A Guide to Getting Started in Airsoft Sniping (Bolt Actions)

[marpat96]

This is a guide to help anyone who wants to get started into airsoft sniping with a bolt action. I myself started as a sniper into airsoft but have now moved to an assault role, but I will be getting back into sniping as I miss it greatly.

This is only for SPRING bolt action rifles

Five steps to get started
Step 1: You must buy a sniper rifle that is VSR-10 compatible or APS2 compatible. This is not completely needed, but it will help save you the stress of trying to find parts for your gun. VSR-10 compatible guns look similar to an R700, and they are stated as this: TM VSR-10, TM VSR-10 G-Spec (smaller gun but with a supressor), JG Bar-10 (clone of TM VSR-10), JG Bar-10 G-Spec (clone of the TM VSR-10 G-Spec). APS2 compatible guns look similar to the MK96 or the L96, and are stated as this: Maruzen APS2 Type 96, Well MB01 (clone of the Maruzen APS2 Type 96), TSD SD96 (OEM Well MB01) & TSD SD97 (OEM Well G22), UTG MK96 (OEM Well MB01), Well MB08 (MB01 with folding stock). The TM L96 AWS is not APS2 or VSR-10 compatible, but has parts for it.
Most sniper rifles can be fine tuned out of the box or upgraded, but leaving it stock is fine too, just note you will be outgunned by stock AEGs.

(TM VSR-10 & TM VSR-10 G-Spec shoot 280-290fps out of the box stock, they must be upgraded to become practical)

Step 2: You need a scope, which can be purchased on any airsoft store or may come with the gun in a package deal.

Step 3: You will need heavy ammo. .28 gram bbs are only recommended if you have a JG Bar-10 or a JG Bar-10 G-Spec that is running on the stock 400fps spring. For any other gun that is listed (exception of the TM models) you will at the least need to use .30 gram bbs.

Step 4: You will need goggles if you don't already have some. Not a facemask, but goggles/shooting glasses. You are a sniper, and need all the eye room you can get. You will also need camo, which can be regular BDUs or a ghillie suit.

Step 5: You WILL need a sidearm or a backup AEG with you. No questions asked, this is very important, as your heavily upgraded sniper rifle or fine tuned sniper rifle will stand no chance against an AEG if you are spotted and they are spraying multiple bbs down on you. A good backup can be a pistol or an AEG. Whichever you choose, make sure it has a 20ft MED or a 0ft MED.

And there it is, everything you need to get started in sniping. A gun, scope, bbs, camo, glasses, and a sidearm. I will post more things to this thread in the future if needed, but here is a guide to helping a growing playerbase that wants to start airsoft sniping with the good ol' bolt actions.

[SteevoLS]

I would argue that you do not need a bolt action rifle to be an airsoft sniper. It is not difficult or expensive to build an AEG these days that can stand up to a M160. Aside from that I agree with everything you wrote.

Example "sniper" AEG:
Any old metal bodied M16
+ M160 spring
+ SHS metal tooth piston
+ SHS piston/cylinder head if the stock ones won't do
+ Compression tuneup to keep things consistent
+ Sorbo padding for gearbox or AJAX STS thingamajigger
+ Steel bushings if your stock ones are not up to par
+ Tightbore and R-hop, flat hop, ER-hop, etc
+ Big ol' battery (lipo, not expensive) and MOSFET
+ Scope

Poof, you're done. You have a rifle (for about $100 over the price of the stock rifle) that will keep up with most upgraded bolt actions and give you the massive advantage of a quick follow up shot. If you were to build this from a VFC you would spend $275 on the rifle and about $100 on parts, yielding a <$400 snippar raffle.

[marpat96]

My mistake steevols, I forgot to add something in my title. This stands true, you can snipe very effectively with a semi auto as well. I think you already summed up what you would need to build an AEG into a sniper rifle, and of course everything else such as bbs and camo and such go the same with AEGs as they do bolt actions. I might try using a DMR in the future, hopefully using Cyma's new AEG SVD.

[marpat96]

Bump, for the lazy new guys wanting to "snipe"

[crossfire876]

Bump, for the lazy new guys wanting to "snipe"

I have the UTG MK96 in my "collection". The only advantage to it seems to be that past a certain distance they are virtually very quiet.

I have to admit, either for it's simplicity or quiet nature, I'm really intrigued by spring airsoft rifles. I've been toying with the idea of trying out the $130 Matrix SVD II from evike as a starter build platform. But since all my tech knowledge revolves around the version 2 gearbox, I'm completely out of my league here.

Any suggestions? Here are my peculiar tendencies. I have always gravitated towards accuracy. I have always wanted a airsoft rifle that is a tack driver, and my UTG stock has been pretty dang close. (I cheated though, turned the hop-up completely off and it's still perfect in lifting .28g BB's and hitting from 70 yds consistently. My brother and I recorded us hitting a target 3/10 times from 100yds. Not bad for a stock setup. The hop up mods I've done to my lower FPS G&G's have made them pretty good as well (as good as you can expect).

I just like the look and feel of the SVD better, and wonder if I could really achieve what I'm looking for before I sink a load of money in a build that turns out no better than the AEG build steevoLS mention.

Please excuse my ignorance, I am a novice when it comes to spring snipers but am very intrigued by the concept. I'm looking for consistently, reliability, and longevity. I don't know anything about heavy spring AEG's, but I would assume spring snipers would have an edge there (no matter how slight) where the DMR would have follow up shots working for it.

Airsoft is an animal all it's own.

