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N00bie Guide to Springers + Reveiws

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I'm back after a loooong hiatus and I thought i would come back and help out by making a guide for some of the most commonly asked guns Ill give a little report about their performance give a price range and give a 1 out of 5 rating. Ill update If i missed something or if something new comes out.

My rating system pretty much go's like this

5-this would be like a godly springer its got all the bells and whistles a real gun would have plus good accuracy and power to boot

4-this means that its a terrific gun that has great performance in general or in some cases terrific build quality

3-Basically it means its good its not terrific but its not bad also

2-A bad gun that should probably be avoided if possible

1-a waste of perfectly good plastic

Pistols:

UHC Beretta M9 HW
This is a very good beginner gun it has good power, range and its durable and there are several accessories that are compatible with this gun so its easily modded. It has a mag capacity of 22-25 and spare mags are readily available from several online stores
Average price-$22-$25
Rating-3.4

UHC USP/USP Match
The two are basically the some gun except one has a match part and the other one doesn't. Performance is only average but its probably the best USP for the price ive had experience with this paticular gun and its problem is it really isnt that durable it has a tendency to wear out rather fast. But on the plus side it can accept a host of accessories has a good capacity(25) and spare mags are readily available.
Average Price-$20-$25
Rating-3

HFC USP/USP match
Again these two are basically identical except for the match has a longer inner barrel than the standard USP, Performance wise like the UHC it has average performance, perhaps even below average it also suffers from durability issues. Fortunately it has slide lock to prevent dry firing(but it wears out pretty fast).Magazines for this particular gun are hard to find this gun is probably best for a display piece or movie prop.
Average Price $20-$25
Rating-2.5

KWC Beretta M92fs/Taurus
These guns are basically the same only difference is external design. They got good performance and respectable power and have good durability. Unfortunately though they have a very irritating load method that can cause bbs to shoot out of the mag and shower your room or backyard but when you master loading it,it should give you little problems but since the magazines very sensitive to shocks and pressure it will make holding extra mags very difficult but it shouldn't be to much of a problem since spare mags are fairly difficult to find.
Price-$23-$25
Rating-3

Y&p Berretta
Blegh not a very good gun at all although mags are relatively easy to find it has very poor performance and terrible build quality. Although at close rage it does have a little bite to it.
Price-$20-$22
Rating-1

UHC Desert Eagle
Another below Average gun its main weakness is its build quality but its performance isn't any better either. This gun has a tendency to break before it wears out. On the upshot though its a very cool looking gun that oozes style. Mags are somewhat easy to find
Price-$20-$25
Rating-2.5

HFC DEagle
Pretty much like the UHC version except it build quality is a little better but it suffers from what most HFC guns suffer from, Durability this gun wont last very long
Price-$20-$25
Rating-2.6

KWC/Cybergun DEagle .44mag
Finally a decent desert eagle while the power of this gun is average it has good accuracy and has fairly good potential for external upgrades but internal is a different story, Internally its very complicated requiring that you unscrew things here and there rather than field stripping like most guns. Extra mags are available but you'll have to look around
Price-$20-$25
Rating-3

KWC 1911 Delta Elite
For those of you who dont know the delta elite is basically a 10mm conversion of a regular 1911. Build wise is fairly good typical KWC design internally so it still has the same damned loading style where you can have a nice BB shower if you accidentally hit the button and it holds 12rds (I complain about KWC mags alot dont I ?) and externally the gun feels nice and sturdy no creak or rattles or anything and the trigger and slide pull are nice and crisp, it has an OK weight to it a little less than a UHC LW. as for the performance the accuracy is quite nice with .2s, .12s make it shoot a little high and it has pretty good power(hard for me to say since ive been spoiled by TM Guns )so over all i find it much better than the UHC M9. This gun is a pretty good bang for your buck and excellent choice over the UHC M9 if you dont mind sacrificing capacity
Average Price- $20-$25
Rating- 3.5

KWC DEagle .50AE ultra grade
Ahh the best Desert Eagle spring made it has fantastic build quality and good heft. Performance is very good and the adjustable hop up makes it even better. Power is above average and has above average metal content in the gun, This gun also has slide lock which also knocks it up higher on the scale, the down shot is loading the gun requires a special loader if you dont use it reloading is VERY difficult and another negative is its price tag which is double the price of a normal springer. This gun makes a great combat and show piece its the most realistic springer in terms of aesthetics and function. It can Hold 25 bbs
Average Price-$44-$70
Rating-4.8(the reloading knocked it down a bit)

KWC M1911-A1 Ultra Grade
This is a pretty sweet gun it has good power and it can out range most of my TM guns, for about the first 200rds it was making .25s hook really badly so its easy to get a good idea of what kind of range it gets now. This gun has a ton of metal and has some nice weight to it and to top it off its very well balanced so the weight isnt all in the barrel or handle, the sight are nice and big too so it makes aiming much easier. Unfortunatly this gun only holds 12 and it has the typical KWC magazine that make its dificult to carry extra mags.
Average price-$45-$60
Rating: 4.8

