having a good hop up unit is a big factor on range.

For your second and third questions, swapping out a tighter bore barrel, i.e a 6.03, and a new hop up are very simple modifications and are the main factors in accuracy, and with a 6.03 and a good hop you would have very good accuracy.

And for your last question, adjustable hop up is basically a system that applies backspin on a BB and is, well, adjustable. Think of how if a football player puts spin a football and it curls in a direction, Hop up does that but upwards, so your shots will be much more accurate and have a much longer range. If you set your hop up correctly you can normally double to triple your range.

Hope that answers all your questions, just be prepared to spend a lot of money on guns and gear, or in my case, too much money!

[Hovis]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

Thanks to you both for you help - its appreciated.

Its an expensive hobby to take up - but it seems there is always a market for used guns which is good.

Common thread seems to be that any M4 is a good way to get started as there are plenty customisable options, would you agree?

I like the G&G G2010 (F2000) - out of stock everywhere though!

[ElCarl]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

For your second and third questions, swapping out a tighter bore barrel, i.e a 6.03, and a new hop up are very simple modifications and are the main factors in accuracy, and with a 6.03 and a good hop you would have very good accuracy.

Just to point out - a tighter barrel isn't necessarily better, it is a more consistent/higher quality barrel that improves accuracy.

[Sabbath]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

My videos don't say FPS is everything! ;-) (Cheeky subs are welcome)

FPS does have an effect on accuracy due to using a higher weight BB (It keeps its energy for longer and thus can travel further, but too heavy will go nowhere)

ideally the weight to use with the UK AEG power limt, is a .27 But the closest you can get is a .25 or .28. I would recommend .25s personally.

[Hovis]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

My videos don't say FPS is everything! ;-) (Cheeky subs are welcome)

Sorry Sabbath - didn't mean to lump everyone in the same box :D - probably should have said the majority!

ideally the weight to use with the UK AEG power limt, is a .27 But the closest you can get is a .25 or .28. I would recommend .25s personally.

I was wondering about this too - I was using .20g with the hire gun I was using and saw a lot of others using .25g bb's - so the FPS drops with a heavier bb? Does that mean you need an overall higher FPS to minimize the drop on the battlefield - or is is swings and roundabouts because a heavier bb will fly better?

[Sparticus515]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

Just to point out - a tighter barrel isn't necessarily better, it is a more consistent/higher quality barrel that improves accuracy.

Yeah, I should of pointed that out really. I assumed he'd know that but if he's new he might not. But if he shops at ZeroOne or another trusted UK retailer, most, if not all of the tightbores would be of a good quality.

Thanks to you both for you help - its appreciated.

Its an expensive hobby to take up - but it seems there is always a market for used guns which is good.

Common thread seems to be that any M4 is a good way to get started as there are plenty customisable options, would you agree?

I like the G&G G2010 (F2000) - out of stock everywhere though!

Yeah, a good gun would be any of the G&G M4s really, they're relatively cheap and high quality. But just remember if you go for another gun or buy upgrades for a gun once you have it, you get what you pay for with airsoft.

[ElCarl]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

Yeah, I should of pointed that out really. I assumed he'd know that but if he's new he might not. But if he shops at ZeroOne or another trusted UK retailer, most, if not all of the tightbores would be of a good quality.

I was more making the point that, actually, a high-quality 6.05 or even wider will outperform a lower-quality 6.03/.02/.01 barrel.
On the Airsoft Mechanics forum there are even a lot of the opinion that wider is better, for the same quality (within reason).

[Caveira]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

Range + hop + fps + BB weight = HUGE can of worms!

A few basics to remember though.

As said above, the BB is dropping due to gravity at the same rate as a live round. They get much better ranges as they are going faster and therefore travel further while under the effect of gravity. BUT, I did the maths once and when you look at energy (in Joules) against range, we are getting a much higher range than live weapons for each J of energy applied. For a smooth bore musket (the closest comparrison to a smooth bore airsoft gun), we achieve about 25% of their range with less than 5% of the energy. This comes from the hop up.

BB weight is a weird one. The heavier the BB, the slower it will leave the barrel. The slower the BB leaves the barrel, the faster gravity will drag it down. BUT (yet again), the round (real or BB) is being slowed by air resistance. A heavier BB puts more mass through the same bit of air which means that, as a percentage, it's effected less by the resistance than a lighter one. Get too heavy though and it's going too slowly to benefit from this.

