GBB vs AEG

[naminator]

Hello,

I have been playing airsoft on and off for a couple years. I always stuck to AEG's but at one point I had a Marushin M500 8mm and a variety of pistols. I always like GBB's because they felt a bit more realistic and switching to your sidearm when you AEG is toast wa alot of fun.

Life happened, sold 95% of my gear and guns. Now I am moving to Calgary and I want to get back into airsoft. However I don't really know what I should get. I was tempted to fall back on an AEG of sorts, but I m tempted to get a GBB.

tl;dr is a GBB a huge money pit? Should I just get another AEG? The GBB's I am interested in are M4/G36 variants only with MP5's being a maybe. AEG wise I would be looking at an AK47, submachine gun or maybe a DMR.

[BioRage]

I went in order

GBBR
Daytona Gun
Polar Star
AEG + GBBP

I would have your primary as an AEG as they are the most reliable. If you have extra funds have a pistol on the side to fill your recoil void. If that is not enough, and you have funds, fund a decent GBBR for your pleasure.

I wouldn't mind running a GBBR for cqb however, but it adds up quick...

[Hectic]

i run a we 416 as my primary when im not sniping. Its heaps of fun, but carryin 8-10 mags sucks at times. Mine hasent had any issues besides a broken return spring in the nozzle. Shoots good n far with a tm vsr 10 stock inner barrel (lightly modded to fit) and a firefly bucking and 30 or 36 bbs runnin round 380fps on .20's some folks break alot of nozzles but not me, yet lol.
having an aeg just in case is kinda madatory tho.

[Drake]

I've been in airsoft since the late 90s.

A couple of years ago I switched to GBBR. I'm now selling off just about all of my AEGs.

If you play milsim and/or real cap and/or want a more realistic experience, GBBRs are way more fun. Where I am sticking to AEGs (for now) is support guns; if you skirmish a lot, if you enjoy unload highcap/midcap after highcap/midcap in full auto, GBBR is not the way to go.

Money pit? No more so than most AEGs. In all these years I have yet to see any "silver bullet" gun that was perfect out of the box (many TM pistols and shotguns come close, but the plastic bodies are a shortcoming in my book).

More maintenance? Yes, a lot more (not unlike a real gun; clean it after every use) but maintenance is not unlike a real gun's and nowhere near the headache of taking apart an AEG/mechbox. I can totally clean my GBBR in about 15 minutes start to finish.

I run all WE GBBRs. Initial "upgrades" are minimal: NPAS is a must, but cheap. I also like a heavier buffer. Anything else can wait. Don't partial upgrade internals with steel RA-Tech parts "in case" something breaks; from what I've seen, the steel parts will destroy the stock ones and cause other problems. So if you go RA-Tech you gotta do the whole thing (bolt carrier assy, trigger pack, valve knocker). Mine are stock and are fine, I don't feel there's a need to replace them and honestly given the price I think it's more cost effective replacing anything that eventually breaks with an OEM part.

Mags are more expensive and troublesome (even by gas mag standards). Not the end of the world, change some o-rings once in a while, maybe have to do a re-seal. But it happens, its annoying and you have to take care of it. Price-wise, keep in mind at $40 a pop, if you're planning on loading out 10 mags that's an extra $400 right out the gate, definitely something to think about.

[Danke]

Calgary is expensive gun country.

Expect to face off against a lot of PTWs and too the nines GBBRs.

The good news is there's lots of turnover in used stuff there. Wait till you arrive and check in; see whats' for sale.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by Danke

Calgary is expensive gun country.

Expect to face off against a lot of PTWs and too the nines GBBRs.

The upside to that is that people who invest in the sport are usually serious players, so you're less likely to run into situations like

(thanks to Dmitri who posted that on another thread)

[BioRage]

Keep a cheapo AEG for backup and winter, and a gas for cqb and summer outdoors

[Danke]

Originally Posted by Drake

The upside to that is that people who invest in the sport are usually serious players.

There is definitely a good mature player base out in Calgary and the area.

When the Penticton field was up they'd show up in a large group a couple times a year and they weren't a bunch of the spoiled brats dolled up by their parents.

If I was living there or playing against them more regularly I'd definitely be running a PTW along with an equivalent level gas rifle.

[Drake]

Originally Posted by BioRage

Keep a cheapo AEG for backup and winter, and a gas for cqb and summer outdoors

I did that for a while; never went to the backup. I now carry a spare complete bolt carrier (NPAS and all), and a spare trigger pack -- neither of which I've needed as of yet. But short of my gun getting run over by a vehicle that pretty much covers anything that could break during a game. Otherwise if a mag goes back, I'll toss it aside and be down one mag.