TM Beretta M9
Probably the best beretta spring made it has above average performance and power and it is very pleasing to the eye.Its construction is nearly 100% plastic so its fairly lite but the positives out weigh the negatives. mag capacity 25.Another good point is UHC mags are compatible with all maruis so extra mags are cheap and easy to come by.
Average Price-$35-$55
Rating-4

TM USP
Again this is the best spring USP its pretty much like the berreta, the finish on this particular gun is very good mag cap is 25
Average Price-$35-$55
Rating-4

TM Glock 17
This is an interesting gun very durable good performance and power but its upgrade potential is pretty low since internally its fairly complicated and externally it has no rails so some lasers are a no go. Another problem is that its trigger pull is very stiff but its a tough cookie. Its mag capacity is 22
Average Price $35-$55
Rating-4

TM Hk Mk.23 SOCOM
This gun stands out from most of maruis springer line up even though its made mostly of plastic it has fantastic performance and very good power its still fairly lite though this is probably the best spring handgun available. Unfortunatly due to its size it can be troublesome to carry around and exteranl upgrde potential is very low provided you dont want to spend $100 for a laser case or silencer. Mag capacity is 25
Average Price-$35-$55
Rating-4.5

Tm Colt 1911 Govt
This is another interesting gun its performance is exactly like the socoms but it is smaller and easier to carry around and even though the mag size is smaller than the socoms it still holds the same amount of bbs. This gun doesn't have alot of metal in it but its more than the average marui.I had some issues with the front of the gun flying off but after super gluing it in there havent been any problems with it so far unfortunately I cant completely field strip the gun now. If you need socom performance but hate the socoms size this gun is the answer. UPDATE:my 1911 recently died on me so as a fair warning to you all this gun is probably best suited for a display piece only since the guns compostion is pretty delicate. Update #2 I just realized that the reason my barrel came off is because i was tinkering with adding a silencer to it so this gun should be OK for combat but not ideal for upgrading and adding on
Average price-$35-$55
Rating-4.3

TM S&W PC356
Hmmm well it looks like this gun is pretty much like the 1911 and SOCOM the performance is pretty much the same, what really makes this gun stand out from the others is that it has 30rds which is very nice considering how the mag isnt that big at all. This gun has a little more metal than most TM springer, the metal part that stands out from most TMs is it has a metal recoil rod and thats about it. It also feels a little more solid than most TM springers.
Average Price-$35-$55
Rating-4.5

HFC P99
This is another average gun has OK accuracy and power probably one of HFC's better guns It has slide lock but it wears out pretty fast that and the trigger will become loose after long term use but it doesn't affect the firing it just gets a little irritating if your nit picky about those thing. Mag size is 17 i believe
Average Price-$22-$25
Rating-3

KWC P99/K99
This is a very good gun it has good power and fantastic accuracy. This gun should last a while since it is built fairly well but Ive heard the slide lock craps out after long term use but I consider it a minor problem. One thing that should be noted is that it has terrible accuracy for about the first 100 shots due to excessive oil on the hop up.The mag capacity is 12
Average Price-$22-$35
Rating-4

HFC Glock 17L
Another not-so-good gun its performance is pretty average but it lacks power. As for the durability well the gun its self should hold up pretty well but internally every thing will pretty much crap out especially the power. This gun holds 17 if I can remember correctly
Average price- $20-$22
Rating-2

HFC Glock 33
WOW talk about a crappy gun the power is just sad and the accuracy is seriously lacking I really wouldn't get this unless I was a poor die hard glock fan the capacity was 15 I believe
cant remember since its been a while since I used it.
Average Price- $20-$22
rating 1.5

KHC Colt 25 Pocket Pistol
Well this is a rather interesting gun first of all even thought WGC lists this gun as being made by KHC (a company i havent heard of at all) but on the box it says it made my academy(a korean company) and another BUT on the gun it has a 3PSA logo on it a french distributor confused yet? your not the only one, any way back to the reveiw first of all this thing is small I mean really small this thing is about 4 and a half inches long and can only be operated with three fingers your thumb index and middle finger this gun is remeniscent of the noisy cricket from Men in Black, now one might think this thing is pure crap and from a skirmish stand point youd be right its really weak about 150 FPS and thegun has a tendency to shoot high that and it has very small sights which makes aiming a pain but on the plus side it does have full colt trade marks and a good ammount of metal (the outer barrel trigger and safety) and it has surprisingly good range for a gun with a 2 inch barrel its comparable to a UHC beretta and holds alot of ammo for its size (15) so in conclusions its a good gun o keep in your pocket to shoot your friends with outside of a skirmish (which is what i bought it for)
Average Price- $15
Rating-2.5-3 (depending on what you use it for)

Rifles:

UHC MP5 SD3
This is probably the best spring rifle made. It has very good accuracy very good power and has almost endless upgrade potential internal and external. The only bad part I can think of is that it has no sling points. Magazine design could have been better even though spare mags are easy to obtain bbs roll out easily if the top isn't taped shut or covered somehow, This is the best bang for your buck gun you can get mag capacity is 22
Average Price- $40-$50
Rating-4.5