Higher FPS does make a BB go further, it's obvious if you think about it, as the BB will travel a greater distance while under the effect of gravity. But (!), a higher FPS makes hop up harder to get right and a lower FPS with good hop will beat high FPS and a poor hop effect every time.

[ElCarl]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

BB weight is a weird one. The heavier the BB, the slower it will leave the barrel. The slower the BB leaves the barrel, the faster gravity will drag it down. BUT (yet again), the round (real or BB) is being slowed by air resistance. A heavier BB puts more mass through the same bit of air which means that, as a percentage, it's effected less by the resistance than a lighter one. Get too heavy though and it's going too slowly to benefit from this.

To (hopefully) clarify this bit - a heavier BB will hold its velocity for longer than a lighter BB; this means that (with some invented numbers), comparing a 1-joule gun with .2g vs .25g:

Muzzle velocity:

.2g: 100m/s
.25g: 90m/s


Velocity at 20m:

.2g: 70m/s
.25g: 75m/s

As I said, I just made those numbers up in an attempt to demonstrate what happens. :p

[plainlazy44]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

BB weight is a weird one. The heavier the BB, the slower it will leave the barrel. The slower the BB leaves the barrel, the faster gravity will drag it down. BUT (yet again), the round (real or BB) is being slowed by air resistance. A heavier BB puts more mass through the same bit of air which means that, as a percentage, it's effected less by the resistance than a lighter one. Get too heavy though and it's going too slowly to benefit from this.

Sorry to be nit-picky but a slower bb hits the ground at exactly the same time as a faster one, the only thing that changes is how far its travelled horizontally. Horizontal and vertical components of the trajectory are completly independant of one another.

And a note for the OP, if you use a heavier BB then you should not up the fps to compensate. Sites give a limit in FPS, be that 328, 350 or higher. This limit is STRICTLY based on the use of a 0.2 gram bb (for every site i've ever visited or heard of atleast). If you use a heavier bb then you will have a lower fps, but the bb still carries the same kinetic energy [Ke = 0.5m(v^2)], but your gun must chrono below or at the site limit using a 0.2gram bb, regardless of what weight you plan to use during the game.

There is some debate about how fps changes with bb weight when using a gas gun but that is a whole other barrel of worms i'm not getting involved in lol.

[Caveira]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

Sorry to be nit-picky but a slower bb hits the ground at exactly the same time as a faster one, the only thing that changes is how far its travelled horizontally. Horizontal and vertical components of the trajectory are completly independant of one another.

Quite right, what I meant was over a shorter distance and not faster. I can cover my butt by pointing out that I said this when refering to real steel v airsoft v gravity

I reread it about three times looking for silly mistakes too

[North West Outpost]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

My videos don't say FPS is everything! ;-) (Cheeky subs are welcome)

FPS does have an effect on accuracy due to using a higher weight BB (It keeps its energy for longer and thus can travel further, but too heavy will go nowhere)

ideally the weight to use with the UK AEG power limt, is a .27 But the closest you can get is a .25 or .28. I would recommend .25s personally.

There was actually a huge debate about this and someone did a massive ammount of testing and he came to the conclusion that 0.3g was better for aeg's and snipers. I posted it up ages ago and would have no idea where it was now. I pm'd the guy who has or had the Accuracy Internatinal symbal as his avatar so he may still have it to hand.

[Sparticus515]

Re: Can you spare a few minutes to help a newbie?

There was actually a huge debate about this and someone did a massive ammount of testing and he came to the conclusion that 0.3g was better for aeg's and snipers. I posted it up ages ago and would have no idea where it was now. I pm'd the guy who has or had the Accuracy Internatinal symbal as his avatar so he may still have it to hand.

Could you be talking about this: http://mackila.com/airsoft/atp/?

The graph for 350 fps guns is here http://mackila.com/airsoft/atp/07-b-07.htm

As it shows there, 0.3s give an extra 10 feet when the hop is set correctly. The big thing is, are you willing to pay quite a bit more for your BBs for just that 10 feet range increase?
Although, accuracy will be noticeably better with 0.3s and 0.25s