I also don't play often in winter, so I haven't tested it in extreme cold, but in cool/cold weather MAPP gas works well. There are other threads about it by people with more experience.

[FOX_111]

I sold my gas rifle and kept only two gas pistol. My main weapons are AEG and spring rifle. Why? Because I play all year yound and can't afford to maintain equipement that don't work in the cold or the rain.

GBBR are fun, but will only work during the summer or indoor where it's 15c and up.

[ThunderCactus]

My experience with gbbrs has been they perform really great in semi auto with not more than a hop rubber, but only in a certain temperature range.
They work great when they work but mags are expensive and they can limit your season.
Ive been really impressed with the performance on the kriss vector

[Danke]

Originally Posted by Drake

I did that for a while; never went to the backup. I now carry a spare complete bolt carrier (NPAS and all), and a spare trigger pack -- neither of which I've needed as of yet. But short of my gun getting run over by a vehicle that pretty much covers anything that could break during a game. Otherwise if a mag goes back, I'll toss it aside and be down one mag.

I also don't play often in winter, so I haven't tested it in extreme cold, but in cool/cold weather MAPP gas works well. There are other threads about it by people with more experience.

First year I carried a backup AEG. Only time I ever tried to used it one of the battery wires broke when I was putting it in the stock.

Ditto on a new trigger pack and bolt in the toolbox.

[Zack The Ripper]

I LOVE gas blowback guns; super fun to shoot and play with, but the truth is that being in Canada with a fluctuating climate, GBBRs are not practical for a large portion of the year unless you do indoor play - this is where they shine. If you live in a place like California where it's the same temperature every day they are fantastic guns to use.

However; I have done extensive testing on a couple different gas platforms since last year, and between plinking and game play they are tons of fun, but as I learned over many games, they become highly impractical for a number of reasons.

Many skirmish games don't have any ammo cap limit, which means even if you are running a full loadout of 10 mags the guy next to you with three mid caps has more ammo than you, and all three mags MIGHT weight as much as one of those gas mags. However, if you are truly set on being MilSim to the core and extra weight, conserving ammo like a savage, and reloading alot don't bother you, then it is the gun for you.

As well, given the temperature variations we experience up north, you get many inconsistencies from day to day of use. Small differences make big changes the further you push your engagement distance. If you sighted your rifle in at 25 degrees Celsius and are playing at 20 degrees Celsius, I don't care what anyone has to say about it; your rounds are not going to end up where they were when you sighted your rifle in. Less expansion and higher cool down rates with affect your accuracy and consistency greatly. Gas is a very temperamental thing.

Where gas platforms shine is indoor/CQB play, mid range outdoor play on warm days, and games with real cap ammo limits. Outside of this I am sad to say they just don't live up to everything they could be.

If you are able to find a solid group of players who consistently play real capacity games and/or are mostly using gas guns themselves then they are the bees knees.

There are some companies developing much better platforms these days, like the PTS MKM, however there are still some steps gas rifles need to take before they can go head to head with high end AEGs and PTWs in regards to performance - sorry.

I don't want to be shitting all over gas, I love GBBRs like you wouldn't believe. The fact is that they have their places (indoors, CQB, some MilSim events) while other platforms rule the "other" places.

Take it from someone who spent his first 18 years of life in Alberta; that bitch stays cold hearted for most of the year, and an AEG with a simple sidearm GBBP will suit you best for awhile while you get back into the sport. Then, as you settle in with a good set of gear, a rifle, and sidearm, take that Christmas bonus and dabble in the gas guns. This will also give you more time to do research, see other gas guns in action on the field, and even fondle and test other players' gas guns to determine which platform you would like to go with that way you don't spend a grand on a gun and mags for it that you might soon regret.

[Hectic]

we gbbr's will run on co2 in the winter as well

[naminator]

Thanks for the informative and well thought out replies.

I remember gas guns being fairly unreliable and the users of said guns switching back to AEG's mid game day because there gun decided to stop working (one time a BB became lodge inside the gun causing it to dump an entire mag of gas and jam the gun).

-Thundercactus, you mentioned running a Kriss Vector. While I might not spend that much, a MP5K GBB is within my budget as a fun sidearm or CQB indoor gun so I am going to look into that.

I think I will be getting another AEG for the time being. I don't know how often the dungeon master (aka my wife) will let me out to fling plastic and the thought of a 800$ GBBR (or 400$ according to her) rotting in the back of my closet makes me cringe. But an AEG might be able to survive that idle a bit better.