Maruzen CA870 sawed off
This gun is great so far it shoots very straight and has more power than my stock TM AK47 Spetsnaz which isnt too surpising since it has the same internal design of an APS2, its supriseingly easy to **** so i dbout that your arm will be sore after a full day of skirmishing. What also makes this gun stand out is instead of having a body made up of ABS plastic its made of Fiber Glass which is stringer than ABS, this gun also has a good ammount of metal (the sling points, magazine tube, trigger, safety and some of the internals) this gun also has an adjustable hop-up which is a big plus and it uses 40rd box magazines which is much more practical than those long stick magazines used in the hardballer and dong san shotguns.
Rating- 4.8
Average Price $85-$93

Hfc Mp5 A3
This is a strictly average gun, performance is average and its ability to only use .12 bbs kill it but on the plus side it has the pump feature which means you can crank out tons of shots. This gun is only for Indoor CQB or if you absolutely hate the way the SD3 looks
Average Price $45-$60
rating-3

HFC XM177e2
In my opinion this gun sux its off balanced and he shots tend to curve left but its possible that i was handling an older version so im going to base this off my experience. The guns weight was put completely in the front making it fairly difficult to aim although it does have a good weight to it and a good amount of metal in it too. I don't remember the capacity for this gun
average price- $90-$120
Rating-2

HFC M16a2
Not a very good gun at all although the accuracy is respectable this gun breaks very easily the most common part that breaks is the charging handle and the gun cracks easily. I heard the newer versions are better but i wouldn't expect that they'd be that much better
average price- $100-$130
rating-1.5

Y&P HK G3A3
Another poor rifle accuracy is pretty good but only when there is little to no wind and since it cant use anything over .12 its bad news I heard that are newer versions that are able to handle .2s
Average Price-$40-$60
Rating-1.5

TM XM177e2
Its supposed to be a very good rifle it can handle heavier bbs which is a plus and it also has a pump feature which makes it even better however this gun is hard to find and very expensive. mag capacity...once again i forgot...
Average Price-$110-$135
Rating-4

TM MP5 A3
Its probably classes as a good rifle but not as good as the sd3 but better than the HFC. Its not really worth the money and time it will take to find one of these but if you do find one and your a collector or something by all means buy it makes a great show piece since its detail is better than all if the current MP5s
Average Price-$90-$110
Rating-4

UHC Super 9
Stock this rifle is crap but after upgrading it becomes a very good rifle but it will require lots of work like installing a new spring and reinforced pinion but the work put into it you could just as easily upgrade a UHC to do the same and possibly even more, but since mp5's are difficult to use prone and their mag capacities are lower it might be worth investing in this, if your a sniper of course
Average price-$110-$130
Rating-3

Zida Spas 12/M3 combat shorty
This is a pretty sub par gun the accuracy isn't that good and neither is the power one plus is that it can fire 3 bbs at a time but it decreases its power and accuracy since it comes out of the same barrel, these should be avoided unless you really want a cheap shotgun.
Average price-Lot of sites sell these 2 together so the price for both would be around $40-$50 Seprately about $20-$30 each
Rating-2

Manufacturer Guide:

UHC-They create average to good guns in general their most noteable guns they make are the M9,MP5 SD3, and the super 9. In general they make good guns so dont be afraid to try some of their stuff

HFC-Their guns are OK but suffer from reliability and some times power problems probably the best guns they make are the MP5 "pump", P99,and P226. When you buy from them you should be a little wary about what your buying

KWC-A very good manufacturer they create above average guns and some rare guns too, their best guns are the DEagle .50, 1911 Ultra Grade, and Taurus. So dont be afraid to try their guns.

Y&P- They make some pretty low Grade stuff nothing they make will blow your mind but their best guns are probably the Beretta M9, P99, and G3a3

Tokyo Marui-A top notch company they make outstanding products the finish on their guns are premium grade but one down side is most of their guns are fairly lite but that doesn't really matter to me anyways. The best handguns they make are MK.23 SOCOM, Colt 1911,and the M9. So if you can get your hands one of their guns DO IT they wont disappoint but be careful of their older products as they are not as good as some of their newer stuff

Shoppers Guide: (For a more complete list of retailers, visit our links section -Spetsnazgg)

Magazines

"http://www.shortyusa.com" -They have a pretty wide variety of magazines for all kinda of springers so look around there

"http://www.tapco.com" -They used to carry UHC pistol mags but the only thing they really carry now are the SD3 mags but they're sold at a good price.

Guns

"http://www.shortyusa.com" -A good retailer though they can be a bit expensive but the service and selection makes it worth the little extra you spend.

"http://www.airsoftatlanta.com" -I personally didn't have that good of an experience with them but other people have had some smooth transactions so its up to you to if you want to buy from them or not, they have a good selection and some hard to find items

"http://www.wolverinetactical.com" -They have outstanding service and communication they're selection is fairly limited but they're one of the only places that sells TM springers

"http://www.airsoftpaintballs.com" -a good place to get some KWC guns cheap

"http://www.jungletoy.com" -they have a so so collection you can get a couple good deals there

"http://www.southsummit.com" - go there if you want a KWC Deagle .50 cheap

~C4Nemesis

This article was taken from a thread on Airsoft Retreat here with the consent of the author.

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