[Star_folder]

The sad thing about airsoft is that all guns use the same general system. They all shoot 6 or 8 mm bbs, they all (most) have hop ups, and they are all air powered. Because of this, you can make almost any airsoft gun shoot like any other airsoft gun. This means that no matter how accurate or far reaching your spring sniper rifle is, a DMR can match it.

Now, that leaves you down to what you have already discovered. Spring rifle, or BASRs, are quieter and are more prone to accuracy than your standard AEG. And a BASR can be made quieter than even the quietest AEG. BASRs are also simpler, and therefore, easier to work on than AEGs. Less moving parts, so less that can break and go wrong in the gun.

But these pluses come at a cost, BASRs have a slower rate of fire than DMRs.

[marpat96]

Bump, for the lazy new guys wanting to "snipe"

I have the UTG MK96 in my "collection". The only advantage to it seems to be that past a certain distance they are virtually very quiet.

I have to admit, either for it's simplicity or quiet nature, I'm really intrigued by spring airsoft rifles. I've been toying with the idea of trying out the $130 Matrix SVD II from evike as a starter build platform. But since all my tech knowledge revolves around the version 2 gearbox, I'm completely out of my league here.

Any suggestions? Here are my peculiar tendencies. I have always gravitated towards accuracy. I have always wanted a airsoft rifle that is a tack driver, and my UTG stock has been pretty dang close. (I cheated though, turned the hop-up completely off and it's still perfect in lifting .28g BB's and hitting from 70 yds consistently. My brother and I recorded us hitting a target 3/10 times from 100yds. Not bad for a stock setup. The hop up mods I've done to my lower FPS G&G's have made them pretty good as well (as good as you can expect).

I just like the look and feel of the SVD better, and wonder if I could really achieve what I'm looking for before I sink a load of money in a build that turns out no better than the AEG build steevoLS mention.

Please excuse my ignorance, I am a novice when it comes to spring snipers but am very intrigued by the concept. I'm looking for consistently, reliability, and longevity. I don't know anything about heavy spring AEG's, but I would assume spring snipers would have an edge there (no matter how slight) where the DMR would have follow up shots working for it.

Airsoft is an animal all it's own.

Glad to help you. Well, the Matrix SVD is a rebrand of the A&K SVD, which is nothing bad at all, as the second generation of SVDs from A&K have better build quality and much, much stronger sears. The only drawback on those A&K/Matrix SVDs is they are not compatible with APS2 or VSR-10 parts. This means the only thing you can upgrade really on the SVDs are the springs, which take any regular AEG springs. The piston and spring guide are very strong aluminium, so there is no point to change those anyway. The hop up is a hybrid hop up, but the barrel is a regular AEG barrel, so you can up your accuracy with a tightbore barrel if you want to. The hop up can be flat hopped also, and it takes regular AEG buckings and such. So, yes, you could make a very nice BASR out of the SVD, and it will be fantastic on the field of play. The only thing I advise: Don't go any higher than an M160, and an M160 is pushing it. An M150 or M140 would work great as well.

[Star_folder]

There are steel sears for the SVD out there, and aftermarket pistons if you look hard enough. They are a little rare though. But with these upgrades, you can use about any spring you want to. Also, a replacement hop up exists for the gun, though I'm not entirely sure where you can get one.

[marpat96]

A replacement, yes, but nothing new like say going from the stock L96 hop up to a PDI one. The sears on the SVD now are pretty dang tough, I've seen many extreme builds with them, like Scartha's SVD.

[Dominum]

tighter bore =/= more accuracy

Bolt action sniper rifles are fun. Fun to build, and fun to play with. They are, however, at a natural disadvantage. In order to outperform most AEGs in accuracy and range, you almost always have to drop serious time and money into building it. If you do so, I'm sure you'll like it, but you just need to know there's not a cheap or quick fix.

People always seem to think, as did I when I was new, that bolt action airsoft guns come stock with greater range, accuracy, and durability than your average AEG. This is not true. Then, once they realize this, they think they can get super accuracy, range, and durability with just a few parts and a little work, lots of parts and little work, or lots of work and few parts. Bad news, it doesn't work that way. A while back a bolt action rifle came out that claimed to defy this law, and a bunch of people went out and spent around $200 or so to buy the gun and the aftermarket tune up kit. They all wanted to believe the hype, and I said what I always say about bolt action guns. Both the short and long term results proved the law true.

I encourage you to build one, just be aware that you will have to devote a lot of time, and hundreds of dollars to it unless you are OK with it being outclassed by many AEGs.

[marpat96]

I have built an L96 from a $150 base, with a $48 cylinder kit, $80 tightbore barrel, $80 trigger mechanism, and all that, it seems expensive, and it is. That L96 isn't even close to being great, its ok, but nothing special. 300ft tops, with hop up on all the way and with .36g bbs. These rifles are fantastic, but my CM046 with .25s will outrange it. Sad thing, but bolt actions are very hard to use, and even harder to make.

[Frost]

I had owned an 2nd generation a&k svd. First off the 2nd generation A&k svd come w/ m150 springs. Currenlty Airsoftpro (a website based out of the Czech Republic) has a precision hop up chamber (which i own and highly recomend), piston, steel sears, and custom springs ranging from an m180-m200 all made for the svd. I have ordered from the site before and I have had no issues. They do accept Paypal and highly recomend you use it to do your transaction.

[slimshady222]

Just wondering this is probably a stupid question but can you put an r hop on a sniper I dont really know what the barrels look like but that would also be a good upgrade to add if its possible.

[Star_folder]

Just wondering this is probably a stupid question but can you put an r hop on a sniper I dont really know what the barrels look like but that would also be a good upgrade to add if its possible.

You can.

[marpat96]

Bump to help our airsoft snipers