I've been following the thread "Best performing full metal GBB pistol" with interest. I've carried springer pistols before, but given how seriously I've treated every other part of my loadout and armoury, these would now represent a hugely lopsided investment. They don't shoot well and are quite unreliable. I have been trying to wrap my mind around how to get "into" gas pistols, blowback or otherwise, to the same level that I've gotten into AEGs. I'm looking for a good sidearm investment and possibly the beginning of a proper collection, with some eventual tech skills down the road.
I now have a solid collection of AEGs in rotation -- enough to have at least a couple stable rifles at any given time for myself and as stable backups/loaners. I spent most of the summer training myself how to fix most AEG problems I've heard of, built a project rifle from the ground up, etc. The information to do all this was easy to come by. The information resources for pistols seem to be much much weaker than with AEGs. You can find first AEG FAQs everywhere, but gas pistol information is either not there or crazy outdated, or irrelevant.
What I want to hear about is the stuff "everybody knows" but no pistol n00b can possibly fish out of one place without many months of meticulous note-taking. There seems to be a river of common knowledge on ASC that I'm missing out on, stuff like "
you better update that Marui's plastic slide to metal if you plan to play in the heat" or "
WE pistols are terrible". I've been reading what I can, and I've been interviewing people at games for the last few games in the last month or so, trying to see what people like, don't like, and what's reliable. The answers are all over the map. KWA, KJW, Marui, and of course, ACM.
Given my somewhat-permissive budget for this venture, I'd like to be able to avoid at least some of the initial heartache of owning the AEGs people get because they're not listening to the wisdom of the crowd and just get a Tokyo Marui pistol, or something that is the equivalent level of precise tolerances and reliability reputation. I've watched friends get burned by buying either inexpensive stuff that blew up in the first one or two games (Meister..) or buy expensive gas rifles that never ended up working in any gameable form at all, ever (WE SCAR). I've had an ACM TM clone pistol demonstrated to me in a convincing stress test, and that was pretty damned impressive, but its price is too close to real TMs available on ASC for me to jump at it. I don't know much about my budget yet, but I
do know I can easily stomach the stock price of the TMs I've seen in the AV retailer section.
Questions for the Wise Ones:
1) Which pistol is the closest analogue to a "version 2 M4 with easily replacable parts" in the pistol world? (emphasis on TM if it helps answer this question). What parts are upgradable/changable? Like with AEGs, are there companies which cluster around upgrading given models/brands?
2) If upgrading internals to improve reliability is an absolutely-recommended must, then what are the minimum must-have upgrades to survive lots of games in various weather extremes? (hurray for Ontario weather swings!)
3) Tech-wise, what do I need to teach myself to be a happy gas pistol owner?
4) What are some of the first things to fail? Is there a standard takedown-and-make-it-good procedure after purchase, like with AEGs? (I always re-shim, clean and re-lube now after buying AEGs and this has been a huge help).
5) What aspects of pistols do noobs think is important but wise old-timers know is unimportant? In AEGs, I find new people overvalue certain features while ignoring advice from people who know money and effort is better-spent.
6) Assuming a decent budget and wanting the experience sooner rather than later, what will I want to add to my gear loadout to have my pistol comfortably at my side at all times? What are some stupid choices I'd just end up replacing?
7) I need help in developing a smart budget. What should I be looking to spend? What are the distinct "
budget buckets" in this space?
I'm really hoping that some of the stuff I learn here will be useful to others.